Info Path Form in SharePoint 2010

• SharePoint can collect data using lists or InfoPath from Libraries.
• InfoPath is better suited for these tasks:
  
  1. Data validation
  2. Conditional Formatting
  3. Submitting to database
  4. Submitting via email
  5. Collecting signatures
  6. Read-only views of data
  7. Links to remote data source such as SQL or Access Database
• InfoPath's form-creation tools are based on XML and its related standards.
• When you save an InfoPath form to form library, SharePoint saves the form data as an XML file in the library.
• InfoPath is both designer and form viewer.

Form Library :

A Form library is basically a document library that uses an InfoPath form template as a template rather than a word, Excel, or PowerPoint file.

• It is wholly XML centric. The form design is based on XML schema.
• InfoPath views are based on XSL transformation(XSLT).
• All InfoPath data is saved as XML.
• In the InfoPath, the form template is new format with an .xsn extension.
• Types of InfoPath form:
  
  1. Blank
  2. Web service: with this option, the wizard will prompt you to enter url of a web service that has implemented SOAP 2.0- compliant WSDL.
  3. Database
  4. XML or Schema : InfoPath lets you design a form against existing XML document or schema.
• Data types available in InfoPath:
  
  1. Text
  2. Whole Number
  3. Decimal
  4. True/False
  5. Hyperlink
  6. Date
  7. Time