How can I automate the process of deploying an InfoPath Form to SharePoint Server 2007?

Question

It is a real pain to deploy my InfoPath 2007 Forms from the designer into our development environment's SharePoint server. All of our forms require "full trust" since they include business logic written in C#. Here are the manual steps:

1) Run the "Publish Form" wizard in InfoPath, specifying the target site to publish to and location to save the xsn file.

2) De-activate the existing version of the form from the site collection features (if an older version exists).

3) Log into Central Admin on the development server. Navigate to Application Management -> Manage Form Templates and upload the xsn file.

4) Activate the form as a site collection feature.

Does anyone have an idea how this can be automated? Maybe via stsadm?

Answer 1

You can package InfoPath forms in SharePoint solutions (WSP files). These can be deployed by making use of STSADM. For more information:

• http://blogs.importchaos.com/alonsorobles/2008/06/04/creating-a-sharepoint-solution-for-an-infopath-form-template-deployment/#comments
• http://www.crsw.com/mark/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=37
• http://blah.winsmarts.com/2008-8-Deploying_InfoPath_2007_Forms_to_Forms_Server_-and-ndash_Properly.aspx

Answer 2

We can build our own service to deploy the InfoPath form in Share point Server. I have developed the service to solve my problem. I have used “STSADM” command to deploy the InfoPath form. You have to understand the STSADM syntax so that you can build the script to deploy the InfoPath form.

Here I have summarized what I did. It may useful for you to start. I developed the web service that will construct the script using STSADM and save it as bat file and run the batch file using Process command available in C#.

Answer 3

Another couple of options are:

1) After running the "publish form" wizard use a batch file with stsadm commands as per the following blogpost: http://sharenotes.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/using-stsadm-to-deploy-upgrade-update-infopath-forms-templates-with-managed-code-behind/

2) Use the InfoPath Form Deployment Tool on Codeplex (or you can simply use the tool to generate the batch files): http://www.codeplex.com/InfoPathFormsInstall