I am just assigned a project to make a paper based process to be web based. What I need to do is to allow user to fill out an online form and sign it using his/her mouse. The data entered and the signature needs to be later retrieved as a PDF file.
So, I've created a working prototype using ASP.NET webforms and a third party PDF library ( iTextSharp), along with a mouse signature capture tool that I purchased.
The prototype works fine. But my concern is, I may need to extend this application to support many ( maybe hundreds of) forms. Each form has different fields, but they all require a signature. It took me 2 days to build the prototype for one form, including creating the web forms, mark fields in PDF template, hook up web form fields with fields in PDF form, etc…In the future I don't want to spend 2 days to set up each form, is there a better way than building custom form using ASP.NET?
I know of InfoPath, but never used it, has anyone done anything similar before? Is InfoPath with SharePoint a better solution to my problem? Or there is something else? If anyone can give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks a lot!
Best Answer
The advantage that infopath has is that it has the ability to take advantage of digital ink (handwriting) out of the box. if your version of Windows includes Microsoft Ink (XP tablet, Vista, Win 7) then Infopath will allow you to capture text and images using various available input devices (mouse, pen etc..) depending on the control that you use. A textbox will using handwriting recognition to convert the writing into text, where as an image box will allow free drawing, ideal for caputring a signature.
I have used Infopath as a standalone disconected client system that used email as the transport system. the forms were attatched to an email and added to the outbox. when the user retrieved their email, the forms were automatically sent. The great thing about infopath is that the data is xml. this gives you enourmous flexabilty with what you can do with the data.
As a side note...
You may want to think about the legal side of things when people are signing (using handwriting) e-forms. As Infopath seperates the presentation and the data, which is great for capturing the data for reporting, workflow etc, it becomes a downside from a legal standpoint as the data can be manipulated and presented very differently from what the signee originally signed. In most cases this is not problem, but if the the form is any form of legal document (invoice, goods receipt) you will need to think about how to keep both the data and presentation together and seperate at the same time.
This will be a problem for any system that seperates the data from the presentation, be it web based forms, infopath, or PDF forms.
Hope this helps...