Deploying InfoPath forms to different SharePoint servers

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How do you manage deploying InfoPath forms to different sharepoint servers? Is there a better way to deal all the data connections being site-specific without opening the forms, editing the data connections and republishing for each environment?

Best Answer

This is a common problem, if you are working on a dev-system and need deployments to a productive system from time to time. I use a script that performs (plain text) replacements based on regular expressions.

on each deploy:

  1. make a backup of your form ;-)
  2. Save your form as source code. (I suggest you work on source code files rather than the .xsn, because the xsn is only a renamed .cab with the source files in it. And you are able to use source control in a more satisfying way.)
  3. open the manifest.xsf file
  4. search for the xml node "DataConnections"
  5. search and replace the site-url part
  6. (Do not forget the save-path, file-&site attributes and publishUrl)
  7. deploy from the InfoPath Designer

I use a script that does all the replacements. That works fine and already saved me a lot of work.

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