I've inherited an application that generates InfoPath forms. I'm required to add functionality so that the forms can be submitted by email whilst offline. The idea is that the forms can be filled in offline, and then sent via email, and then processed by another application that checks the submission inbox.
Unfortunately I have to use WEBDav code on the server to check the email inbox which is equivalent to Outlook Web Access. OWA blocks xml files or strips the xml out of the file. I've tried setting the name of the attachment programmatically to another extension but that doesnt work, Outlook must read all files and if it finds XML tags, takes it out of the document.
What I did try was changing the first line out of the form and submitting that. I changed the <?xml version="1.0" to <?xsl version="1.0" . It worked! It seems so long as Outlook doesn't find the 'xml' string then it doesnt think its an xml document.
Currently I am submitting the form programmatically using a button and some JS.
Is there any way I can modify the raw data before it is submitted? Ie, changing the opening XML tag to XSL. Or perhaps change the encoding? Or obfuscate the file or anything?
In summary, I need to trick outlook into thinking the submitted form is not XML. The solution must be self contained within an XSN.
edit: using InfoPath 2003. Not sure of the Exchange version but I think its 2003 also.
Best Answer
can you encrypt the file into something outlook can't see - a binary file in other words? Sounds a bit like steganography (hidden messages) but what if you encode the data into some other binary object - like an image perhaps?.