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Configure InfoPath Forms Services (SharePoint Server 2010)

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Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010

InfoPath Forms Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 gives you the ability to deploy your organization's forms to Microsoft SharePoint Server and enable users to fill out these forms by using a Web browser. There are many ways you can configure InfoPath Forms Services depending on the needs of your organization.

This article includes configuration settings that apply only to user form templates. User form templates are form templates that are not deployed by an administrator. User form templates do not require full trust and do not contain code or other business logic that requires it to be published to the Central Administration site. Form designers can publish user form templates to a list or a form library in a site collection. Because user form templates can be deployed by many users, a server can potentially host thousands of user form templates. Even form templates that contain no business logic can cumulatively put a heavy load on the server.

Note

For more information about capacity management for InfoPath solutions, you can download the SharePoint Server 2010 Capacity Management for InfoPath Solutions whitepaper from the Microsoft Download Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=191156).

Note

User form templates that contain code can be published by site collection administrations to form libraries as sandboxed solutions. For more information about sandboxed solutions, see Sandboxed solutions overview (SharePoint Server 2010). Form templates that require full trust or use a data connection that is managed by an administrator must be deployed by an administrator. For more information about administrator-approved form templates, see Manage administrator-approved form templates (SharePoint Server 2010).

In this article:

  • Configure browser-enabled user form templates

  • Configure authentication and data connection settings for InfoPath Forms Services

  • Configure user session settings for InfoPath Forms Services

Configure browser-enabled user form templates

When form templates are published to a server that is running InfoPath Forms Services, the designer of the form template can choose to make the form template browser-enabled. This enables a user to fill out the form by using a Web browser.

Administrators can configure the following settings for browser-enabled user form templates:

  • Enable or disable publishing of browser-enabled user form templates. If you disable publishing of browser-enabled user form templates, form designers can only publish form templates that are not browser-enabled. In this case, all browser-compatible features are disabled in the form template.

  • Enable or disable rendering of browser-enabled user form templates. If you disable rendering of browser-enabled user form templates, users cannot use a Web browser to fill out the browser-enabled form and must use Microsoft InfoPath Filler 2010 to open the form.

By default, browser-enabled user form templates can be published and rendered.

To configure browser-enabled user form templates by using Central Administration

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.

  2. On the Quick Launch of the Central Administration Web site, click General Application Settings.

  3. On the General Application Settings page, in the InfoPath Forms Services section, click Configure InfoPath Form Services.

  4. On the Configure InfoPath Forms Services page, in the User Browser-enabled Form Templates section, you can choose settings that determine how user form templates are processed by InfoPath Forms Services.

    Note

    These settings apply only to form templates published to form libraries. Workflow form templates and list forms are not affected.

    1. Select the Allow users to browser-enable form templates check box to allow users to publish browser-enabled form templates.

      Note

      Clearing this check box disables browser-enabled form templates across the entire server farm.

    2. Select the Render form templates that are browser-enabled by users check box to allow browser-enabled form templates that users publish to be rendered in a Web browser.

      Note

      If this option is not selected, users can still publish browser-compatible form templates to form libraries, but these form templates cannot be filled out by using a Web browser.

  5. Click OK to save the settings.

  6. Configure any other settings for InfoPath Forms Services that affect browser-enabled forms, including settings for HTTP data connections. For information about other settings, see the other procedures in this article.

To configure browser-enabled user form templates by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command:

    Set-SPInfoPathFormsService -AllowUserFormBrowserEnabling <BrowserEnablingSetting> -AllowUserFormBrowserRendering <BrowserRenderingSetting>

    Where:

    • <BrowserEnablingSetting> is a Boolean value that specifies whether to allow users to publish browser-enabled form templates. True to allow users to publish browser-enabled form templates; otherwise, False.

    • <BrowserRenderingSetting> is a Boolean value that specifies whether to allow browser-enabled user form templates to be rendered in a Web browser. True to allow browser-enabled user form templates to be rendered; otherwise, False.

    Note

    These settings apply only to form templates published to form libraries. Workflow form templates and list forms are not affected.

For more information, see Set-SPInfoPathFormsService.

Configure authentication and data connection settings for InfoPath Forms Services

Administrators can configure the following settings for authentication and data connections:

  • Enable or disable user form templates to use authentication information in data connection files.

    Form templates make data connections by using the default authentication methods and authorization settings for the user account in Windows. Form templates can use data connection (.udcx) files to specify data connection options for forms. This can include alternative authentication information such as a Secure Store Service application ID. By default, user form templates cannot use authentication information in data connection files. You can choose to allow user form templates to use the authentication information in the data connection files.

    Note

    You can also use the InfoPath Forms Services Web service proxy to authenticate requests for forms data across servers and domains. For more information, see Configure Web service proxy for InfoPath Forms Services (SharePoint Server 2010).

  • Enable or disable cross-domain access for user form templates.

    User form templates can contain data connections that access data from sources outside the current site collection. You can choose to allow user form templates to perform cross-domain data access. By default, this behavior is disabled.

  • Specify data connection time-out length and maximum data connection response size.

To configure authentication and data connection settings for InfoPath Forms Services by using Central Administration

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.

  2. On the Quick Launch of the Central Administration Web site, click General Application Settings.

  3. On the General Application Settings page, in the InfoPath Forms Services section, click Configure InfoPath Form Services.

  4. On the Configure InfoPath Forms Services page, in the Data Connection Timeouts section, specify default and maximum time-outs for data connections from a browser-enabled form.

    The connection time-out can be changed by code in the form template, but it will never exceed the maximum time-out specified.

    1. In the Default data connection timeout box, type the time in milliseconds that will elapse before a data connection times out.

      The default time-out is 10,000 milliseconds. You can override this setting with code within a form template that specifies the data connection time-out value.

    2. In the Maximum data connection timeout box, type the maximum time in milliseconds that will elapse before a data connection times out.

      The default time-out is 20,000 milliseconds. This is an absolute setting, and it overrides all data connection time-out values that are specified within form template code that exceed 20,000 milliseconds.

  5. In the Data Connection Response Size section, type a value in kilobytes in the box to specify the maximum size of responses that data connections are allowed to process.

    Data connection responses that exceed this value will generate an error message.

  6. In the HTTP data connections section, select the Require SSL for HTTP authentication to data sources check box to require an SSL-encrypted connection for data connections that use Basic authentication or Digest authentication.

    You must have correctly configured Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for this setting to function.

  7. In the Embedded SQL Authentication section, select the Allow embedded SQL authentication check box to allow forms to use embedded SQL Server credentials.

    securitySecurity Note
    Forms that connect to databases can embed SQL Server user name and password data in the connection string. The connection string can be read in plaintext in the data connection file that is associated with the solution or in the solution manifest.

  8. In the Authentication to data sources (user form templates) section, select the Allow user form templates to use authentication information contained in data connection files check box to allow user form templates to use embedded authentication information, such as a Microsoft Secure Store application ID.

  9. In the Cross-Domain Access for User Form Templates section, select the Allow cross-domain data access for user form templates that use connection settings in a data connection file check box to allow user form templates to access data from another domain.

  10. Click OK to save the settings.

To configure authentication settings for InfoPath Forms Services by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. To enable user form templates to use authentication information that is stored in a data connection file and to access data from another domain, type the following command:

    Set-SPInfoPathFormsService -AllowUdcAuthenticationForDataConnections $true -AllowUserFormCrossDomainDataConnections $true

The previous procedure shows one way to use the Set-SPInfoPathFormsService cmdlet. You can provide additional arguments to the cmdlet to configure other settings. For more information about the Set-SPInfoPathFormsService cmdlet, see Set-SPInfoPathFormsService.

Configure user session settings for InfoPath Forms Services

InfoPath Forms Services uses the SharePoint Server State Service to store the transient data that is generated while a form is being filled out. As a result, front-end Web servers can remain stateless between round trips, and user session data does not have to be sent repeatedly and consume unnecessary bandwidth.

You can configure user session settings including session postback thresholds, time-outs, and session size for InfoPath Forms Services across the server farm. If any of the thresholds are exceeded, the user's session is terminated, which results in the loss of all form data, and an error is entered in the event log for the server. The error message that is shown to the user is "session has exceeded the amount of allowable resources."

The default parameters work for most scenarios. If you change the default settings, verify that form-filling sessions are working correctly.

Configure session state for InfoPath Forms Services

Farm administrators can use the following procedures to configure session state.

To configure session state for InfoPath Forms Services by using Central Administration

  1. Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group.

  2. On the Quick Launch of the Central Administration Web site, click General Application Settings.

  3. On the General Application Settings page, in the InfoPath Forms Services section, click Configure InfoPath Form Services.

  4. On the Configure InfoPath Forms Services page, in the Thresholds section, specify the thresholds at which to end user sessions and log error messages.

    The form operations that exceed these thresholds terminate the user session, lose all form data that was entered during the session, and generate an error message.

    1. In the Number of postbacks per session box, type the maximum number of postbacks you want to allow. The default value is 75.

    2. In the Number of actions per postback box, type the maximum number of actions per postback you want to allow. The default value is 200.

  5. In the User Sessions section, configure the following parameters:

    1. In the Active sessions should be terminated after box, type the maximum session duration in minutes.

      Form-filling sessions that are longer than this limit are ended, generate an error message, and lose all form data that was entered during the session. The default value is 1,440 minutes.

    2. In the Maximum size of user session data box, type the maximum session state size in kilobytes.

      Form-filling sessions that are longer than this limit are ended, generate an error message, and lose all form data that was entered during the session. The default value is 4,096 kilobytes.

      The State Service stores data that is required to maintain a user session. File attachment data in the form will receive an additional 50 percent of state size.

  6. Click OK to save the settings.

To configure session state for InfoPath Forms Services by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. To change the active session timeout, type the following command:

    Set-SPInfoPathFormsService -ActiveSessionTimeout <TimeoutValue>

    Where <TimeoutValue> is the maximum session duration in minutes that a form's session state can remain active. The default value is 1440.

The previous procedure shows one way to use the Set-SPInfoPathFormsService cmdlet. You can provide additional arguments to the cmdlet to configure other settings. For more information about the Set-SPInfoPathFormsService cmdlet, see Set-SPInfoPathFormsService.

Session state versus Form view

You can configure InfoPath Forms Services to use the State Service (the default option) or use Form view (ASP.NET view state). When you configure InfoPath Forms Services to use the State Service, all browser sessions are maintained on the State Service database, which uses little network bandwidth between the Web server and the user, but uses more bandwidth between the Web server and the database server. When you are using Form view, sessions are maintained on the client browser, and all session data is included in each postback to the server, up to 40 KB of session data. This approach uses more bandwidth than using session state does, but it does not affect the performance of the database server. When session data in Form view reaches a size of 40 KB, the session automatically changes to the State Service.

Form view works better in environments that have smaller groups of users, because it reduces the load on the database server. If the InfoPath Forms Services deployment will have many users, especially if session data is less than 40 KB for many high-usage form templates, using the State Service is likely a better choice. When you use Form view, the bandwidth that is used by browser sessions of 40 KB or less can be monitored if you are concerned that network performance might be adversely affected.

Note

The view state setting not accessible in the user interface. You must use Windows PowerShell to change this setting.

To enable Form view by using Windows PowerShell

  1. Verify that you meet the following minimum requirements: See Add-SPShellAdmin.

  2. On the Start menu, click All Programs.

  3. Click Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.

  4. Click SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

  5. To enable Form view and to specify the maximum size in kilobytes of the session state, type the following command:

    Set-SPInfoPathFormsService -AllowViewState $true -ViewStateThreshold 40961

For more information, see Set-SPInfoPathFormsService.

See Also

Concepts

InfoPath Services cmdlets (SharePoint Server 2010)
InfoPath forms administration (SharePoint Server 2010)

Other Resources

Resource Center: Workflows in SharePoint Server 2010