The document discusses the history and future of forms solutions in SharePoint. It describes how Forms on SharePoint Lists (FoSL) was originally planned as a replacement for InfoPath but was later cancelled. InfoPath support will continue through SharePoint 2016 but may end after 2017. The document also summarizes various options for building forms today like Excel, Access apps, custom code, third party tools, and the future plans around a new "Forms vNext" solution in Office 365.

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June 17th and 18th 2015
WWW.SPBIZCONF.COM
The latest insights on
SharePoint Form Solutions

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Maarten Visser
Email : mvisser@meetroo.com
Twitter : @mvisser
Web: maartenvisser.com
FORMS BIO
• Outlook/Exchange Forms in 1999
• SharePoint Forms using SP2001
• InfoPath Forms (Service) in 2007
• Third party tools
o365apps.com
Product Manager
Information Management
Collaboration and Workflow

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Form Solutions

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SharePoint Form solutionsForm Solutions

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The SharePoint Story
15 years ago Microsoft gave us List Forms

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• Patent June 2000 (XSLT gen)
• InfoPath released in 2003
– Multiple data sources
– Offline use
• New InfoPath versions in 2007, 2010, 2013
• Microsoft announced that InfoPath was
discontinued on January 31, 2014
The InfoPath Soap

8. Online Conference
June 17th and 18th 2015

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The next day

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June 17th and 18th 2015

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Forms Roadmap at SPC14

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FoSL (Forms on SharePoint Lists )

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FoSL (Forms on SharePoint Lists )
The ability to Edit Forms directly in the browser

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FoSL (Forms on SharePoint Lists )
Drag and Drop

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FoSL Roadmap at SPC14
Identified features and estimated timelines

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Forward to February 2015….
InfoPath support confirmed for SharePoint 2016
Office client & InfoPath Services support were
(again) confirmed until 2023

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And a couple of days later…
Vlad Catrinescu makes a discovery on the
Office 365 roadmap page: FoSL is dead!

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June 17th and 18th 2015

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Forms on SharePoint Lists (FoSL) was a set of functionality to allow users to customize the
look and feel of a SharePoint list. The prototype was created and demonstrated at the
SharePoint conference several years ago. The hope was that it was low hanging fruit, and
an easy "win" for getting users some basic functionality as a replacement to InfoPath in
regards to customizing the look and feel of SharePoint forms. However, it didn't
accomplish all the things they had hoped it would. We started thinking about an
overall forms strategy, and realized FoSL didn't really fit into the big picture, either.
Summary written by Becky Bertram
Summary of AME with Sonya Koptyev

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Summary
The original plan for FoSL is killed
Infopath is Alive!
Forms Services will be maintained in
SharePoint Online at least 12-18 months
after the release of SharePoint 2016.
So the InfoPath story for Office 365 might
end after 2017…

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Form solutions

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How can we build Form Solutions today?
Excel Online Services
Access Apps Forms
Build Custom forms
Use Open Source Solution
Buy a Third Party Solution

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Excel Online Services
Pros
Everybody knows Excel
Data can be manipulated easily
Cons
Only useful for very basic forms
No design options
Not mobile friendly

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Access Apps Forms
Pros
Can handle relational data (SQL Server / SQL Azure)
Easy-to-use and build
Powerful!
Cons
Limited design options
Not built for single lists or tables
No way to do workflow (linked list is read only)

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Custom forms in SharePoint
Pros
Very extensible and reusable
You can pick the technology you like
Cons
You need to be a developer
Like any custom code solution, there is maintenance
Jslink
SPServices

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OpenSource: Forms7 (CodePlex)
Spbiz Session

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• Nintex Forms
• K2 SmartForms
• Formotus
• KwizCom Forms
• Infowise Ultimate Forms
• Dell Quick Apps
• PDF ShareForms
• SPForm
Third party solutions

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Forms For Everyone On Any
Device
Quick and Easy
Forms Design
Seamless Workflow
Integration
Access Anywhere,
Anytime

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• Run your InfoPath forms in Formotus
apps
– Business logic, data validation, conditional formatting, multiple views
– Data connections to SharePoint, Web Services, email (XML, HTML, PDF)
– Rich custom controls (GPS, camera, touch screen ink)
– Integrated Formotus workflows for dispatch and job assignments
• Optimized for offline form filling on all
tablet devices (Windows 8, iOS, Android)
• Design forms using InfoPath Designer and
Formotus cloud console
– Formotus will always support InfoPath Designer forms
– Gradually moving more design features to the cloud console
– Eventually InfoPath Designer will not be needed

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Use a Third Party App
Pros
No knowledge of HTML or JavaScript needed to build forms
Most solutions work well on mobile devices
Cons
A third party tool will require licenses
Can be difficult to reuse / migrate

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SharePoint Store Apps

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Please fill in my session feedback form available
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Demo

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Soon a review of all Form Apps in the SharePoint store on o365apps.com
Apps Reviews
www.o365apps.com

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Form solutions

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Office 365 Roadmap
The office roadmap said:
"The ability to create custom SharePoint List forms is an
important scenario. We are refining our plans in this space
as part of a more comprehensive set of forms
investments. We will update the roadmap when we have
more information to share.“

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What I learned at Ignite
The ‘Forms Session’ was te only session scraped from the
Ignite conference.
Team is working on something but where not yet ready to
launch (missed (Q3/Spring) Release deadline.
When the solution is there, tools will be supplied to migrate
from InfoPath to the new ‘Forms vNext’.

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Mark Kashman- SharePoint UNPLUGGED!
Link to the Slidedeck (Sway) of this session

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Any news from the team?

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So, from here it’s just my intuition…

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InfoPath 2013 update
I’m expecting a new InfoPath setup file will become
available on Microsoft download when Office 2016
goes RTM (to run it besides Office 2016).

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SharePoint Forms vNext
• It’s coming…
– First in Office 365 (O365 Q4 ‘2015 Summer’ release)
– Maybe launched during WPC
• It will probably be bigger then ‘just SharePoint Lists’
– Think NextGen Portals

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What technology will it use?
A single page app in the new “/portals/hub” Site Collection
Form data stored as a JSON file.

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That was it!

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Thanks for watching

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Please fill in my session feedback form available
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on my session window.
Email : mvisser@meetroo.com
Twitter : @mvisser
Q&A