Web browser compatibility in InfoPath Forms Services
Author: mety Labels:: Web browser compatibility in InfoPath Forms ServicesInfoPath Forms Services is a server technology that allows users to fill out Microsoft Office InfoPath forms by using a Web browser. Users don't need InfoPath installed on their computers to fill out an InfoPath form, nor are they required to download anything extra from the Web. All users need is access to a browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, or Firefox. Web browsers that are compatible with InfoPath Forms Services = Full support  = Partial support  = No supportNote If a specific browser version is not listed in the following table, it is not supported. For example, there is no support for older browsers, including Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 5.5.x, Internet Explorer for Macintosh, and versions of third-party browsers that are earlier than the ones that are listed in the following table. Although it is possible that browser-enabled forms may function correctly in these browsers, browser-enabled forms have been tested only with the browser versions that are listed in the following table. The following table shows the specific browsers that are compatible with InfoPath Forms Services.
InfoPath features that are supported in InfoPath Forms ServicesMost InfoPath controls and features work identically regardless of whether users are filling out a form in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or any other supported browser. However, the same form may appear differently in different browsers. These visual differences can be attributed to the way that the various browsers support Web technologies, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), cascading style sheets (cascading style sheets (CSS): Declarations, either embedded in a Web page or stored in a separate .css file that is linked to a Web page, that specify the appearance of particular HTML elements.) (CSS), and JavaScript (JavaScript: A scripting language that can be used to add functionality to a Web page or a Web site, or to enhance the look of one. JavaScript scripts can run on any type of client or server computer.).In addition, there are some controls and features that are fully supported only in browsers that support Microsoft ActiveX (ActiveX: A set of technologies that enables software components to interact with one another in a networked environment, regardless of the language in which the components were created.) technologies, such as Internet Explorer 6.0 or Internet Explorer 7.0. In other browsers, these features may behave differently or have limited functionality. Support for form controlsYou can use the following table to determine whether a particular InfoPath control is supported by InfoPath Forms Services.In some cases, even if the control is supported by InfoPath Forms Services, it may not work the same way in all browsers. For example, you can use rich text boxes in browser-compatible form templates. However, users only see the full range of rich text formatting options when they fill out the form in Internet Explorer. Similarly, when users view a form in a mobile device browser, some controls appear differently than they do in a desktop browser, and some controls are ignored completely. For example, although you can use a file attachment control in a browser-compatible form template, this control will not appear when the form is viewed in a mobile device browser. For more information about optimizing form templates for use on mobile devices, refer to the See Also links at the top of this article. = Full support = Partial support = No support
2You cannot enable embedded pictures or specify partial rich-text formatting options for rich text box controls in a browser-compatible form template. Also, the full range of rich text formatting options are available only in supported versions of Internet Explorer. It is possible for users to edit text in a rich text box in any supported browser, but formatting options are unavailable, including changing the text color and applying character formatting. Support for business logic featuresYou can use business-logic features in your form template to help prevent data-entry errors and to automate actions in the user's form. When you use InfoPath features like data validation (data validation: The process of testing the accuracy of data; a set of rules you can apply to a control to specify the type and range of data that users can enter.), conditional formatting (conditional formatting: The process of changing the appearance of a control, including its visibility and read-write state, based on values entered into the form.), and rules (rule: A condition or action, or a set of conditions or actions, that automatically performs tasks based on events and values in the form.), you can define conditions and actions that automatically perform tasks that are based on events, such as the opening or closing of a form, or on values that are entered into your form template.The following table shows the level to which specific InfoPath business logic features are supported by compatible browsers. = Full support = Partial support = No support
2In mobile device browsers, some conditional formatting features are supported, such as hiding controls based on conditions that occur in the form. However, it isn't possible to use conditional formatting to alter the appearance of a control based on conditions in the form. For example, you can't use conditional formatting to change the color of text in a control. Support for security-related featuresThe following table shows the level to which specific InfoPath security features are supported by compatible browsers. = Full support = Partial support = No support
Support for data connectionsA data connection is a dynamic link between a form and a data source (data source: The collection of fields and groups that define and store the data for an InfoPath form. Controls in the form are bound to the fields and groups in the data source.) that stores or provides data for that form.The following table shows the level to which InfoPath data connections are supported in browser-enabled form templates. = Full support = Partial support = No support
= Full support = Partial support = No support
2 You cannot configure the submit data connection in a browser-compatible form template to allow users to submit change information along with their form data to a Web service that accepts a Microsoft ADO.NET DataSet. Change information consists of the modifications that a user makes to the data stored in a database. The database uses a Web service to connect users to the database. ADO.NET can use change information to determine how to update the data in the database. Support for form-filling featuresThe following table shows the level to which InfoPath features that are related to filling out forms are supported by compatible browsers. = Full support = Partial support = No support
2In browsers other than Internet Explorer, the AutoComplete feature is unavailable, even if the Enable AutoComplete check box is selected for the control. Support for view-related featuresThe following table shows the level to which InfoPath view-related features are supported by compatible browsers. = Full support = Partial support = No support
2The Print Multiple Views functionality is not supported in browser-enabled form templates. You can publish a form template to InfoPath Forms Services without changing any options in the Print Multiple Views dialog box. However, when users print the form, the Web browser uses a read-only view of the current view for printing purposes rather than printing multiple views. Support for programming featuresDevelopers can use the InfoPath managed code object model to create custom business logic in browser-compatible form templates. When deployed to a server running InfoPath Forms Services, this business logic runs in both a browser and in InfoPath. The following table shows the level to which InfoPath programming features are supported by compatible browsers. = Full support = Partial support = No support
2Any code that is written in VBScript, JScript, or the InfoPath 2003-compatible object model provided by members of the Microsoft.Office.Interop.InfoPath.SemiTrust namespace is not supported on the server. |
