How to: Open or Convert a Form Template Created with the InfoPath Toolkit

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Applies to: InfoPath 2010 | InfoPath Forms Services | Office 2010 | SharePoint Server 2010 | Visual Studio | Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office

If you created an InfoPath 2003 managed code form template using one of the InfoPath 2003 Toolkits for Visual Studio and want to maintain compatibility with InfoPath 2003, you can continue to work on and further develop your form template project by opening it in Microsoft InfoPath 2010 and Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications.

Alternatively, you can migrate and upgrade the code in your InfoPath 2003 project to use the new .NET object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace. When doing so, all of your code will need to be re-written to use members of the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace, but all of the code from your previous project is retained and surrounded by #if InfoPathManagedObjectModel and #endif (C#) or #If InfoPathManagedObject Model and #End If (Visual Basic) statements for your reference.

The following procedures describe how to open a managed code form template created by using the InfoPath Toolkit and maintain compatibility with InfoPath 2003 or migrate and upgrade to the new InfoPath object model.

Open a managed code form template created with the InfoPath Toolkit and maintain compatibility with InfoPath 2003 using Visual Studio Tools for Applications

  1. Open the InfoPath Designer, and then click Open on the File tab.

  2. In the Open in Design Mode dialog box, navigate to the project folder where the InfoPath Toolkit form template project is saved.

    By default, this will be a folder in C:\Users\username\Documents\Visual Studio Projects on the computer where the project was created. Or, you can move the folder to the location where InfoPath stores Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications projects, which by default is C:\Users\username\Documents\InfoPath Projects

  3. Click the file that is named manifest.xsf, and then click Open.

  4. On the Developer tab, click Code Editor.

  5. The message "This form template must be saved before you can add Visual Basic or C# code to it" is displayed. Click OK to continue.

  6. Navigate to the location where you want to save the file, name the file, and then click Save.

  7. The message "This code was created with one of the InfoPath 2003 Toolkits for Microsoft Visual Studio. InfoPath needs to migrate the toolkit project to a new format" is displayed. Click OK to continue.

  8. Select the Visual Studio Solution (.sln) file for the project, and then click Open.

  9. The message "Your project has been migrated" is displayed when the migration process is complete. Click OK to continue.

  10. The message "The code in this form uses the InfoPath 2003 object model" is displayed with the prompt "Do you want to upgrade your code to use the Microsoft Office InfoPath object model?" Click No to retain compatibility with InfoPath 2003 and to continue working with the object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.Interop.InfoPath.SemiTrust namespace.

    For information about how to work with managed code form templates that are compatible with InfoPath 2003, see Developing Form Templates Using the InfoPath 2003 Object Model.

Open a managed code form template created with the InfoPath Toolkit and upgrade it to use the new InfoPath object model using Visual Studio Tools for Applications

  1. Open the InfoPath Designer, and then click Open on the File tab.

  2. Under Open a form template, click On My Computer.

  3. In the Open in Design Mode dialog box, navigate to the project folder where the InfoPath Toolkit form template project is saved.

    By default this will be a folder in C:\Users\username\Documents\Visual Studio Projects on the computer where the project was created. Or, you can move the folder to the location where InfoPath stores Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications projects, which by default is C:\Users\username\Documents\InfoPath Projects

  4. Click the file that is named manifest.xsf, and then click Open.

  5. On the Developer tab, click Code Editor.

  6. The message "This form template must be saved before you can add Visual Basic or C# code to it" is displayed. Click OK to continue.

  7. Navigate to the location where you want to save the file, name the file, and then click Save.

  8. The message "This code was created with one of the InfoPath 2003 Toolkits for Microsoft Visual Studio. InfoPath needs to migrate the toolkit project to a new format" is displayed. Click OK to continue.

  9. Select the Visual Studio Solution (.sln) file for the project, and then click Open.

  10. The message "Your project has been migrated" is displayed when the migration process is complete. Click OK to continue.

  11. The message "The code in this form uses the InfoPath 2003 object model" is displayed with the prompt "Do you want to upgrade your code to use the Microsoft Office InfoPath object model?" Click Yes to upgrade the form template to use the new managed code object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace.

    Your form code is opened in the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications code editor with all of the code from your previous project surrounded by #ifInfoPathManagedObjectModel and #endif (C#) or #If InfoPathManagedObjectModel and #End If (Visual Basic) statements for your reference. All of this code will have to be re-written to use members of the object model provided by the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath namespace.

    For information about how to work with managed code form templates that use the new InfoPath managed code object model, see Developing InfoPath Form Templates with Code.