You have several options for dealing with forms requirements on the SharePoint Platform.
For WSS 3.0 only platforms, you have the following options:
- InfoPath supported Document Libraries
- SharePoint Lists (including Survey List template) and default list views
- SharePoint lists and the Data Form
- Custom ASP.Net solution
MOSS Standard has all the capabilities of WSS and nothing more :-(
MOSS Enterprise or MOSS for Internet licensed users has the additional ability to allow filling in and rendering of InfoPath forms via HTML (see the demo on the right).
A full list of InfoPath resources on this site can be found here...
There are key technical and business considerations that have to be assesed when deciding on a forms solution:
- How much data will be collect (tens of thousands of items will not be good for storing in SharePoint)
- Security/privacy of the data being collected and stored
- Data Entry validation requirements
InfoPath Document Library features and InfoPath client:
Good
- Rich UI with spelling and field validation
- Data can be selected from multiple sources
Bad
- Can't be used by anonymous users
- Client must be deployed for data entry (some form rendering possible with Data View web part or 3rd party solution)
- InfoPath client must be deployed to desktops (or use SoftGrid)
SharePoint Lists:
This is probably the first option you should consider as it comes out-of-the-box. This is a good solution if:
- Only a few thousand items will be collected.
- You are happy exporting the data to Excel/Access for analysis/reporting.
- SharePoint Security is adequit for the data. e.g. List item security
Data Form Web Part:
An example of thsi is my feedback for on this site which can be seen here...
Custom ASP.Net Solution: