| Back in 2009, I ran a project to convert a bunch of paper forms into InfoPath for online forms. After a few months we gave up on InfoPath: - We still had to have paper forms for legally required forms in case someone didn’t have a computer, etc. so then we needed a regular printable PDF. InfoPath native forms had issues with printing. - The InfoPath-PDF integration was not very good and not usable for my production. - The data on the other end went into bizarre formats and thus needed a job to convert it to the format we needed (and take action). In the end this solution was deployed, and shockingly is still online and in production in 15 years later: - A graphic designer (often an intern) took the original paper forms or fillable PDFs and made basic HTML forms with them. - jQuery used for user friendly form validation. - These forms were integrated with an SSO to allow e-signing. - “Print” and “Submit” buttons on the form invoked a Perl script which (1) transformed the HTML form to having the content filled in, (2) ran headless Firefox and print-to-PDF to archive the form for legal purposes, (3) stored the form values in the native database, and (4) fired off a stored procedure based on the form name. In effect, the same things InfoPath was supposed to do, but it didn’t need a dedicated administrator or complex integrations. |