New and improved controls
The Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Service Pack includes new controls for collecting data and improves the things that you can do with existing controls.
Master/Detail control This control allows users to efficiently work with large amounts of data. For example, in an employee information form, a master control can display employee names and job titles, and a detail control can display employee locations, hire dates, emergency contact names, and other details.
File attachment control This control allows users to attach files to a form they are filling out.
ActiveX control This control type, based on Microsoft ActiveX technologies, allows form designers to insert an ActiveX control into their forms, such as a Microsoft Windows slider control or a custom control designed specifically for InfoPath.
Choice group This control lets users replace one option with another option when they are filling out a form. For example, users can replace a default shipping address with an alternate address.
Scrolling region This control allows users to scroll through text inside fields on their form. Scrolling regions are a good space-saving option when you have a lot of data to display in a form.
Repeating recursive section This control can be inserted within itself, is bound to nested reference fields, and repeats. This is useful when you want to create hierarchical content, such as an organization chart or outline.
Vertical label This control allows you to add text that appears at a 90-degree angle in the form, such as a vertical column heading.
Control enhancements In addition to providing new types of controls, the service pack improves the way you work with existing controls. Among other things, you can now:
- Edit the properties of multiple controls simultaneously.
- Align the text in a control with the surrounding text.
- Limit the number of characters or enable paragraph breaks in text boxes.
- Use values from the form to populate list boxes. For example, the names in a list box can come directly from a list of employees in a repeating table in the same form. If an additional employee is added to the table, the list box automatically updates to reflect the addition.