Workflow to capture data and input onto InfoPath form

[heidifulcher]

I am new to InfoPath and am using it with SharePoint Designer 2007 to
try and develop a form and approval process that will be accessible to
users through a SharePoint site. I'm not a programmer, more of an
enthusiastic novice, but I'm having a hard time muddling through on
this task.

Our form will be used to provide information on a project and request
approval to proceed. I'm developing the workflow in SharePoint
Designer to route the approval request in a four-stage sequential
approval flow. I want to be able to capture data from each of the
approvers on fields on the InfoPath form itself (essentially a check-
box for approval and a date).

The tutorials and examples I've seen all seem to indicate that data
can be captured into a list webpart on the SharePoint site. Is it
possible to have the approver's data captured on the InfoPath form? Or
is there a way to link the approval from the list webpart back to the
form? Or should I just use the workflow to prompt the approver to go
to the form, where they can enter their data and save the form
themselves? (I assume then I have to have the next stage of workflow
set to trigger when the first approver has done this.)

If anyone can point me to explanations, examples or turorials that
will help me accomplish this arrangement, or can offer any advice on
the best approach to do this, I would be very grateful!

 

[bobkay]

I am similarly new to Infopath/Workflows, but I think I have got a bit
further down the track.

The link between the Infopath form and the Sharepoint document/workflow is
the "Data connection" set up before you publish the form. This enables you to
map form fields to Sharepoint columns. If you search the usual areas for
this, you will find some useful tutorials.

However, can I add a supplementary?

I have mapped my Infopath fields to Sharepoint columns, and field values are
passed in both directions. But there is a problem - if there is more than one
document in the list, it reurns ALL the values to a "repeated" field on the
form. If I force the field to be "non-repeating", it returns the value from
the FIRST document in the list, not the current one.

How can I get it to return the correct value appropriate to the current item
I am working on, and only that value?