What are the alternatives to the InfoPath XML Editor?
We will consider giving our non-technical users the ability to edit XML and pass it on to existing XML input functions. I remembered that InfoPath had saved its data in XML and looked at it again. This is great as it allows you to define an XSD (XML Schema) based form and then let the user edit the XML without knowing that it is an XML file. The resulting XML validates perfectly due to InfoPath input restrictions.
One problem is that we cannot assume that our user base will contain MS InfoPath.
Is there another way to automatically create a form that allows the user to easily edit the XML?
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You can post the form to Sharepoint. InfoPath Forms Services is a server-side technology based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as an ASP.NET version 2.0 application. It enables users to fill out Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 forms using a web browser instead of or in addition to the Office InfoPath 2007 client program
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms540731.aspx
Of course, there is another way to create an XML-based custom form in any technology and render the form to users.
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Two more suggestions (I don't know what users / environments you are developing for):
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Use Word 2007 with Content Controls as your form editor. The data entered into the content controls is stored in a separate XML file inside the DOCX document, which is just a ZIP archive.
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Adobe Forms. Adobe Reader users can fill out and submit PDF forms. Reader can send or save data as XML (using a special schema).
Unlike InfoPath, both of these clients are widespread and familiar to many users, but of course your decision will depend on my other factors. So please take this as just two suggestions.
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