Blog Post : Creating Complex InfoPath Controls in C#

[Bob Mixon]

Greetings all,

I read the post titled "Creating Complex InfoPath Controls in C#" on the
InfoPath blog today and have a question. Since the approach is to create
an ActiveX control, will this work when deploying the same form to a browser
using Form Services?

Bob Mixon [SPS MVP]
http://www.BobMixon.com

[Oli]

"Bob Mixon" wrote:
> I read the post titled "Creating Complex InfoPath Controls in C#" on the
> InfoPath blog today and have a question. Since the approach is to create
> an ActiveX control, will this work when deploying the same form to a browser
> using Form Services?

Ping!

Yet another way to formulate the question (for the benefit of those
searching the web/forums using different terms): is there an interface we can
implement to render a complex InfoPath control as HTML? (such as WebControl's
Render method)

[Oli]

FYI, we now have an answer from Alex (Weinstein?) on the InfoPath blog:

"""
I'm sorry, there really is absolutely no way to do this. (...) There aren't
any interfaces you could implement. No ActiveX or other custom control will
work in a browser form, period. This is currently a by-design restriction; we
are carefully considering improving this in v.Next.
(...)
However, there's a workaround: host a browser-enabled InfoPath form in a
custom ASPX page by using the XmlFormView control, and place your custom
control into that hosting page. Then, configure events between the form and
the hosting page appropriately.
"""
Source:
http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2007/02/28/using-the-contact-selector-control.aspx#comments

Here's to hoping we can augment InfoPath Form Server in "Office 2011" (or
whenever v.Next will be) and that this information helps others wanting to do
the same.

Cheers,
- Oli