Add a Data Connection to SharePoint List or Library in InfoPath Form Template

This article will help you bind the SP list or library in InfoPath. Below article contains only few basic steps which will help you to display the sp fields in InfoPath Form template.

Friends, you may be knowing that InfoPath offers 2 type of Data Source: Main & Secondary Data Source.
The Main data source of a form contains the data that you want to permanently store when you save the form. If you want data to be present in a form after you save, close, and re-open the form, you have to store this data in the Main data source of the form. It is automatically created when you create an InfoPath form.

A secondary data source is a temporary storage location for data that is external to the form. Such data typically lives outside the form in databases, XML files, SharePoint lists or libraries, or can be retrieved from web services.

So friends, now it's clear that when we need to show SP List fields in our designed InfoPath Form, then we have to use SP List/library as Secondary Data Source. To achieve the same follow below steps:-

1. In SharePoint, create a list or library that you can use.
   
2. Open InfoPath and-> create a new Blank InfoPath form template.
   
3. On the Tools menu,->click Data Connections.
   
4. On the Data Connections dialog box,-> click Add.
   
5. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box -> select Create a new connection to->select Receive data and then-> click Next.
   
6. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box -> select SharePoint list or library, and ->click Next.
   
7. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box, type in the URL to the SharePoint list or library you want to use, -> click Next.
   
8. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box, if the SharePoint list or library is not already selected, select the list or library you want to connect to -> click Next.
   
9. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box ->select the fields you want the data source to contain, and -> click Next.
   
10. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box -> click Next.
    
11. On the Data Connection Wizard dialog box, type in a name for the data connection or accept the default name, and ->click Finish.
    
12. On the Data Connections dialog box->click Close.

After adding of Data Connection to the SharePoint list or library, the form template will contain a secondary data source. Now you can see the Secondary data source from Data source drop-down list. You can view by clicking View and then Data Connection.

Now you can use the secondary data source to the SharePoint list or library on the form template by binding controls to Form Template or by Programming language.