Raymond Mitchell » InfoPath 2003 & 2007, .XSN open actions
InfoPath 2003 & 2007, .XSN open actions

I love that I can have InfoPath 2003 and 2007 installed concurrently... it makes it so much easier to identify new features and discover differences in the products.  One downside, however, is when I come across a .xsn file that I want to open in InfoPath 2003.  When Office 2007 installs, it overwrites your file mappings for .xsn files to point to InfoPath 2007.  So, if you want to open a form in Design mode, using InfoPath 2003, you’d have to actually open the application, switch to design view, open from your computer, browse for the file...   Obviously 3 more steps than I’d like to take.


To fix this, I added an additional file mapping to allow me to open .xsn files in InfoPath 2003.  To start, open up an explorer window and go to Tools --> Folder options.


Locate the .xsn file extension and choose Advanced.

Choose New to create a new file extension mapping.


Give it a name and add in the additional options (copied from the InfoPath 2007 design option).  Save your changes and find a .xsn to right-click:

Posted 07-03-2006 7:30 AM by Raymond Mitchell
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Comments

David Cooper wrote re: InfoPath 2003 & 2007, .XSN open actions
on 12-13-2006 1:39 PM
According to a support person with Microsoft, having both versions installed on the system is a no no if you have any managed code within your InfoPath form and they will not support it. Having both versions installed on the same system will prevent a developer from creating any managed code InfoPath 2003 forms or perhaps even rendering them in InfoPath 2003. Just try it if you're not a believer.

When you have both versions installed and you try to create and deploy an InfoPath 2003 project, then you will receieve the error message of "InfoPath cannot open the selected form because of an error in the form's code. A floating attribute may not be passed as the context node for an XSLT transform or an XPath query."

So, if you are still plan to develop and support InfoPath 2003 forms with managed code, do not install InfoPath 2007.
Raymond Mitchell wrote re: InfoPath 2003 & 2007, .XSN open actions
on 12-13-2006 1:44 PM
That's a good point David - this was very useful method back in beta days but now that the product has been released, I don’t see why you would want both on the same machine.  InfoPath 2007 is backwards compatible and with an RTM version you don’t have to be afraid to touch your production environment.  If you still need IP2003 for some reason, a VPC is a better option.
SHASHI NAGPURE wrote re: InfoPath 2003 & 2007, .XSN open actions
on 03-27-2007 3:53 PM

Thanks David, I had the same issue and as soon as i uninstalled the infopath 2007, the forms get working fine. But here i will follow the rmitchell, offcource infopath 2007 must be following the backward compatibility, so will it be possible to open my infopath form in 2007 and code behind in visual studio 2003. I appriciate for your help..

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