Infopath forms get checked out and locked on Form Library when any entry is checked out

Question

I have been struggling with this one for a while.

We have a Form Library, where a user will enter data into a form and it gets stored. When changes to that entry need to be made, we require a checkout of the data. When this happens. the InfoPath form associated with the data is getting checked out, and other users are unable to create new entries in this library until the form is checked back in. Is there any way to avoid this, while still allowing the data to be checked out?

Our users basically want to be able to check out an item for an indefinite amount of time to work on it (Lots of info on these forms). Because all instances of this form get locked, it renders the library useless at this point.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I believe this is due to the fact that upon submitting user are actually submitting to the same file name - which explains why is blocked while in Check-Out.

Basically, you need to modify the "Submit" to generate a new FileName every time user Submits. A step by step procedure is explained here http://www.edutechnow.com/?p=493 (somewhere in the middle it also mentioned your issue).

I personally prefer creating the Content Type upfront and then designing the form, as also described here http://geekswithblogs.net/kjones/archive/2011/05/31/145649.aspx