The following is a chart accompanying an article published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. Each month we make one or more key articles available to non-subscribers.
Developers can choose among a variety of platforms for forms-based user interfaces. Each platform favors a particular style of interface and offers its own advantages for developers. For example, InfoPath requires the least coding to support complex forms that change dynamically in response to user input (e.g., forms that reveal new sections or hide irrelevant sections). The Information Bridge Framework, in contrast, supports a broad range of data entry and formatting methods, including automatic recognition of input data (using Smart Tags).
Nevertheless, all of the platforms listed here support forms-based data entry and thus will be competing for developer attention and Microsoft development resources. For tactical applications, developers should consider which platform is available now and can do the job with the least code on readily available clients. For long-lived applications, however, developers should also consider which platform is going to get the most resources from Microsoft, because applications on "orphaned" platforms can be expensive to maintain.
In the opinion of Directions, platforms with the best long-term prospects are those that use managed APIs and languages, which Microsoft is actively maintaining, rather than minimally maintained technologies such as the Office COM APIs, Visual Basic for Applications, or VBScript. Platforms have particularly strong long-term prospects if they are owned by Microsoft's developer tools and Windows divisions, which have large developer constituencies and resources to match.
Forms Platform
Best Use
Clients
Environment and Languages
APIs Used
Available
Microsoft Unit Owner
Long-Term Prospects
Office Forms APIs
Forms embedded in older versions of Office
Office 97 or later
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
Office COM APIs
Now
Office
Low
InfoPath Scripting
Complex forms
InfoPath 2003 or later
InfoPath; VBScript, JScript
Office COM APIs
Now
Office
Low
InfoPath 2003 Managed APIs
Complex forms
InfoPath 2003 SP1 or later
InfoPath and Visual Studio; C# or VB.NET
Office COM APIs with managed wrapper
Now
Office
Medium
InfoPath 12 Managed APIs
Complex forms in InfoPath, browser, or embedded in Office
Any (some forms require InfoPath 12)
InfoPath (alone or embedded in Visual Studio); C# or VB.NET
Managed APIs
Late 2006
Office
High
Information Bridge Framework (IBF)
Forms and other user interface elements (e.g., Smart Tags) embedded in Office
Word, Excel, Outlook, and InfoPath 2003 or later
Visual Studio with IBF Metadata Designer; C# or VB.NET; IBF metadata language
Managed APIs
Now, to be updated in late 2006
Office Business Intelligence Applications
High
Windows Forms
Complex user interface with form elements, either stand-alone client or embedded in Word or Excel
Windows 2000 or later (stand-alone client), Word or Excel 2003 or later (embedded client)
Visual Studio Tools for Office; C#, VB.NET
Office COM APIs with managed wrapper (managed APIs and Outlook support in late 2005)
Now, to be updated in late 2005
Developer Tools
High
ASP.NET Web Forms
Browser forms
Any
Visual Studio; C#, VB.NET
Managed APIs
Now, update in late 2005
Developer Tools
Very High
Windows Presentation Framework
Complex user interface with form elements
Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2 (with future update)
