New version of Ultimate Forms

Hi,

We are happy to announce the release of the new version of Ultimate Forms for SharePoint Online, version 1.4.0.0. In this version we change the way the app works, moving away from the old add-in model and the deprecated ACS authentication/authorization mechanism. As you might already know, Microsoft recently announced that ACS (access control system), the original mechanism present in all provider-hosted add-ins, was being retired and will be completely removed on April 2nd 2026.

With this new version we are making several significant changes you have to be aware about before you upgrade:

• The current Infowise Ultimate Forms app is being retired and will no longer be installed. All of its existing user interfaces and resources will be used by the new app. The existing app will be removed either manually or by the installation wizard.
• The current Infowise Ultimate Forms Extensions app is being upgraded to version 1.4.0.0 and renamed Infowise Ultimate Forms. It is the only app that needs to be installed and is based on a collection of SPFx components, among other things.
• The new Infowise Ultimate Forms can now be made available to all sites directly from the app catalog. There will be no longer a need to install on each site separately.
• The SharePoint interface integration (such as Design, Print, Add Alert, Run Actions and Action History buttons) will only be shown in the modern UI. No buttons will be available in the classic UI.
• The app can be optionally installed in the Site Contents of a particular site, if the global installation option is not desired. It will not however serve as an access point to the app (you won't be able to click on it to access the app).
• Our Installation Wizard will only install version 1.4.0.0 and will remove the previous versions.
• Custom scripting will no longer be required in the majority of cases. If you plan to still be using Classic forms, you will still need to enable custom scripting. By default, custom scripting will be left disabled and the Classic form section of the app will be disabled.
• Modern forms will no longer require Site Pages functionality and will not generate web part pages to run on. Existing forms will not be affected until the next time they are published.
• Although ACS will continue to be supported for customers upgrading from the previous versions, we recommend switching to the new method, using Entra enterprise application. The app will show a warning when the application is yet to be granted access, but functionality will not be impacted until April 2nd 2026, when Microsoft completely disables ACS. Once you grant access to Infowise Ultimate Forms Data Access enterprise app, you should also create an app principal for this app within SharePoint. It is required by several components that rely on Remote Event Receiver (RER) technology:
  • Delete event in Alerts
  • Synchronous Actions and Actions based on Delete events
  • Item ID templates
  • Signature columns (the need for RER will be elimininated soon)
  • Associated Items Summary columns (the need for RER will be elimininated soon)
• Most Actions and Alerts, which still use RER for historical reasons, will be automatically switched to use webhooks. Note that you might see a change in behaviour, as Modified By value produced by actions will switch from the triggering user to SharePoint App.
• The access token granted to the app upon opening will now be expire in 60 minutes. You should never leave the app open for longer than that, as you won't be able to save your changes with an expired access token. Previously the access token had an expiration time of several hours.
• JSON-based custom rendering is being added to the majority of our custom field types. It means that the rendering will be immediate upon loading views and will not have to wait until the rendering component is loaded by the page. You will need to re-save the field settings (no changes required) for the switch to be implemented for each individual field. This is not urgent or required as the old rendering mechanism will remain fully functional.

We are very excited to be able to integrate this new functionality in our product in a way that is simple and transparent to most customers. You will notice that the app will now load faster and the UI integration will be more reliable. However we understand that some customers, who rely on some of the existing functionality might be affected. Although there is a hard switchover date of April 2nd 2026, we suggest to start making assessments and upgrade plans sooner rather than later.

Note that the installation wizard will only install version 1.4.0.0. If you still require the older version, do not attempt to install using the wizard. Instead, use the manual method, which still allows you to download and install the two old app packages.

Enjoy the new features and improvements!

UPDATED 09-Jul-2024: the old version is no longer available for download, both the wizard and the manual method allow installation of the latest version only.