lotus domino designer - - language guide
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8/3/2019 Lotus Domino Designer - - Language Guide
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DISCLAIMER
THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES ONLY. WHILE EFFORTS
WERE MADE TO VERIFY THE COMPLETENESS AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION
CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION, THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED AS IS
WITHOUT AN Y WARRANTY WH ATSOEVER AN D TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED,
LOTUS DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRAN TIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THEIMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHAN TABILITY, NON INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SAME. LOTUS SHALL NOT BE
RESPON SIBLE FOR AN Y DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT,
CON SEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, OR
OTHERWISE RELATED TO, THIS DOCUMENTATION OR AN Y OTHER DOCUMENTATION.
NOTWITHSTANDING AN YTHING TO THE CONTRARY, NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS
DOCUMENTATION OR ANY OTHER DOCUMENTATION IS INTENDED TO, NOR SHALL
HAVE THE EFFECT OF, CREATING ANY WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS FROM
LOTUS (OR ITS SUPPLIERS OR LICENSORS), OR ALTERING THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
OF THE APPLICABLE LICENSE AGREEMENT GOVERNING THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
COPYRIGHTUnd er the copyright laws, neither the d ocumentation nor the software m ay be copied, photocopied,
reprod uced, translated, or reduced to an y electronic medium or machine-readable form, in wh ole or
in part, w ithout the pr ior written consent of Lotus Developm ent Corporation, except in the m anner
described in the d ocumentation or the app licable licensing agreement governing the u se of the software.
Copyright 1985 1999 Lotus Developm ent Corporat ion
55 Cambrid ge Parkway
Cambridge, MA 02142
All rights reserved . Printed in the United States.
LIST OF TRADEMARKS
Domino, cc:Mail, Notes, NotesBench, NotesFlow, and Notes/ FX are trad emarks and Freelance, Freelance
Grap hics, Lotus, Lotus Compon ents, Lotus N otes, LotusScript, Notes Mail, NotesSQL, NotesView, 1-2-3,
Organizer, SmartIcons, and SmartSuite are registered tradem arks of Lotus Developm ent Corp oration.
AS/ 400, OS/ 2 Warp, RS/ 6000, and PowerPC are tradem arks and AIX, IBM, OS/ 2, Presentation
Manager, and SNA are registered tradem arks of International Business Machines Corporation.
Tivoli/ Courier is a trad emark of Tivoli Systems Inc., a w holly ow ned subsidiary of International
Business Machines Corporation. All other tradem arks are th e prop erty of their respective own ers.
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Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi. . .
1 Introduction toDomino Designer . . . . . . . . . . . 1. . . .
Overview app lications and d atabases 1. . . .
Starting Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. . . .
Exploring Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. . . .
Displaying, collecting, and storing
informa tion pages, forms,
documents, and fields . . . . . . . . . 6. . . .
Organizing your d ata views
and folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10. . .
Creating nav igation outlines
and navigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11. . .
Stru ctu rin g you r d isp lay fr amesets . 12. . .
Add ing autom ation actions, hotspots,
and agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13. . .
Getting d atabase information
design synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14. . .
2 Creating an Application . . . 15. .
Domino databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15. . .
Creating databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16. . .
Creating a d atabase from a tem plate . . . 16. . .
Cop ying an existing Dom ino database . 18. . .
Starting a database from scratch . . . . . . 20. . .
Tip s for d esigning Web ap plications . . . 21. . .
Domino Applets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22. . .
Changing database and design
properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23. . .
Setting Use JavaScript w hen
generating pages for a d atabase . 23. . .
Setting d atabase lau nch p rop erties . . 25. . .
Settin gs for mu ltilin gu al app lica tion s 27. . .
HTML tag attribu tes for a
Domino server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28. . .
Hide-when options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29. . .
Enabling subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . 30. . .
Reducing database maintenan ce with
shared resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30. . .
Creating an image resource . . . . . . . . . . 31. . .
Designing an app lication for maximu m
accessibility for peop le
with disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35. . .
Previewing your design work . . . . . . . . 37. . .
3 Designing Outlines . . . . . . . 41. .
Outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41. . .
Creating an outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42. . .
Embedding an outline . . . . . . . . . . . 45. . .
Outline, outline entry, and embedd ed
outline properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46. . .
Selected outline properties . . . . . . . . 46. . .
Selected outline entry properties . . . 46. . .
Selected embedded
outline properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47. . .
Using the outline applet . . . . . . . . . . . . 51. . .
Disp laying the ou tline in a Fram eset . . . 52. . .
4 Designing Pages . . . . . . . . . 53. .
Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53. . .
Creating a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55. . .
Displaying a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55. . .
Creating a home p age for
an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56. . .
Styling text for the Web . . . . . . . . . . 57. . .
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Creating computed text . . . . . . . . . . 58. . .
Changing all text styles . . . . . . . . . . . 58. . .
Creating and formatting
horizontal rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59. . .
Creating programmable tables . . . . . 60. . .
Creating sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61. . .
Creating links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62. . .
Adding graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64. . .
Add ing a background color
or graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68. . .
Creating an imagemap . . . . . . . . . . . 69. . .
Adding an applet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70. . .
Creating an attachment . . . . . . . . . . . 71. . .
Embedding elements . . . . . . . . . . . . 71. . .
Importing, p asting, or
entering HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73. . .
Launch prop erties for pages
or forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74. . .
Programming a page or form . . . . . . . . 75. . .
Add ing HTML head er information . 75. . .
Adding JavaScript
header information . . . . . . . . . . . 75. . .
5 Designing Forms . . . . . . . . . 79. .Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79. . .
Form Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80. . .
Forms and documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81. . .
Creating a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84. . .
Tips for designing forms . . . . . . . . . . 85. . .
Naming forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86. . .
Making a form available to
Web browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88. . .
Selected form properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 90. . .
Creating a response hierarchy . . . . . 92. . .
Version tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93. . .
Customizing a forms w ind ow title . . . . 95. . .
Subforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97. . .
Layout regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99. . .
Aligning and r earranging elements
in a layout region . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100. .
Changing th e size and style of a
layout region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100. .
Ad d in g a grap hic to a layou t region . 101. .Embedded Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102. .
Ad ding a file upload control . . . . . . . 102. .
Adding a group scheduler . . . . . . . . 102. .
Profile forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106. .
Designing forms that p romp t users
for input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108. .
Designing a form that p resents a
dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108. .
Designing a form that prom pts usersfor information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109. .
Designing a form that lets users
make selections from a view . . . . 110. .
Designing a form for a Dom ino
billing application . . . . . . . . . . . . 111. .
Customizing Form p rocessed
confirmation for the Web . . . . . . . 112. .
Customizing search forms . . . . . . . . . . . 113. .
Tips for imp roving documentdisplay time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118. .
Testing a form before d ep loying it . . . . . 119. .
6 Designing Fields . . . . . . . . . 121.
Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121. .
Creating a shared field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122. .
Field names and labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124. .
Defining field types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125. .
Text and rich text fields . . . . . . . . . . 126. .Rich text fields on the Web . . . . . . . . 126. .
Number fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128. .
Date/ Time fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129. .
Form ulas for Date/ Tim e field s . . . . . 133. .
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Creating a grap hical display for
Date/ Time fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133. .
Names fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136. .
Readers and Authors fields . . . . . . . 137. .
Creating fields to d isplay lists
of choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137. .Generating choices for lists . . . . . . . . 139. .
Creatin g alia ses for ch oices in a list . 140. .
Password fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142. .
Formula fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144. .
Editable and computed fields . . . . . . . . 146. .
Editable field formulas . . . . . . . . . . . 148. .
Selected Field Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 151. .
Hid ing fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153. .
Creating a field in a layou t region . . . . . 155. .
Ad ding H TML attributes to a field . . . . 156. .
Storing HTML in a field . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157. .
Creating field s that inherit valu es . . . . . 157. .
Creating a field that inherits an
entire document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158. .
Inheriting information in a
response hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . 159. .
Stand ard field s used in tem plates . . . . . 160. .Predefined fields with
built-in functionality . . . . . . . . . . 160. .
Fields for version tracking . . . . . . . . . . . 162. .
Fields that prompt u sers to
select folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164. .
7 Designing Framesets . . . . 165.
Overview of framesets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165. .
Creating a frameset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166. .
Provid ing content for a fram e . . . . . . . . 168. .
Setting the style for frames . . . . . . . . . . 170. .
Lau nch in g a d atabase in to a fram eset . . 171. .
Launching a document or p age into
a frameset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172. .
8 Designing Views . . . . . . . . . 173.
Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173. .
Standard views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174. .
Calendar views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176. .
Shared and private views . . . . . . . . . . . 178. .
Creating a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179. .
Naming a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181. .
Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184. .
Adding titles to columns . . . . . . . . . . 184. .
Adding categories to views . . . . . . . . 185. .
Categorizing in th e All by
Category view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186. .
Generating category names . . . . . . . 187. .
Programming which documentsd isplay in a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189. .
Table of document selection cond itions
for views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191. .
Add ing programming to colum ns . . . . . 194. .
Table of simp le fu nction s for colu mns . . 197. .
Displaying an icon in a column . . . . . . . 200. .
Sorting documents in views . . . . . . . . . 201. .
Overriding alph abetical sorting w ith a
hidden column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204. .
Customizing w hich column links to
Web documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205. .
Ad ding p ass-thru HTML to a colu mn . . 205. .
Using a colum n to sw itch to
another view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205. .
Generating colum n totals, averages,
and percents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206. .
Table of view , row , an d colu mn styles . 207. .
Using HTML formatting for viewsand columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210. .
Default views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210. .
Defining what u sers see wh en they
open views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210. .
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Formu las that look for values in
columns and views . . . . . . . . . . . 211. .
Indenting response documents . . . . . . . 213. .
Form ulas for response columns . . . . . . . 214. .
Displaying views in
Web applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215. .View applet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216. .
Creating an embedd ed view or
embedded folder pane . . . . . . . . . 218. .
Show single category in
embedded views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220. .
Setting line coun ts in
embedded views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221. .
Hiding a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221. .
Identifying unread documents . . . . . . . 222. .Formatting date and
time columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223. .
Displaying numbers in colum ns . . . . . . 224. .
Refreshing view indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . 225. .
Designing folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227. .
Designing a form as a view or
navigator template . . . . . . . . . . . . 228. .
9 Designing Navigators . . . . . 229.
Navigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229. .
Creating a navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230. .
Ad d in g grap hic objects to n avigators . . 231. .
Adding and enhancing graph ics
in a navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232. .
Add ing text to and highlighting a
navigator object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233. .
Ad ding hotspots to navigators . . . . . 234. .
Automating navigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234. .N avigators, im agem ap s, an d ou tlin es . . 238. .
Displaying a navigator w hen u sers open
a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239. .
Hiding navigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239. .
Embedd ing navigators in a form,
subform, page, or document . . . . 240. .
Overriding an embedded navigator
with a navigator template . . . . . . 241. .
Importing a navigator into a form,
subform, page, or document . . . . 241. .
Testing navigators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242. .
10 Automationin Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245.
Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245. .
Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246. .
Hotspots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247. .
Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248. .
Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249. .Creating an unshared form action or
view action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253. .
Action bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257. .
Creatin g an d in sertin g sh ared a ction s . . 258. .
Creating a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260. .
Creating a button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261. .
Creating a text pop-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262. .
Creating a formula pop-up . . . . . . . . . . 263. .
Creating an action hotspot . . . . . . . . . . . 265. .
Creating a program for an event . . . . . . 266. .
Building an agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267. .
Options for running agents . . . . . . . . . . 269. .
Selecting w here to ru n a
scheduled agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271. .
Examp les of agents to run before
Web users open or save
documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272. .
Setting up agent security . . . . . . . . . . . . 273. .
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Troubleshooting agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277. .
Sim ulating the ru nning of an agent . 278. .
Agent Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279. .
N otes server console com mand s . . . . 280. .
Agent Manager
debugging information . . . . . . . . 282. .
NotesLog Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283. .
AgentRunner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284. .
Simp le actions for
automation components . . . . . . . . 287. .
LotusScript for automation
components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291. .
Restricted LotusScript and Java
agent operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292. .
Form ulas for au tom ation com pon en ts . . 294. .
JavaScr ip t for au tomation comp on en ts . 295. .
Table of supp orted JavaScript objects
for automated components . . . . . 296. .
Importing Java programs . . . . . . . . . . . 299. .
Creating Java program s for agents . . . . 299. .
Actions and agents names . . . . . . . . . . . 300. .
Hiding automated components . . . . . . . 302. .
11 Including Java Appletsin Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.
Java applets overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303. .
Enabling Java applets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304. .
Importing an applet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305. .
Linking to an app let on the Web . . . . 306. .
Setting applet parameters . . . . . . . . . . . 307. .
Setting app let param eters, attributes,
and properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308. .
Setting HTML attributes . . . . . . . . . . 309. .
Settin g Altern ate HTML attribu tes . . 309. .
Setting properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310. .
Settin g u p sh ared ap plet resou rces . . 312. .
Selecting, running, deleting, and
copying applets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313. .
Refreshing an d exporting
applet files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314. .
Setting secu rity for ap plets . . . . . . . . 314. .
Saving applet data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317. .Tips and troubleshooting for
Java applets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320. .
12 Including OLE Objectsin Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.
Designing ap plications u sing OLE . . . . 325. .
Linking and embedding objects in forms 327. .
Add ing OLE custom controls to
a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328. .
Mod ifying a form to size an
embedded object . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329. .
Mod ifying a form so that it sizes an
OLE cu stom con trol or JavaBean . 330. .
Modifying a form to run a custom
con trol or Jav aBean in Read mod e 331. .
Letting docum ents up date objects
created by forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331. .
Lau nching objects au tom atically . . . . . . 331. .
Designing a form th at launches anobject automatically . . . . . . . . . . . 333. .
Designing a form th at launches a
new object automatically . . . . . . . 334. .
Launching an object in-place or
out-of-place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335. .
Specifying the event th at causes an
object to autolaunch . . . . . . . . . . 336. .
Designing a form for d ocuments that
open as modal dialog boxes . . . . . 337. .
Designing a form to hide the
Notes document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337. .
Hiding an embed ded object in
a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339. .
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Publishing actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340. .
Exchanging data using Notes/ FX . . . . . 342. .
Prep arin g a form to exch an ge d ata . . . . 343. .
13 Restricting Access to
and Securing Parts ofan Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347.
Security in an application . . . . . . . . . . . 347. .
Controlling access to a database
during design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349. .
Enforcing encrypted Web transactions
using SSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350. .
Restricting access to d ocum ents . . . . . . 351. .
Rest rict ing who can see a view or folder 351. .
Restricting who can up date thecontents of a folder . . . . . . . . . . . . 353. .
Restricting access to all docum ents
created from a form . . . . . . . . . . . 353. .
Restricting wh o can create or read all
documents from a form . . . . . . . . 354. .
Preventing printing, forwarding, and
copying of documents . . . . . . . . . 355. .
Using a Read ers field to restrict access
to specific documents . . . . . . . . . . 355. .
Using an Au thors field to restrict w hocan edit specific documents . . . . . 356. .
Restricting wh o can read or edit
specific documents . . . . . . . . . . . . 356. .
Tracking who ed its a document . . . . . . 359. .
Restricting authors from changing fields
in existing documents . . . . . . . . . 360. .
Creating pages, forms, outlines, views,
and agents for p ublic access . . . . . 360. .
Encrypting d ocuments inNotes applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 361. .
Encrypting documents . . . . . . . . . . . 363. .
Creating a secret
encryption key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364. .
Encrypting docum ents
automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365. .
Creating a field that gen erates a list
of secret encryption keys . . . . . . . 366. .
Restricting w ho can ed it a section . . . . . 368. .
Restricting w ho can access a section ofa document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369. .
Attaching electronic signatures to
docum ents and sections in
Notes applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 371. .
How Designer stores and verifies
electronic signatu res in
Notes applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 372. .
14 Completing anApplication and ManagingDesign Changes . . . . . . . . . . . 375.
Completing an application . . . . . . . . . . 375. .
Creating a d atabase icon for a
Notes application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375. .
Prov id ing on line help for an app lica tion 377. .
Creating About an d Using
documents for a database . . . . . . . 377. .
Creating context-sensitive help for
an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379. .
Writing help for fields . . . . . . . . . . . 380. .
Creating and displaying more
detailed application help . . . . . . . 381. .
Specifying th e Web site home page in
the Server document . . . . . . . . . . 382. .
Restricting design changes . . . . . . . . . . 383. .
Checking the application design
before rollout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383. .
Checking form design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384. .
Checking field design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385. .
Checking view design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386. .
Making a d esign copy of a
completed application . . . . . . . . . 388. .
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Pilot testing an application . . . . . . . . . . 389. .
Renaming a database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391. .
Renaming design elements . . . . . . . . 391. .
Design synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391. .
Upd ating documents after redesigning
a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393. .
Ch eckin g field valu es in a d ocu men t . . . 394. .
Using agents to up date docum ents
affected by form changes . . . . . . . 395. .
Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397. .
Creating templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398. .
Creatin g a d esign library tem plate . . 401. .
Linking a d atabase to a tem plate . . . 402. .
Linking ind ividu al design elements
to a template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402. .
Making and d istributing
design changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403. .
Refreshing a design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404. .
Replacing a design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406. .
Design changes and replication . . . . . . . 407. .
Preventing design changes . . . . . . . . . . 408. .
Hiding the design of a database . . . . . . 409. .
Hiding design elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411. .
15 Creating aWorkflow Application . . . . . . . 413.
Workflow Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413. .
Planning workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414. .
Fea tu res that suppor t automatic mailing 415. .
Enabling u sers to view docum ents . . . . 416. .
Mailin g fea tu res and Web ap p lica tion s . 417. .
Field s that control m ailing op tions . . . . 417. .
Disp layin g th e MailSen d d ialog box . . . 421. .
Creating a database that
receives mailings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421. .
Using an agent to send
automatic replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422. .
Using an agent to m ail notices . . . . . 422. .
Using an agent to send
announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423. .
16 Connecting toEnterprise Data . . . . . . . . . . . . 425.
Accessing data in enterp rise
applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425. .
Using ODBC to access
relational databases . . . . . . . . . . . 428. .
Registering data sources
for ODBC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429. .
Writing formu las and scripts to
access relational d atabases . . . . . . 430. .
17 Including Java Servletsin Web Applications . . . . . . . . 431.
Overview of Java servlets . . . . . . . . . . . 431. .
Comp aring agents, servlets, and
CGI programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432. .
Running servlets in Domino . . . . . . . . . 434. .
Appendix A DominoDesigner Templates . . . . . . . . 441.
Appendix B Importing toand Exporting from Views . . . 443.
Appendix C DevelopingApplications Using MAPI . . . . 455.
Appendix D Features toAvoid Using in WebApplications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463.
Appendix E Programminga Web Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475.
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503.
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Preface
This guide describes how to create all the design elements u sed in bu ildingDomino app lications, how to share information w ith other applications,
and how to customize applications.
This guide is intended for developers w ho are creating app lications with
Domino Designer.
Structure of this guide
This guide consists of 17 chapters and 5 append ixes:
Chap ter 1, Introdu ction to Domino Designer, provides an overview of the
Designer user interface and a br ief introduction to key product featur es anddesign elements.
Chap ter 2, Creating an Ap plication, prov ides an overview of creating
app lications along with some design considerations.
Chap ter 3, Designing Outlines, shows you how to create and format an
outline, and how to embed an ou tline on a form or p age to use as a
navigational structure for your application.
Chap ter 4, Designing Pages, describes designing p ages for Web and
Notes applications.
Chap ter 5, Designing Forms, describes designing forms and includ es
information on d esigning some special types of forms.
Chap ter 6, Designing Fields, describes how to create fields to collect an d
store specific types of information.
Chap ter 7, Designing Framesets, introd uces frames and framesets, which
can ad d structure to your ap plication.
Chap ter 8, Designing Views, describes how to design views, which help
users find the d ocum ents they want and also serve as sum maries of the
database contents.Chap ter 9, Designing Navigators, explains how to create graphical
navigators that help u sers find d ocum ents and use the database.
Chap ter 10, Automat ion in App lications, explains how to ad d au tomat ion
features to an application to make it easier to perform tasks in the
background.
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Chap ter 11, Includ ing Java Ap plets in App lications, describes adding
Java applets to forms, documen ts, and pages.
Chap ter 12, Includ ing OLE Objects in App lications, illustra tes ways to
design ap plications that u se OLE technology to integrate data from other
applications.
Chap ter 13, Restricting Access to and Securing Parts of an App lication,briefly describes Designer features for limiting access to parts of an
application.
Chap ter 14, Comp leting an Ap plication and Managing Design Changes,
describes how to docum ent an application and how to test it before
dep loyment, as well as how to make, control, and distribute design changes
to app lications that are already in use.
Chap ter 15, Creating a Workflow Ap plication, describes how to create a
workflow ap plication by using au tomatic mailing features.
Chap ter 16, Connecting to Enterp rise Data, briefly describes tools andtechniques for connecting a Designer app lication to enterp rise data.
Chap ter 17, Includ ing Java Servlets in Web App lications, describes
creating and ru nning Java servlets on a Domino Web server.
App end ix A, Domino Designer Templates, lists the temp lates available
with Domino Designer that are specifically intend ed for u se by application
developers.
App end ix B, Importing to and Expor ting from Views, provid es tips and
restrictions on moving data to and from v iews.
App end ix C, Developing App lications Using MAPI, prov ides
information on the available support for accessing N otes mail files.
App end ix D, Features to Avoid Using in a Web Ap plications, identifies
features that are not app licable to Web browsers or are not yet sup ported
for them.
App end ix E, Program ming a Web Site, contains information abou t using
Domino URL command s for programm ing related to Web app lications,
such as formu las, Java, JavaScript, Perl and CGI script ing, and Visual Basic
script.
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Structure of Notes and Domino documentation
Documentation for Notes and Domino is prov ided on line in three
databases available from the Help menu :
Notes 5 Client Help
Domino 5 Administration Help
Domino 5 Designer Help
In add ition, the Administration and Designer documentation is available as
pr inted books. In N otes, select File - Other Help to see a tab le of all the
available documentation. You can order books from the Lotus Web site at:
ww w.lotus.com/ store.
Documentation for the Notes Client
In add ition to the online Help, the pr inted bookNotes Step by S tep provides
a tutor ial for beginning N otes users.
Documentation for Domino Administration
The following table shows the printed books that compr ise the Domino
Administration documentation set. The information in these books is also
found in the Domino 5 Adm inistration Help online database.
Moving to Notes and
Domino Release 5
Describes how to up grade existing Domino
servers and Notes clients to Release 5. Also
describes how to move u sers to Domino from
other messaging systems.
Configuring the DominoNetwork
Explains how to configure a sp ecific networkto work w ith Domino. Also illustrates how to
run Notes using mu ltiple network protocols
and individua l protocols, such as AppleTalk,
Banyan VINES, NetBIOS, Novell SPX
(NetWare), and TCP/ IP.
Administering the Domino
System, Volumes 1 and 2
Describes how to set up and manage servers,
users, server connections, mail, replication,
secur ity, calend ars and schedu ling, Web
servers, NN TP services, billing, and system
monitoring. Describes how to troubleshootsystem problems.
Administering Domino
Clusters
Describes how to set up , manage, and
troubleshoot Domino clusters.
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Managing Domino
Databases
Provides information on managing databases,
including p utting d atabases into prod uction,
setting up access control lists and replication,
and maintaining d atabases.
Documentation for Domino DesignerThe following table shows the printed books that comprise the Domino
Designer d ocumentation set. The information in these books is also found in
the Domino 5 Designer H elp online database.
Application Development
with Domino Designer
Explains how to create all the d esign elements
used in building Domino applications, how to
share information with other app lications, and
how to custom ize applications.
Domino Designer
Programming GuideVolume 1: Formula
Language
Introduces programming in Domino Designer
and describes the formula language, the@functions, and the @comm ands.
Domino Designer
Programming Guide
Volume 2: LotusScript
Classes
Provides reference information on the
LotusScript classes, which provid e access to
databases and other Domino structures.
Domino Designer
Programming Guide
Volume 3: Java Classes
Provides reference information on the Java
classes, wh ich p rovide access to da tabases and
other Domino structures.
LotusScript Language
Guide
Describes the basic building blocks of
LotusScript, how to use the language to create
applications, an overview of the LotusScript
programming language, and a comprehensive
list of language elements.
Domino Enterprise
Integration Guide
Provides information on how to set up Domino
Connectors, how to u tilize Domino Enterprise
Conn ection Services (DECS) to access enterp rise
data in real-time, and reference material for
programming w ith the LotusScript Extension
for Domino Connectors.
Managing Domino
Databases
Provides information on managing databases,
including p utting d atabases into production,
setting up access control lists and replication,
and maintaining d atabases.
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Step by Step
Setting up a Domino Server
Moving to Notes and Domino Release 5
Configuring the Domino Network
Administering Domino Clusters
Administering the Domino System, Volume 1
Administering the Domino System, Volume 2
Application Development with Domino Designer
Domino Designer Templates Guide
Domino Designer Programming Guide, Volume 1: Formula Language
Domino Designer Programming Guide, Volume 2: LotusScript Classes
Domino Designer Programming Guide, Volume 3: Java Classes
LotusScript Language Guide
Domino Enterprise Integration Guide
Managing Domino
Databases
Administration
HelpRelease Notes
Designer
Help
not available in print
Domino Objects
Posters
Notes
Help*
*
*
**
** print only
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Chapter 1Introduction to Domino Designer
Welcome to Domino Designer. Designer is an integrated app lication
development environment wh ich lets developers and Web site designers
create, manage, and dep loy secure, interactive app lications for the Domino
Server.
To see whats new in Release 5, look for this icon. If you are new to
Designer or just getting to kn ow Release 5, this brief tour w ill introdu ce
you to some of the features in Release 5.
Overview applications and databases
Applications
Domino app lications let peop le share, collect, track, and organize
information, using Lotus N otes or the Web. Domino applications can
cover a wide range of business solutions, includ ing:
Workflow Applications that rou te information.
Tracking Ap plications that mon itor p rocesses, projects, performance,
or tasks.
Collaboration Applications that create a forum for discussion an d
collaboration.
Data Integration Applications that integrate with relational
databases and transactional systems.
Personalization Applications that p roduce dynamic content based
on, for example, user name, user p rofile, access rights, or time of day.
Globalization Ap plications that use Dom ino Global Workbench to
produ ce global sites.
Every Domino app lication starts with a Domino d atabase. All Dominoapp lications contain one or more Domino databases.
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Databases
A da tabase is the container for the data, logic, and design elements in you r
app lication. Design elements are bu ilding blocks you use to create your
app lication. Design elements include:
Pages
Forms
Outlines
Navigators
Views
Folders
Framesets
Shared Resources
Agents
Creating a database
There are three ways to create a database:
Using a template.
The fastest way to create a database is to use one of the Domino
temp lates included w ith Designer R5. Designer includes templates for
creating a variety of app lications. App lications created u sing one of the
Designer templates can be used as is or customized.
To decide if there is a template that is right for you , see the Table of
Domino Designer templates.
Copying an existing d atabase.
If you have access to a database that alread y has all the elements you
are looking for, you can copy the design and create a new d atabase with
the same features. Once you have created the database, you can
customize it to meet your companys needs.
Starting from scratch.
If the database you need is unique, the best method for you is to start
from scratch. When you create a database from scratch, you start w ith a
blank or emp ty da tabase and create all of the design elements.In order to begin creating you r app lication, you need to start Designer.
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Starting Designer
There are two w ays to start Designer after starting the N otes client:
From the Designer Icon
From a database in the Notes client
To start Designer from the Notes client Designer icon
1. Start the N otes client.
2. Click the Designer icon on the bookmark bar on the left of the
bookmark pane.
After you start Designer you can open an existing d atabase or start a new
one. Once you open a d atabase, either a new or existing one, you w ill be in
the Designer Workspace.
If you a lready have a database to work w ith, you can start Designer directly
from that database.
To start Designer from an open database in the Notes client
You m ust have designer or m anager access to the database in the ACL.
1. Open the d atabase.
2. Choose View - Design.
or
1. Right-click the database icon on the bookm ark bar.
2. Choose Open in Designer.
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Exploring Designer
Building a great ap plication requ ires the right tools. You can think of
Designer as you r workshop it contains all the tools you need to build
a great app lication. Before you get started building , well explore the
work area.
Item Purpose
Menu bar Presents context-sensitive m enu s of Designer com mand s.
Preview buttons Launches the browser of your choice to preview your work.
Tabbed windows Navigates among the open windows on your workspace.
Design action buttons Perform actions such as creating elements, saving, closing.
Properties box button Opens the properties box for the active design element.
Design pan e Con tain s th e Design bookm arks icon s an d th e Design list.
Design bookmarks Opens lists of bookmarked applications.
Design list Takes you to Work p ane of a d esign elem ent or resou rce.
Work p an e Lists everyth in g in th e d atabase for th e cu rren tly selected
design element in top level view. Once an element is
opened , becomes the Work area for that element.
Menu bar
Design bookmarks
Design list
Design pane
Previewbuttons
Propertiesbox
button
Work pane
Design actionbuttons
Tabbedwindows
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When you open a design element such as a p age or form, you will be in the
work area for that design element. In ad dition to items in the Designer
Workspace, the Programmers pane ap pears.
Item Purpose
Reference tab The Reference tab of the Info List replaces the R4.x LotusScript
browser w indow and is langu age-sensitive. The contents of the
Reference tab change dep end ing on the language selected. Ifyou are ed iting in the Formula language, the window contains
@Comm and s, @Functions an d fields. If you are ed iting in
LotusScript, the w indow conta ins LotusScript information. If you
are ed iting in JaveScript, the wind ow contains information abou t
the Docum ent Object Mod el. If you a re editing in Java, the
wind ow contains Java-related information.
Objects tab The Objects tab of the Info List lets you navigate between objects
and events in the Programmers pane. To work on an object,
select it to expand its list of proper ties and events. If you select a
prop erty or event, the script area of the Programm ers pane
changes to show the code that d escribes it. Events and prop ertiesthat are already p rogrammed appear in a darker color.
Script area Enter formulas in the Script area. Formulas can be writ ten in
Formu la langu age, LotusScript, JavaScript, or Simp le Actions.
Objects tab
Script area
Referencetab
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Properties boxes
Properties boxes are tools for working the var ious p ieces of your
app lication. With them you can select or mod ify settings for the element
you are w orking w ith. Properties boxes have tabbed p anes, and each pane
gives you access to different attributes or op tions. In m ost wind ows, right-
clicking w ill open u p the Prop erties box for that d esign element. You can
also choose Design - Properties from the menu.
Properties boxes are context-sensitive so you can leave them op en on your
workspace and they w ill change to reflect the element that you are working
with. Collapse a Prop erties box by dou ble-clicking the top of the box. When
collapsed, som e of the properties boxes become context-sensitive tool bars.
Displaying, collecting, and storing information pages, forms,documents, and fields
How you d isplay, collect, and store information is an important p art of any
app lication. The design elements you u se to accomplish these tasks are
pages, forms and documents, and fields.
Pages
A page is a database design element tha t displays information. Pages are a
familiar Web concept. Almost every Web site has a home p age a page
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that contains information abou t the comp any, graph ics that enhance the
page, and links that take you to other p laces within the site or elsewhere
on the Web.
Pages can be used anytime you are displaying information to the user.
Pages can contain:
Text
Tables
Graphics
Applets
Embedd ed objects such as navigators
Links
Pages often w ork in conjun ction w ith framesets to d isplay graphics, site
navigation, or applets.
For more information on p ages, see Designing Pages.
Forms and DocumentsForms, like pages, display information. Everything th at can be don e with
a page can be d one with a form. What sets forms ap art from pages is that
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forms can be used to collect information. A form p rovides the structur e for
creating and displaying documen ts. Documents are the elemen ts that store
data in the database.
When you create a form in Designer, you can choose to have a user open
the form in the Notes client from the Create menu . On the Web, you
provide the user a button or action that op ens the form. When the u ser fills
out the information and saves it, the information is saved as a document.
When a u ser opens the document, the document uses the form as a temp late
to provide the structure for displaying the d ata.
For more information on forms and docum ents, see Designing Forms.
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Fields
Fields are the element that collect d ata. You can create fields on ly on forms.
Each field on a form stores a single type of informat ion. A fields data typ e
defines the kind of information a field accepts.
You can create fields in the following data typ es:
Text
Date/ Time
Number
Dialog List
CheckboxRadio button
Rich Text
Authors
Names
Readers
Password
Formula
You d ecide if a field is editable that is, populated by user inpu t orcalculated that is, based on formu las. You can also program fields to
retrieve data from other Domino app lications or from external sources. You
can even create shared fields, wh ich can be used in many forms w ithin the
same d atabase. The information collected in fields is stored in documents.
For more information, see Designing Fields.
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Organizing your data views and folders
Views and folders organize the documents in your database.
Views
A view is a sorted or categorized list of documents. Views are the en try
point to the d ata stored in a d atabase. Every database mu st have at least
one view, although most d atabases have more than one view. Views select
the documents they d isplay programatically. You can create a view th at
shows all of the documents in your d atabase or only some of the
docum ents, based on a formu la. Views can sort the documents they display
by a field on the form, such as d ate, category, or au thor. You can create
views that are h idden from u sers but organize your d ata so that other
app lications can retrieve the information from the docum ents. Views can
have multiple columns that d isplay any of the information contained in the
document.
For more information, see Designing Views.
Folders
A folder is a container that stores docum ents. Folders have the same design
elements as views, and you design folders in mu ch the same way as a view.
The difference between folders and views is that a view always has a
docum ent selection formu la that collects and d isplays documen ts
automatically. A folder remains emp ty until users or programs add
documents to the folder.
For more information on folders, see Notes 5 Client H elp.
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Creating navigation outlines and navigators
Every app lication need s to include a way to navigate from one place to
another. When you create a database from scratch, Designer provides a
defau lt navigation structure called the Folder p ane or Navigation pane. The
Folder pane displays all the shared views and folders in the database. The
Folder pan e displays on the left pane of the Notes client and on the top leftof a browser wind ow. You can choose to use this navigation structure or
design a d ifferent one.
Outlines
You can create an ou tline to custom ize the Folder pan e of an app lication.
An ou tline is the skeleton of your app lication: each ou tline entry represents
a key piece of the application. An ou tline can includ e background graphics,
custom icons, links, or actions. When the outline is embed ded on a p age or
form, users can click on the ou tline entries, which w ill take them where you
want them to go. The process of creating a navigation structure w ith anoutline involves three steps:
Create a new or d efau lt outline and create an ou tline entry for each
piece of the application you w ant to include in the navigation structure
or site map .
Embed your ou tline on a form or p age.
Format the d isplay of the embed ded ou tline. You can includ e the page
or form that the outline is embedded on in a frameset if you choose.
You can also use an ou tline to plan your app lication before you create any
design elements.
For more information, see Designing Outlines.
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Navigators
Nav igators are graph ical roadm aps that d irect users to specific par ts of a
da tabase. They let users find docum ents or take actions without having to
open v iews. Navigators are like imagemaps. You can create hotspots on a
graphic that take the u sers to links within or ou tside of your app lication.
You can embed navigators on forms or pages. Navigators can take the place
of the folder pane or w ork in conjun ction w ith it.
For more information on n avigators, see Designing N avigators.
Structuring your display framesets
For an ap plication interface to be intu itive and efficient, it mu st make good
use of the u sers screen. One w ay for a designer to accomp lish th is is to use
a frameset. A frameset is a collection of frames. A fram e is one section, or
pan e, of the larger frameset and is ind ependen tly scrollable. By usingframesets, designers can create links and relationships between frames.
Framesets provide the ability to leave one page d isplayed as users scroll
or link to other p ages or databases. There is no HTML required to design
a frameset.
Designer lets you:
Create an effective mu lti-paned user interface for your app lications
Control frame attributes su ch as size, scrolling, bord er colors and
width , and frame spacing
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Determine frame source content at ru ntime
Create programmable links that are maintained automatically
Set a frameset to launch autom atically when a da tabase, form, or
page opens
For more information on framesets, see Designing Framesets.
Adding automation actions, hotspots, and agents
Add ing automation to an app lication can speed up repetitive tasks, route
documents, upd ate information, perform calculations, run programs, and
check for errors.
You ad d automated components to the design elements in a Domino
app lication such as a d atabase, a view, a form, or a docum ent.
ActionsActions autom ate tasks such as mimicking the Notes menu s or tasks
defined by formu las or a LotusScript p rogram . Users click a button ,
hotspot, or pick from the Action menu to execute the action. In particular,
use actions to simu late Notes menu items for web browser users.
Hotspots
A hotspot is text or a p icture that a u ser can click to perform an action, run a
formula or script, or follow a link. The hotspot can be a link to another w eb
site, da tabase, or element in a database; a bu tton; a pop -up; or an action.
Agents
Agents are programs that perform a series of autom ated tasks accord ing to
a set schedule or at the request of a user. An agent consists of three
components: wh en it acts (the trigger), wh at documents it acts on (the
search), and what it does (the action). Use agents to set up user-activated
tasks, or background tasks, in any par t of a Domino ap plication. Agents can
be simple, such as moving d ocuments to a folder, or comp lex, using Java
programs to run mu ltiple automated tasks at schedu led times. Agents are
stored with d atabases, but you can use them to run au tomated tasks for
views, documents, fields, and da tabases.
For more information, see Adding Autom ation to Applications.
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Getting database information design synopsis
The design synopsis lets you generate a detailed rep ort on a par ticular
da tabase. The design synopsis includes general information on the database
such as size or access control lists as well as specific information about the
design elements includ ed in your database.
For more information, see Design synopsis.
Its time to build!
This comp letes the Designer tour. Its time for you to go exploring on yourown . If you havent don e so already, and you d like more help getting to
know you r way around the Designer tools, you can go through the
Designer Gu ided Tour . Choose Help - Guided Tour to start it. Remember
what you bu ild with your tools can be as simple or as comp lex as you want.
The Designer tools are at your disposal.
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Chapter 2Creating an Application
This chapter p rovides an overv iew of creating applications and includ es
design considerations and general information.
Domino databases
All Domino applications begin w ith a Domino database. Domino databases
are the containers for your app lication. Databases hold th e data, logic, and
design elements for your app lication. Your Domino ap plication can be
mad e up of one or more Domino databases.
With Designer, you create one app lication to use on both your intranet and
the Internet. The structure of a database is the same wh ether for the Notes
client or a Web browser. What m akes a database a Web database is the
viewing mechanism: users view it through a Web browser instead of theNotes client. You d o all design w ork in Designer and use the same design
elemen ts forms, fields, views, outlines to d isplay and organize the
content.
Data
Documents
Fields
Design Elements:
Pages, Forms, Views ...
Field Type:
Rich Text
Field Name:
Body
Data:
'Dear John ...'
DATABASE
DOCUMENT
FIELD
}
}}
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Creating databases
There are three ways to create a new d atabase:
Using a template
Copying an existing database
Starting from scratch
Creating a database from a template
Designer comes w ith a collection of templates that you can use to create
app lications qu ickly. A template is a file that contains th e structure for the
da tabase that is, pages, forms, and v iews but does not contain
docum ents. For example, to design a d iscussion d atabase, use the
Discussion tem plate (DISCSW50.NTF), which contains forms that track
discussion thread s in a hierarchy, as well as views that d isplay the entriesby d ate, author, or category. Designer templates have .ntf as their file
extension.
See Domino Designer Templates for a complete list of Designer
Templates.
Customizing a TemplateYou can u se a temp late as is or customize it for your organ ization. The
templates that ship w ith Designer can be u sed as m aster temp lates. What
makes a temp late a master template is that changes mad e to a master
temp late can be passed a long to all databases created from that temp late.Inheriting design changes from a master temp late can be initiated by the
end user or by the Domino server, which run s a nightly Design task. You
can disable this feature wh en you create your database by deselecting
Inherit design from temp late. For more information on customizing a
temp late, see Comp leting an ap plication and m anaging d esign changes.
To create a new database from a templateAfter creating a database from a temp late, you may want to m ake changes
to the database. Keep in mind th at if you h ave selected Inherit design from
temp late, changes you make to a database can be overwritten nightly by
the Domino server design task or by refreshing the design of the database.If you p lan to make design changes to the database and wan t to avoid the
possibility of writing over design changes, deselect the d atabase prop erty
Inherit design from temp late or protect individu al design elements.
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1. Choose File - Database - New . In the server field d o one of the
following:
Leave Local selected to store the new d atabase on you r hard d isk.
Select or enter a server nam e to store the new d atabase on a server.
This allows multiple people to work on the database design.
2. In the Title field , enter a title for the n ew da tabase. The Title can have amaximu m of 32 characters.
Note As you typ e a title, Designer add s a name to the File Nam e field .You can accept this database file nam e or change it. Database file names
can be up to 8 characters and end with the file extension .nsf. If you
plan to u se the database you are creating as a template for other
databases, use the file extension .ntf.
3. Select a temp late from the list. To display additional temp lates, do one
following:
Click Show advanced tem plates and select a temp late from the list.
Click Temp late Server to u se templates that reside on a server.
4. (Optional) Click Encryption, select Locally encrypt this database
using:, select an encryption type, and click OK. For information on
encrypting a database, see Notes and Domino encryption in
Managing Domino Databases.
5. (Optional) If you are creating a database that w ill be on a Domino
Release 4.x server, click Size limit an d select a size (in gigabytes), and
click OK.
6. (Optional) Click the Advanced tab and select the options that you want
app lied to you r database. Click OK.
For a description of the advanced op tions, seeManaging Domino Databases.
7. Click OK.
8. (Optional) Choose File - Database - Proper ties, click the Design tab , and
deselect Inherit design from template. This will prevent th e new
database from inheriting design changes from the master template
whose design the database is based on.
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Copying an existing Domino database
If you have found an ap plication that contains all or most of the
functionality you are looking for, you can copy the d esign of the d atabase
and use it as the basis for a new ap plication. Before you copy the d esign of a
da tabase, check its Database Properties. If No d esign information is
available is show n on the Database Properties box, the designer hashidd en the d esign of the database, and you w ill never be able to mod ify the
design of the new d atabase.
If you copy th e design of an existing database, keep in mind th at the
settings for the full-text index are copied as part of the d esign. When you
complete the new ap plication, be sure to ask the database manager to create
a new full-text index. For information on creating a full-text index for a
da tabase copy, see Setting up and man aging full text indexes inManaging
Domino Databases.
You can u se the new d atabase as is, or you can mod ify it. Once you modifya database that you copied , protect your customized views, forms,
subforms, nav igators, shared fields, or agents. For more information on
protecting design elements, see Preventing design changes.
To create a new database by copying an existing database
1. Open the d atabase you w ant to copy.
2. Choose File - Database - New Copy.
3. In the server field do one of the following:
Leave Local selected to store the new da tabase on you r workstation
hard disk.
Select or enter a server nam e to store the new d atabase on a server.
This allows multiple people to work on the d atabase design.
4. (Optional) In the Title field, enter a title for the new database. The Title
can have a maximum of 32 characters.
Note When you copy a database, Designer autom atically give the newdatabase the same title and file name as the originally database. You
can accept the da tabase title and file name or change it. Database
filenames can be up to 8 characters and end with the file extension .nsf.
If you p lan to use the database you are creating as a temp late, use thefile extension .ntf rath er than .nsf.
5. (Optional) Click Encryption, select Locally encrypt this database
using:, select an encryption type, and click OK. For information on
encrypting a da tabase, see Notes and Domino encryp tion in
Managing Domino Databases.
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6. (Optional) If you are creating a database that w ill be on a Domino
Release 4.x server, click Size limit an d select a size (in gigabytes), and
click OK.
7. Select Database d esign on ly so that the d atabases docum ents will not
be copied to your new d atabase.
8. Deselect Access Control List so that the original databases accesscontrol list will not be copied to you r new da tabase.
9. Click OK.
10. (Optional) Choose File - Database - Properties, click the Design tab, and
deselect Inherit design from template. This will prevent th e new
database from inheriting design changes from the temp late wh ose
design the database is based on.
To copy an individual design element
In add ition to copying the entire design of a database, you can copy
ind ividua l design elements. If there is a form, view, or other design elementyou w ould like in you r da tabase, copy it from th e original database or
template and paste it into your d atabase.
1. Open the database or template containing the d esign element you w ant
to copy.
2. From the Work pane, select the element or elements that you want to
copy, such as a form or a view, and choose Edit - Copy.
To select multiple elements, hold d own the CTRL key while you are
selecting the elements you want to copy.
3. Open the database where you wan t to paste the element or elements.
4. In the Design pane, click the type of element you are pasting, such as
forms or v iews, and choose Edit - Paste.
If your database inherits its design from a template, protect views, forms,
subforms, navigators, shared fields, or agents that you copy into your
database.
To protect an individual design element1. Select each design element in the Work p ane.
2. Choose Design - Design Prop erties.
3. On the Design tab select Prohibit design refresh or rep lace to modify.
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Starting a database from scratch
If you need a unique app lication, start from scratch. To do this, begin by
creating a blank d atabase. A blank d atabase contains no design elements
such as pages or forms. Blank databases have one d efau lt view. You m ust
create all of the elements you need for the application. You begin by
creating a d atabase based on the -Blank- template.
To create a new database from scratchTo design a database from scratch, you mu st first create an emp ty database.
Then design the forms, fields, views, and other d esign elements you will
need for the app lication.
1. Choose File - Database - New.
2. In the Server field d o one of the following:
Leave Local selected to store the new da tabase on you r workstation
hard disk.Select or enter a server nam e to store the new d atabase on a server.
This allows multiple people to work on the d atabase design.
3. In the Title field , enter a title for the n ew database. The title can have a
maximu m of 32 characters.
Note As you typ e a title, Designer add s a name to the File Nam e field .You can accept this database file nam e or change it. Database file names
can be up to 8 characters and end with the file extension .nsf. If you
plan to u se the database you are creating as a template, use the file
extension .ntf rather than .nsf.
4. (Optional) Click Encryption, select Locally encrypt this database
using:, select an encryption type, and click OK. For information on
encrypting a da tabase, see Notes and Domino encryp tion in
Managing Domino Databases.
5. (Optional) If you are creating a database that w ill be on a Domino
Release 4.x server, click Size limit and select a size (in gigabytes), and
click OK.
6. Select -Blank- as th e template.
7. Click OK.
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Tips for designing Web applications
When you design a d atabase that is intended to be viewed on the Web, keep
in mind that databases viewed from a Web browser may look somewh at
d ifferent than they d o when viewed from th e Notes client. Each browser
rend ers design elements w ith slight d ifferences. Be sure to p review you r
database through each browser that will access it so that you can makeadjustm ents to you r d esign. Also, for d atabases that will be accessed
throu gh Web brow sers, it is best to:
Make sure the database is in the Domino Data d irectory or a
subd irectory of the Data directory.
Add form actions such as Create, Edit, and Save. For more information,
see Actions.
Hid e features that arent sup por ted on the Web. See Features to Avoid
Using in Web Ap plications for a detailed list.
Select the d atabase p roperty Web access: Use JavaScript whengenerating pages to allow you to use additional @comman ds and
create mu ltiple form bu ttons.
Change from the Lotus color palette to a Web color palette to provide
greater color fidelity on th e Web. To change pa lettes, choose File -
Preferences - User Preferences. Check Use Web Palette on the
Advanced options list of the Basics page.
Set views, ou tline controls, action bars, and rich text fields to be
displayed as app lets when viewed with a brow ser. For more
information, see the topic Domino Ap plets.
Check the Access Control List (ACL) setting to make sure it allows
app ropriate access for Web u sers. For more information, see Setting up
the ACL for a Web d atabase. inManaging Domino Databases.
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Domino Applets
When u sers run a Domino ap plication from a Web browser, some Domino
design elements are more effectively presented to Web users u sing Java
instead of HTML. Domino p rovides Java ap plets for these design elements
so that the inter face for Web users is closer to the inter face for Notes client
users. You can easily enable the Java ap plets wh en you create the designelement.
When you consider w hether to u se the Java applets or HTML, keep these
points in mind:
The app lets provide a m ore interactive interface.
The Domino app lets will requ ire down load time to the Web user.
The applets use the Java Develop ers Kit (JDK), Release 1.0.2 to support
Web users w ith any java-enabled Web browsers. The only fonts
sup por ted are typically Courier, Helvetica, and Times.
For a comp lete description of how the applets work, see the description for
each design element :
Outline ap plet
The ou tline applet lets Web users work with ou tlines embedd ed in a
page or form.
View applet
The view ap plet lets Web users use many of the Domino view features,
includ ing colum n resizing, multiple docum ent selection, and section
collapse/ expand without page regeneration.Action bar applet
The Action bar app let lets users scroll and easily view and select
sub-actions.
Editor applet
The editor ap plet lets Web users change the font, color, size, and style
for text in rich text fields.
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Changing database and design properties
The Properties boxes for a database and its design elements includ e styles,
options, and other settings that affect how the database looks to users. To
change these properties, you need Designer access or higher in the database
access control list.
To change a databases properties1. Open or select the database.
2. Choose File - Database - Proper ties.
3. Change the p roperties on any of the tabbed pages.
To change a design elements properties1. Open the d atabase.
2. In the Design pane, click the type of design element you re working on.
3. Open or select the design element from th e Work pane.
4. Choose Design - Properties to open the Properties
box for the selected design element.
5. Change the p roperties on any of the tabbed pages.
Setting Use JavaScript when generating pages for a database
If your application w ill be accessed on the Web, youll want to select the
database property Web access: Use JavaScript w hen generating pages so
you can u se add itional @command s and create mu ltiple form buttons. If
you ar e upgrad ing from Release 4.5, consider the up grad e issues before
deciding, because the p roperty can cause unexpected behavior in existingactions, buttons, and hotspots.
The Use JavaScript w hen generating pages option is on the Database
Basics tab of the Database Prop erties box. To open the Database Properties
box, open or select the d atabase and choose File - Database - Database
Properties.
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Ramifications for Use JavaScript when generating pages for adatabase
Be aw are th at selecting the Web access: Use JavaScript wh en generating
pages affects formu las and actions, buttons, and hotspots through out the
application.
If you select Use JavaScript If you dont select Use JavaScript
Documents and navigators display faster
because hotspot formu las are not
evaluated until users click each hotspot.
Docum ents and navigators display more
slowly because the hotspot formu las are
all evaluated at the d isplay time.
Domino d oesnt generate a Subm it
button automatically. Create a Submit
button, hotspot, or action w hose formula
includes these comm and s:
@Com mand([FileSave]);
@Command ([FileCloseWindow ])
You can hav e mu ltiple buttons on a form.
If there are n o buttons, Domino
automatically generates a Subm it button
at the bottom of the form. Domino only
recognizes one button on a form. If there
are mu ltiple buttons on the form,
Domino recognizes only the first button
and converts it to a Submit buttonautomatically.
The following comman ds are sup ported
on the Web:
@Command ([FileCloseWindow ]),
@Com mand([FileSave]), and
@Command ([ViewRefreshFields])
The following comm and s are not
supported on the Web:
@Comm and ([FileCloseWind ow]),
@Command([FileSave]), and
@Command ([ViewRefreshFields])
Domino checks the formulas before
displaying pages. Actions that contain
un sup por ted @command s or @functions
will not be displayed on the Web.
Upgrade issues for Use JavaScript when generating pages for aWeb database
Elements w ith unsupp orted formulas that Domino h id au tomatically in
Release 4.5 may now disp lay if you select the Use JavaScript property .
With the property selected, Domino d oesnt check any hotspot or bu tton
formulas before using JavaScript to generate the page. Web users see all
buttons, actions, and hotspots even those that contain @command s and
@functions that arent supp orted for Web applications.
Revise any formulas that relied on hotspot formulas being evaluated at
disp lay time. Make sure these formu las evaluate correctly after the u ser
clicks the hotspot, not before.
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Replace Release 4.5 attachment fields with Embedded Element - File
Upload Controls if you set the Use JavaScript property . The Use
JavaScript setting d isables @Command([EditInsertFileAttachmen t])
hotspots used to create attachment fields in Release 4.5, because the hotsp ot
is not evaluated w hen the p age is displayed.
The Use JavaScript p roperty can cause unexpected results because the
URL generation in Release 5.0 is different than it was in Release 4.6.
Check any formulas that rely on accessing a Query_String or Path_Info URL
fragment. The URLs will frequ ently be d ifferent . For example, POST URLs
that includ ed ?CreateDocum ent and ?SaveDocument are no longer
generated in Release 5.0. The new POST URL is a variat ion of ?OpenForm
or ?EditDocum ent.
Setting database launch properties
You can set database properties that control what a user sees when th e
database opens. For example, you might w ant all users to start from anapp lication h ome page or a registration p age. Or you might display a main
navigator that leads users to different p ieces of the app lication. You can
specify one option for an app lication when it runs on a workstation and
another option for the application w hen it run s on the Web.
When the database opens on the Notes client, you can display:
The database as the u ser last viewed it
The About This Database docum ent for the database
A frameset you specify
A navigator you sp ecify
A navigator you specify in its own window
The first attachment in the About This Database document
The first doclink in the Abou t This Database document
When the d atabase opens on a Web browser, you can display:
Use the Notes launch op tion
The About This Docum ent docum ent
A frameset you specify
A page you specify
A navigator in its own w indow
The first doclink in the Abou t This Database document
A d oclink you specify
The first docum ent in a view
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To set the database launch property
1. Select or open the database and choose File - Database - Properties.
2. Click the Launch tab.
3. Do one or both of the following:
Choose what to d isplay for a Notes client
Choose what to display for a Web browser
4. (Optional) Choose whether to d isplay the About This Database
document w hen the database opens for the first time and / or when the
About This Database document is mod ified.
Setting the database property to launch the first link in the Abou t This
Database docum ent gives users access to information in an other ap plication
from a Designer ap plication. For examp le, to collect spreadsheet da ta for
use in the application, launch a link to a spread sheet app lication so users
immed iately see the spreadsheet when they open the d atabase. Data
entered in the spreadsheet can be used to pop ulate fields in the app lication.To view the About This Database document, users choose Help - About
This Database or close the link or attachment.
If you choose to launch a p age, you w ill need to specify the p age. Designer
gives you a d rop-down list of the pages that are available to choose from.
If you choose to launch a doclink:
1. Copy the doclink on to the clipboard.
2. Open the Database Properties box.
3. On the Launch tab choose - On Web open launch designated d oclink.
4. Click Paste d oclink.
To launch a Page from the Notes client1. On the Launch tab of the Database Prop erties box, choose On Database
Open - Open d esignated N avigator.
2. Select Type of Navigator: Page.
3. Enter or select the n ame of the Page.
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Displaying a document preview automaticallyYou can au tomatically display a preview p ane that show s the contents of
the highlighted d ocum ent in a d atabase view before the user opens the
document. This gives users a sense of wh at is in a database withou t having
to open and close each d ocum ent. If you d o not d isplay the preview pane
autom atically, users choose View - Docum ent Preview to access it.
1. Select or open the d atabase you are designing and choose File -
Database - Properties.
2. Click the Launch tab.
3. Click the Preview Pane Default bu tton.
4. Choose a location where the document preview pane will d isplay.
5. Check Maximize document preview on database open to
automatically d isplay the preview p ane.
Settings for multilingual applications
If you are creating an ap plication that w ill have d ifferent langu age versions,
you can select Multilingu al Database on the Design tab of the Database
Properties box. Once you have enabled th e database as a mu ltilingu al
database you can select the default language and region. This prop erty
works in conjun ction w ith the language preference setting on users
browsers. For example, if you have three versions of your d atabase, one in
English, one in French, and one in Spanish, and the users browser or Notes
client preference is set to Spanish as th e defau lt language, the Domino
server will serve up the Spanish version of the hom e page. This prop erty is
also available for individua l design elements and w orks in the same way .
Domino Global Workbench
Domino Designer ships with th e Domino Global Workbench, a fully
integrated translation tool specifically designed to facilitate the translation
of Designer ap plications into a variety of langu ages.
If you decide to u se Domino Global WorkBench, a number of design-stage
tasks will make the localization process simpler. For examp le, you should
use aliases for the names of design elements w herever you can. Use a
system of stand ard prefixes for the aliases so that they can easily be
identified as text to exclud e from tran slation.
To launch Dom ino Global Workbench, click the Domino Global Workbench
icon.
For more information see Preparing Source Databases in Domino Global
WorkBench Help.
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HTML tag attributes for a Domino server
The HTML tab appears on m any p roperties boxes. If you a re designing an
app lication tha t will be used on the Web and a re using H TML 4.0, the
HTML tab on th e Database Properties box lets you access core attribu tes,
such as Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), easily. Domino incorporates the values
of these attributes to the H TML that it creates at runtime. When you are
using the H TML tag attributes, remember:
The HTML must be ASCII characters.
Do not include qu otation marks when you enter the attributes in the
various boxes, except for the Oth er box.
Other needs quotation marks, as shown in the examp le below.
HTML tag attributes
ID: used to reference an object using JavaScript. For examp le, the object
could be
ID = ZipCode
Class: used to specify a CSS class for an object. For example, if the
objects nam e is ZipCode, the class could be N umeric.CSS styles are
defined in the HTML Head Content event for a form or p age.
Style: used to ap ply a specific CSS styles to an object. For examp le, if the
objects nam e is ZipCode, the class is Numeric, the style could be
font-size:10pt, or if you have more then one value, separate them with a
semi-colon, for exam ple, font-size:10pt; color:blue.
Title: used to p romp t the u ser to enter a value for the object. For
examp le, if the objects nam e is ZipCode, the class is Numeric, the styleis Bold, the title could be Enter your Zip Cod e. The title displays
differently on d ifferent browsers.
Other: used for ad ditional HTML tag attributes and m ust be w ritten as
pu re HTML code. For example, instead of writing ZipCod e in the
Nam e/ ID box, you have to w rite ID=ZipCode.
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Hide-when options
Designer lets you hide many of the design elements and components of an
app lication. If hide options are available, the hide when tab ap pears on
the p roperties box for that element. To set hide-when options, select the
element you wan t to hide and open the p roperties box for that element.
1. Click the Hide tab.2. For basic options, select all situations in the Hide paragraph w hen
document is: section in which the components d ont need to be seen by
users.
3. For programmer op tions, select Hide paragraph if formula is true
and write a formula in the design p ane to describe the situa tions in
wh ich u sers dont need to see the layout region.
You can hide elements, includ ing its text, graphics, and fields, in any of
these situations.
When u sers read, hide information that is useful only when u sers createor edit documents.
When u sers ed it, pr int, and copy, hide information tha t is useful when
users read documents.
If an element is hidden
when:
Then:
Previewed for
reading
The hidd en information isnt visible w hen users read
documents in the document preview pane.
Previewed for
editing
The hidd en information isnt visible when users w ork
on docum ents in Edit mode in the documen t previewpane.
Opened for reading The hidden information isnt visible when users open
docum ents in Read mod e. A layout region that cant be
read cant be p rinted either.
Opened for editing The hidden information isnt visible when users work
on docum ents in Edit mode.
Printed The hidden information isnt visible on printed
documents.
Copied to the
clipboard
The hidd en information isnt visible w hen information
is copied to and pasted from the Clipboard . Thissetting doesnt affect documents copied at the view
level.
Hide paragraph if
formula is true
A formula d etermines
top related