Lotus Notes 8 Beta – First thing noticed
Just a quick note that Beta 8 is available and I found a little inconsistancy. Yes, I know it is beta, wanted it known. 

Open Audit & Quick Elementer on Talking Notes
I just recorded my first podcast with Bruce for Talking Notes, hopefully not the last. We talked about Open Audit and Quick Elementer. It looks like I will be joined by Rob on episode 27.
Lotus Notes Improvements
Hynek Kobelka has 37 improvement request for Lotus Notes, reminded me of some options that I would like for the LotusScript debugger as mentioned before. This even made it to Ed Brill's discussion "If I could add ONE feature to Lotus Notes 7.x, it would be...".
Back to the list of 37, some of the improvements have been discussed by Mary Beth Raven and others so I will not touch on those.
9. Calendar-Alarms get the focus while working in a different application - The alarm window just needs help. Take a look at the other's alarm implementation.
10. Add a "File-Attach" - Button into the Memo-Form - makes sense, why disable the option when you know where it should go.
12. Display in the mail file the current usage of the quota - Yes this would be nice.
13. Give us a "-Cancelled-" Status for Calendar-Entries - The strike through should only be there until I remove it from my calendar. It would be nice to see the meeting is being canceled if I have not looked at my Inbox.
15. Make Type-Ahead a "combobox" - Yes, showing a list is much better.
17. Contacts in the Mail-DB - YES!!!
24. Resorting of a view should be "cleared" once the user closes and reopens a database - I would disagree, I like it when it remembers what I want.
27. Create a function which is only available from a Conflict-Document "COMPARE WITH PARENT" - That would be sweet.
33. Computed View-Column-Titles - Please
Another improvement would be to Implement type ahead for class I create, not just the Domino classes. The next thing on my list would be to redesign the properties box, so here are some thoughts:
- Nothing else that I know uses this concept
- Why does it always change size
- If I position it towards the bottom then I could lose some information when I select another tab
- I do like the floating concept
- Why does Notes not realize that the properties box is position outside of the screen when I am forced to lower my resolutoin, why
- I find my self browsing through the tabs to find something because I can never remember what the icons mean
Session.DocumentContext something isn't right
If you ran the following code in the Web Query Save agent that was assigned to a form with a subject field. The original value of subject was "Truck" and the new value entered on the web was "Car". The Web Query Save agent code was:
Dim docBefore As NotesDocument
Dim documentContext As NotesDocument
Dim docAfter As NotesDocument
Set docBefore = Session.CurrentDatabase.getDocumentByUNID( "f02506889e2d5cfc8625712f001b02f9" )
Msgbox "Before: " +
docBefore.subject(0) Set documentContext = Session.DocumentContext
Msgbox "Context: " + documentContext.subject(0)
Set docAfter = Session.CurrentDatabase.getDocumentByUNID( "f02506889e2d5cfc8625712f001b02f9" )
Msgbox "After:" +
docAfter.subject(0)
I was expecting to see:
Before: Truck
Context: Car
After: Truck
What I saw was:
Before: Truck
Context: Car
After: Truck
Domino seems to read the document from the database until the DocumentContext is used at which the document is read from memory where the changes are allready made. This will make my job capturing what has change for Open Audit a litte hard, thus take a little more time.
Template Build Class 1.1.0
Updated the Template Build Class to include a build number that will be different the build version. The build version is text which could have 1.1.0, 1.0.0 beta 1, etc. The build number is an actual number and would be 40, 100, etc.
Here are the methods available:
Public Sub new( )<br> Public Function GetVersionField() As NotesDocument<br> Public Function getTemplateBuildName( ) As String<br> Public Function setTemplateBuildName( BuildName As String )<br> Public Function getTemplateBuild( ) As String<br> Public Function setTemplateBuild( Build As String )<br> Public Function getTemplateBuildNumber( ) As Double<br> Public Function setTemplateBuildNumber( BuildNumber As Double )<br> Public Function getTemplateBuildDate( ) As NotesDateTime<br> Public Function setTemplateBuildDate( BuildDate As NotesDateTime )<br> Public Function hasTemplateBuild( ) As Boolean<br> Public Sub Save( )<br> Public Sub delete( )<br>
Template Build Class
Option Public Option Declare '/** ' * Notes/Domino uses a shared field called $TemplateBuild to store the current ' * build number, build name and build date this class will allow access to the shared field ' * both to read and update. ' * ' * History ' *14 Apr 2005 Christopher J Doig Initial version ' *30 May 2006 Chad Schelfhout ( http://www.chadsmiley.com ) ' * Converted function to class ' * Setters and getters for Build information ' * Allow the creation of the shared field if it does not exist ' *8 June 2006 Chad Schelfhout ( http://www.chadsmiley.com ) ' * Added TemplateBuildNumber which is a number not text. This will allow the comparison to see if a new version is available. ' */ Class TemplateBuild SharedFieldTitleName As String SharedFieldName As String TemplateBuildNameField As String TemplateBuildNumberField As String TemplateBuildField As String TemplateBuildDateField As String docTemplateBuild As NotesDocument session As NotesSession saveDocTemplateBuild As Boolean Public Sub New () SharedFieldTitleName = "$Title" SharedFieldName = "$TemplateBuild" TemplateBuildNameField = "$TemplateBuildName" TemplateBuildNumberField = "$TemplateBuildNumber" TemplateBuildField = "$TemplateBuild" TemplateBuildDateField = "$TemplateBuildDate" Set session = New NotesSession saveDocTemplateBuild = False Call GetVersionField() End Sub '/* ' * Attempt to load the Build information if it is not there then import the DXL to create ' * the shared field then try and load the Build information again. ' */ Public Function GetVersionField () As NotesDocument Call attemptLoad() If docTemplateBuild Is Nothing Then Call createBuildTemplateField() Call attemptLoad() End If Set GetVersionField = docTemplateBuild End Function '/* ' * Search for the shared field called $TemplateBuild ' */ Private Sub attemptLoad() Dim doc As NotesDocument Dim nc As NotesNoteCollection Dim item As NotesItem Dim strID As String Set nc = session.CurrentDatabase.CreateNoteCollection ( False ) nc.SelectSharedFields = True Call nc.BuildCollection strID = nc.GetFirstNoteId Set docTemplateBuild = Nothing Do Until strID = "" Set doc = session.CurrentDatabase.GetDocumentByID ( strID ) Set item = doc.GetFirstItem ( SharedFieldTitleName ) If item.Text = SharedFieldName Then Set docTemplateBuild = doc Exit Do End If strID = nc.GetNextNoteId ( strID ) Loop End Sub '/* ' * Import a shared field called $TemplateBuild ' */ Private Sub createBuildTemplateField() Dim importer As NotesDXLImporter Set importer = session.CreateDXLImporter importer.DesignImportOption = DXLIMPORTOPTION_CREATE Call importer.Import( |<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?><!DOCTYPE sharedfield> <sharedfield name='$TemplateBuild' xmlns='http://www.lotus.com/dxl' language='en'> <field type='text' kind='editable' name='$TemplateBuild'/> <item name='$TemplateBuildName' sign='true'> <textlist> <text>Application Name</text> </textlist> </item> <item name='$TemplateBuild' sign='true'> <textlist> <text>0.0.0</text> </textlist> </item> <item name='$TemplateBuildNumber' sign='true'> <numberlist> <number>0</number> </numberlist> </item> <item name='$TemplateBuildDate' sign='true'> <datetimelist> <datetime dst='true'>20050815T000000,00-07</datetime> </datetimelist> </item> </sharedfield>| , Session.CurrentDatabase ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build Name ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuildName As String getTemplateBuildName = "" If hasTemplateBuild Then If docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildNameField ) Then getTemplateBuildName = docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildNameField ).text End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuildName ( BuildName As String ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildNameField , BuildName ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuild As String getTemplateBuild = "" If hasTemplateBuild Then If docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildField ) Then getTemplateBuild = docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildField ).text End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuild ( Build As String ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildField , Build ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build Number ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuildNumber As Double getTemplateBuildNumber = 0 If hasTemplateBuild Then If docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildNumberField ) Then If ( Isnumeric( docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildNumberField ).text ) ) Then getTemplateBuildNumber = Cdbl( docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildNumberField ).text ) End If End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuildNumber ( BuildNumber As Double ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildNumberField , BuildNumber ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build Date ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuildDate As NotesDateTime Set getTemplateBuildDate = New NotesDateTime( "0/0/0" ) If hasTemplateBuild Then If ( docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildDateField ) ) Then Set getTemplateBuildDate = docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildDateField ).dateTimeValue End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuildDate ( BuildDate As NotesDateTime ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildDateField , BuildDate ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub Public Function hasTemplateBuild As Boolean hasTemplateBuild = Not ( docTemplateBuild Is Nothing) End Function Public Sub Save() If saveDocTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.Save( True , False ) saveDocTemplateBuild = False End If End Sub Public Sub delete Call save End Sub End Class
Template Build Class
Updated code to remove extra XML information
Chris suggested that a web service be made available for projects to check for updates at openNTF. Vince implemented this rather quickly so I started to testing it on my projects. Everything worked great, but what I noticed was that I now have to maintain this information in both the 'Check for Updates' agent and the $TemplateBuild shared field so that it shows in the database properties.
Remember Chris Doig's tool to set the build information using a notes database (Great Tool). There is duplicate information in these two tools causing me to maintain the build information in both places. Hopefully I have provided a class that can help reduce the duplicity. The Template Build class will allow the setting and getting of the Template Build, Template Build Name and Template Build Date of the $TemplateBuild shared field. This can be used by the web service to get the information, Chris's tool can use it to set the information, and anyone else can use it to set or get the information. Then everyone will be happy, at least I will be!!
Here are the methods available:
Public Sub new( )<br> Public Function GetVersionField() As NotesDocument<br> Public Function getTemplateBuildName( ) As String<br> Public Function setTemplateBuildName( BuildName As String )<br> Public Function getTemplateBuild( ) As String<br> Public Function setTemplateBuild( Build As String )<br> Public Function getTemplateBuildDate( ) As NotesDateTime<br> Public Function hasTemplateBuild( ) As Boolean<br> Public Sub delete( )<br>
Template Build Class
Option Public Option Declare '/** ' * Notes/Domino uses a shared field called $TemplateBuild to store the current ' * build number, build name and build date this class will allow access to the shared field ' * both to read and update. ' * ' * History ' *14 Apr 2005 Christopher J Doig Initial version ' *30 May 2006 Chad Schelfhout ( http://www.chadsmiley.com ) ' * Converted function to class ' * Setters and getters for Build information ' * Allow the creation of the shared field if it does not exist ' */ Class TemplateBuild SharedFieldTitleName As String SharedFieldName As String TemplateBuildNameField As String TemplateBuildField As String TemplateBuildDateField As String docTemplateBuild As NotesDocument session As NotesSession saveDocTemplateBuild As Boolean Public Sub New () SharedFieldTitleName = "$Title" SharedFieldName = "$TemplateBuild" TemplateBuildNameField = "$TemplateBuildName" TemplateBuildField = "$TemplateBuild" TemplateBuildDateField = "$TemplateBuildDate" Set session = New NotesSession saveDocTemplateBuild = False Call GetVersionField() End Sub '/* ' * Attempt to load the Build information if it is not there then import the DXL to create ' * the shared field then try and load the Build information again. ' */ Public Function GetVersionField () As NotesDocument Call attemptLoad() If docTemplateBuild Is Nothing Then Call createBuildTemplateField() Call attemptLoad() End If Set GetVersionField = docTemplateBuild End Function '/* ' * Search for the shared field called $TemplateBuild ' */ Private Sub attemptLoad() Dim doc As NotesDocument Dim nc As NotesNoteCollection Dim item As NotesItem Dim strID As String Set nc = session.CurrentDatabase.CreateNoteCollection ( False ) nc.SelectSharedFields = True Call nc.BuildCollection strID = nc.GetFirstNoteId Set docTemplateBuild = Nothing Do Until strID = "" Set doc = session.CurrentDatabase.GetDocumentByID ( strID ) Set item = doc.GetFirstItem ( SharedFieldTitleName ) If item.Text = SharedFieldName Then Set docTemplateBuild = doc Exit Do End If strID = nc.GetNextNoteId ( strID ) Loop End Sub '/* ' * Import a shared field called $TemplateBuild ' */ Private Sub createBuildTemplateField() Dim importer As NotesDXLImporter Set importer = session.CreateDXLImporter importer.DesignImportOption = DXLIMPORTOPTION_CREATE Call importer.Import( |<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?><!DOCTYPE sharedfield> <sharedfield name='$TemplateBuild' xmlns='http://www.lotus.com/dxl' language='en'> <field type='text' kind='editable' name='$TemplateBuild'/> <item name='$TemplateBuildName' sign='true'> <textlist> <text>Application Name</text> </textlist> </item> <item name='$TemplateBuild' sign='true'> <textlist> <text>0.0.0</text> </textlist> </item> <item name='$TemplateBuildDate' sign='true'> <datetimelist> <datetime dst='true'>19010101T000000,00-07</datetime> </datetimelist> </item> </sharedfield>| , Session.CurrentDatabase ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build Name ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuildName As String getTemplateBuildName = "" If hasTemplateBuild Then If docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildNameField ) Then getTemplateBuildName = docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildNameField ).text End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuildName ( BuildName As String ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildNameField , BuildName ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuild As String getTemplateBuild = "" If hasTemplateBuild Then If docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildField ) Then getTemplateBuild = docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildField ).text End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuild ( Build As String ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildField , Build ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub '/* ' * Get, Set Template Build Date ' */ Public Function getTemplateBuildDate As NotesDateTime Set getTemplateBuildDate = New NotesDateTime( "0/0/0" ) If hasTemplateBuild Then If ( docTemplateBuild.HasItem( TemplateBuildDateField ) ) Then Set getTemplateBuildDate = docTemplateBuild.getFirstItem( TemplateBuildDateField ).dateTimeValue End If End If End Function Public Sub setTemplateBuildDate ( BuildDate As NotesDateTime ) If hasTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.ReplaceItemValue( TemplateBuildDateField , BuildDate ) saveDocTemplateBuild = True End If End Sub Public Function hasTemplateBuild As Boolean hasTemplateBuild = Not ( docTemplateBuild Is Nothing) End Function Public Sub delete If saveDocTemplateBuild Then Call docTemplateBuild.Save( True , False ) saveDocTemplateBuild = False End If End Sub End Class
Open Audit 1.0.0 Beta 1
I have created my second openNTF project which will allow developers to create audit documents when field changes. All configuration will be controlled through a configuration document for a given form. Open Audit is currently in beta, I am looking for some feed back to see if this will be useful for developers before I continue to develop the rest of the tool. Currently on the Notes UI has been implemented, which is the toughest part (just my opinion).
Here is where Open Audit is at as of 1.0.0 Beta 1 Not Implemented
New Features
Line Break Class
Simple class to get the necessary characters to create a line break. The line break is needed for prompts, input, and others. There is not much to explain once you see the available methods:
Public Sub new ( ) As String Public Function getLineBreakSession ( Session As NotesSession ) As String Public Function getLineBreak ( ) As String Public Function getWindows ( ) As String Public Function getMacintosh ( ) As String Public Function getUnix ( ) As String Public Function getLinux ( ) As String
The first code block is the traditional LotusScript coding where you will need to create an instance of LineBreak in order to use it. The second follows the concept of simulating an abstract concept. This allows LineBreak.getLineBreak() to be called from anywhere at any time as long as the class is included.
Line Break
Option Declare '/** ' * Determines what line break to use base on the platform. ' * ' * @author Chad Schelfhout ( http:///www.chadsmiley.com) ' * @since 1.0.0 ' */ Class LineBreak Private pSession As notesSession '/** ' * Constructor ' */ Public Sub new ( ) Set pSession = New NotesSession End Sub '/** ' * Get the type of line break based off the current session ' */ Public Function getLineBreakSession( Session As NotesSession )As String Set pSession = Session getLineBreakSession = getLineBreak() End Function '/** ' * determines the current line break based off the current platform ' */ Public Function getLineBreak() As String If pSession Is Nothing Then Set pSession = New NotesSession() End If Select Case pSession.Platform() Case "Windows/32": getLineBreak = getWindows() Case "Macintosh": getLineBreak = getMacintosh() Case "Unix": getLineBreak = getUnix() Case "Linux": getLineBreak = getLinux() End Select End Function '/** ' * Returns the Windows line break ' */ Public Function getWindows() As String getWindows = Chr$(13) & Chr$(10) End Function '/** ' * Returns the Mac line break ' */ Public Function getMacintosh() As String getMacintosh = Chr$(13) End Function '/** ' * Returns the Unix line break ' */ Public Function getUnix() As String getUnix = Chr$(10) End Function '/** ' * Returns the Linx line break ' */ Public Function getLinux() As String getLinux = Chr$(10) End Function End Class
Line Break simulate abstract class
Option Declare '/** ' * Global variable to simulate an abstract class that is why it is named ' * the same as the class. ' */ Dim LineBreak As LineBreak '/** ' * Determines what line break to use base on the platform. ' * ' * @author Chad Schelfhout ( http:///www.chadsmiley.com) ' * @since 1.0.0 ' */ Class LineBreak Private pSession As notesSession '/** ' * Constructor ' */ Public Sub new ( ) Set pSession = New NotesSession End Sub '/** ' * Get the type of line break based off the current session ' */ Public Function getLineBreakSession( Session As NotesSession )As String Set pSession = Session getLineBreakSession = getLineBreak() End Function '/** ' * determines the current line break based off the current platform ' */ Public Function getLineBreak() As String If pSession Is Nothing Then Set pSession = New NotesSession() End If Select Case pSession.Platform() Case "Windows/32": getLineBreak = getWindows() Case "Macintosh": getLineBreak = getMacintosh() Case "Unix": getLineBreak = getUnix() Case "Linux": getLineBreak = getLinux() End Select End Function '/** ' * Returns the Windows line break ' */ Public Function getWindows() As String getWindows = Chr$(13) & Chr$(10) End Function '/** ' * Returns the Mac line break ' */ Public Function getMacintosh() As String getMacintosh = Chr$(13) End Function '/** ' * Returns the Unix line break ' */ Public Function getUnix() As String getUnix = Chr$(10) End Function '/** ' * Returns the Linx line break ' */ Public Function getLinux() As String getLinux = Chr$(10) End Function End Class '/** ' * Instanciate the global variable that will act like an abstract class ' */ Sub Initialize Set LineBreak = New LineBreak() End Sub