IBM Lotus Domino: Classic Web Application Development Techniques

Richard G. Ellis

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781849682404
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Informatique
• Subtopic: Développement d'applications

In Detail

Domino is an application server that can be used as a standalone web server. As part of the Domino suite, it provides a powerful collaborative platform for the development of customized business applications. It provides enterprise-grade e-mail, messaging, and scheduling capabilities.

There are many novice and moderately experienced developers who would like to enhance a Web-enabled Domino application, but to do so they need to learn the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and also how to use those technologies in the context of a Domino application. Information about how to do this is available on the Web, but the sheer volume of that information makes it very difficult for the newbie to get started.

Topics and techniques presented in this book provide a comprehensive overview of all major design strategies used to Web-enable traditional Domino applications. Illustrations provide clear working examples of how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can be incorporated into existing applications to improve both look and performance.

Early chapters provide suggestions for working with users and for managing your development time and effort. Later chapters focus in detail on forms and pages, views, navigation, agents, security, performance, and troubleshooting. Examples demonstrate clearly how to incorporate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into Domino designs. By the end of this book you will have learned what you need to know to quickly and competently tackle web application enhancement tasks.

Beyond providing a good understanding, this book will continue to serve as a valuable source of ideas and techniques. This book brings together essential classic strategies and techniques used to deploy Domino applications to the Web. Chapters cover all major design elements, with a special emphasis on how to craft these elements to work well with web browsers. Many topics include alternative techniques for solving particular problems. Illustrations and examples can be used where appropriate, or they can serve as jumping off points for your own solutions.

Classic and timeless tips and techniques for Web-enabling traditional Lotus Domino applications

Approach

Chapters present principles and techniques in an order that roughly mirrors the application development process itself, from gathering requirements through final testing. The focus is on understanding and enhancing applications using classic techniques, in circumstances where it is impractical to rewrite applications using XPages. Each chapter focuses upon a particular aspect of Domino Web applications and provides guidance, recommendations, illustrations, and sample code.

Who this book is for

This book is for novice to moderately experienced Domino developers who are new to the task of Web-enabling traditional Domino applications. Readers should be familiar with using Domino Designer to develop applications for the Lotus Notes client. It is also assumed that readers have, or can acquire, at least rudimentary knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

IBM Lotus Domino: Classic Web Application Development Techniques

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Table of Contents

IBM Lotus Domino: Classic Web Application Development Techniques

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

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Why Subscribe?

Free Access for Packt account holders

Instant Updates on New Packt Books

Preface

Getting started

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Preparation and Habits

Preparing yourself as a developer

Gather a list of public websites that use Domino

Get certified in Lotus Notes / Domino application development

Use Domino Help

Consider using external editors and development tools

Create sandbox applications

Create a personal cookbook

Create a personal document library

Create a website

Adopt new language and terms

Pay attention to web programming developments and practices

Standardizing applications

Abide by your organization's web development guidelines

Usability

Style

Mechanics and process

Create libraries of common resources

Planning your work

Take notes

Use to-do lists

Keep a list of all active projects and tasks

Report your progress

Working the project

Work with users, not against them

Identify the champion and other players

Don't start without clear requirements

Understand the budget and timeline; provide an estimate

Avoid scope creep

Assume that all Notes applications will be web-enabled in the future

Familiarize yourself with an unknown design

Assess an existing application for web enablement

Think like a user

Think like a developer

Write a report

Keep an issues log

Improve the application under the covers

Enhance performance wherever possible

Add error trapping

Add diagnostic and repair aids

Provide the customer with a summary of changes

Documenting your applications

Add comments to the code

Create internal developer notes

Add release notes to the About document

Include external documentation in the design as file resources

Create user-oriented help pages

Summary

2. Design and Development Strategies

Planning the design

Understand the scope of the project

Annotate the requirements document

Understand the workflow

Determine the need to access external databases

Decide on one database or several

Review existing designs

Copy the design of an existing application

Evaluate the security needs of the application

Using consistent naming conventions

Name databases so that URLs are easy to remember

Use standard versioning for design templates

Use standard versioning for major design elements

Use unique names for all major design elements

Name design elements sensibly

Name form fields consistently and appropriately

Create different versions of design elements for Notes and the Web

Name Domino groups and roles appropriately

Use Domino groups and roles appropriately

Name roles consistent with other applications

Attending to human factor issues

Create clean and flexible designs

Design for specific display characteristics

Design for accessibility

Add titles to pages, forms, and framesets

Optimize the use of images

Use image resources instead of pasted images

Using appropriate design elements and techniques

Consider alternate design strategies

Learn the Properties dialog box

Use hide-when formulas

Avoid using the Java applets

Avoid server refresh round trips

Conform to HTML standards

Avoid using non-standard, deprecated, and invalid HTML tags

Avoid using HTML formatting tags

Use configuration documents

Developer testing

Add diagnostic and repair tools

Set up test IDs

Test with browsers used by your users

Clear the browser cache

Promoting the design from testing to production

Use a staging server for user acceptance testing

Segregate administrative and developer duties

Request that templates be signed by an authorized signing ID

Understand how templates are applied to production applications

Reviewing other sources of help

Read the Notes and Domino release notes

Summary

3. Forms and Pages

Setting properties appropriately

Set the content type (MIME) property

Take full control with content type HTML

Leave the "Use JavaScript when generating pages" option enabled

Generate HTML for all fields

Opening forms and pages directly

Viewing the source in a browser to investigate anomalies

Composing and saving documents

Create documents

Edit documents

Save documents

Save documents using $$Return to specify the next page

Save documents using a WebQuerySave agent to specify the next page

Improving the layout of design elements

Identify all HTML tags

Use view template forms to display views

Use framesets for layout

Use <div> tags to replace framesets

Align fields

Use tables to align fields

Use <div> and <label> tags to align fields

Use <fieldset> and <legend> tags to group related fields

Using computed text

Display a customized title bar

Display customized messages

Using hidden computed fields

Add fields to provide access to key document attributes

Access CGI variables

Improve @DbLookup and @DbColumn formulas

Using HTML to add value to a form or page

Use special fields

Convert between Notes and HTML

Creating pseudo Action Bars for the Web

Summary

4. Navigation

General precautions

Do not hardcode URLs, filenames, or UNIDs

Use @WebDbName

Use $Ref

Use a "go forward" navigational strategy on the Web

Avoid generating complex dynamic pages

Application launch options

Launch the About document

Launch a specific homepage

Launch a frameset

Launch a view

Launch a form

Launch a graphical navigator

Launch documents in context using Auto Frame

Creating a custom application login form

Creating menus

Create Hotspots

Create menus with outlines

Create menus with tables

Create menus with HTML and CSS

Create dynamic menus with views

Displaying a design element after exiting a document

Use $$Return to select a design element

Display the previous view

Display the parent document

Using response forms for interim workflow steps

Coding default error pages

Providing directions and help

Add meaningful labels and guidance text

Add titles to design elements

Link to the About and Using documents

Add customized help pages

Opening another application in a separate window or tab

Summary

5. Cascading Style Sheets

Using CSS for styling design elements on the Web

Learn basic CSS coding

Associate CSS rules with...

Table of contents

• IBM Lotus Domino: Classic Web Application Development Techniques