XPages for Lotus Notes Client Developers

1. 1
Learning To Run
XPages for Lotus Notes Client Developers
Presenter: Kathy Brown

2. Who am I
• Kathy Brown
• Lotus Notes Developer, primarily for the Notes client, until recently
• Co-author of the Lotus User Group Notes Developer Tips Newsletter
• Speaker at Lotusphere and various LUGs
• Twitter addict
• Runner

3. What this session is...
• Tips and transitions for Notes client developers

4. What this session is not...
• A step-by-step how to
• Best practices
• Advanced topics

5. Building Blocks
• Forms
• Views
• Subforms
• Framesets
• Outlines
• Pages

6. Building Blocks
• XPages
• Core Controls
• Container Controls
• Custom Controls

7. Separation of Data and UI
• Traditional Notes Dev
• Forms combine data and UI
• XPages
• Separate data from UI
• Create forms just as data
holders, no need to prettify
• Create views for lookups, no
need to prettify (no need for
dual sorting!)

8. Customer Name
Customer ID
Customer Address
Customer Purchases
Customer Name
Customer Address
Widget ID
Widget Name
Widget Description
Widget ID
Widget Name
Widget Description
Widget Image

9. Data Binding
• Because data and UI are separate, we need to “bind” data to our
elements
• Xpage
• Can define a domino document or view as a data source
• Custom Controls and Container Controls like Panel
• Can define a domino document or view as a data source
• Repeat Controls and certain Core Controls
• Use data binding

10. Data Binding
• Simple data binding
• Select a source from a list, or add another source
• Select an item to bind to
• Example: select a document from the source and a field from that
document to bind to
• Javascript
• Utilize the JavaScript editor to write Server Side Javascript (SSJS)
• Example:
database.getView(“movies”).getAllDocumentsByKey(genre);
• Advanced
• Use expression language, scoped variable, component parameter or
custom code for data binding

11. DDE

12. Quick Tip
• Window --> Reset Perspective is your friend

13. The Outline
• Easily locate items on the Xpage
• Drag & drop items to new locations

14. Source
• Easily change values or properties
• See the Matrix

15. Design Pane

16. Properties

17. Core Controls

18. What’s with those “group” controls?

19. Something familiar*
• Edit Box
• Rich Text
• Multiline Edit Box
• List Box
• Combo Box
* Sort of

20. Quick Tip
• When adding @formula values for a combo box or list box, the default
condition is “Compute on Page Load”. Remember to change that to
“Compute Dynamically” in the script editor
OR go to the Source tab and change the
“$” to “#”

21. More Core Controls

22. Core Controls - Label
• Why use a label?
• More control
• More programmability

23. Core Controls - Errors
• Use to display ... errors

24. Panel Control
• Sort of, kind of, like a layer...
on steroids
• Or like an embedded view...
on steroids
• Or like if a layer and an embedded view had a baby

25. Repeat Controls
• No traditional Notes Client equivalent
and that’s a good thing
• A repeat control allows you place controls inside it (like Edit boxes or
computed values, but also more repeat controls!) that repeat on the
page

26. Container Controls
• Include Page - allows you to include an Xpage on another Xpage
• Table - we all know about this one!
• View - kind of like an embedded view, but better
• Tabbed Panel - multiple panels with...wait for it...tabs!
• Section - we know about these, too

27. Custom Controls
• Closest traditional equivalent are subforms
• Create custom controls to hold other controls stored together
• Can be a “create once, use multiple times for footers and headers, for
example

28. Quick Tip
• CTRL+SHIFT+F in the source

29. @Formula in Xpages
• @Formula is available for use in Server Side JavaScript (SSJS)
• Not all @Formula are supported in Xpages

30. @Functions Not Supported in Xpages
@AbstractSimple @CheckAlarms @DeleteField @DoWhile
@Accessed @CheckFormulaSyntax @DialogBox @EditECL
@ACos @Command @DocChildren @EditUserECL
@AddToFolder @Compare @DocDescendants @EnableAlarms
@AdminECLIsLocked @ConfigFile @DocFields @Environment
@All @Cos @DocLength @Eval
@AllChildren @DB2Schema @DocLevel @Exp
@AllDescendants @DbCommand @DocLock @FileDir
@Ascii @DbExists @DocMark @FloatEq
@ASin @DbManager @DocNumber @FontList
@ATan @DDEExecute @DocOmmittedLength @For
@ATan2 @DDEInitiate @DocParentNumber @FormLanguage
@BrowserInfo @DDEPoke @DocSiblings @GetAddressBooks
@BusinessDays @DDETerminate @DocumentUniqueID @GetCurrentTimeZone
@Certificate @DeleteDocument @Domain @GetDocField

31. @Functions Not Supported in Xpages
@GetFocusTable @IsDocBeingRecalculated @Locale @OrgDir
@GetHTTPHeader @IsDocTruncated @Log @Password
@GetIMContactListGroupNames @IsEmbeddedInsideWCT @MailDbName @PasswordQuality
@GetPortsList @IsExpandable @MailEncryptSavedPreference @Pi
@GetProfileField @IsInCompositeApp @MailEncryptSentPreference @PickList
@GetViewInfo @IsModalHelp @MailSavePreference @Platform
@HardDeleteDocument @IsUsingJavaElement @MailSend @PolicyIsFieldLocked
@HashPassword @IsValid @MailSignPreference @PostedCommand
@InheritedDocumentUniqueID @IsVirtualizedDirectory @Matches @Power
@IsAgentEnabled @Keywords @NameLookup @Prompt
@IsAppInstalled @LanguagePreference @Narrow @RefreshECL
@IsCategory @LaunchApp @NoteID @RegQueryValue
@IsDB2 @LDAPServer @Nothing @Responses
@IsDocBeingEdited @Like @OpenInNewWindow @ServerAccess
@IsDocBeingMailed @Ln @OptimizeMailAddress @ServerName

32. @Functions Not Supported in Xpages
@Set @TemplateVersion @URLHistory @ViewTitle
@SetDocField @ThisName @URLOpen @WebDbName
@SetEnvironment @ThisValue @UrlQueryString @WhichFolders
@SetHTTPHeader @TimeMerge @UserAccess @While
@SetProfileField @TimeToTextInZone @UserNameLanguage @Wide
@SetTargetFrame @TimeZoneToText @UserNamesList @Zone
@SetViewInfo @ToNumber @UserPrivileges DEFAULT
@ShowParentPreview @ToTime @UserRoles ENVIRONMENT
@Sign @Transform @V2If FIELD
@Sin @Unavailable @V3UserName REM
@Sort @UndeleteDocument @V4UserAccess SELECT
@Soundex @UpdateFormulaContext @ValidateInternetAddress
@Sqrt @URLDecode @VerifyPassword
@StatusBar @URLEncode @Version
@Tan @URLGetHeader @ViewShowThisUnread

33. @Formula Syntax
• Three syntactic changes to use @Formula in Xpages:
• Use commas rather than semicolons
• Use exact case
Example:
var uname = @Name(“[CN]”, @UserName())
• “null” should be used in place of 0 for formulas such as @Adjust
Example:
var aDate = @Adjust(@Created(), null, null, 5, null, null, null)

34. @Formula Help

35. @Formula Help
• Help file is not very helpful!
• @Name(“[CN]”, name) - needs those quotes!
• @UserName() - needs those parentheses!

36. @Name in Help

37. Server Side Javascript (SSJS)
• Server side Javascript is not LotusScript
• BUT it is close enough to fool you
var someValue = entry.getColumnValues()[3]
• Get a map
http://bit.ly/XpagesMap
• Go green!
http://bit.ly/Recycle1
http://bit.ly/Recycle2

38. Xpages Domino Object Map

39. Close...

40. But Not Quite

41. Scoped Variables
• applicationScope
• sessionScope
• viewScope
• requestScope

42. Quick Tip
• Turn off “Synchronize Navigator with Editor Tab”

43. CSS and Themes
• Roll your own or
• Start with a framework*
• http://bit.ly/XpageFramework
• http://blueprintcss.org
✴Start with a framework

44. Firebug
• Use it

45. Where To Get Help
• http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ddwiki.nsf
• http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/ddwiki.nsf/dx/
NotesDocumentCollection_sample_JavaScript_code_for_XPages
• Help files not so helpful

46. Quick Tip
• Create different search scopes for the not-so-helpful help file

47. Learn Javascript and Java
• Javascript
• http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp
• http://bit.ly/JavaScriptDefinitive
• Java
• http://bit.ly/HeadFirstJava
• http://www.javavideotutes.com/

48. Test Server - Get One
• Typical Lotus Client development can get away with “testing” on a
production server
• Doing that with Xpages...

49. Sample Applications - Get Some
• Download applications and dig through them to see how they were
created
• Frameworks on OpenNTF
• Matt White and Tim Clark’s Show and Tell sample app

50. Quick Tip
• Turn on “Select controls dialog box”

51. Quick Tip
• Visible versus Hide When

52. Quick Tip
• Turn off Build Automatically

53. Quick Tip

54. Quick Tips
• Upgrade whenever possible
• Learn Eclipse

55. Resources
• http://xpages101.net
• http://notesin9.com
• http://xpag.es/?cheatsheet
• http://planetlotus.org
• http://openntf.org
• http://tlcc.com
• http://ntf.gbs.com/nathan/escape.nsf/d6plinks/NTFN-8GP6RP

56. THANK YOU
• kathy@runningnotes.net
• @RunningKathy or @NotesDevTips
• http://runningnotes.net