COOL Plex centric view of Domino integration Kirsten

COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration Kirsten Muhs Senior Consultant AD Solutions AG

Introduction § AD Solutions AG – Distributor for Germany, Austria, Switzerland – – First level support & helpline Education & consulting Product & project services Pattern provider § Kirsten Muhs – Senior Consultant, Research & Development – Evaluation of Connector for Domino APIs – Application/Pattern development with COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Agenda § Integration – Which kind of approach? § What is COOL: Plex Connector for Domino? § How to integrate – Examples § Question & Answer COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Integration by Domino app‘s § DECS/LEI/LS: DO/@Db. Functions/LSX – Powerful and essential § Work well enabling Notes applications to interface with legacy data § Can do any data updates, given authority – This can be dangerous § Easy to ignore business rules § Notes developers frequently not even aware of them – One-sided approach § Domino in control, COOL: Plex apps excluded § „Smash and grab” COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Integration by Plex app‘s § Well… there’s the Notes C API – Powerful, but complex – About 700 low level functions § Or the C++ and Java APIs… – Rich in functionality § IS THERE ANY OTHER SOLUTION? COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Agenda § Integration – Which kind of approach? § What is COOL: Plex Connector for Domino? § How to integrate – Examples § Question & Answer COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

COOL: Plex Connector for Domino is a Pattern library § API functions – Built on the Notes C API – About 100 high level function calls instead of 700 low level APIs § Abstract classes – – Using COOL: Plex familiar terminology Based on OBJECTS, FIELDS and WINAPI Extend the API functionality Easy access to Domino specific features COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

COOL: Plex Connector for Domino enables COOL: Plex apps to. . . § Keep control! § Retrieve documents by view or formula – Notes view formulas are evaluated – Use Notes SELECT formula for ad-hoc access § Insert/Update/Delete documents – Notes field formulas are evaluated § Create design elements – Databases, forms, views § Execute agents § And of course: Email COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Agenda § Integration – Which kind of approach? § What is COOL: Plex Connector for Domino? § How to integrate – Examples § Question & Answer COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Inside the Pattern: Entities § Ac. Session Connection to Domino database § Ac. Document Basic document access functions § Ac. Mail. Memo Sending Email COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Mail. Memo – what you get COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Mail. Memo – what you get COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Mail. Memo – how to use § Create an entity § Inherit from Ac. Mail. Memo § Call the FNC Mail. Send or Mail. Send. UI § Ready – Use edit points to perform additional functions, such as adding file attachments COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Session – how to use § For each Notes/Domino database you want to connect to – Define an entity and inherit from Ac. Session – Assign TBL file name NME triple to specify the default Notes database file name – Assign TBL access name NME triple to specify the default server name COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Session – what you get § Agents – Execute § Database – Connect/Create/Delete/Disconnect § Session – Edit. Parameters – Retrieve. Parameters – Save. Parameters COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Document – how to use § For each Notes form – Define an entity and inherit from Ac. Document – Include fields of the Notes form to the entity § Using known by / has triples § Only those fields you want to view or update – Define Notes object names § Form (TBL impl name NME) § Fields (FLD impl name NME) § Views (VW impl name NME) – Needed for view based searches COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Ac. Document. List functions § Get. One Corresponding to STORAGE/Single. Fetch § Get. Seq Corresponding to STORAGE/Block. Fetch § Both functions return ONE document – Output [12] to support multi value fields – Get. Contents if more than 12 multi values – Subsequent Get. Seq retrieves the next document COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

View based search (1) § Create a COOL: Plex view and assign the implementation name of the Notes view § Key fields of COOL: Plex view – Must match key columns of Notes view – Exception: Usage of option Ac. Search. By. Form – Used as positioner, restrictor § Additional fields of COOL: Plex view – Specify fields you want in the output – Do NOT need to match additional columns of Notes view COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

View based search (2) § Default retrieval – All documents of the Notes database § Notes view contains formula – e. g. < SELECT Form = „Cool. NA“ > § Notes view contains field „form“ as first key column in the view – Field needs NOT to be included in COOL: Plex – Use of option Ac. Search. By. Form instead COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Updating documents (1) § Ac. Document. Update – Create § Creates new documents § Creates response documents by passing in the handle of the parents document – Change § Changes a document § Key is Document Handle retrieved by a List function – Append § To append multi value fields § Unscoped function Ac. Delete. Document COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Updating documents (2) § Notes fields contain formulas, e. g. – – Retrieve system date/time Assign a Notes generated unique key Compute values Copy fields of main to response doc‘s § Connector functions evaluate formulas! – Modify input view of Create/Update functions § Keep the fields you want to write § Drop the fields supplied by Notes field formulas COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Questions? COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -

Conclusion § Keep control! – Protect your database… § Integration != data pump – Take advantage of the logic inside Domino – Respect the rules provided by the Notes developer § Use COOL: Plex connector for Domino – Integration is much easier than using low level APIs COOL: Plex centric view of Domino integration - Seite -