Notes Resources
IBM (Lotus) Notes/Domino Mini-Lessons
IBM Notes (formerly known as IBM Lotus Notes) is an enterprise mail and application platform. IBM Domino (formerly known as IBM Lotus Domino) is an enterprise web and application server that may be used along with Notes. These brief tutorials show tips, tricks and techniques for accomplishing many things with Notes and Domino. There will be a mix of lessons for beginners to experts, though we only have a few so far.
More information of IBM Notes and IBM Domino can be found at IBM.com
AF#7 Modernize Your Data: Tables (India) (AppsFidelity)This is a mini-entry in a series of planned videos on AppsFidelity, and how it is used to 'modernize' your data, showing tables rendered for an Indian audience. Read post |
AF#8 CKEditor: Attach demo (AppsFidelity)This is a mini-entry in a series of videos on CKEditor, some as it applies to AppsFidelity, but most not. |
AF#6 Modernize Your Data: Doclinks and XPages (AppsFidelity)This is the second is a series of planned videos on AppsFidelity, and how it is used to 'modernize' your data. In this video, I address a question raised on StackOverflow about how doclinks are lost when XPages renders the rich text to MIME. There seems to be a limit (around 1200) before XPages simply stops rendering. I decided to test and see if AppsFidelity fixes the problem. It does, and also displays the doclinks the way they are displayed in Notes. Additionally, the doclinks work as web links when you are on the web. and as regular doclinks when you are in Notes, no matter where you edit the document. |
MIDAS#22 Midas Exports: Nested Tabbed Tables (Midas LSX, AppsFidelity Migrate)This is the first is a series of very brief videos on specific aspects of rendering data with the Midas LSX or AppsFidelity Migrate, and how the engine handles different options you may have. This first video is on Tabbed Tables, which are usually rendered either flattened, so that every tabbed row is visible at the same time. The Midas Exports engine does this with great care to ensure it is obvious what the tab values were and which tables are nested. An alternative is also available which uses JavaScript to drive a tabbed interface much like that in Notes. Only the selected tab's contents are shown, as in Notes. |
CXM#3 Time to Migrate: Notes/Domino to Outlook/Exchange (CoexLinks Migrate 4.1)This is the first is a series of planned videos on AppsFidelity, and how it is used to modernize your data. What do I mean by 'modernize'? Well, I've found it hard to describe what needs to be done to data so that as it is properly usable in an application on the web or mobile. I've used the word 'render' when I am just talking about rich text. I've used the words 'wrap' or 'extract' or 'migrate' to describe simple data being wrapped into CSV or JSON. But then I realized, the term 'modernize' as used with apps is just as applicable to data. It's the same data, but served up in ways that work with 'modernized' apps, whether that is XPages or in a iOS/Android app or SQL Server or whatever. AppsFidelity does more than render to HTML. It wraps and encapsulates and more, all on the fly. It does as much or little as you need. It can be used with LDC Via or Aveedo or Darwino or virtually any other product, simply by intercepting the calls to open documents, so no changes are needed to those products. Your legacy and current data modernized to work with whatever feels modern to you. Even if that's just a classic Domino web app. This video shows how AppsFidelity can be turned on with an XPages app to surface your data beautifully without programming. |
AF#5 Modernize Your Data (AppsFidelityt 4.1)This is the first is a series of planned videos on AppsFidelity, and how it is used to modernize your data. What do I mean by 'modernize'? Well, I've found it hard to describe what needs to be done to data so that as it is properly usable in an application on the web or mobile. I've used the word 'render' when I am just talking about rich text. I've used the words 'wrap' or 'extract' or 'migrate' to describe simple data being wrapped into CSV or JSON. But then I realized, the term 'modernize' as used with apps is just as applicable to data. It's the same data, but served up in ways that work with 'modernized' apps, whether that is XPages or in a iOS/Android app or SQL Server or whatever. AppsFidelity does more than render to HTML. It wraps and encapsulates and more, all on the fly. It does as much or little as you need. It can be used with LDC Via or Aveedo or Darwino or virtually any other product, simply by intercepting the calls to open documents, so no changes are needed to those products. Your legacy and current data modernized to work with whatever feels modern to you. Even if that's just a classic Domino web app. This video shows how AppsFidelity can be turned on with an XPages app to surface your data beautifully without programming. |
CXM#2 Batch Export Mail DB (CoexLinks Migrate 4.1)More than 17,500 documents in 110 seconds. With a simple command from the server console, CoexLinks Migrate exports all email documents from a Notes email database into MBOX or EML format, both standards-based formats used by many email products as well as data warehouses and email vaults. Our high speed engine renders even complex rich text emails with high fidelity and accuracy. |
CXM#1 CoexLinks Migrate: A brief introduction (CoexLinks Migrate 4.1)This is the first is a series of planned videos on AppsFidelity, and how it is used to modernize your data. What do I mean by 'modernize'? Well, I've found it hard to describe what needs to be done to data so that as it is properly usable in an application on the web or mobile. I've used the word 'render' when I am just talking about rich text. I've used the words 'wrap' or 'extract' or 'migrate' to describe simple data being wrapped into CSV or JSON. But then I realized, the term 'modernize' as used with apps is just as applicable to data. It's the same data, but served up in ways that work with 'modernized' apps, whether that is XPages or in a iOS/Android app or SQL Server or whatever. AppsFidelity does more than render to HTML. It wraps and encapsulates and more, all on the fly. It does as much or little as you need. It can be used with LDC Via or Aveedo or Darwino or virtually any other product, simply by intercepting the calls to open documents, so no changes are needed to those products. Your legacy and current data modernized to work with whatever feels modern to you. Even if that's just a classic Domino web app. This video shows how AppsFidelity can be turned on with an XPages app to surface your data beautifully without programming. |
AF#4 First Look: AppsFidelity Render (AppsFidelity 3.4)A simple, quick demo showing AppsFidelity Render used to retrieve data from Notes/Domino via URL. Demo pulls in JSON including rich text rendered in high fidelity, and then displays on the page. |
AF#3 AppsFidelity 3.2: Paste and resize images on the web (AppsFidelity 3.2)AppsFidelity 3.2 works with the IBM Notes Discussion database without any design changes, and can even improve existing documents created on the web. Turn AppsFidelity on and paste screen captures or other images and web content into a Discussion db or any db enabled for AppsFidelity, and your rendering and sizing and borders will be preserved. |
VERSE#1 First Verse: Recording first test of IBM Verse (IBM Verse)As soon as I got my new IBM Verse account set up, I decided that the first emails I sent to it should be notable, so I sent some of the tough cases I use to demo CoexLinks Fidelity to see how they render. I recordededA few days after IBM Notes 9 was released, I decided to test the launch of an XPages app from the Notes 9 browser plugin. As I suspected, it did not work, opening instead in the classic Notes view. In general, you should assume that the Notes 9 browser plugin is essentially equivalent to running the Notes client in Basic mode. There is currently no provision launching an XPages app even if the XPages environment (full Notes client) is present or the app is running on a Domino server which could serve up the XPages. |
AF#2 AppsFidelity 3.1: File Attachments in Cyrillic (AppsFidelity 3.1)AppsFidelity 3.1 works with the IBM Notes Discussion database without any design changes. In this brief demo, we show how it works with Cyrillic fonts in both the attachment icons and the tabs of a tabbed tabvle, as well as showing how tabbed tables work with AppsFidelity. |
AF#1 AppsFidelity 3.1: Attachment Icons in IBM Discussion on the web (CoexLinks 3.6, AppsFidelity 3.1)AppsFidelity 3.1 works with the IBM Notes Discussion database without any design changes. Turn AppsFidelity on and it makes rendering better. One of the most popular features is the attachment icons in place on the web, which is shown in this very brief video. |
CXL#4 CoexLinks Fidelity: Preventing Data Loss in Notes/Domino Email (CoexLinks 3.6)The high fidelity rendering promised by CoexLinks Fidelity 3.6 is often viewed as primarily about appearance, but it is also about the preservation of data integrity. This demo shows a number of examples where actual data loss occurs when certain elements are sent via email and rendered by either the IBM Notes 9.0.1 client or the IBM Domino 9.0.1 server. Please note, none of these data losses started in 9.0.1, and in fact the rendering is even worse in 8.5.3 and earlier. Also, for the sake of brevity, we did not include any data loss that was dependent on the recipient's email, such as checked and unchecked bullets appearing the same in Microsoft Outlook. All of the data loss shown in this demo will be apparent in any external email or even in IBM Notes/Domino at a customer's server if the email is sent via SMTP. Problems shown have all been reported by actual Genii Software customers in rich text rendering, although the examples are contrived for effect. Data issues fixed by CoexLinks Fidelity and shown in the demo:
If you would like to try out CoexLinks Fidelity, request an evaluation license and we can help get you set up and configured. |
CXL#3 Message Store in CoexLinks Fidelity (CoexLinks 3.5)The Message Store feature added to CoexLinks Fidelity 3.5 allows messages to be stored in a secure Notes database, and a doclink to the secure message added to the email sent through to Outlook, GMail or another external email system. This doclink is handled just as any other doclinks are by CoexLinks, so the recipient can access the email in a Notes client and act on it there. The adminstrator can easily configure which Notes features will cause the email to be stored in the Message Store. The available categories are shown below. Since most of these features can be rendered in most cases, a company may decide only to store the higher priority messages. Encrypted emails (always stored if Message Store enabled) Action hotspots or buttons Computed text Layout regions OLE object Signed emails Tabbed or Animated table Section Stored form Text popups If you would like to try out CoexLinks Fidelity and the Message Store feature, request an evaluation license and we can help get you set up and configured. |
CXL#1 CoexLinks: Functional, flexible, reliable email coexistence (CoexLinks 3.0) |
NOTES#4 Hide Your Unmentionables: Using Internet Site Rules (IBM Domino)In this self-referential lesson, we show how we shortened the URLs on mini-lessons.info to allow links such as http://mini-lessons.info/Notes3 for this lesson. The complexity of the database can easily be hidden, as well as the fact that it is hosted by Domino, if that is of concern to you. Pro tips: While it wasn't shown in the demo, it is a good idea to add a catch-all rule such as the below for the database itself. If you go to http://mini-lessons.info, you will see that the image resources are shown as mini-lessons.info/db/mini-lessons.gif and such. You should also be sure that views use the calculated URLs. With web views, this is simply a matter of creating your own <a href="/db/"+rest> links. We don't use views directly in mini-lessons.info, but only as embedded views. Rough transcript: This is Ben Langhinrichs with Genii Software presenting a mini-lesson on using Domino's Internet Site Rules to "Hide Your unmentionables" or in other words to hide the complexities in your URLs. If we go to Mini-Lessons.info, you'll notice we go straight to the database. If we click on one of the menu buttons, we'll go to Mini-Lessons.info/Gimp. Again, no database mentioned. Go down and this page has a number of different lessons on Gimp, the photo-manipulation tool. Go to Notes/Domino and similarly we will see Notes/Domino lessons. But if we want to go to a specific lesson, such as Notes#1, which is the first lesson on here, we can change the URL to say Notes1, we'll go to a page with that individual lesson but also allows for feedback at the bottom. The way we accomplish these shortened URLs that hide the ugly is that we go to our Domino directory (NAMES.NSF) on our server, go to Internet Sites under the Web category and for each website -- there are multiple ones on this server -- we go in the website document. This is the one for Mini-Lessons.info. It is not the Default website on this server. If we go under the Configuration tab, we'll see Lessons.nsf. That's the primary database for Mini-Lessons.info We can also set up these website rules. For instance, this is for /About which goes to a specific page. You will see that we have Substitution rules and Redirection rules. A "Redirection" would replace the URL in the search bar, but a "Substitution" leaves the URL the same, which hides things. Now, what we have is a rule for each of our topics, such as Gimp where we'll have a URL pattern which is /Gimp* (slash Gimp asterisk) and then this whole long mess. You'll notice at the end of the replacement is an asterisk. That will be replaced with whatever was after Gimp in the original pattern. Now, we have one of these rules for each topic, so under Notes, we have a rule with a /Note* or slash Notes asterisk and again it goes to the end and replaces the asterisk. Back in here when we had Mini-Lessons.info/Notes1, that was replaced. Inside our database, we recognize that as a specific Lesson document. So that's how you use Domino's Internet Site Rules. Thank you, and visit Mini-Lessons.info for more mini-lessons on Notes and other topics. |
NOTES#3 Borders Without Borders: Tips for table borders (IBM Lotus Notes)Tips and tricks for setting both cell and table borders in IBM Notes. No programming is used, and no third party tools, so anybody can do it. Version shown is 8.5.3, but techniques should work in any version from 6.5 to 9.0. |
NOTES#2 First test of XPages in Notes 9 browser plugin recorded (IBM Notes 9)A few days after IBM Notes 9 was released, I decided to test the launch of an XPages app from the Notes 9 browser plugin. As I suspected, it did not work, opening instead in the classic Notes view. In general, you should assume that the Notes 9 browser plugin is essentially equivalent to running the Notes client in Basic mode. There is currently no provision launching an XPages app even if the XPages environment (full Notes client) is present or the app is running on a Domino server which could serve up the XPages. |
MIDAS#4 First Test of Midas in Notes browser plugin recorded (IBM Notes 9, Midas Rich Text LSX)After my successful test of the Midas Rich Text LSX in the Notes 9 client (see previous lesson), I decided to try it out in the new Notes 9 browser plugin. So, on the day after IBM Notes 9 was released, I recorded my first test with the Midas Rich Text LSX in the Notes browser plugin. Again, it worked beautifully, though we learned a bit more from this test. It was not obvious whether or not an LSX (LotusScript extension library) would work in the browser plugin, but it clearly did. A future lesson may be necessary on deploying an LSX with the browser plugin. |
MIDAS#3 First test of Midas in Notes 9 recorded (IBM Notes 9, Midas Rich Text LSX)The day after IBM Notes 9 was released, I recorded my first test with the Midas Rich Text LSX to see what happened. Simple answer: it worked beautifully. |
CXL#2 CoexLinks Clipper (CoexLinks 3.0) |
NOTES#1 Progressive Disclosure in Notes rich text (IBM Lotus Notes)Showing a technique we call Progressive Disclosure in a Notes rich text field. This uses standard tables, but with the setting to show one row at a time. No programming is used, and no third party tools, so anybody can do it. Version shown is 8.5.3, but techniques should work in any version from 7.0 to 9.0. |
