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IBM Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference
Basic product usage information and programming language reference information.
Formula Language
This section documents the formula language.
Formula Language Coding Guidelines
Formulas
A formula consists of one or more statements that are executed in order. Depending on the object associated with the formula and other criteria, the formula may execute once or it may execute multiple times on selected documents (one execution per document).
Writing formulas that evaluate to a result
The final statement of the following formulas must evaluate to a result:

IBM Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference
Basic product usage information and programming language reference information.
- Accessibility and keyboard shortcuts
  Accessibility features assist users who have a disability, such as restricted mobility or limited vision, to use information technology content successfully.
- Application Design
  Welcome to the Application Design section of Domino® Designer Help.
- Application Management
  Welcome to the Application Management section of Domino® Designer Help.
- Domino® Query Language
  Domino Query Language (DQL) is a facility running in Domino core allowing for a terse shorthand syntax for finding documents according to a wide variety of complexity of terms. It leverages existing design elements without the need to write detailed code to access them.
- Composite Applications - Design and Management
  Composite applications are a key element in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and contextual collaboration strategy. The ability to create and edit composite applications lets you easily integrate different types of components and technologies.
- DB2® Access views
  Domino® Designer includes two types of design elements to assist you in managing data contained in DB2® enabled Notes® databases:
- Programming Overview and User Interface
  This section contains general guidelines and examples that show where to use Java, LotusScript, and the formula language.
- Formula Language
  This section documents the formula language.
  - Formula Language Rules
    Formula language provides syntax and @functions for evaluating constants and variables, and for performing simple logic. Variables can be fields in Notes® documents or temporary variables (also called temporary fields) used only for the immediate formula.
  - Formula Language Coding Guidelines
    - Formulas
      A formula consists of one or more statements that are executed in order. Depending on the object associated with the formula and other criteria, the formula may execute once or it may execute multiple times on selected documents (one execution per document).
      - Writing formulas that evaluate to a result
        The final statement of the following formulas must evaluate to a result:
        Examples: Writing formulas that evaluate to a result
      - Writing formulas that perform actions
        The following formulas do not evaluate to a final, usable result, but depend on their field assignments and side-effects to function:
      - Working with lists
        A list is a named entity that can contain multiple values of the same type. Lists occur as follows:
      - Using conditional statements
      - Using iterative statements
    - Writing messages and getting user input
      You can communicate with the user through these techniques:
    - Handling errors
      Errors are of two types:
    - Working with @functions
      All @functions evaluate to a value and can be placed in a formula anywhere a value of that type can be placed. When the formula executes, the value of the formula takes the place of the formula. Some formulas also have side-effects, that is, they cause actions to occur. For example, @Prompt causes a message box to appear.
    - Working with @commands
      @Commands are special @functions that perform immediate actions in the user interface. Most @commands mimic menu commands. For example, the following formula, if executed from a button, puts the current document in Edit mode and moves the insertion point down twice:
    - Performing string operations
      Formula language @functions enable you to:
    - Performing arithmetic operations
      The * / + - operators multiply, divide, add, and subtract. Multiplication and division have precedence over addition and subtraction; otherwise, evaluation is left to right. Parentheses can be used to change the order of evaluation. The following are the arithmetic @functions.
    - Performing time-date operations
    - Accessing the user environment
      The user environment is the server or workstation containing the database for: replication formulas, agents with the triggers "After new mail has arrived" or "On schedule," selection formulas, or column formulas. Otherwise, the user environment is the Notes® workstation of the user running the formula.
    - Accessing the current database and view
      You have immediate access to the database in which the formula is running, except for toolbar button formulas, which have no database context. You have immediate access to the view in which the formula is running if you are in the context of a view. In the context of a document, you have immediate access to the view from which the document was opened.
    - Accessing the current document in the formula language
    - Accessing data outside the current document and database
      The following @functions get data values from a specified database. You cannot set values with these @functions.
    - Accessing external databases through LS:DO using @functions
      The following @functions access an external database through ODBC and return a value or list of values:
  - Formula Language @Functions A-Z
    Formula Language @Functions A-Z
  - Formula Language @Commands A-Z
- LotusScript® Language
  Welcome to the LotusScript® Language section of Domino® Designer Help.
- LotusScript/COM/OLE Classes
- Java/CORBA Classes
  This section documents the Java/CORBA classes.
- Lotus® Connectors
  Lotus® Connectors provide native access to a wide variety of DBMS products, ODBC, the platform File system, Enterprise Resource Planning systems, and Transaction Processing systems.
- Javadoc™ for Domino® Designer related APIs
  As part of providing additional Java™ reference documentation, Domino® Designer ships with a help plugin that contains Javadoc™ for additional Domino Designer related APIs.

Writing formulas that evaluate to a result

The final statement of the following formulas must evaluate to a result:

Replication formula -- Must evaluate to True (1) or False (0), and is applied to each document in the database.
Form formula -- Must evaluate to the name of a form.
Selection formula -- Must evaluate to True (1) or False (0), and is applied to each document in the view.
Column formula -- Must evaluate to a value that can be converted to a text string.
Hide action formula -- Must evaluate to True (1) or False (0).
Formula pop-up -- Must evaluate to a text string.
Window title formula -- Must evaluate to a text or numeric value, except that the formula can consist of a single field of any type.
Section access formula -- Must evaluate to a name or list of names.
Insert subform formula -- Must evaluate to a text value that is the name of a subform.
Section title formula -- Must evaluate to a text or numeric value, except that the formula can consist of a single field of any type.
Hidden paragraph formula -- Must evaluate to True (1) or False (0).
Default value formula -- Must evaluate to a value suitable for storage in the current field.
Input translation formula -- Must evaluate to a value suitable for storage in the current field.
Default validation formula -- Must evaluate to success (1) or failure (0).
Computed field formula -- Must evaluate to a value suitable for storage in the current field.
Keyword field formula -- Must evaluate to a value or list of values suitable for storage in the current field.

These formulas may be as simple as a single field, constant, or @function, or may contain multiple statements, use temporary variables, modify fields, and produce side-effects. In all cases, however, their final statement must be a value suitable for the result.

The reserved word SELECT is prepended to the logical statement that terminates a replication or selection formula if SELECT is not explicitly specified. These formulas run against every document in the database (replication formula) or view (selection formula) to determine their inclusion or exclusion in the replication process or the view. The @All function returns the value True, so the formula "SELECT @All" includes all documents.