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HCL Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference
This guide provides information on using HCL Domino Designer and programming language reference information.
Application Design
Welcome to the Application Design section of Domino® Designer Help.
Including OLE objects in applications
Using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and OLE tools lets you extend the capability of Domino® Designer. OLE technology lets you integrate data from other applications, such as spreadsheets, graphics tools, and other data sources, into your application.
Adding OLE custom controls to a form

HCL Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference
This guide provides information on using HCL Domino Designer and programming language reference information.
- What's new in HCL Domino Designer 11 for developers?
  The following features are new for developers in HCL Domino® Designer 11.
- 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.
  - Introduction to Domino® Designer
    Welcome to Domino® Designer. Domino Designer is an integrated application development environment that lets developers and Web site designers create, manage, and deploy secure, interactive applications.
  - Planning an application
    Before you begin any design work, create a plan for how users will access and use your application. At the minimum, your application plan should address these questions:
  - Creating an application
    All Domino® applications begin with a Domino database. Domino databases are the containers for your application. Databases hold the data, logic, and design elements for your application. Your Domino application can be made up of one or more Domino databases.
  - Designing pages
    Pages and forms are similar in certain ways. A page is a database design element that displays information. Pages can be used anywhere in your application that you have text, graphics, or an embedded control, such as an outline, to present to the user. A page or form can contain the following:
  - Designing forms
    Forms, like pages, display information. Everything that can be done with a page can be done with a form. What sets forms apart from pages is that forms can be used to collect information. A form provides the structure for creating and displaying documents, and documents are the design elements that store data in the database. When a user fills out the information in a form and saves it, the information is saved as a document. When a user opens the document, the document uses the form as a template to provide the structure for displaying the data.
  - Designing fields
    A field is the part of an application that collects data. You create fields on forms, subforms, or in layout regions. Each field stores a single type of information. A field's field type defines the kind of information a field accepts, such as text, numbers, dates, or names. When a user, either in a Notes® client or a Web browser, creates a form, fills out the information in the fields, and saves the form, the data in the fields is stored in an individual document. The contents of the fields can then be displayed in documents and views or can be retrieved for use in formulas. A field can be used on a single form, or you can create shared fields for use in multiple forms in a database.
  - Designing framesets
    A frameset is a collection of frames and can add structure to your Web site or Notes® database. A frame is one section, or pane, of the larger frameset window and is independently scrollable.
  - Designing views
  - Designing navigation for an application
    You can use the following navigational tools in your application:
  - Adding automation to applications
    Automation in an application speeds up repetitive tasks, handles workflow, updates information, performs calculations, runs programs, and checks for errors.
  - Developing applications using third-party tools and WebDAV
    As you are developing an application, you may want to supplement the tools provided with Domino® Designer with tools of your own choosing. For example, you may have a favorite graphics editor you use to design images for your application, or you may have a favorite HTML editor that you want to use to design pages. You launch and use third-party tools from within Designer.
  - Connecting to enterprise data
    Incorporating back-end data into everyday business processes maximizes the value of a Domino® Designer application. Designer includes a range of technologies for the security and control of business processes, forms routing, and approvals management. With enterprise integration technologies, you can incorporate traditionally difficult-to-reach data into your business applications.
  - Including Java™ applets in applications
    Applets are self-contained Java™ programs that can run in your Domino® application. Java applets are often used to add animation to Web applications. Although Java applets are mostly used for Web applications, you can also include them in the following elements of a Domino application:
  - Including Java™ servlets in Web applications
    A servlet is a Java™ program that is run by the Domino® Web server in response to a browser request. Servlets provide a convenient way to add powerful functionality to your Web application. In some ways, servlets act like CGI programs, but they are more tightly integrated with the server and can take advantage of special Java classes. For example, a servlet may connect to a relational database or enterprise system and get data in response to a Web browser request.
  - Including XML in Designer applications
    Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a standard for creating markup languages that describe the structure and meaning of data in a document. XML separates the content of a document from its presentation and provides a common format for transferring data across the World Wide Web (WWW) or company intranet. The result is a technology that makes data available regardless of the proprietary systems involved.
  - Including OLE objects in applications
    Using Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and OLE tools lets you extend the capability of Domino® Designer. OLE technology lets you integrate data from other applications, such as spreadsheets, graphics tools, and other data sources, into your application.
    - Linking and embedding objects in forms
    - Custom controls in Domino® Designer
      With this release of Domino® Designer you can create custom controls for your applications. A custom control is a collection of controls that are stored as a single object. Similar to Domino Designer subforms, custom controls are design elements that you can create once and add to multiple pages. When you update a custom control, every page that uses that custom control automatically gets updated with the changes. This saves you design time because you do not have to update each page separately.
    - Adding OLE custom controls to a form
    - Troubleshooting tips for OLE and Active X objects
      Sometimes when embedding an OLE object or ActiveX control you might receive the following error:
    - Modifying a form to size an embedded object
    - Modifying a form so that it sizes an OLE custom control
    - Modifying a form to run a custom control in Read mode
    - Updating objects by document
    - Launching objects automatically
      You can have a form automatically launch (autolaunch) an embedded OLE object or a new OLE object when a user creates a document or opens one for reading or editing. A new OLE object is one that is blank until users add data.
    - Designing a form to hide the Notes® document
    - Hiding an embedded object in a document
    - Publishing actions
      Actions allow you to integrate file creation and storage in other desktop products with the document sharing, storage, security, and management tools of Notes®. When you publish an action, you make it available on the Action menu in any open OLE server application. For example, you might automate a document review process so that a Notes user opens a document that autolaunches a Word Pro® file. After editing the file, the user clicks the "Send to Next Reviewer" menu choice in Word Pro, which routes the document containing the Word Pro document to the next user. By publishing actions, you seamlessly coordinate tasks between applications.
    - Exchanging data using Notes/FX
      Notes/FX is supported only for Notes® applications. Using Notes/FX, you can design forms so that field contents in an OLE server application file automatically appear in corresponding fields in a Notes document, and vice-versa. Depending on the type of field, you can update the contents from Notes or from the other OLE application.
    - Preparing a form to exchange data
  - Creating a workflow application
    Workflow applications let you automate tasks. These tasks most often involve automatically sending mail messages or automatically routing documents, such as tracking orders and project plans to be reviewed. All projects need one or more people to complete a series of tasks and can benefit from workflow applications because they guide the project through these tasks automatically. Workflow applications reduce overhead and errors, speed processes, and track the status of a project. For example, a workflow application might automatically send a document in a publishing company from writer to editor to proofreader to production. At each stage, an individual is responsible for specific tasks related to that document. Once the task is complete, the workflow application ensures that the individuals responsible for the next task are notified and receive the data they need to execute their part of the project.
  - Domino® Designer templates
    The templates described in the following table are available with Domino® Designer and are specifically intended for use by application developers.
  - Importing to and exporting from views
  - Developing applications using MAPI
    Domino® Designer Release 6 and later supports the messaging application program interface (MAPI), which allows mail integration between Domino and a MAPI-compliant messaging application, such as Microsoft™ Outlook, Microsoft Office applications, or user-written C++ programs.
  - Features to avoid using in Web applications
    Developers creating applications specifically for the Web, or for the dual purpose of serving Notes® and Web clients, should review the following tables for features that are not supported on the Web.
  - URL commands for Web applications
    You have a variety of options for programming a Web site. You can directly manipulate objects such as documents or views in an application using Domino® URL commands. Adding Domino URL commands as HTML in forms gives users shortcuts for navigating databases and performing other tasks quickly.
- Application Management
  Welcome to the Application Management section of Domino® Designer Help.
- Domino® Query Language
  Domino® Query Language (DQL) is a facility running on a Domino server that provides a terse, shorthand syntax for finding documents. It supports a wide variety and complexity of search terms. It leverages existing design elements, avoiding the need to write detailed code to access them. DQL consolidates all methods in Domino for searching document contents.
- 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.
- 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.
- Connectors
  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.

Adding OLE custom controls to a form

To create an OLE custom control object

Procedure

In a rich text field or on a form, choose Create - Object.
Do one of the following:
- Select "Create new Object." In the Object type list, choose a custom control. The custom controls have starburst icons next to them.
- Select "Create new Control." In the Object type list, choose a custom control.
Click OK.

Notice after you embed a custom control that the properties for the control appear in the Programmer's pane. By default these properties are listed alphabetically. The number of properties available depends on what the specific control supports. Some controls will support dozens of properties, others just a few. You will always see at least the standard eight Notes® properties while in a form.

Results

Tip: Use the "Remove Control from List" and "Add Control to List" buttons to maintain the list of custom controls that display in the Object type box.

Note: Some custom controls do not display in the Create Object dialog box. You cannot use this method to insert these controls. Instead, use LotusScript® to insert them because these types of controls do not support a user interface and are only programmable.

To access an existing control, select it.

When a custom control is active, the Help menu is a combination of Domino® Designer (File and Applet) and the custom control. The control may include one menu item for itself -- for example, "Spreadsheet" for a spreadsheet control -- and Help. The control's Help is substituted for Designer Help.

Use the Applet menu choice to:

Copy and cut the entire object. (Use the Edit menu to copy and cut selected text in the object.)
Access Notes® properties for the control, including the name of the control.
Access the control's own properties.
Set the control's mode.
Freeze and unfreeze the control's events.

If a control is active when you embed it in a form, a list of properties and event appears in the Info List of the Programmer's pane. You can attach scripts to these events.