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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.
LotusScript® Language
Welcome to the LotusScript® Language section of Domino® Designer Help.
File Handling
This chapter describes file handling in the LotusScript® language.
File operations
The following table describes the three kinds of files in LotusScript®: sequential, random, and binary.

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 12?
  The following features are new for developers in HCL Domino® Designer 12.
- 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 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.
  - Introduction to LotusScript®
    This chapter introduces LotusScript® and describes, in general terms, how to use the script editor to write and modify scripts, how to compile scripts, and how to use the debugger to locate problems in the logic of your applications.
  - Script and Statement Construction Rules
    This chapter describes the rules for writing the basic elements of a script in the LotusScript® language.
  - Data Types, Constants, and Variables
    This chapter provides information about LotusScript® constants and variables and the data types of the values that they can represent.
  - Expressions and Operators
    This chapter describes the set of LotusScript® operators, how they may be combined with operands to form expressions, and how those expressions are evaluated.
  - Procedures: Functions, Subs, and Properties
  - File Handling
    This chapter describes file handling in the LotusScript® language.
    - File operations
      The following table describes the three kinds of files in LotusScript®: sequential, random, and binary.
    - Sequential files
      A sequential file is an ordinary text file. Each character in the file is assumed to be either a text character or some other ASCII control character such as newline. The character is in the character set specified when the file is opened. By default this is the platform-native character set.
    - Random files
      A random file is made up of a series of records of identical length. A record can correspond to a scalar data type, such as Integer or String, or to a user-defined type, in which each record is broken down into fields corresponding to the members of the type.
    - Binary files
      Binary files are designed to provide the most control over the organization of your data for both reading and writing. However, you must know exactly how the file was written.
    - Reading, writing, and closing files
      You can use LotusScript® to read and write files. To create a file, you open and write to a file that does not yet exist; LotusScript creates it automatically.
  - Error Processing
    This chapter describes error processing in the LotusScript® language.
  - User-Defined Data Types and Classes
    This chapter describes two kinds of custom data structures that you can define in LotusScript®. Each can hold data of different types in a single data structure.
  - Managing Flow in Scripts
    The flow of execution of a script generally follows the sequence of statements in the script. This chapter describes the behavior of particular statements that alter the flow of execution.
  - Managing Asynchronous Web Agents in Domino®
    This chapter describes how to use multiple threads and synchronization to manage HTTP agents with Domino®.
  - Beyond Core LotusScript®
    This chapter discusses the role that LotusScript® plays with HCL products, your operating environment, other programs, and interactive user applications.
  - LotusScript® Language Reference
    This chapter describes the use of statements, built-in functions, subs, data types, and directives in the LotusScript® language.
  - Language and Script Limits
    This appendix describes LotusScript® language limits of several kinds: for example, the legal ranges in data representation, the limits on numerical specifications within statements, and the maximum number of different kinds of elements that can be defined in a script.
  - Platform Differences
    The LotusScript® language and functionality on the UNIX™ platform, the Macintosh platform, and the IBM i® platform differ in various ways from the language and functionality described in the rest of this language reference. This appendix describes the differences.
  - LotusScript/REXX Integration
    This appendix provides an overview of REXX integration in the LotusScript® language.
  - LotusScript® Aliases
    This appendix lists the LotusScript® aliases and their equivalent text.
  - MIME Charset Names
  - Compile-time Error Messages
    This chapter describes the compile-time error messages in the LotusScript® language.
  - Run-time Error Messages
    This chapter describes the run-time error messages in the LotusScript® language.
- 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.

File operations

The following table describes the three kinds of files in LotusScript®: sequential, random, and binary.


File type	Description
Sequential	The simplest and most common. It is the equivalent of a common text file. Data in sequential files are delimited with the platform's end-of-line indicator (carriage return, line feed, or both). You can read the file with a text editor.
Random	The most useful for structured data. It is not readable except through LotusScript® programs. This is the default.
Binary	The most complex. It requires detailed programming to manipulate, because access is defined at the level of bytes on the disk.

To store and manipulate data in a file, the file must be opened first. When a file is opened in LotusScript®, it has a file number, between 1 and 255, which is used in most input and output operations. (A few file operations use the file name instead of a number.) The number remains until the file is closed.

Some file operations that can be performed on these files are:


Close	Close one or more open files.
Get, Input	Read data from a file.
Kill	Delete a file.
Open	Open a file.
Put, Write	Write data to a file.