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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.
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.
Variables
A variable names an area of storage whose value can change during execution of an application.

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.
    - Summary of LotusScript® data types
      LotusScript® recognizes the following scalar (numeric and string) data types:
    - Data type conversion
      LotusScript® implicitly converts data from one type to another in the following situations.
    - Explicit data type conversion
      LotusScript® provides several built-in functions for explicitly converting a value's data type. These functions include CBool, CByte, CCur, CDat, CDbl, CInt, CLng, CSng, CStr, and CVar.
    - Automatic data type conversion
      LotusScript® can automatically convert values from one data type to another. Automatic, or implicit data type conversion happens when:
    - Constants and Variables
      A LotusScript® application can manipulate data of several types through the use of constants and variables. Constants andvariables are identifiers that name locations in memory containing data of one or another of the types that LotusScript recognizes. Constants differ from variables in that the value that a constant represents must be known at compile time and can't be changed -- it must remain constant -- while the application is running, while a variable can refer to a value (or a set of values) that can change while the application is running.
    - Scope of declarations
      Scope is the context in which a variable, procedure, class, or type is declared. Scope affects the accessibility of an item's value outside that context. For example, variables declared within a procedure are typically not available outside of the scope of that procedure.
    - Constants in LotusScript®
      A constant names a location in memory that contains a value that is known at compile time and cannot be changed while the application is running. In less formal terms, a constant is a named fixed value. Constants are defined in the following ways:
    - Variables
      A variable names an area of storage whose value can change during execution of an application.
      - Declaring scalar variables explicitly
        Declaring a variable creates an identifier, determines its scope and lifetime, specifies the type of data that can occupy the location in memory to which it refers, and causes LotusScript® to write an initial value to that location. Declaring the variable explicitly is recommended. You declare a scalar variable explicitly with the Dim statement, or one of its variations. The variation you use depends on the application area in which you declare the variable, and on the scope and lifetime you want the variable to have.
      - Declaring scalar variables implicitly
        At module level or within a procedure, you can declare a variable implicitly by assigning a value to an identifier that you have not previously declared, as in the following example:
      - Examples of scalar variables
        LotusScript® provides a set of built-in functions that enable you to manipulate scalar values in various ways. A built-in function is a named procedure that is part of the LotusScript language and typically performs some operation on a value that you pass it, producing a new value, called the return value. Most of these functions fall into one or another of the following four categories:
    - Arrays
      An array is a named collection of elements of the same data type, where each element can be accessed individually by its position within the collection. A LotusScript® array can have a maximum of eight dimensions.
    - Lists
      A list is a one-dimensional collection of elements of the same data type. You can change the size of a list at any time while the application is running and LotusScript® does not allocate any storage space at compile time for the elements of a list. Lists automatically shrink or grow when elements are deleted from or added to them. You access each element in a list by a unique String value, called a list tag.
    - Variants
      Variant is a special data type: variables of type Variant can hold values of any of the following data types that LotusScript® recognizes, except for user-defined data types:
  - 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.
  - 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.

Variables

A variable names an area of storage whose value can change during execution of an application.

You declare a variable to be of a particular type, which restricts the kind of value the variable can hold (except for variables of type Variant). You also determine the scope and lifetime of a variable -- when and how long the variable exists and in what parts of your application it is accessible. Typically, if you do not choose a type or scope for the variable, LotusScript® chooses by default.

A variable name can be any valid LotusScript® identifier. The name cannot be the same as the name of another variable, constant, or procedure in the same scope used in the same module.

A variable can be of any of the following data types or structures:

The scalar types that LotusScript® recognizes: Boolean, Byte, Integer, Long, Single, Double, Currency, or String
An array or a list
A Variant
A user-defined data type, that is, a type defined with a Type...End Type statement
A class defined with a Class...End Class statement, or a class defined by the HCL software with which LotusScript® is running

The next two sections describe the two ways you can declare a scalar variable in LotusScript®: with an explicit statement or by implication. Subsequent sections describe how to declare arrays, lists, and variables of type Variant.