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HCL Domino Designer XPages User Guide
This guide focuses on the aspects of creating applications using XPages technology.
Designing XPages applications
HCL Domino® Designer provides the means to populate an XPage with controls and other artifacts, and to associate an XPage with data stores.
Adding controls
Controls are visual elements such as edit boxes, buttons, images, and text that allow users to manipulate data on an XPage.
Designing with custom controls in XPages
A custom control is a collection of controls that are stored as a single object. Similar to the way a subform can be placed on more than one form, a custom control can be created once and added to multiple XPages. When you update a custom control, every XPage that uses that custom control automatically gets updated with the changes. This saves you design time because you do not have to update each XPage separately.
Defining editable areas in custom controls
Define the editable areas that you want to include in the custom control. Editable areas are regions that users can modify when the custom control is placed on an XPage. All other regions that fall outside of editable areas are read-only and cannot be modified.

HCL Domino Designer XPages User Guide
This guide focuses on the aspects of creating applications using XPages technology.
- Product overview
  HCL Domino® Designer supports applications development for the HCL Domino platform using XPages, forms, views, and other elements such as controls.
- Tutorials
  This section contains tutorials and information about tutorials.
- Administering applications
  HCL Domino Designer provides features for administering and managing your work and related files while developing your application projects.
- Designing XPages applications
  HCL Domino® Designer provides the means to populate an XPage with controls and other artifacts, and to associate an XPage with data stores.
  - Previewing and running XPages
    XPages run in Domino® server and Notes® client environments. From Domino Designer, you can preview XPages in both environments.
  - Adding controls
    Controls are visual elements such as edit boxes, buttons, images, and text that allow users to manipulate data on an XPage.
    - Manipulating controls and text
      You can add controls and text to an XPage using the Design or Source editor. The Controls palette provides a source for controls.
    - Using an extension point to override design time tooling for Core and Extension Library controls
      An extension point is provided to let you override design time tooling for the Core and Extension Library controls that are shipped with Designer.
    - Setting properties
      Properties define XPages and controls.
    - Understanding events
      Events are actions that a user might perform such as clicking a button or removing focus from an edit box. Event handlers are actions that you (the designer) perform in response to events.
    - Understanding facets
      A facet defines a region in a control for the placement of other controls.
    - Understanding Dojo widgets
      Dojo widgets are prepackaged JavaScript™ code, HTML, and CSS declarations that enhance the appearance and use of controls in both a browser and the Notes® client.
    - Control reference
      Specified here are the XPages controls.
    - Property reference
      Specified here are the XPages properties.
    - Designing with custom controls in XPages
      A custom control is a collection of controls that are stored as a single object. Similar to the way a subform can be placed on more than one form, a custom control can be created once and added to multiple XPages. When you update a custom control, every XPage that uses that custom control automatically gets updated with the changes. This saves you design time because you do not have to update each XPage separately.
      - Creating custom controls
        Create a new custom control to use in XPages.
      - Setting properties for custom controls as independent design elements
        Set properties for the custom control as an independent design element. Properties include options for configuring data sources, applying styles, specifying validation and visibility settings, and more.
      - Adding UI controls to custom controls
        Add user interface (UI) controls to the custom control. Then, you can select each UI control individually and set properties for it just as you would for a UI control inside an XPage.
      - Defining editable areas in custom controls
        Define the editable areas that you want to include in the custom control. Editable areas are regions that users can modify when the custom control is placed on an XPage. All other regions that fall outside of editable areas are read-only and cannot be modified.
      - Setting properties for editable areas in custom controls
        Set properties for editable areas in the custom control. You can set properties for the name of the editable area as well as the facet name. You can also configure how and if the editable area is visible inside the custom control at run time.
      - Adding custom controls to XPages
        Add the custom control to an XPage.
      - Setting properties for custom controls in XPages
        Set properties for the custom control as it relates to the XPage that contains it. You can set properties for its name and visibility status as well as for any additional properties that you defined when setting properties for the custom control design element.
      - Adding UI controls to editable areas in custom controls
        Add controls to editable areas in the custom control. You can set properties for these controls in the Properties view, just as you would set properties for any other controls that you add to XPages. You can also change the facet name of controls in editable areas if you are computing the value at run time.
      - Organizing custom controls in the Controls palette
        Organize custom controls in the Controls palette. You can put them in categories for easy access.
  - Adding controls from the XPages Extension Library
    The XPages Extension Library provides additional controls ready to use. The controls include an application layout object, an improved dialog, pickers, in place forms, Dojo components, dynamic content, and much more. The controls support enhancements to the Domino(r)® templates.
  - Binding and submitting data
    The data store for XPages is Domino®. You can access the data store through Domino forms and views.
  - Adding images, styles, and themes
    You can enhance your design with images, styles, and themes.
  - Responsive web design support in XPages
    The XPages Extension Library supports Bootstrap, a Responsive Web Design (RWD) framework. This support comes in the form of an XPages Responsive Bootstrap plugin that you can use in your XPages applications.
- Designing composite applications
  You can create composite applications from XPages.
- Programming
  XPages uses JavaScript™ for programming while the forms-based design elements use the formula language, LotusScript®, Java™, and JavaScript.

Defining editable areas in custom controls

Define the editable areas that you want to include in the custom control. Editable areas are regions that users can modify when the custom control is placed on an XPage. All other regions that fall outside of editable areas are read-only and cannot be modified.

Before you begin

You can insert editable areas into custom controls just like you would insert any other user interface (UI) control, either using the Create menu or by dragging the editable area control from the Controls palette.

Editable areas, also known as callback controls, have unique facet names. The facet name is what determines how UI controls get displayed in the editable area at run time. Facet names can be static or computed. If the facet name is static, you can add only one UI control to the editable area. If you want to add more than one UI control, you can add a container control such as a table and add UI controls to it. If the facet name is computed, you can determine which UI control is displayed dynamically.

About this task

To define an editable area, do the following steps:

Procedure

Open the custom control design element in the XPages editor and place your cursor in the location where you want to insert the editable area.
From the main menu, click Create > Core Control > Editable Area. A rectangular block with the default facet name is displayed to represent the new editable area.
Click File > Save to save your changes.

Results

Unlike read-only areas in custom controls, editable areas require you to add UI controls and set properties for them after you add the custom control to an XPage.

What to do next

Note: You can also insert an editable area by dragging it from the Controls palette.