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IBM Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference
Basic product usage information and programming language reference information.
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.
Lotus® Connectors and Connectivity Guide
Chapter 3 Introduction to Lotus® Connectors
This chapter provides introductory information about each of the supplied IBM® Lotus® connectors.
General Connection Document Considerations
This section lists general considerations for using a connection document.

IBM Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference
Basic product usage information and programming language reference information.
- Application Design
  Welcome to the Application Design section of Domino® Designer Help.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
  - Lotus® Connectors and Connectivity Guide
    - Chapter 1 DCTEST and CONTEST
      This chapter provides information about DCTEST and CONTEST. These programs test system and application connectivity to external data sources.
    - Chapter 2 Connectivity
      This chapter provides instructions and information for setting up and testing connectivity to the following database systems:
    - Chapter 3 Introduction to Lotus® Connectors
      This chapter provides introductory information about each of the supplied IBM® Lotus® connectors.
      - Connectors Overview
        A connection document defines how a Lotus® connector will interact with a specific data source. The connection provides specific access parameters, such as server names, user IDs and passwords. The "connected" databases are the databases that Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI) or Domino® Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) can access. Because the forms used with each connection type are different, each connection document is described separately.
      - Connectors and Supported Data Sources
        IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI) and Domino® Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) provides the following standard connectors.
      - Using Multiple Connections of the Same Type
        You can create multiple connections to the same database by making copies of a connection definition and then renaming the copies. You might do this is to access the same database but to set various permission levels for specific tables or to use a different user name and password.
      - Processing RTF Fields Between Notes® and RDBMS
        Notes® is primarily a document management system, not a relational database management system (RDBMS). Because of this, Notes performs special handling for attachments stored in rich text fields.
      - Transferring Attachments
        Notes® stores attachment data separately from rich text field data. Currently you can only transfer attachments from Notes to Notes; rich text fields with attachments do not store correctly in the target RDBMS such as DB2® and Oracle.
      - Processing Empty and NULL Values
        In Domino® Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) and in IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI), empty data in a Notes® rich text or Text field is not set to NULL when it is transferred. It is transferred as "". To set empty data to NULL requires that you write a LotusScript® routine or a stored procedure.
      - Supported Connector Characteristics - List of Terms
        The following table defines the terms used in the "Supported Characteristics" section of each connector chapter in this manual.
      - Connection Documents
        A connection document enables you to define connections to external data sources. connection documents contain access information for specific databases and users. When you create an activity, you make connection choices from the existing set of defined connections.
      - General Connection Document Considerations
        This section lists general considerations for using a connection document.
      - Connection Document Action Bar
        This section describes features that are common to most connection documents.
      - Common Connection Document Fields
        The tables that follow describe fields that are common to most connection documents The only fields that are available in every connector are Name, Category(s), and Comments. Specific connector fields are described in the individual chapters of this guide.
      - Password Encryption
        Password encryption allows IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI) users to encrypt password information using their own encryption keys. The LEI server is always able to read the passwords. Password encryption in LEI pertains specifically to the password as stored in the Notes® database and as seen on the screen, not for communicating to the external system database. When data is sent to the external system database, encryption is removed.
      - Calling External Procedures
        Procedures from external systems may be used in a number of forms-based activities and from within LC LSX scripts. Some connectors provide procedure functionality as an alternate method of performing data selection or modification operations, while for others it is the only method of communicating with an external system. In all cases, there are various contexts and requirements regarding the behavior and handling of parameters for procedures.
      - Connectors and Supported Data Management Activities
        There are three IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI) Advanced RealTime activities - Virtual Fields, Virtual Documents, and Virtual Agents. All other activities are referred to as Data Management activities.
      - Connectors and Supported RealTime Activities
        Connectors that work with IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI) Advanced RealTime activities and DECS are listed in this topic.
      - Connector Data Type Conversion Tables
        This section describes how IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® (LEI) handles data type conversions. It is provided as background information. This information may be particularly helpful if you are scripting with the LC LSX Classes.
    - Chapter 4 Lotus® Connector for Notes®
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for Notes®, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Chapter 5 Lotus® Connector for DB2®
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for DB2®, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Chapter 6 Lotus® Connector for File System
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for File System, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Lotus® Connector for ODBC
      For complete information on the Lotus® Connector for ODBC, refer to the documentation on the Notes® Domino® Application Development wiki.
    - Chapter 8 Lotus® Connector for Oracle
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for Oracle, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Chapter 9 Lotus® Connector for OLE DB
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for OLE DB, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Chapter 10 Lotus® Connector for Sybase
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for Sybase, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Chapter 11 Lotus® Connector for Text
      This chapter provides information about the Lotus® Connector for Text, including descriptions of the fields in the connection document.
    - Chapter 12 Metaconnectors for LEI
      This chapter provides an introduction to LEI Metaconnectors and contains information for creating and using the different types of Metaconnectors.
  - LSX for Lotus® Connectors
    LotusScrip Extensions for Lotus® Connectors (LC LSX) enhances the power of Notes® by extending its scripting to data outside of Notes through the use of Lotus Connectors. The programming model is independent of the individual connector. This eliminates the need to learn each individual system, while at the same time allowing experienced users to access the individual features of a specific system.
  - Accessing external databases through LS:DO
    LS:DO has been in maintenance mode since R5. Developers are advised not to use it. Developers should use the Lotus® Connector LSX for (LCLSX) when accessing external data sources.
- 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.
- 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.

General Connection Document Considerations

This section lists general considerations for using a connection document.

Rollback

The "Rollback upon error" option, specified on a connection document, will not be effective when a transaction within an activity must be closed to complete the next step of the operation. For example, a Direct Transfer activity, with "Overwrite existing data" enabled", cannot restore the truncated data if the transfer portion fails.

View Specification

When specifying view names on a connection document, only list views that will actually be used by all activities that use the connection document. Specifying a view name that is not needed by the calling activity may cause that activity to fail.

Connection Pooling

For optimum performance of a connector, underlying connections to the external systems can be pooled. This pooling occurs in the connector API and is automatic with subsequent connections. LotusScript® provides a simple programmatic interface to connection pooling.

The LCSession class exposes a property called "ConnectionPooling." Setting this property to True enables connection pooling. For more information, see the "Connection Pooling" section in the Lotus® Connector LotusScript® Extensions Guide.

Connecting to Supported Data Source

In order to connect to a supported data source, you must have the required connectivity software for that data source installed on your server. Verify that all of your database software is installed and current with all available maintenance releases and fix packs before attempting to create connection documents. For related requirements, see the first chapter of the IBM® Lotus Enterprise Integrator® for Domino® (LEI) Installation Guide.