Using XPages in the Notes® client

You can run XPages applications in the IBM® Notes® rich client.

The primary advantage of support for XPages in the Notes® client is that you can replicate locally an application developed for the Web and run it off-line in the Notes® client, without having to redevelop it for the client. All the advantages of the XPages application development model can then be extended to the Notes® client. These applications display in the embedded browser and for the most part look and behave like Web applications, but they do behave differently in some ways in the Notes® client.

• It is possible to create logic specific to the Notes® client that affects how the application renders in Notes®. For example, in the Discussion application, the Web rendering includes a Welcome user name message followed by a My Profile link in the corner of the page. The welcome message does not appear in the Notes® client; logic in the Discussion application removes it. You can also modify an application's XPages properties to specify different themes to use when the application runs in the Notes® client or in a browser.
• Users of applications running in the Notes® client can use File > Save to preserve modifications to XPages. The enableModifiedFlag property lets you enable this menu option and prompt the user to save changes when an XPage has changed.
• When a user is authenticated in the Notes® client, the same credentials are used for access to any XPages application or component. Therefore, the user is not prompted with a Web login dialog as would occur with a traditional Web application running in the embedded browser.
• To prevent code in XPages design elements (active content) from executing protected operations, such as reading from and writing to workstation files or reading and writing system properties, XPages uses the Execution Control List (ECL) to manage the access and abilities the user has granted the signer of the code that is trying to perform the protected operation.
• Pages can be bookmarked in the Notes® client.

In addition to building XPages as stand-alone applications, you can also build XPage components in Domino® Designer that can run inside composite applications and support the receive/publish event model as well as component parameters. Your XPages components can then interact with other components in the client, such as the PIM component.

Also note that XPages applications can reside on a Domino® server. If you set the When opened in the Notes® Client launch option to Open Designated XPage (Standard Client), the corresponding XPage will be rendered on the client, whether the application resides on the Domino® server or locally on the Notes® client. The behavior of the XPage in the client will be exactly the same.