Lotus Notes

Few days back,I've tried domiclipse plug-in with Eclipse to test if I can continue my development in Eclipse.I was really impressed with the way my Eclipse started talking to my local( and server ) databases.However, I've found difficulties in accessing Domino objects within Eclipse environment.Also,When I try to sync my work with Notes database , It just creates java class files in my local but doesn't update notes database directly ( I assume need to use "Imported Java" agent to manually upload in domino agent ).

Today I was reading about NotesFactory() class in Domino and found using this class Domino objects can be read/write from Java IDE.Next, I found "Running a Java Program" topic in the help file, which clearly says there are two jar files Notes.jar and NCSO.jar which can be configured in any IDE to access domino objects.I got excited and spent couple of hours to configure Eclipse to access Domino Objects. Finally I've done, Here are those easy steps to accomplish;

1)At very first step, Your machine should have Eclipse setup. You can get it at Eclipse Website

2)Run-time requirements

A computer running a Java application that makes local Domino calls must contain Domino Server, Domino Designer, or Notes Client, and must include Notes.jar in the classpath.
A computer running a Java application that makes remote Domino calls need not contain Domino or Notes, but must contain one of the NCSO archives and must include it in the classpath.
A computer running a Domino agent that makes Domino calls must include Notes.jar in the classpath.
A computer running an applet that makes Domino calls needs no Domino software or classpath assignments. The applet must be loaded from a computer containing a Domino server.

For this example I assume you've Client and Server running on the same machine.

3) Find Notes.jar(for me,C:\lotus\Notes\jvm\lib\ext) and NCSO.jar(for me,C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Domino\data\domino\java) file paths and add in your ClassPath (How to set ClassPath for Java)

4) Start Eclipse, go to File->New->Java Project

4) Right click on newly created project,Choose Properties->Java Build Path and add external Jars.



5) Create new class, Right click on project->New->Class



6) Here is the sample code which I've tried,

import lotus.domino.*; public class AccessDomino { public static void main(String[] args) { try { Session session = NotesFactory.createSession("localhost", "Rishi Sahi/Development", "Development"); Database db = session.getDatabase(null, "ConnectmetoDomino.nsf"); System.out.println(session.getUserName()); System.out.println(db.getSize()); } catch(Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } ; }

* At very first line I'm importing domino package which contains all the necessary class/methods to start my work.
* I'm using NotesFactory class to create domino session with ServerName,UserName and Password parameters.
* Once session is created use any Domino-Java class to start your work.

One of the main advantage you can attain to use type ahead feature which is still missing in Domino.



7) Before running your program you must ensure that the server notes.ini file contains the following line:

ServerTasks=,diiop

If missing then open Notes.ini file and add diiop in your server tasks list and restart domino server. Once done, run your code and check the output,



You can ease your Domino-Java development using domiclipse and above tips.

To setup domiclipse, I would suggest to visit : Coding Thoughts by Carlos

To continue with my JDBC experience in Domino , Today I've written a class to log an activity in my application.It may not be designed as per Java Standards or conventions.However,I am willing to know what could be the better approach to design Java classes to avail high performance.Here is my code ,

import lotus.domino.*; public class activityClass extends AgentBase { public Session session; public AgentContext agentContext; public RichTextItem activityLog; public RichTextStyle RtStyle1; public Document logdoc; public Database db; public Database logdb; public activityClass(Session session) { try{ agentContext= session.getAgentContext(); db = agentContext.getCurrentDatabase(); Document doc = db.getProfileDocument("connectionSetup",""); String ldb = doc.getItemValueString("ActivityLogDbName"); logdb = session.getDatabase(db.getServer(), ldb); String UserName=session.getUserName(); DateTime dt = session.createDateTime("Today"); dt.setNow(); RtStyle1=session.createRichTextStyle(); RtStyle1.setBold(RichTextStyle.NO); RtStyle1.setFontSize(8); RtStyle1.setFont(RichTextStyle.FONT_HELV); RtStyle1.setColor(RichTextStyle.COLOR_BLACK); if ( logdb!=null){ logdoc = logdb.createDocument(); logdoc.appendItemValue("Form", "ActivityLog"); logdoc.replaceItemValue("Activity$Status", ""); logdoc.replaceItemValue("Activity$StartDtTime", dt.getLocalTime()); logdoc.replaceItemValue("Activity$StartedBy", UserName); logdoc.replaceItemValue("Activity$EndDtTime", ""); activityLog = logdoc.createRichTextItem("Activity$Log"); } }catch(Exception e){ e.printStackTrace(); } } public void addActivity(Session session,String whatActivity) { try{ DateTime dt = session.createDateTime("Today"); dt.setNow(); String logMessage=dt.getLocalTime() + " - " + whatActivity; activityLog.appendStyle(RtStyle1); activityLog.appendText(logMessage); activityLog.addNewLine(1); }catch(Exception e){ e.printStackTrace(); } } public void endActivity(Session session,String whatActivity) { try{ DateTime dt = session.createDateTime("Today"); dt.setNow(); String logMessage=dt.getLocalTime() + " - " + whatActivity; activityLog.appendStyle(RtStyle1); activityLog.appendText(logMessage); activityLog.addNewLine(1); }catch(Exception e){ e.printStackTrace(); } } public void closeActivity(Session session) { try{ DateTime dt = session.createDateTime("Today"); dt.setNow(); String logMessage=dt.getLocalTime() + " - " + "Activity closed"; activityLog.appendStyle(RtStyle1); activityLog.appendText(logMessage); activityLog.addNewLine(1); logdoc.replaceItemValue("Activity$EndDtTime", dt.getLocalTime()); logdoc.save(true); }catch(Exception e){ e.printStackTrace(); } } }

How I call,

public class JavaAgent extends AgentBase { public void NotesMain() { String qs; try { Session session = getSession(); AgentContext agentContext = session.getAgentContext(); activityClass activityLog= new activityClass(session); activityLog.addActivity(session,"Start processing table1."); Table1 t1 = new Table1(db); qs= t1.ManageTable1(db,cdoc); if(qs!=null){ activityLog.endActivity(session,qs); } } } activityLog.closeActivity(session); catch(Exception e) {e.printStackTrace();} } }

Here is my log output,



To be continued....

To continue with my first and second JDBC article, Today I found something interesting in Java which I never read about.

Actually we want to provide an interface which can be used to create,modify or even delete tables in Oracle.We needed such interface based design for ease in administration and flexibility. In order to achieve this,I've created required configuration form with Column name,column data type,column width.Along with that admin can select action,like Create,Alter or Delete table.It looks something like,

While writing Java routine for the same interface found first interesting thing is "Java doesn't support String in Switch statement", Can you believe it ?? While compiling my routine with below switch statement , got an error "Incompatible type".

Document cdoc=entry.getDocument();
String frm=cdoc.getItemValueString("Form");
Switch(frm){
Case "Form1":
Table11 t1 = new Table1();
t1.ManageTable(conn,db,cdoc);
break;
Case "Form2":
Table12 t2 = new Table2();
t2.ManageTable(conn,db,cdoc);
break;
}

I've tried all the way but never doubted until my wife pointed me Java doesn't support Strings in Switch case.It was shock for me because, I always believe Java gives everything which you need to build powerful application.I've got some workaround on net like using enum or hashcode , but both are mapping based solution where program can crash if mapping went wrong. Finally I've replaced Switch with If..else statement :).

Second interesting thing was string comparison in Java.When I've compile my routine with below code snippet,

Document cdoc=entry.getDocument();
String frm=cdoc.getItemValueString("Form");
if(frm=="Form1"){
Table11 t1 = new Table1();
t1.ManageTable(conn,db,cdoc);
}
else if(frm=="Form3"){
Table12 t2 = new Table2();
t2.ManageTable(conn,db,cdoc);
}

Neither I see my code creating new table in Oracle nor any error.After some debugging found the valid reason,

To compare Strings for equality, don't use ==. The == operator checks to see if two objects are exactly the same object. Two strings may be different objects, but have the same value (have exactly the same characters in them). Use the .equals() method to compare strings for equality. Similarly, use the .compareTo() method to test for unequal comparisons..

Finally I've changed my code to ,

Document cdoc=entry.getDocument();
String frm=cdoc.getItemValueString("Form");
if ("Form1".equals(frm)){
Table11 t1 = new Table1();
t1.ManageTable(conn,db,cdoc);
}
else if ("Form2".equals(frm)){
Table12 t2 = new Table2();
t2.ManageTable(conn,db,cdoc);
}

So here are two very basic problems encountered by me while building my application.I hope this could be useful to other Lotus Notes developer to overcome such minor technology differences.

To be continued....

In my last article, I've been mentioned about JDBC connectivity with Oracle. I've given proposal to my business owners and they've chosen JDBC instead LS LCX to keep less burden on Domino server.So I'm going to spend some more time in Java :)

Today I've encountered strange network issue in my Lotus designer while accessing some of my U.S servers.I thought there might be some issues with network connectivity ,but everything was fine except my Notes client.After all my troubleshooting I've uninstalled my R8.5 and started installing R8.0(non basic edition).At the end of R8.0 installation , I got pop-up saying some of the features didn't installed but installation was successful. I thought may be some optional stuffs were not installed , Once I've started my Notes Client , It throws another pop-up saying "There is an error encountered , look into the log file under workspace folder in domino directory".I found there was some error in installing/configuring JVM.Soon I've realized my client got corrupted and need to re-install again.It's hard to believe but I've re-installed R8.0 five times but ended up with same error.Finally I moved to R8.0 basic version and it looks fine so far. My first horrible experience in installing domino.

Once everything was done I thought to check my JDBC code whether it works or not , another surprise it got failed with following error ,

After spending an hour found the problem and solution. Here it is,

Reason:Security exceptions are encountered.

Problem:Java agent that utilizes certain classes and are receiving agent security restrictions at run-time. The agent does not run as expected.

Resolving the problem: Because the JVM applies the Java 2 Security Model to Java code running on the Domino server or Notes client, the JVM, or application code, can explicitly enforce access control against what methods can be called at runtime and what actions those methods can perform. This scenario is the most common Java Security error encountered under Domino. For example:


java.security.AccessControlException: access denied
(java.lang.RuntimePermission getClassLoader)


The above is a security exception thrown by the JVM when performing a getClassLoader() call. To correct the error, make an adjustment to the java.policy to grant this code the permissions that it requires. This file is located in \jvm\lib\security\java.policy. You can do this by either granting all permissions by adding the following line:

grant{
permission java.security.AllPermission;
}

Once done ; exit from designer ,restart your server and re-compile your java code.

How new installation has changed my java.policy file or R8.5 provides all permission default ?. Anyway after modification everything works well and good.

To be continued....

Web Service is very useful method for the interaction with other machines over network.To leverage web services in Domino, a New feature called Web Service is added in R7 onwards. From R8 onwards this feature is further divided into two sections "Web Service Providers" and "Web Service Consumers". With both the options, you can create web service which can be read by other platform and vice versa. Domino can consume web services written on other platform.

In this post , I will create a web service using Domino 8.5 and will read that web service in my Eclipse application. Let's begin with the example.

I've a Lotus Notes application which keeps airlines travel availability configurations. Let's say my form name is "CheckMyTravelDate" with five fields; Departure date,Return date,From country,To country and availability status.Here is my form ,

Next, Create a view which will be used for look-up in our web service code.It will have two columns; First column is with key "Start Date-End Date-From-To" and second column is "Availability Status". We need to make first column categorized. Shown below,

Let's begin with Web Service.

Since we're going to provide Web Service, so click "New web service provider" button under "Web Service providers" section.

You will have two options to write web service ; Lotus Script and Java. Choose "Lotus Script" (default). Paste following code in your web service ,

Option Public Option Declare %INCLUDE "lsxsd.lss" Class getTravelStatus Function getTravelStatusString(StartDate As String, EndDate As String, Departure As String, Returns As String) As String Dim s As New NotesSession Dim db As NotesDatabase Dim view As NotesView Dim doc As NotesDocument Dim key As String Dim sd As New NotesDateTime(StartDate) Dim ed As New NotesDateTime(EndDate) Set db = s.CurrentDatabase If Not(db.IsOpen) Then getTravelStatusString = "Cannot open travel configuration database " Exit Function End If Set view = db.GetView("CheckMyTravelDate") If view Is Nothing Then getTravelStatusString = "Cannot open travel configuration view " Exit Function End If key = Cstr(sd.DateOnly)+"-"+Cstr(ed.DateOnly)+"-"+Departure+"-"+Returns Set doc = view.getDocumentByKey(key) If doc Is Nothing Then getTravelStatusString = "Sorry, Booking is not available with specified details" Exit Function Else getTravelStatusString=doc.GetItemValue("availabilityStatus")(0) End If End Function End Class

What my code does :

It's pretty simple program implemented using class called getTravelStatus which has one function called getTravelStatusString.This function takes four arguments;Travel start date,end date,departure country and return country. It builds the key , pass to the view,get the availability status and returns to the calling function.

Now when we try to save web service, we will get following warning


Warning says, your class name should match with PortTypeClass.Open web service property window and paste your class name in PortTypeClass section.


Go to third tab of web service property window and select Programming model as RPC and SOAP message format as RPC/encoded.At the end specify other details like Port type name , service element name and Service port name which are optional parameters.Save your changes.



Now you've to run your web service on browser using ?WSDL ( http://server/database/getTravelStatus?WSDL ) command to verify everything is fine.If everything is fine, you get screen like,


You've successfully created web service, now time to test.

There are various method to test web service . I'm going to use Eclipse and the Web Tools Platform (WTP). To do so , first install Eclipse and then configure WTP in your machine.

Once installed and WTP configured is done, Open Eclipse and go to Run->Launch the Web service explorer. Click on "WSDL" page icon on top right top open WSDL window.
(or follow the same step mentioned here)


Click on "WSDL main" at left panel and provide your web service path at right panel and click on "Go".


You can check the status at lower panel whether your web service is successfully opened or not.Click on your web service name under "Operations" section.You can find the form to enter , Travel start date, end date,to country and from country . Enter data and click "Go",


So these were the basic steps to implement and test web services in Lotus Notes.

Write me for any suggestions/comments.

It's always a challenging job to build a system which communicates with Oracle.From past few years I was working only on web applications.Two days back I've asked to suggest best method to move Lotus Notes documents to Oracle without using local or server level DSN.

I was very much familiar with Lotus Notes ODBC method , which is very simple and easy to implement. However it's not very good for large volume of data,though I was not suppose to consider because it needs DSN.Next,I've considered LC LSX but assumed it needs DSN too ( point me if I am wrong ),You don't need any DSN in LC LSX method(look at the comments section for more information).Finally I thought about JDBC which is Java based engine to connect Oracle database.Funny thing was that, I studied Java in my graduation and never ever used in working environment except some simple domino java agents. I've checked with my mates and over the net, but didn't got much to start. So, I had decided to do by myself and with help of my wife ( Rashmi, who is Java developer :) ).

My first task was to start looking correct versions of software which I need along with suitable drivers to connect them.Let's have a look what I've done.

First, My wife suggested me to setup Java environment in my workstation.I've done by knowing Domino itself built on Java.

Java JDK

Next, I had started looking to Oracle versions which should be lite and easy to use for newbie.I've chosen Oracle 10g express edition which was up to my expectation and could easily install in my machine.Here is the one,

Oracle 10g Express

Third, I needed correct jdbc driver which should be compatible with Oracle 10g . Here is the one which I've used,

JDBC drivers

Domino-Java coding starts from here,

Create new Java agent and click on "Edit Project" to link jar file in your agent. Find your .jar file and add in "Current Agent files" list at the right side.

Next, you need to start importing required classes for connectivity . Add below mentioned classes at the beginning of the agent along with "lotus.domino.*;" package.

import java.sql.*;
import oracle.jdbc.*;

Next step is to register our jdbc driver . To do so , Add this line in your code.

// Register your driver

DriverManager.registerDriver (new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver());

Once driver is registered we need to establish a connection with the Oracle. Here is the code which establish connection with Oracle.This is the most important line which needs little bit knowledge of Oracle otherwise you might struggle like me :)

// Build connection with Oracle
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:oracle:thin:@SPRPRG020V.ap.vdgc.com:1521:XE",
"SYSTEM", "password");

Some important points about the above line,

* I am using thin driver which is also called level 4 driver. There are one more called OCI driver also known as level 2 driver. Oracle thin driver is entirely written in Java so no other software need to install to use this driver where as Oracle OCI driver requires Oracle client to be installed in order to use this driver.So,When you need to connect Oracle remotely without installing Client , go for Oracle thin driver.

* Passing "Host name:Port:SID"SID is nothing but a "Oracle System ID".I've spent 1 hour in this line to pass correct host name,port number and SID. To make it quicker and easier , Open "tnsnames.ora" file where Oracle runs . It can be found in C:\oraclexe\app\oracle\product\10.2.0\server\NETWORK\ADMIN ( for my example ). E.g,

* Last argument is log-in user name and password of Oracle database.

Now your connection is established. To test this create table in Oracle and fire some SQL statements. Something like,

// Query the Customer table
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery ("SELECT cust_name FROM Customer");

// Read something and print to console , getString to get & setString to set
System.out.println("Printing existing records ...");
while (rset.next())
System.out.println (rset.getString(1));

System.out.println("Inserting new records ...");
// Insert example
stmt.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Customer VALUES('001','Rishi')");

You can view the output in Java console ,

Even in Oracle web console ,

Here is the complete code,

import lotus.domino.*; import java.sql.*; import oracle.jdbc.*; public class JavaAgent extends AgentBase { public void NotesMain() { try { Session session = getSession(); AgentContext agentContext = session.getAgentContext(); lotus.domino.Session s = getSession(); lotus.domino.AgentContext agentContex = s.getAgentContext(); // Register your driver DriverManager.registerDriver (new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver()); // Build connection with Oracle using thin driver Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@SPRPRG020V.ap.vdgc.com:1521:XE", "SYSTEM", "password"); // Query the Customer table Statement stmt = conn.createStatement(); ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery ("SELECT cust_name FROM Customer"); // Read something and print to console , getString to get & setString to set System.out.println("Printing existing records ..."); while (rset.next()) System.out.println (rset.getString(1)); System.out.println("Inserting new records ..."); // Insert example stmt.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Customer VALUES('001','Rishi')"); // close the result set, statement, and the connection rset.close(); stmt.close(); conn.close(); } catch(Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }

One more thing which I forgot to mention is that I've used Eclipse to write my code because Domino doesn't provide type ahead for methods/property.

Though it's just a POC to kick off my project , But definitely got some confidence to start my first Java project in Domino. Hope I can write all my learning here to help other Domino developers to start quickly with Java. I would love to see your suggestions/comments.

Rob and pete has suggested me to use LC LSX method in comments section of this post . So, Written the sample code for connectivity using LC LSX and it works well . Here is the code who wish to use as a reference ,

'Adding LC LSX library Option Public Uselsx "*lsxlc" Sub Initialize On Error Goto handler Dim connect As New LCConnection ("Oracle") ' You can pass Db2 or odbc2 for SQL Server Dim fldLst As New LCFieldList Dim keyLst As New LCFieldList Dim fld As LCField Dim count As Integer 'connect.database="XE" 'Don't use this method because it doesn't work connect.Server = "XE" ' I've Oracle express edition 10g . To check server name open "tnsnames.ora" file and check SID connect.Userid = "SYSTEM" ' Id connect.Password = "password" ' Password connect.Metadata = "customer" ' Table name connect.Connect Print "Successfully connected to Oracle...." connect.FieldNames = "cust_no,cust_name" ' Two columns in customer table Set fld = keyLst.Append ("cust_no", LCTYPE_INT) fld.Flags = LCFIELDF_KEY_NE Or LCFIELDF_KEY fld.Value = 200 If (connect.Select (keyLst, 1, fldLst) = 0) Then Print "No data found." End End If Set fld = fldLst.Lookup ("cust_name") Print "The 'contact names' stored in the table are:" While (connect.Fetch (fldLst) > 0) count = count + 1 Msgbox " record #" & Cstr(count) & " = '" & fld.text(0) & "'" Wend If (count = 0) Then Print "The table contains no records." Exit Sub handler: Msgbox "Connection failed with error " & Err & ": " & Error Exit Sub End Sub

To be continued....