Course Code: R5LSDWA
Course Title: Using LotusScript in R5 Domino Web Applications
Units: 5
Duration: 1.5 classroom equivalent days
Discussion Access: 4 months1
1. Up to 12 months access when purchased as part of a Curriculum Package.
Summary Description
Successful Domino web applications require the use of agents to provide validation and back end processing for tasks like e-commerce and e-business. These agents perform similar functions to CGI scripts on other web server platforms. One way to create these agents in Domino is to use LotusScript. This hands-on distance learning course will show you how to create LotusScript agents that run when a user opens or saves a document and how to run agents from a web browser. Learn to create WebQuerySave and WebQueryOpen agents, run agents via a URL, pass data from one page to another using query strings, and to use the Print statement to send customized output to a web browser. Many live demonstrations and exercises are provided including examples of e-commerce applications. As with all TLCC courses, instructor help is only a click away!
Audience and Prerequisites
Experienced Domino Application developers who know how to program in LotusScript and have a need to integrate complex LotusScript processing into the design of their Domino applications. Specifically the following TLCC courses or their equivalent are required:
- R5 Beginner LotusScript for Notes and Domino
- R5 Intermediate LotusScript for Notes and Domino
- Beginner R5 Domino Web Application Development
System Requirements
A single R5 Domino Designer client and a current browser. Access to the Internet is required to get instructor support.
Course Modules
Module 1 - Introduction
In a Notes Client or Domino Server environment, LotusScript is supported and can execute on either client or server. This is not the case for Domino applications that are developed for web clients. Web clients (browsers) do not know what LotusScript is nor do they recognize Notes events, such as opening or saving a Notes document. To simulate event-driven LotusScript functionality for a web user, Lotus provides the ability for a web user to initiate a LotusScript agent that runs on the server.
- Understand the requirements for viewing Notes databases in a web browser
- Learn how to set up and troubleshoot the Web Preview feature
- Learn how to preview a local database from Notes
- Learn several ways to preview a local database from Domino 5 Designer
- Understand why web agents are needed
- Be able to list the types of LotusScript web agents that Domino supports
- Review some basics about HTML
Module 2 - WebQuerySave Agent
This module looks at what a WebQuerySave agent does and demonstrates the benefits it provides to a Domino developer. This module describes how to create a WebQuerySave agent and how to program it to send information to a web browser. This module also demonstrates several other uses of a WebQuerySave agent in your Domino applications
- Learn how to create a WebQuerySave agent
- Learn how to use a WebQuerySave agent in a Domino form
- Use HTML to generate a web page to display after the user submits the form
- Learn how to program a WebQuerySave agent to set fields on a form presented to web users
- Use LotusScript to validate the fields on a form that users create on the web
- Learn how to conditionally control whether Domino saves a new document created in a browser
- Use URL re-direction to display another web site or page
- Progressively display a form while the user is inputting information
Module 3 - WebQueryOpen Agent
The WebQueryOpen agent allows the Domino application developer to run a LotusScript agent when a browser user opens a form. Domino runs this type of agent on the server before sending the form or document to the browser. This feature is most useful when an application form requires complex processing prior to delivering it as a web page to the browser.
- Learn how to program a WebQueryOpen agent
- Learn how to call a WebQueryOpen agent from a Domino form
- Understand the limitations of the WebQueryOpen agent
- Learn how to program a WebQueryOpen agent to set editable field values in a document
- Learn how to program a WebQueryOpen agent to set computed field values in a new or existing document
- Learn how to build a web hit counter
- Learn how to use a WebQueryOpen agent to access information about the browser session
- Learn how to pass field data from one document to another in a URL
- Learn how to use a CGI variable to access and use passed field data
Module 4 - Running Agents from the Web
This module describes the benefits of initiating an agent directly from a URL without using a form. The module covers how to generate a URL to call an agent, pass information to the agent, and open up existing documents for editing from the web.
This module also covers the security implications of running agents from the web. The module discusses and demonstrates how you can control what an agent can and cannot do and explores the effects of the Agent Manager settings in server documents in the Domino Directory.
- Learn how to call an agent from a URL
- Learn how to use CGI variables in agents that are not associated with any form
- Learn how to program an agent to locate and open an existing document
- Learn how to program an agent to set values in documents
- Understand the effect of the "Run agent as Web user" security setting
- Understand the effect of the Agent Manager fields in the Domino Directory's server documents
- Understand the difference between restricted and unrestricted agents
Module 5 - Debugging Web Agents
Web agents are initiated by a browser and they run on the Domino server. For this reason, you cannot use the Notes debugger to find problems in the agent. This module presents several alternative techniques for debugging your web agents.
- Understand why you can't use the LotusScript debugger to directly debug web agents
- Learn how to use Print statements for debugging
- Learn how to use error-handling techniques to trap and handle LotusScript errors
- Learn how to check the Notes log database to discover what may have gone wrong
- Learn how to record agent activity in the Notes log database
- Learn how to use the NotesLog class to set up your own log and record agent activities and errors in it
- Learn how to use the LotusScript debugger with "simulated" web agents