Entries for the ‘Tech stuff’ Category

Banner animator v1.1

In order to display multiple banners in single spot (and to keep web site from becoming tacky), you will need some sort of client side script that will display first one banner, then the second one etc. This is called banner animator (or even ad animator). In this case, the functionality is written in JavaScript, […]

Custom web forms – Part 2: Importing Form from DXL

In the second part of Custom web forms series I will try to cover import of simple form to Notes database from DXL file. If you wonder how to export a form to DXL, please check Part 1: Exporting Form into DXL.

Custom web forms – Part 1: Exporting Form into DXL

The one thing that in my opinion always lacked in Lotus Notes was the ability for users without designer access (and much knowledge of HTML) to build their own custom forms. One might argue that it is not that big of a deal and that it would take an experienced developer approximately one hour to […]

Design patterns – Part 8: State pattern

State pattern is probably most used in review cycles. The definition says: State pattern allows an object to appear as it can change its class by altering its behaviour and state. What are you talking about? Well, imagine you are in need to build a bug tracking database.  Bug reports in basics have four states. […]

Custom user sidebars in web applications

When I was assigned to rebuild company’s web site for the second time in 7 or 8 years, I have decided that it is probably the time to implement some modularity to the database. First in line were sidebars. Why? Well, despite “awesome” notes rich text to HTML rendering, web content was always contained in […]

Calling Java classes from LotusScript

Have you ever wondered how you could call already written and quite useful Java classes in your LotusScript code? To me, this moment was, when I was trying to implement other department’s code into my own. Unfortunately I wasn’t skilled enough in ways of object development, LS2J  and googling back then to actually figure out […]

Design patterns – Part 7: Template method pattern

In this article, I would like to present you a design pattern that is not so common, but for sure, I wish, that in the past I would have used it. It would certainly make my life much easier. So, what is this Template method pattern all about? The Template Method Pattern defines the skeleton […]

Design patterns – Part 6: Observer pattern

One of the most used patterns is also a pattern that hears by the name Observer. What does it do? Well, imagine you have a stock portfolio and you need to notify your investors every time the value of their stock changes. First, your investors need to subscribe to the stock they would like to […]

Securing names.nsf content from the web

Database names.nsf on public servers usually contains all details about users, groups, server configurations. With R8 this content is now seen on the web by default. There are plenty of possibilities how to secure the data. The easiest one though is to check Don’t allow URL open on application properties.  As always there is a […]

Design patterns – Part 5: Adapter pattern

Another quite useful pattern is Adapter pattern. Adapters represent an interface between two different classes. For example imagine being a continental EU citizen travelling to UK. For you to plug in to UK power plug, you need an adapter that will take the interface your connector has and output the interface UK power plug demands.