Getting Started with XPages Presented by Jeff Byrd

Agenda Who am I XPages Resources What are XPages Why Use XPages XPages Design Elements XPages CRUD XPages Template

Jeff Byrd Senior Developer at MAXIMUS Inc. Lotus Notes developer since ver. 3. Blogger at ◦ Current series is “Roll Your Own Rest Service”. Developing xPages for 2 Years.

XPages Resources ◦ Created by David Leedy ◦ 27 + hours of FREE videos on XPages ◦ Check out “Introduction to XPages” Xpages.info ◦ Daily aggregate of XPages blogs ◦ XPages Snippets OpenNTF.org – Free Source Code PlanetLotus.org StackOverflow.com – Filter for XPages The Rabbit Hole – ( nathantfreeman.wordpress.com) ◦ Taming IBM Domino Designer

What are XPages? New Design Elements and tools for creating web applications Embraces standard languages ◦ HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java Built on top of Java Server Faces (JSF) ◦ XPages is a JSF wrapper for Domino Developers Everything you code gets placed inside of Java Objects ◦ You never need to deal with those Java Objects though! You do not NEED to know Java to build XPages apps ◦ But it will help and should be something to strive for ◦ Java in XPages is somewhat similar to LotusScript Custom Classes

Why Use XPages? Separates UI from Data ◦ Allows multiple Data sources per Page ◦ Easy access to data from other databases Improves Data capabilities ◦ from inside a view  Similar to a JOIN in relational DB’s. ◦ Use Java Objects (Beans) as data source ◦ Iterate your data anyway you want via “Repeat Control” Runs inside Notes Client (XPiNC - XPages in Notes Client) ◦ Replicate your web applications.

New Design Elements XPage ◦ Similar to Notes Form  But not really as you can have none or multiple datasources  Data source can be:  NotesDocuments, NotesViews,Java Beans, and more... ◦ It’s often used more as a container to hold custom controls Custom Control ◦ Similar to Subform  But not really as you can have none or multiple datasources  Just like XPages  Can be used more then once on a page  Can accept Parameters that you define later  Allows high reusability ◦ Can not be viewed in the browser. They only work on an XPage ◦ Often Custom Controls are used to contain the graphical layout of your app

More New Design Elements Sever Side JavaScript ◦ Can be on the page or in a library. ◦ Library allows you to create reusable SSJS functions using ◦ It’s not really “JavaScript” but it has the same syntax  This allows additional capability  Domino Object Model  Java Objects Themes ◦ You can assign a CCS file and it’ll be available on every page of your app  Like a Global “Use” statement in LotusScript ◦ Allow consistent look and feel across apps ◦ oneUI and WebStandard are built in ◦ You can create your own  But always extend a server theme as they contain needed Dojo files ◦ Themes can override controls as well  More advanced but very powerful

Scoped Variables ◦ In memory objects to store data ◦ No need to rely on cookies / URL parsing  but you still can if you want applicationScope ◦ Like a database profile document ◦ Available to all users  Store Application settings and common lookups that all users need sessionScope ◦ Life of the user session  Store things specific to the user.  Preferences, shopping cart, etc...

Scoped Variables viewScope ◦ Life of the current Page  Store value of a current search, or items from a particular document requestScope ◦ Life of a single request ◦ Very short - just for data you’re currently processing Do NOT try and put Domino Objects (document, view, etc...) in Scope ◦ They will likely get recycled when you least expect it. ◦ For a document, just store a UNID as a string and grab the document again

Building an Application I’m using Domino and Designer ◦ Latest version is 9.0 ◦ Do not try Xpages development with any version below version and you should be using the Update Pack or OpenNTF Extension Library  Update Pack is available from IBM for 8.5.  Ext. Library is at What is the Update Pack / Extension Library? ◦ They are add-ons to the Domino Server / Designer ◦ Adds over 50 new tools and controls designed to speed up your application  Tools for layout, Dojo integration, etc.  Application layout control. ◦ Extends the core product without having to wait for next version

Sample Application Let’s build a quick Contacts Application ◦ One Form – Contact ◦ One View – Contacts ◦ Custom Control – frmContact ◦ Custom Control – vwContacts ◦ xPage – Contact.xsp ◦ xPage – Contacts.xsp ◦ Theme – Blueprint CSS

But there’s more! Things we haven’t talked about Server Side Java Script (SSJS) Client Side Java Script (CSJS) Repeat Controls Managed Beans Java!