Domino X Pages 8.5

IBM Software Group

®

John Head – PSC GroupPhilippe Riand - IBM

XPages

Revolutionizing Lotus Domino Web Application

Development

IBM Software Group | Lotus software

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Disclaimer

This presentation contains information about the future direction of

IBM products, but it is not a commitment that IBM will deliver

specific features or capabilities, or that IBM will deliver any product

releases at all. Future product direction, dates, features or

capabilities can change at any time without notice.

Information contained in this presentation is IBM Confidential and

cannot be shared with anyone outside of IBM without a non-

disclosure agreement specific to this information. Information

about an IBM product release becomes public information at the

time of its official IBM announcement at which time a non-

disclosure agreement is no longer required.

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In This Session …

The 8.5 release of Lotus Domino and Lotus Domino Designer

revolutionize Domino Web application development

We’ll introduce you to our new approach for building Web

applications

We’ll cover some advanced techniques that allow you to leverage

the true power of 8.5

Finally, we will give you a glimpse of the future

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What We’ll Cover …

Introduction

XPages — the basics

XPages — advanced topics

A glimpse at the future

Wrap-up

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Domino Applications

Domino is a rapid application development platform for writing

collaborative applications

Flexible document-based datastore

• Semi-structured data

• Manages hierarchies of documents

• Seamlessly handles data model changes

Easy deployment model

• Simple NSF copy or replication operation

• Create new instances based on application templates

• Update design provided through design task or replication

Client access options: Notes, Web browser, or Mobile

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Serving Up Applications to the Web

• Yes, we made it easy to provide browser-based access to your

applications, but they often looked like this:

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Web Development — A Mixed Blessing

Developer experience

Programming model delivers maximum capability when building for Notes

Building compelling Web applications proved challenging

• Domino HTTP rendering issues

• No modern Web controls

• Event model was less than ideal

So, if you were up for the challenge, you could build compelling

Web applications

But there has got to be a better way!

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8.5 Application Development Themes

Provide developers with a modern development tool IDE

Do for developers what Notes 8 did for end users

• Improve usability and productivity

• Address various developer pain points from previous versions

Attract new developers to the platform

Make building compelling Web applications easy

Allow developers to build attractive, modern Web apps that leverage Web

2.0 technologies with less work

Provide means to update existing Domino Web applications incrementally

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The 8.5 Answer

Domino Designer and Eclipse

Same Designer Productivity: Built on Eclipse

• Eclipse adds: search, editors (CSS, JavaScript, … ), …

Uses a well-known extension mechanism

• Allows third-party tools to be added

A new set of design elements

XPages and Custom Controls

• Designed for developing Web 2.0 applications

• Easy to understand for both Domino and non-Domino developers

Themes

• Easily define an application’s look and feel

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Compelling Web 2.0 User Experience with

8.5

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Custom

Branding

Faster

Navigation

Styles

Themes

Discussion 8.5

XPage showcase

Compelling UI

Quick to Customize

Easy to Deploy

Improved

Usability


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Demo

Let’s take a look at some applications

built with XPages

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Introduction




Wrap-up


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From Cool Tools … Cool Pages … XPages

• Visual Web page construction

Advanced UI controls

Drag and drop development

• Instant Application Development

XML markup with source

Full control of HTML

Presentation using CSS

Business logic using JavaScript

• Leverages existing NSF assets

Web agents, formulas, security, …

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XPages Value Proposition

• Provide a better Web development experience to Domino

developers

Can be used to incrementally enhance an existing application or write a

brand new one

Fully integrated within Domino Designer

Decreases the time for writing Web Applications

• Solves problems expressed by the Domino community

Known limitations are addressed

• UI/Data separation, HTML generation control, Server

state, Localization, Extensibility, …

• Fully integrated with Domino Web server

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Designed for Web 2.0

• Based on an extended version of

Java Server Faces (JSF)

• Advanced set of controls

Web pager, Section, Tabbed Panel, …

Advanced View layouts using repeated sections

• Native support for Ajax behaviors

Partial refresh, available to every event

Typeahead

• Comes with the Dojo JavaScript library

Natively leverages Dojo widgets (RichText,

Date/Time picker, … )

Gives easy access to Dojo modules and widgets

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Leverages Domino/Web Developer Skills

• Leverages the existing design elements (Forms, Views, Agents, … )

Forms carry the document schema (data definition) and some business

logic (computed fields, … )

Views used to query the Domino store

Agents can be called using the back-end API

• JavaScript is used as the main scripting language

JavaScript used on the client and on the server

Simple actions are also provided for common tasks

• Leverages and exposes the back-end API

JavaScript accessors on top of the Java back-end API

JavaScript has been extended to support @Functions()

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Complete Control of the Rendering

• Look and Feel is driven uniquely by CSS

Full support for CSS classes or inline styles

Uses CSS file resources

• Support Themes for skinning an application

Predefined styles for controls

A theme can be defined locally, in an NSF, or globally

2 themes provided out of the box

• HTML tags/attributes can be embedded within XPages

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Enables Enterprise Scale Applications

• Extensible architecture

Custom controls

An XPage can call any Java code/library

JSF config files can be used to provide custom options

• Extended data access capability

Applications can access data located in multiple NSF databases

Multiple documents/views can be displayed on the same page

• Built-in localization and internationalization support

Support String localization and dedicated pages per locale

Automatic support for user time zone

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Architecture

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XPage Prerequisites

Installation and configuration

XPage runtime is installed by default

If doing custom install, make

sure Dojo and XPages are checked

HTTP task must be running

Skills

Knowledge of Domino object model

HTML, CSS, XML, and JavaScript are very beneficial, but you can built an

application without them

Question = Do I need to learn Java?

Answer = NO!

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XPages use agent security model

Settings for Xpage application access

XPage signer must have explicit

access to server or select users

listed in all trusted directories

Other settings that likely

require XPage design element

signature to be added

XPage Web user access

Standard Domino Web authentication applies

XPage Security

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See XPage User Guide: Designing with XPages \ Creating XPages \ Signing XPages


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Demo — Creating Your First XPages

Application

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Introduction




Wrap-up


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Logic for Your XPage

The ―official‖ language for XPages is JavaScript

JavaScript runs on client or server (or both — your choice!)

Simple actions available for common operations

(Almost) every property is computable!

Labels, column titles, visibility, style, …

Rich event model

Ajax behaviors

Built in in some cases (typeahead, pager)

Easy to build on your own with simple event properties

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Server Side Actions

No need to create agents

Although they can be leveraged

Simple actions

Simple to use, utilizes parameters

Can be grouped

Users/partners can provide their own simple actions

JavaScript on the server

Extensive library of predefined objects

• Domino back-end classes

• Familiar @Functions (@DbLookup, … )

Full featured editor environment

Bridge to Java

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Client-Side Scripting

User can handle client-side events from the event panel

JavaScript Libraries

Available as resources to the page

Can also reference Dojo modules

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Predefined Ajax Behaviors

Partial page refresh

Available on each event

Prebuilt on view pager

Ajax typeahead

Add behavior to an existing text box

Can use JavaScript handlers or

external URLs

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Custom Controls

Composite controls

Parameterizable sub-forms

Controls made by assembling

existing controls

Behave exactly as native controls

Appear in the Control palette

Define their own set of properties

• Hierarchical with custom editors

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Con trol ad d ed to a p ag e

Con trol is l ike a p ag e


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Advanced Demo

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Introduction




Wrap-up


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About the Future

This is not a commitment on the new features being developed

This is provided as information to keep you updated and get your

feedback

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Lotus Mashup Integration — iWidget

A new Component design element is used to define iWidgets

Any XPage can be projected as an iWidget, leveraging the platform

capabilities (parameters, properties/events, … )

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Note: Information is subject to change without notice at IBM’s discretion


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Rich Client Support

• Allows XPages applications to run within the Notes client

Any XPages application can be run offline

Do not require a local Domino Server

Data and Design elements get replicated

• Same code runs identically on the client and the server

Same programming model on both platforms

• Not restricted to the common denominator

Takes advantage of the platforms when it makes sense

• Ex: The view control can either render HTML or the Java counterpart

control, depending on the context

• A new theme ensures the consistency with the other Rich Client

applications

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Running XPages in Notes

• Can be used in place of an existing design element

An XPage can be specified as the launch option

• As a component, within a Composite Application

Same Component definition used for the iWidgets

Get access to the platform events (Eclipse selection events, … )

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Mobile Device Support

• An XPage application can be rendered within the embedded

browser of the device

• The device is detected

Specific markup can be emitted

Conditional statements can apply

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Futures Demo

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Introduction




Wrap-up


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Resources

• Domino Designer wiki

www.lotus.com/ldd/ddwiki.nsf

Articles and videos

• Samples applications

OpenNTF.org: XPages Wiki, Lead Manager, TaskJam, XPages Demo

jmackey.net: Survey Tool

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Resources (cont.)

• Tutorials

Basic tutorial ships with Domino Designer 8.5. See XPage user guide.

developerWorks Tutorials

• Harness the Power of Xpages in Lotus Domino Designer

− www.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ls-dw-ls-

ddxpages.html?S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=EDU

• XPages, Themes, and Mashups in a Domino Web …

− www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/tutorials/xpages-themes/lz-

dw-lz-xpages-themes.html?S_TACT=105A

GX13&S_CMP=EDU

Declan Lynch’s — Learning Xpages

• www.qtzar.com/blogs/qtzar.nsf/htdocs/LearningXPages.htm

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7 Key Points to Take Home

• XPages remove current pain points for Domino Web developers

• Separation of UI and data means data from multiple sources can

be presented in a single UI

• Leverage simple actions and JavaScript for business logic

• Use Ajax to improve your end-user experience

• Custom Controls improves productivity and maintainability

• Themes provide a way to easily change the look and feel of your

application

• The revolution starts with 8.5, and the future looks bright

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Your Turn!

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How to contact us:

John Head: [email protected]

Twitter: johnhead

Philippe Riand: [email protected]

Date post:	16-Jul-2015
Category:	Technology
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Domino X Pages 8.5

Technology