Beyond The Yellow Bubble

This may be just Kindergarten but our teacher gave us a pretty lengthy required reading list to work on now and for later when we continue on to first grade..  Apparently those of us intending to focus on developing XPages for the Notes client when 8.5.1 is release have been instructed to use the same reading list until we are told to do otherwise...  Those people who have already done a lot of Web development will probably have a lot of these already.  Notes client developers have a LOT of reading to do...

Kindergarten

1. HTML - XPages provides a number of great controls but there is still a lot missing.  Those gaps will often be plugged with you own HTML.  When debugging XPage output it will be essential to be able to read HTML.  A book that explains the differences in the way modern browsers interpret HTML would be especially useful.  There are many on-line resources that can also be used.
   
2. JavaScript - The native JavaScript language is used extensively to script client events.  This same language also provides the basic syntax for server sided JavaScript (SSJS).  Most of your code is going to be JavaScript based, so a mastery of this language is required.
   
3. Dojo - Dojo is the javascript library (framework) that comes with Domino 8.5 and is used as part of XPages.  Dojo extends the capabilities of JavaScript as a language as well as providing a range of widgets (dijits) that can add even more WOW to your XPage applications.  Unfortunately IBM provide very little documentation about Dojo in the Domino Designer help so a reference book is almost essential to get the most out of this technology.
   
4. CSS - Styling of your applications should largely be achieved through CSS.  This language is an art in itself and something each Notes developer needs to develop a thorough understanding if they wish to make their XPage applications attractive and reduce some of the cross-browser issues.  A text that also explains themes would be beneficial as themes are also supported by XPages.
   
5. Xpages - Only joking!  There are no books to be found on XPages.  The oinline help that comes with Domino Designer will leave you underwelmed.  There are a lot of blogs that give very good coverage on your options for Xpages.  These include Declans life, the universe,and everything Xpage tutorial, The Domino Developers wiki, theXpages wiki, and the Xpages Blog.  And don't miss David Leedy's great Notes At Nine videos.  Lets just hope a book gets written soon as this topic is very large and it is impossible to see have its millions of components can be coeverded in depth by anything less than a 500 Kg reference book.
6. SSJS - I have no idea where you may go to get a good understanding about SSJS.  A good knowledge of JavaScript is a start as well as a good working knowledge of Commands and either the COM or LotusScript product classes (NotesDocument etc).  Tim Tripcony as Lotus911 seems to know about as much about SSJS as anyone, so watch his blog closely for tips etc.
   

1st Grade

1. AJAX: XPages makes use of XJAX technology to facilitate asynchronous calls to the server for things such as partial refreshes.  In your 2nd year of XPage applications you may want to build a better understanding of AJAX to embark on bullding more advanced controls and functionality.
   
2. XML A some stage soon after graduating from kindergarten you are likely to be building applications in which data will be passed between data using XML.  A good working knowledge of XML and related technologies such as XPath and XSLT will be helpful.  Remember, at some stage soon XPages will probably allow you to define data sources that draw data from XML files directly.
   
3. JAVA: It seems to me that every time you have to dive off and do anything advanced with SSJS you end up making calls to Java or using instructions that look a lot like Java.  Having a good working knowledge of Java is going to help you out.  e.g. The process of invoking a Web service seems to rely on using some Java-specific components.
   

Note: No specific text books were prescribed.  It was suggested we use Amazon or similar resources to find popular texts.  In time I may get more specific about resources you may want to consider.  For now just find a reasonably good text on each subject.  Readers please feel free to comment on good choices that are above the pack or especially relevant to Notes/Domino...

For Dojo I can recommend the book - Dojo - The Definitive Guide by Matthew Russell (O'Reilly)

Happy Reading everyone....

The next release of the .Domino Framework will contain two new properties for the DominoDocument class.  The XMLStream property will provide an XML/DXL representation of the document as a Notes Stream (2GB limit).  The XML property will provide a XML/DXL representation of the document as a String (64K limit).  Because the DominoDocument design class extends the DominoDocument class these two properties will also provide XML representations of Design documents.

Note: Notes does not yet provide full fidelity for representing Notes document as DXL.  The above properties carry these same limitations.

 '/**
 ' *  XML (DXL) Representation of document
 ' */  
 Property Get XML As String
  Dim XMLStream As NotesStream
  If (iDocument Is Nothing) Then Exit Property 
  Set XMLStream = Me.XMLStream
  XMLStream.Position = 0
  If (XMLStream.Bytes < 2^16) Then XML$ = XMLStream.ReadText()
 End Property
 '/**
 ' *  XML (DXL) Representation of document in the format of a NotesStream
 ' */   
 Property Get XMLStream As NotesStream
  Dim Exporter    As NotesDXLExporter 
  Dim XMLInputParser As NotesXMLProcessor
  
Try:
  On Error Goto Catch
  If (iDocument Is Nothing) Then Exit Property 
  Set XMLStream = Session.CreateStream()
  Set Exporter = Session.CreateDXLExporter(iDocument,XMLStream)
  Call Exporter.Process()
  Exit Property
Catch:
  Stop
  Exit Property
  
 End Property