TexasSwede

Not Forum Friday, but Usenet Tuesday. :-)  A user in comp.groupware.lotus-notes.programmer had a question about generating Notes document remotely/in an automated way from another web application, using Perl:

> We have a Lotus Notes application and we would like to automate
> creating a new document or record in that application from another web
> based application.
>
> Here are the details:
> User action on web application triggers a PERL script to create a new
> record (document) in Lotus Notes (or Domino).

Here is my suggestion:

Here is a sample agent that uses the class and print the arguments to the browser. Just expand on that code to create the document in the database:

Sub Initialize
 Dim url As New URLclass

 Dim params As Variant
 params = url.GetParams()
 Forall x In params
   Print Listtag(x) & " = " & params(Listtag(x)) & "<br>"
 End Forall
End Sub

OK, I was a little bit bored, and thought I would create two more maps of visited places, one of the US states and one of European contries.

Bill Buchan just posted a great SNTT entry about the Out of Office Agent on his blog. I did learn some new things there, like I usually do when reading his blog. He is also the one that got me to start doing object oriented Lotusscript programming. As anyone that seen him present at Lotusphere or some other conference know, he is a very entertaining speaker, but he is also very smart and know his stuff...

You can now wipe yourself with Vista toilet paper:

(From TechWorld Mikrodatorn and Akiba PC Hotline)

One of the great writers of the 20th century has left us. Arthur C Clarke, best known for his books 2001: A Space Odyssey Rendezvous with Rama, Earthlight and The Sands of Mars.

But Arthur C. Clarke was not only a science fiction writer. He was an avid scuba diver (which is why he moved to Sri Lanka), and he came up with the concept of using geo-stationary satellites for communicatiions. The geostationary orbit is sometimes called the Clarke Orbit in his honor. He was even involved in some satellite programs, including Telstar.

He will be missed.

A couple of weeks ago I installed VMware Workstation on my computer at home, so i could have a clean XP install to clone and use for program testing and to run multiple environments at the same time. I also installed Ubuntu 7.10 the weekend before last. This weekend I had some spare time. So I installed Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows 2000 Professional, Kubuntu 7.10, OpenSUSE 10.3 and even Mac OS X 10.4.7(!). It is a strange feeling to run OS X on a PC...

I also got a new computer at work, doing similar there, but just XP and Ubuntu/Kubuntu so I can show people the environment. Might install OS X just for fun (and to test webpages with)...

A (non-geek) friend asked me this weekend: "Why are you doing that?", and my answer was "Because I can"... I guess it is the same reason I collect water bottles from Lotusphere: they are there and I can... :-)

http://mashable.com/2007/05/31/top-15-google-street-view-sightings/

Some funny ones, some silly ones. Personally I think #14 is the best one. Followed by #4.

Over the years I got a small collection of Lotusphere water bottles. It started in 2003 when I ended up with a couple of extra bottles in my backpack on the last day, and I brought them home with me. The next year I picked up a couple again to drink at the airport while waiting for my flight, and I got one leftover as well. Since then I made sure I bring home at least one bottle per year for my little collection.

This year I noticed that the older bottles were squished, like there were vacum inside. The older they were the more squished. I let some air in and noticed that it seems like water is evaporating despite the bottles being closed. Quite interesting, since there was a vacum inside. It seems like the water evaporates and get out, while air is not able to get in. The bottles have been stored above the washer, with the dryer a few feet away. Might be the temperature that did it.

A couple of days ago (well, March 3) it was my birthday, and I decided to bake a cake, as I usually do. I enjoy baking and cooking, and that way I also get to have a cake the way I am used to from Sweden. I will post the directions when I get home, but it is really easy.

The main difference between the cakes made the traditionally way in the US and in Sweden/Europe are listed below, but there are of course exceptions:

Yes, I know it is Tuesday, but I was too busy last week for the SNTT entry...

At my workplace, we are in the process of purchasing and implementing a new billing system. It relies heavily on XML files, stored in the file system, for inport/export. The idea is that we export XML from our policy system to be processed by this software. The results are returned as XML files, and we are currently looking at how we can consume them and present them to the accounting department.

We are mainly looking at tools like Crystal Reports 2008.

Just for fun, I decided to write an XML importer in Lotusscript. The XML is very simple so I did not have to do any advanced parsing.
I decided to write it as a class. The class just have a few methods. One is of course New(), the only thing it does is clear the xmldata string and also clear the list of XML tags from memory.

LoadXMLData() open the specified XML file and read the text into the xmldata string, adding a linebreak after each line.

XML2List take the xmlstring, parse it and build a list of all the tags and values. Because the XML is so simple, with no multiple values or deeply nested data, I can very easily parse it using normal string operations in a Do-While loop.

The final method is called CreateNotesDocument(), it creates a new Notes document in the specified database, using the specified form. To process the sample XML file with 66 XMl entries took 0.148 seconds (according to TeamStudio Profiler).

Here is the code:

Class XMLClass
Private xmldata As String
Private xml List As String

Public Sub New()
  xmldata=""
  Erase xml
End Sub

Public Sub LoadXMLData(filename As String)
  Dim xmlline As String
  Open filename For Input As #1
  xmldata = ""
  While Not Eof(1)
   Line Input #1, xmlline
   xmldata = xmldata & xmlline & Chr$(13)
  Wend
  Close #1
End Sub

Public Sub XML2List()
  Dim tag As String
  Dim value As String
  Dim startpos As Long
  Dim endpos As Long
  Dim nextpos As Long
  Dim endtagpos As Long
 
  endpos = 1
  Do
   startpos = Instr(endpos,xmldata,"<")
   If startpos > 0 Then
    endpos = Instr(startpos,xmldata,">")
   End If
   If endpos > 0 Then
    tag = Mid$(xmldata,startpos+1,endpos-startpos-1)
    If Instr(tag,"/")=1 Then
     startpos = Instr(endpos+1,xmldata,"<")
    Else
     nextpos = Instr(endpos,xmldata,"<")
     endtagpos = Instr(endpos,xmldata,"</" & tag & ">")
     If endtagpos = nextpos Then
      value = Mid$(xmldata,endpos+1,nextpos-endpos-1)
      If Iselement(xml(tag)) = False Then
       xml(tag) = value
      End If
      endpos = Instr(nextpos,xmldata,">")
     End If
    End If   
   End If
  Loop While startpos > 0
End Sub

Public Sub CreateNotesDocument(db As NotesDatabase, form As String)
  Dim doc As NotesDocument
  Set doc = New NotesDocument(db)
  doc.Form = form
  Forall x In xml
   Call doc.ReplaceItemValue(Listtag(x),x)
  End Forall
  Call doc.Save(True,True)
End Sub
 
End Class


Sub Initialize
Dim session As New NotesSession
Dim db As NotesDatabase
Dim noic As XMLclass

Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
Set noic = New XMLclass()
Call noic.LoadXMLData("c:\XSLT\NOIC-1450-01 0-2007Nov09.xml")
Call noic.XML2List()
Call noic.CreateNotesDocument(db,"NOIC")
End Sub

I am reading that Prince Harry of England was pulled out of Afghanistan, where he have been serving with his regiment since December, after an Australian newspaper and then The Drudge Report outed him. Major news organisations, like AP, CNN and many English newspapers, knew about it for months and even got exclusive information, interviews and photos with the understanding that they were not going to be published until after the story eventually leaked.

There is some discussion about if it is ethical for news organisations to censor information like this. As a techical writer, I have often been given information after agreeing to a non-disclosure agreement. So to me it is not a big deal.

As being in the military for 13 years, I understand that anyone that train hard and long want to be able to "test themselves" and do "the real thing", especially if your comrades are sent off to war. You are a unit, you train as a unit, and you fight as a unit. If I had been Prince Harry, I would been furious to have trained for years and then not been allowed to go.

I think the media instead should think about Harry. He did not ask to be born who he is. Sure, he get all kinds of perks, but he also have paparazzis and media around him whatever he does. Give the guy some freedom, let him have a life for a while. There is no need to knwo what he does every hour of the day, every day of the week. If he want to go party or pick up girls, let him do that. If he want to be a good soldier/officer and lead his men into battle, let him do that.

I respect Prince Harry much more than I respect someone like Britney Spears...

Today's Forum Friday posting is in response to this question about sending mail from a Lotusscript agent by H Falzone. 

He (she?) is having problems sending a mail to multiple users from an agent.

Here is the existing code:

Sub Initialize
Dim session As New Notessession
Dim db As Notesdatabase
Dim view As NotesView
Dim doc As NotesDocument
Dim maildoc As NotesDocument
Dim rtitem As NotesRichTextItem

Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
Set view = db.GetView( "TESTER" )

Set Col = session.CurrentDatabase.UnprocessedDocuments
For x = 1 To Col.count
Set doc = col.getnthdocument(x)

Set maildoc = New NotesDocument( db )
Set rtitem = New NotesRichTextItem( mailDoc, "Body" )
Call rtitem.AddNewLine( 2 )
Call rtitem.AppendText( "You are responsible for a lease that expires in 30 days. Please contact Legal Services ( Gidget DiRienz and Responsible Attorney ) to indicate your intentions regarding this lease." )
Call rtitem.AddNewLine( 2 )
Call rtitem.AppendText( "You will also need to update FMV for this property." )
Call rtitem.AddNewLine( 2 )
Call rtitem.AppendDocLink( doc, db.Title )

Dim recipients( 1 To 3 ) As String
recipients( 1 ) = doc.contactname(0)
recipients( 2 ) = doc.RespAttorney(0)
recipients( 3 ) = doc.NoticesSentTo(0)

maildoc.Form = "Memo"
maildoc.principal="MHP Legal Department"
maildoc.From = maildoc.Principal(0)'<---- !!
maildoc.ReplyTo = "Gidget DiRienz and Responsible Attorney"
maildoc.CopyTo = doc.EnteredBy
maildoc.Subject = "* * * LEASE UP FOR RENEWAL IN 30 DAYS * * * " + doc.ViewDisplay(0) +" - "+ doc.Status(0)
maildoc.~_ViewIcon = 94
Call maildoc.send (False,recipients)

Next
Exit Sub

End Sub

maildoc.Send is called with the argument recipients, which is declared as an array. That should work, but I would use a zero based array, perhaps that is what's wrong.

Run the code through the debugger and make sure there really are values for all the array elements, and see what the array looks like.

But why not simply drop that argument to .Send() and store the values in the field SendTo in the document?

Simply assign the array to the field like this: maildoc.SendTo = recipients

That is IMHO the best way to make sure you get everything right.

I also spot another big no-no... Using GetNthDocuments(). This is VERY slow as soon as you have more than just a few entries in the document collection. Use GetFirstDocument() and GetNextDocument() instead.

Here is my version of the same code. Not tested, but something to start with. My additions are in red.:

Sub Initialize
Dim session As New Notessession
Dim db As Notesdatabase
Dim view As NotesView
Dim doc As NotesDocument
Dim maildoc As NotesDocument
Dim rtitem As NotesRichTextItem
Dim recipients(2) As String

Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
Set view = db.GetView( "TESTER" )

Set Col = session.CurrentDatabase.UnprocessedDocuments

Set doc = col.GetFirstDocument()

Do while Not doc is Nothing

Set maildoc = New NotesDocument( db )
Set rtitem = New NotesRichTextItem( mailDoc, "Body" )
Call rtitem.AddNewLine( 2 )
Call rtitem.AppendText( "You are responsible for a lease that expires in 30 days. Please contact Legal Services ( Gidget DiRienz and Responsible Attorney ) to indicate your intentions regarding this lease." )
Call rtitem.AddNewLine( 2 )
Call rtitem.AppendText( "You will also need to update FMV for this property." )
Call rtitem.AddNewLine( 2 )
Call rtitem.AppendDocLink( doc, db.Title )

recipients(0) = doc.contactname(0)
recipients(1) = doc.RespAttorney(0)
recipients(2) = doc.NoticesSentTo(0)

maildoc.Form = "Memo"
maildoc.principal="MHP Legal Department"

maildoc.SendTo = FullTrim(recipients)
maildoc.ReplyTo = "Gidget DiRienz and Responsible Attorney"
maildoc.CopyTo = doc.EnteredBy
maildoc.Subject = "* * * LEASE UP FOR RENEWAL IN 30 DAYS * * * " + doc.ViewDisplay(0) + " - " + doc.Status(0)
maildoc.~_ViewIcon = 94
Call maildoc.send (False)
Set doc = col.GetNextDocument(doc)
Loop
End Sub

I will assume that EnteredBy on the processed document is a multi value field, otherwise I would use doc.EnteredBy(0) instead.

If you want multiple addresses in the CopyTo field, just use the same technique as for the SendTo field.

Also, assigning maildoc.From a value will not work, the mail router will automatically put the name of the agent signer in there. Use the Principal field like you do, and sign the agent with a generic ID you create for mailings.

Lists are a data type that I don't think is used enough. Many Notes developers, even some that been programming in the environment for years, don't use this very powerful feature. In previous years, Bill Buchan have been talking about lists in some of his Lotussphere sessions, and when asking how many in the audience that used lists, less than 10% raised their hands.

So what are lists? They are a data type, similar to an array, but instead of using a numeric index, it uses a string as index, or tag as it is called.

This makes it easy to address items in the list, check if they exists, etc.

Here is a simple example:

Dim age List as Integer

Dim name as String

age( "karl" ) = 38

age( "erik" ) = 7

name = InputBox$( "Enter name:" )

If IsElement(age(Lcase(name))) = True Then

MsgBox name & " is " & age(lcase(name)) & " years old."

Else

MsgBox name & " does not occur in the list."

End If

This code define a list of integers, containing the age of two people. When a name is entered in the input box, IsElement is used to check if an item with that name is found in the list. If it is, the age is displayed, if not another message is displayed, saying that the name was not found.

Note that the list tag (name in this case) is case sensitive! 

To loop through a list and display all the values, use ForAll. Here is an example where we loop thorugh all the entries and display their list tags as well as the values:

Dim age List As Integer
age( "Karl" ) = 38
age( "Erik" ) = 7
Forall a In age
Msgbox Listtag(a) & " is " & a & " years old."
End Forall

Some of the things I use lists for are web agents, where I parse the URL passed for parameters, and build a list of them. Then it is very easy to write code that check for parameters and get the value if they exist.

I wrote an article about lists for The View, published in November/December 2006. You can find more details and examples there.