TexasSwede

 Bill Buchan just wrote about exporting data to Excel using a CSV file. There is actually a cool and surprisingly easy way to generate documents that show up in Excel as real spreadsheets, with formatting, colors, etc.

Simply create a file containing a HTML table. It may even work with multiple tables. You can use tags like <B> and <I> for bold/italic, and use the color attribute to set text color and background color. Use the colspan attribute to split a cell over multiple columns.

Save the file in Lotusscript as a regular text file, but with the extension XML XLS. Excel, as well as OpenOffice.org, will read the HTML and present as a nice spreadsheet.

 We all know that Notes let us create tabbed tables. But you have limits to how nice you can create the tabs.

In an application I am working on, I wanted full control of the tabs, and I found out it was actually pretty easy to create my own tabs. I just used a computed background, something I actually never used before.

By the way, I stoleborrowed the graphics from Yahoo Mail for now, until I get the final graphics created...

The application displays information about the (insurance) claim selected in the drop-down box. Each claim has one or more claimants (affected people/parties), and I display them in the tabbed section. You can see the tabs in the screenshot below.

What I simply do is to keep track of the currently selected claimant, the number of claimants, and then I built a table with 3 columns in the first row and one merged cell as the second row.

In the center cell in the first row, I set the background to the "active colored" (lighter) tab. I use @Formulas to set the background in the two other cells:

@If( @TextToNumber(CurrentClaimantNumber) > 1; "CCdb_InactiveTab.gif"; "" )

and

@If( @TextToNumber(CurrentClaimantNumber) < @TextToNumber(LNPClaimantCount); "CCdb_InactiveTab.gif"; "" )

The inactive tab is the darker one. Then it is just a question about writing code that trigger when the lables (computed-for-display fields) are clicked, to update the current claimant value, load the claimant data and refresh the form.

I hope you get some inspiration from this. Oh, and this is all Notes 5...

 The last month or so, I have been pretty busy at work and in my personal life. My sister came over from Sweden for a 10-day visit, and at work I been working on wrapping up a project we been working on for a while. I have been having some time to do private things, but I have not put a priority on computers/blogging. This coming weekend I am going to Austin for a friends birthday, but then I should have time to do some blogging again.