The Integrated Development Environment
By Steve Kern
IN THIS CHAPTER
- Working in the Application Design Environment
- Working with the Properties Box
- Understanding the Work Pane
- Using the Programmer's Pane
- Understanding the Info List
- Understanding the Action Pane
- Customizing the Tools Menu
- Printing Source Code
- Using the HTML Editor
- Locking Design Elements
The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Notes and Domino has steadily improved with the dramatic revamping introduced in Release 4; the introduction of Domino Designer, a separate design client in Release 5; and the many improvements made to Domino Designer 6. This interface is intuitive to work with and consistent from one design element to the next because it provides detailed, context-sensitive help with the programming constructs in all the available languages.
Quite a few changes have been added in Release 6. Autocomplete has been added to the Programmer's pane for @Functions, @Commands, and LotusScript. As you type in the Programmer's pane, Domino Designer offers to complete the commands you enter, including prompts for parameters. A new HTML editor lets you view HTML source code and see the results in an embedded Internet Explorer browser plug-in. You can also print source code from the Programmer's pane. A new Designer Tools menu lets you add your favorite editing tools to the IDE. The Tools menu also has built-in functions for Domino XML (DXL).
Programming a Domino database is done using a variety of languages. Each language has its strengths and weaknesses, and there is some overlap of functionality.
- Formula language
- LotusScript
- JavaScript
- Java
- XML
- HTML
Part III, "Programming Domino Applications," covers the Formula language, LotusScript, JavaScript, Java, and HTML. Part IV, "Advanced Design Topics," includes Chapter 21, "Accessing Data with XML."