The Integrated Development Environment

By Steve Kern

IN THIS CHAPTER

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.

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."

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