XPages Extension Library: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Next Generation of XPages Components

by Paul Hannan, Declan Sciolla-Lynch, Jeremy Hodge, Paul Withers, Tim Tripcony

Overview

The XPages Extension Library’s next-generation XPages controls make application development far more efficient, effective, scalable, and rewarding. With IBM® Lotus® Notes®/Domino® 8.5.3 and Upgrade Pack 1, IBM has incorporated powerful new capabilities and support. These components and technologies are now fully ready for even the toughest production challenges.

XPages Extension Library is the first and only complete guide to Domino development with this library; it’s the best manifestation yet of the underlying XPages Extensibility Framework. Complementing the popular Mastering XPages, it gives XPages developers complete information for taking full advantage of the new components from IBM.

Combining reference material and practical use cases, the authors offer step-by- step guidance for installing and configuring the XPages Extension Library and using its state-of-the-art applications infrastructure to quickly create rich web applications with outstanding user experiences. Next, the authors provide detailed step-by-step guidance for leveraging the library’s powerful new support for REST services, mobile and social development, and relational data. The book concludes by showing how to include Java™ code in Domino XPages applications—a great way to make them even more powerful.

Coverage includes

• Automating deployment of XPages Extension Library throughout your IBM Lotus Notes/Domino or IBM XWork environment
• Integrating modern design patterns and best practices into Lotus Domino applications with drag-and-drop ease
• Incorporating AJAX capabilities with Switch, In Place Form, and other dynamic content controls
• Extending applications with Dojo widgets, popups, Tooltips, Dialogs, and Pickers
• Implementing state-of-the-art navigation and outlines
• Using Layout and Dynamic Views controls to painlessly modernize most Domino applications to XPages
• Quickly building mobile interfaces for existing applications
• Using social enablers to connect with social platforms and incorporate social features
• Integrating SQL datasources into XPages data-driven applications

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780132901857
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	05/16/2012
Series:	IBM Press
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	576
File size:	65 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

This book has many authors, all from the XPages community.

Paul Hannan is a senior software engineer in the IBM Ireland software lab in Dublin and a member of the XPages runtime team. He has worked on XPages since it was known as XFaces in Lotus Component Designer. Previous to this, he worked on JSF tooling for Rational® Application Developer, and before that on Notes Domino 6 back to Notes 3.3x and Lotus ScreenCam. A native of County Sligo, Paul now lives in Dublin with his wife Katie and son Alec. A recent con- vert (dragged kicking and screaming) to opera (not the web browser), Paul also enjoys thinking about stuff, taking pictures, commanding the remote control, and playing with his son and his Lego.

Declan Sciolla-Lynch was born in Dublin, Ireland and now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylva- nia. Declan has been working with IBM Lotus Notes/Domino for more than 15 years. He wrote one of the first XPages learning resources on his blog and is widely considered one of the com- munity’s XPages gurus. Declan has spoken at Lotusphere on a number of occasions and has con- tributed popular projects to OpenNTF, the community’s open source hub. He is also an IBM Champion. He and his wife have three dogs and three cats and go to Disney theme parks when- ever they get a chance.

Jeremy Hodge, from southern Michigan, is a software architect with ZetaOne Solutions Group and has more than 15 years’ experience in the software design industry. He has designed and implemented applications in the vertical market application, custom application, Software as a Service (SaaS), and off-the-shelf product spaces in many platforms and languages, including IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, C/C++/Objective-C, Java, Object Pascal, and others. He has served as the subject matter expert for courses with IBM Lotus Education, including those on XPages applications. He blogs on XPages at XPagesBlog.com and his personal blog at hodgebloge.com.

Paul Withers is senior Domino developer and team leader at Intec Systems Ltd, an IBM Premier Business partner in the UK. He is an IBM Champion for collaboration solutions and the cohost of The XCast XPages podcast. Paul has presented at Lotusphere and various Lotus User Groups across Europe. He has written blogs, wiki articles, and a NotesIn9 episode. He has authored reusable XPages controls and an application, XPages Help Application, on OpenNTF. Outside of work, Paul is a Reading FC supporter and netball umpire in the England Netball National Premier League.

Tim Tripcony leads the Transformer ExtLib development team at GBS, creating XPage components and other JSF artifacts that extend the native capabilities of the Domino platform. He maintains a popular technical blog, Tip of the Iceberg (TimTripcony.com), offering tips on cutting-edge Domino development techniques. He frequently speaks at user group meetings and technical conferences, including Lotusphere. Tim is a globally recognized expert on advanced XPage and JSF development and has been designated an IBM Champion.

Table of Contents

Foreword     xv

Preface     xix

Acknowledgments     xxv

About the Authors     xxvii

Contributing Authors     xxix

Part I:  The Extension Library, Installation, Deployment, and an Application Tour

Chapter 1  The Next Generation of XPages Controls     3

So How Did We Get Here?     4

Then Came Domino R.8.5.2, and the Extensibility Door Opened     4

  OpenNTF and the Controls Too Good Not to Release     5

  To Extensibility and Beyond     5 

  What Makes an XPages Control Next Generation?     5

  What Is the XPages Extension Library?     6

Making Domino Application Development Easier, Faster, and Better     8

What Are the Most Important Controls and Why?     8

XPages Learning Shortcuts     9

Bells and Whistles: Welcome to the Future     10

  Get Social     10

  Upwardly Mobile     11

  Relational Data     11

  RESTful Web Services     12

Doing It Yourself with Java     12

Conclusion     12

Chapter 2  Installation and Deployment of the XPages Extension Library     13

Downloading the ExtLib     13

Installing the ExtLib via the Upgrade Pack     17

Deploying ExtLib to Developers in Designer     18

  Uninstalling the Extension Library from Designer     27

Server Deployment     28

  Automatic Server Deployment in Domino 8.5.3     28

  Automatic Server Deployment in Domino 8.5.2     34

  Manually Deploying Libraries to a Server     38

Deploying the Extension Library to End Users     40

  Widget Catalog Setup     41

  Creating a Widget Configuration     42

  Provisioning the Extension Library Widget to Other Users     50

Conclusion     52

Chapter 3  TeamRoom Template Tour     53

Where to Get the TeamRoom Template and How to Get Started     54

The TeamRoom Template and Why It Was a Good Candidate for Modernization     55

TeamRoom Redesign Brief and Features     56

  Application Layout     56

  Recent Activities: The Home Page     59

  All Documents     60

  The Document Form     61

  Calendar     63 

  Members     64

  Mobile     66

Lessons Learned and Best Practices     67

Conclusion     68

Part II : The Basics: The Application’s Infrastructure

Chapter 4  Forms, Dynamic Content, and More!     71

Form Layout Components     71

  Form Table (xe:formTable, xe:formRow, xe:formColumn)     71

  Forum Post (xe:forumPost)     78

Dynamic Content     80

  In Place Form Control (xe:inPlaceForm)     80

  Dynamic Content (xe:dynamicContent)     83

  Switch (xe:switchFacet)     88

Miscellaneous Controls     89

  Multi-Image (xe:multiImage)     89

  List Container (xe:list)     91

  Keep Session Alive (xe:keepSessionAlive)     92

Conclusion     93

Chapter 5  Dojo Made Easy     95

What Is Dojo?     95

Default Dojo Libraries Using Dojo Modules in XPages     96

  Simple Dojo Example: dijit.form.ValidationTextBox     99

  Dojo Example for Slider     100

  Dojo Themes     102

Dojo Modules and Dojo in the Extension Library     103

  Benefits and Differences of Dojo Extension Library Components     104

Dojo Extensions to the Edit Box Control     104

  Dojo Text Box (xe:djTextBox)     104

  Dojo Validation Text Box (xe:djValidationTextBox)     106

  Dojo Number Text Box, Dojo Currency Text Box (xe:djNumberTextBox and xe:djCurrencyTextBox)     113

  Dojo Number Spinner (xe:djNumberSpinner)     115

  Dojo Date Text Box and Dojo Time Text Box (xe:djDateTextBox and xe:djTimeTextBox)     116

Dojo Extensions to the Multiline Edit Box Control     119

Dojo Extensions to the Select Control     120

  Dojo Combo Box and Dojo Filtering Select (xe:djComboBox and xe:djFilteringSelect)     120

  Dojo Check Box and Dojo Radio Button     126

Dojo Extensions to Buttons     126

  Dojo Toggle Button Control     128

Composite Dojo Extensions     130

  Sliders     131

  Dojo Link Select (xe:djLinkSelect)     135

  Dojo Image Select     137

Dojo Effects Simple Actions     140

  Dojo Fade and Wipe Effects     140

  Dojo Slide To Effect     142

  Dojo Animation     143

Conclusion     147

Chapter 6  Pop-Ups: Tooltips, Dialogs, and Pickers     149

Tooltip (xe:tooltip)     149

Dialogs     153

  Dialog (xe:dialog)     153

  Tooltip Dialog (xe:tooltipDialog)     160

Value Picker (xe:valuePicker)     162

Dojo Name Text Box and Dojo List Text Box (xe:djextNameTextBox and xe:djextListTextBox)     164

Name Picker (xe:namePicker)     165

  Validating a Picker     167

Conclusion     170

Chapter 7  Views     171

Dynamic View Panel (xe:dynamicViewPanel)     171

  Data Grid     175

  REST Service     176

  Dojo Data Grid Control (xe:djxDataGrid)     179

  Dojo Data Grid Contents     182

  InViewEditing     184

  View Events     186

iNotes ListView (xe:listView)     187

  Dynamic ListView     188

  ListView Column    192

iNotes Calendar (xe:calendarView)     194

  Calendar Views in the Notes Client    194

  REST Service: calendarJsonLegacyService     196

  REST Service: Notes Calendar Store     197

  Notes Calendar Control     200

  View Events    203

Data View (xe:dataView)     206

  Pagers     207

  PagerSaveState (xe:pagerSaveState) /View State Beans     212

  Columns     214

  Multiple Columns     219

Forum View     220

Conclusion     221

Chapter 8  Outlines and Navigation     223

The Dojo Layout Controls     223

  The Content Pane     223

  The Border Container and Border Pane     225

  Accordion Container and Accordion Pane     229

  The Tab Container and the Tab Pane     231

  The Stack Container and the Stack Pane     238

Understanding the Tree Node Concept     239

  Standard Node Types     239

  The Advanced Node Types     242

Using the Navigator Controls     247

  The Navigator Control     247

  The Bread Crumbs Control (xe:breadCrumbs)     249

  The List of Links Control (xe:linkList)     250

  The Sort Links Control (xe:sortLinks)     251

  The Link Container Controls     251

  The Pop-up Menu Control (xe:popupMenu)     252

  The Toolbar Control (xe:toolbar)     254

  The Outline Control (xe:outline)     255

  The Accordion Control (xe:accordion)     256

  The Tag Cloud Control (xe:tagCloud)     257

  The Widget Container Control (xe:widgetContainer)     260

Conclusion     261

Chapter 9  The Application’s Layout     263

History of OneUI     263

Easy OneUI Development with the Application Layout Control     264

  Legal     267

  Navigation Path     268

  The Footer     269

  The Placebar     270

  Search Bar     271

  The Banner     272

  The Title Bar     273

  Product Logo     273

  Mast Header and Footer     273

The Layout Control Tooling in Designer     274

Using the Application Layout Within a Custom Control     276

Conclusion     280

Part III:  Bell and Whistles: Mobile, REST, RDBMS, and Social Chapter 10 XPages Goes Mobile     283

In the Beginning    283

The XPages Mobile Controls the Extension Library     284

The Basics of the XPages Mobile Controls     284

  The Single Page Application Control<xe:singlePageApp>     286

  The Mobile Page Control<xe:appPage>     288

  The Page Heading Control<xe:djxmHeading>     288

  Rounded List (xe:djxmRoundRectList)     289

  Static Line Item (xe:djxmLineItem)     291 

  Mobile Switch (xe:djxmSwitch)     292

  Tab Bar (xe:tabBar)     295

  Tab Bar Button (xe:tabBarButton)     298

The XPages Mobile Theme     298

Hello Mobile World Tutorial     300

  1. Enable the App for the Extension Library and Mobile     300

  2. Create a New XPage and Mobile Application     301

  3. Add a View Document Collection to the Mobile Page     302

  4. Display More Rows     304

  5. Opening a Document from the Data View     306

  6. Editing and Saving Document Changes     311

Deep Dive into the Controls in the Extension Library, with Examples of Their Use     315

  Outline Control     315

  Hash Tags     318

  Form Table Control (xe:formTable)     318

  Dynamic Content Control     320

  Data View Control     321

  More Link     322

  Filter Data     323 

  Multiple Controls     324

  Move to Mobile Page Action     325

  Heading (xe:djxmheading)     325

  Large Content     326

  Using Dojo to Modify Controls     327

XPages Mobile Phone Application Gotchas     327

  The Differences Between Web App and Mobile App Layout     327

  What Stays the Same?     330

  What Has Changed?     330

Conclusion      333

Chapter 11  REST Services     335

REST Services in the XPages Extension Library     336

XPages REST Service Control (xe:restService)     338

  Standard Attributes for REST Service Control     338

  Standard Attributes for Each Service Type     340

Hello REST World 1: Using the pathInfo Property     340

  Example of an XPage that Uses the REST Service Control     340

Hello REST World 2: Computed Column to Join Data     341

  Example of a REST Service Control with a Computed Column     341

Hello REST World 3: REST Service in a Data Grid     342

  Example of Binding a Grid to a REST Service Control     342

Domino REST Service from XPages Samples      343

  Data Service      344

  Data Services—Contacts and All Types     345

  Dojo Grid Using JSON Rest Data Services     345

  Dojo NotesPeek     347

Consuming Service Data with Other Controls      348

  iNotes List View     348

  iNotes Calendar     349

Calling a Remote Service from Domino     351

  JSON-RPC Service     351

Consuming Service Data from External Applications     353

  OpenSocial Gadgets      353

Accessing Data Services from Domino as a Built-In Service     356

   Enabling the Service on the Domino Server     357

Domino Data Services     360

  Database JSON Collection Service     360

  View JSON Collection Service     361

  View JSON Service     362

  View Design JSON Service     366

  Document Collection JSON Service      367

  Document JSON Service     368

Developing Custom REST Services     375

Conclusion     375

Chapter 12  XPages Gets Relational     377

Accessing Relational Data Through JDBC     377

  Installing a JDBC Driver    379

  Creating a Connection to the RDBMS     406

Using Relational Datasources on an XPage     410

  Working with the xe:jdbcQuery Datasource     413 

  Working with the xe:jdbcRowSet Datasource     414

  Properties Common to Both the xe:jdbcQuery and xe:jdbcRowSet Datasources     415

  JDBC Datasources and Concurrency     415

Server-Side JavaScript JDBC API for XPages and Debugging     417

Java JDBC API for XPages     425

Conclusion     428

Chapter 13  Get Social     429

Going Social     429

Get Started     430

  Setup     431

OAuth     431

  OAuth Dance      431

  OAuth Token Store Template     434

  Configure Applications to Use OAuth     439

REST API Calls and Endpoints     439

  Endpoint Configuration     440

  Access Endpoints     446

  REST API Calls     447

  Utilities for Parsing     449

REST Datasources     450

  The Connections Datasource (xe:connectionsData)     452

  File Service Data (xe:fileServiceData) Datasource     452

  Activity Stream Data (xe:activityStreamData)     454

Proxies     455

  Domino Proxy     455

  ExtLib Proxies     457

User Profiles and Identities     457

  User and People Beans     458

  Extensions to User and People Beans     459

  Enablement of Extensions     462

  Caching of User Information     464

  User Identities     465

User Interface Controls     467

  Files Controls for Dropbox, LotusLive, and Connections     467

  Sametime Controls     471

  Connections Controls     474

  Facebook Controls     478

IBM Social Business Toolkit     482

Conclusion      485

Part IV:  Getting Under the Covers with Java

Chapter 14  Java Development in XPages     489

Benefits of Java Development     489

Referencing Native Java in Server-Side JavaScript     490

Using Java That Others Have Written     491

Setting Up Domino Designer to Create Java Classes     499

Introduction to Java Beans     506

Managed Beans      508

The User and People Bean     509

Conclusion     512

Appendix A Resources     513

Other Resources     514

Index     515