iam lug 2009 integration and coexistence session
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Presentation from IamLUG conferenceTRANSCRIPT
© 2009 by the individual speaker
Integration and Coexistence:Leveraging Lotus & Microsoftproducts to buildbetter solutions
John HeadAlex Kassabov
PSC Group, LLC
IamLUG 2009
Before We Begin
• Please turn off/set to vibrate/mute all
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Please remember to fill out your evaluations
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IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
Who Are We?
• John D. Head
Director of Enterprise Collaboration at PSC Group, LLC
Involved in Lotus technology since 1993
OpenNTF.org Steering Committee Member and IP Working Group Chairman
• Speaker
Over 30 sessions at Lotusphere since 1996
Speaker at Lotus Developer , ILUG, UKLUG, and other conferences
• Author
Publications on Office and SmartSuite integration with Notes
LotusUserGroup.org contributing Author and Forum moderator
―Lotus Symphony for Dummies‖ Technical Editor
―Self Assessment and Strategy Guide for Migrating from Domino Document
Manager ― Redbook Author
• www.johndavidhead.com twitter.com/johnhead
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IamLUG 2009
Who Are We?
• Alex Kassabov
Vice President of Collaboration at PSC Group, LLC
Involved in Lotus technology since 1995
Notes R3 – got dragged there kicking and screaming
• Speaker
Lotusphere sessions on Desktop Integration
Collaboration Summit
GRAINTE Chicago Lotus User Group
• Akassabov.wordpress.com
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IamLUG 2009
PSC Group, LLC
IBM Premium Business Partner for 19+ Years
Microsoft Managed Partner
Notes & Domino 8.5 Design Partner
OpenNTF.org Alliance Member, Steering Committee Company, & Former Host of OpenNTF.org
Winner of 2007 & 2009 Lotus Awards!
Host of the following blogs:
Ed Brill’s (www.edbrill.com)
Lotus Design Blog(Mary Beth Raven)(www.notesdesign.com)
LotusStaffNotes (Brent Peters)(www.lotusstaffnotes.com)
Lotus Connections Team
(synch.rono.us)
Lotus Sametime(www.thesametimeblog.com)
Domino Server Team(www.dominoblog.com)
Lotus Mashups(www.mix-and-mash.com)
Chris Pepin – IBM CTO’s Office(www.chrispepin.com)
IamLUG 2009
Demo Databases
• Presentation example database
Single database with all examples
You can configure it for your Notes client
Example numbers in the presentation match those in the
database
• Lotusphere 2009 session database
From Genii Software
Updated version inside the demo database
• Personal name and address book
My demos work with the standard Notes 6, 7, 8, & 8.5 templates
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IamLUG 2009
Let’s take a little poll …
• Who is using …
Office 97 and earlier
Office 2000
Office XP
Office 2003
Office 2007
Office 2010 Beta
OpenOffice / StarOffice
Lotus Symphony
iWork
Other
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IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
Integration History
• 1994
DDE with Ami Pro
• 1996
Notes R4
OLE
LotusScript
VBA
• 1997
SmartSuite with LotusScript (Word Pro)
• 1998
Notes R5 with COM support
• 2001
Notes Domino 6
• 2004
Notes Domino 6.5 with LS2J and DXL
• 2005
Notes Domino 7 with Web services
• 2007
2007 Office System
Lotus Notes/Domino 8
Lotus Symphony
• 2008
Visual Studio 2008
Notes/Domino 8.5
• 2009 Notes/Domino 8.5.1
• 2010 Visual Studio 2010
Office 2010
IamLUG 2009
The Good News
• We have entered the “Industrial Revolution” period of
the Integration Era
• In the “Medieval Times”
DDE with Ami Pro
NotesSQL was used to get even the most basic of data
OLE embedding
Notes F/X
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IamLUG 2009
The Good News (continued)
• The Renaissance brought us new tools
OLE automation
COM automation
And much more
• The Revolution brings us major changes
A true competitor to Office
Visual Studio.NET 2008 and VSTO 3.0
Code begins to move from inside a document to complete
applications
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IamLUG 2009
Integration from the Notes Client
• Integrating Microsoft Word
• Integrating Lotus Symphony Documents
• Mail Merge
• Integrating Microsoft Excel
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IamLUG 2009
Integration from Notes
• From Notes, you will write code to manipulate the
application
• In most cases, you will be converting Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) code to LotusScript
• The VBA code will be written so it saves in Notes as
LotusScript
• Once you get the knack of converting the code, you
can focus on the process vs. the code
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IamLUG 2009
Creating a Word Document — ―Hello World‖
Demo — Example 1
Launch Microsoft
Word and enter
some text
IamLUG 2009
The Easiest Way to Start
• Microsoft Office provides us with a recorder
• Records all keyboard actions
Mouse actions are sometimes recorded, so avoid when
possible
• Generates VBA code for you
• Easy way to learn how something is done
Table is created
Page settings are set
etc.
IamLUG 2009
Use the Microsoft Constants Database
• Provides a listing of all Microsoft
Office variables and their
converted constants
• Extraction of constants by
John Collidge
• Database built by Tom Duff
• OpenNTF.org project
• Supports Microsoft Office 2000,
XP, 2003, and 2007
• More features planned!
IamLUG 2009
Word Template — Data from Notes
Demo — Example 2
Create a new document
Prompt user
Place data into document
IamLUG 2009
Introduction to OpenOffice.org Development
• Designed on an interface-based component model called
Universal Network Objects (UNO)
• UNO definition
UNO offers interoperability between different programming
languages, different object models, different machine
architectures, and different processes; either in a local network
or even via the Internet
UNO components can be implemented in, and accessed from,
any programming language for which a UNO language
binding exists
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IamLUG 2009
Notes to Writer
Demo — Example 3
―Hello World‖ from
Notes to
Symphony Documents
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IamLUG 2009
Merging Mail from Notes
• Most requested Notes-to-Office Integration functionality
• Users have no idea how to get data from Notes into Word
• Lotus has not provided this functionality … yet
• Quick win for you — take this code back and add it to
your boss’s personal name and address book and be the
HERO!
IamLUG 2009
Mail Merge from Address Book
Demo — Example 4
Generate a mail merge
from the personal
name and address
book
IamLUG 2009
Integration with Microsoft Excel
• Working with Excel is very different from Word
• The objects we use are different
• In Excel, we tend to move more data from Notes to the application
Lots of rows in Excel vs. filling in bookmarks in Word
Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel
Text Position/Cursor Cell
Paragraph Range
Page Worksheet
Document Workbook
IamLUG 2009
Working with Microsoft Excel
Demo — Example 5
Create a spreadsheet
from Notes data and
generate a chart
IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
Moving to the Other Side
• This part covers the more advanced subjects
Such as automating Lotus Notes from Microsoft Office and
other technologies
We will use COM, XML, Web services, and .NET technologies
As the title suggests, this part is more technical We are about to
pick up the pace
IamLUG 2009
Automation from the Microsoft Side
• Many integration scenarios require that user interaction start, or
solely be, from an application other than Notes
• Many times we will not have the Notes client installed
• We will not be writing LotusScript
We may call LotusScript through the Notes COM interface
• We need to take advantage of ―new‖ technologies
XML
Web services
.NET
Managed code
IamLUG 2009
Demo — Example 6
Word template that
reads a Notes database
via a Web service
IamLUG 2009
Microsoft Excel and XML
Demo — Example 7
Importing Domino data
into a spreadsheet
using XML
IamLUG 2009
VSTO Versions
• Visual Studio Tools for Office
Version 1 = VSTO 2003 with Visual Studio.NET 2003
Version 2 = VSTO Second Edition with Visual Studio.NET 2005
Version 3 = VSTO 3.0 with Visual Studio.NET 2008
• Unless you are forced too, only use VSTO 3.0
• VSTO allows for VB.NET and C#
PSC has moved to C# for all our development
C# is more powerful
More third-party tools available for C#
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IamLUG 2009
VSTO 3.0 Project Types
IamLUG 2009
VSTO 3.0 and Microsoft Word and Domino Web Service
Demo — Example 8
Creating a new Word
document that prompts
the user and fills out
Domino data via
Using VSTO
IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
32
IamLUG 2009
Ways to Add Domino Functionality to ASP.NET
• Using Domino Web services
• Using Domino Web agents and XML
• NOTE: Selecting the right option is dependent on the
Domino Server version and the developer’s skill
IamLUG 2009
ASP.NET Calling a Domino Web Service
• We can call the same Domino Web service we have used
before
• ASP.NET will import the Web service
• Code behind the button will be virtually the same as
when ASP.NET called Domino via COM
IamLUG 2009
ASP.NET Calling Domino via a Web Service
Demo — Example 9
Creating an ASP.NET
Web page that calls
Domino via a
Web service
IamLUG 2009
ASP.NET Can Also Work with Domino XML
• ASP.NET can display Domino data in a great grid control
• Steps to make this happen:
Drag a GridView data control onto your page
An XMLDataSource object is automatically added
The XMLDataSource is associated with the GridView control
Set the DataFile property of the XMLDataSource to the
XML agent
IamLUG 2009
Domino Data in a Grid on an ASP.NET Web Page
• This is what the data will look like in the grid control:
IamLUG 2009
Displaying Domino XML in an ASP.NET Web Page Grid
Demo — Example 10
Creating an ASP.NET
Web page that uses
the grid control
to display Domino XML
IamLUG 2009
Microsoft SharePoint Integration
• Integration at the Notes client
Mainsoft Sharepoint Integrator
• Integration with Domino data
A combination of
VSTO
Domino XML
Some magic :-)
Samples inspired by Gary Devendorf @ Microsoft
• Demo in download database
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IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
Google Docs Integration
• Higher degree of difficulty
• Java code integrated with the Notes 8 and 8.5 Standard
Clients
Eclipse.org plug-ins
• A sidebar application that displays the documents
Just like Quickr!
• This sample is not for the timid!
• There is also a C# library available
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IamLUG 2009
Google Docs Integration – Posting Documents
Demo — Example 11
Posting Document to
Google Doc from
Notes
IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
Real World Integration
• Real World Use Cases
• Zain Africa Challenge Application
www.zainafricachallenge.com
• PSC won the 2009 Best Philanthropic Lotus Award for this solution
• Integration Samples
Excel for reporting
Word for Scripts
Integra for XML export
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IamLUG 2009
Real World Integration - Demos
Demo — Example 12
Advanced VSTO
Demos
IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
Looking Forward
• 2009
Lotus Symphony Toolkit with Notes 8.5.1
LotusScript and Java
Requires 8.5.1 Client
Full automation API
XPages in the Notes Client in 8.5.1
Automation from the web
• 2010
Visual Studio 2010 with VSTO 4
Office 2010
Backstage
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IamLUG 2009
What We’ll Cover …
• Who we are?
• Integration Background
• Integration from the Notes client
• Integration from other applications
• Integration from a web browser
• Integration with Google Docs
• Real World Integration
• Looking forward
• Wrap-up and Q&A
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IamLUG 2009
We Only Scratched the Surface
• There are over 3 hours of content available for this
presentation
• Search Slideshare for Lotusphere 2009 JMP205
• Over 25 demos including Symphony Spreadsheets
Microsoft PowerPoint
Symphony Presentations
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft InfoPath
ASP.NET and COM
Google Docs consuming Domino XML
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IamLUG 2009
Resources
• Microsoft Office developer’s Web site
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/default.aspx
• Microsoft Developer Network
http://msdn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Office blog listing
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905342.aspx
• PSC’s Reporting and Office Integration page
www.psclistens.com/enTouchCMS/app/viewCategory?
catgId=66
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IamLUG 2009
Resources (continued)
• OpenOffice.org
http://www.openoffice.org
• OpenOffice Developers Guide http://api.openoffice.org/DevelopersGuide/DevelopersGuide.html
• Programming OpenOffice with Visual Basic
http://www.kalitech.fr/clients/doc/VB_APIOOo_en.html
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IamLUG 2009
Lotus Community Sites
Lotus Greenhouse (greenhouse.lotus.com) is a live
community website where you can use Lotus Collaboration
Products for free!
The Lotus Community Podcasts
Planet Lotus (www.planetlotus.org) is an aggregation of Lotus related blogs
and news
IdeaJam (www.ideajam.net) is a place where people can post and share their
ideas, and gauge the marketability, popularity and viability with input from
others
OpenNTF (www.openntf.org) is a site devoted to getting groups of individuals
all over the world to collaborate on Lotus Notes/Domino applications and
release them as open source
Bleedyellow.com provides community implementations of
Lotus Connections and Sametime
IBM’s Official portal for developers including a dedicated section for Lotus
(www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus)
LotusUserGroup.org is the on-line home of the IBM Lotus
community for regional and virtual user groups
IamLUG 200954
Follow Up
How to contact us:
John Head Alex Kassabov
[email protected] [email protected]
Twitter.com/johnhead twitter.com/akassabov
Linkedin.com/in/johndhead Linkedin.com/in/akassabov
Facebook.com/johnhead
Slideshare.com/johnhead