A smorgasbord of Notes/Domino development tips

Our SearchDomino.com tip contest runs through the end of December. Below is a list of the current contenders. Read them, rate them. Your votes determine who walks away with Hall of Fame honors and the grand prize -- a TiVo TCD649080 Series2 80-hour dual-tuner digital video recorder.

Want to get in on the action? Submit your own tip now to get in the running!

• How to cull elements from a list using Formula
  String and list handling are not completely covered in Formula language. Learn how SearchDomino.com member Peter Skold has circumvented that issue by "inventing" a Formula function to cull elements from a list.

• Create a Lotus Notes ACL analyzer using LotusScript
  When looking at an access control list (ACL) in a Lotus Notes database, you can only view information for one ACL entry at a time. For easier analysis, this LotusScript code from SearchDomino.com member Joe Steblay compiles all ACL information for a selected Lotus Notes database in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with auto-filtered column headings.

• Portalizing Domino applications with IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory
  WebSphere Portal Factory greatly speeds up development time and allows you to leverage more traditional Notes/Domino skills like LotusScript, HTML and JavaScript to create timely and cost-effective portlets. In this tip, SearchDomino.com member David Bowley provides an extensive introduction to WebSphere Portal Factory for Notes/Domino developers interested in portalizing their Notes/Domino applications.

• Enhanced Lotus Notes agent logging
  When multiple employees are using a Lotus Notes agent, it can be difficult to gather debugging information. This agent from SearchDomino.com member Dennis Lowe assigns each user session a random ID to simplify analysis of your agent log database when errors occur.

• Delimiting the main code in JScript.NET
  The majority of programming languages delimit the main program section. But this isn't the case with JScript.NET or JavaScript. In this tip, SearchDomino.com member Chandra Teja offers code that you can place anywhere in your JScript.NET class definitions to delimit the main code.

• Formula to list users added to groups view in Notes PAB
  SearchDomino.com member Gaurav Prabhakar provides a Formula script that lists users added to groups view in the Lotus Notes Personal Address Book. This 'people by groups' view data is particularly helpful to administrators of large organizations when searching for users.

• Archiving Lotus Notes documents to a specified folder
  Archiving Lotus Notes documents is typically a laborious task -- but not anymore. SearchDomino.com member Bob Gouin has created an agent that simplifies the process.

• DECS and DCR external data access considerations
  When implementing a Domino Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) or Domino Connection Resource (DCR) solution, you must consider the requirements of the Lotus Notes database administrators who control the back-end data. SearchDomino.com member Jim Mck outlines four common DBA concerns Lotus Notes developers need to be aware of.

• Styling Lotus Domino Web fields
  SearchDomino.com member Clive Atherton provides some simple HTML and step-by-step instructions on how to style Lotus Domino Web fields –- no previous CSS experience required.

• Workaround for @DBLookup error
  It's common to receive this error message when performing an @DBLookup: "The specified database look-up generated more than 65,000 bytes of results, which is too large for Lotus Notes to handle in this context." SearchDomino.com member Vinay Betala explains how to use a "prompt method" with a multi-value selection option to work around this problem.

• Comparing replica sizes on clustered Domino servers
  SearchDomino.com Hall of Fame veteran Blessan Philip provides a script that automatically generates a Microsoft Excel report to compare server replicas in a Lotus Domino cluster -- including actual mail file sizes, quotas and warning thresholds. This information can then be used to identify any replication issues.

• A Lotus Notes approval reminder agent
  Automatically notify coworkers that a Lotus Notes document is past due for approval with this Lotus Notes agent from SearchDomino.com member Stevenson Campbell.

• Remove commas from dollar amounts in JavaScript using a split
  Have you ever tried to add up multiple fields with JavaScript, only to find out that the client entered a comma to separate thousands and millions? This causes JavaScript to drop all of the digits after the comma. SearchDomino.com member Mike Parman explains how to use the split command to extract the commas prior to adding the fields together.

• A batch file to back up all active state BlackBerry databases
  SearchDomino.com member Teck Lung Ng explains how to create a LotusScript agent that will make a DOS batch file to automatically back up all your active state BlackBerry databases to a specified folder.

• How to create a comments field for Lotus Notes documents
  SearchDomino.com member Ray Green explains how to create a comments field for Lotus Notes documents by setting up two simple fields and adding some LotusScript code.

• Create repeating reminders in a Lotus Notes calendar
  When triggered from within a mail file in Lotus Domino R6, this LotusScript code from SearchDomino.com Hall of Famer Blessan Philip will set a repeating reminder in a user's Lotus Notes calendar.

• Using the GetAllDescendants Sub in LotusScript
  When passing values to all descendants in LotusScript, the Responses property only gives you immediate responses. But if you want to get all descendants and then "stamp all" the values you want, you can't. That's where this LotusScript code from SearchDomino.com member Leonel Zanetti comes in.

• Setting row colors by category in a Lotus Notes view
  SearchDomino.com member Naveen Gupta explains how to use Formula and LotusScript to set row colors to different categories in a Lotus Notes view, even when the categories are unknown or dynamic.

• Delete documents over the Web using Ajax and JavaScript
  SearchDomino.com member Rishikesh Sahi provides step-by-step instructions on how to delete documents over the Web using Ajax and JavaScript -- and without having to refresh the current open window.

• JavaScript to find the operating system user name
  If a user is accessing a Lotus Notes database anonymously, you can find out the person's operating system user name by using the WScript.Shell ActiveX. Just use this JavaScript code provided by SearchDomino.com member Yossi Sabag.