®
IBM Software Group
XPages
Revolutionizing Lotus Domino Web Application
Development
John Head – PSC Group
Philippe Riand - IBM

IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Disclaimer
 This presentation contains information about the future direction of
IBM products, but it is not a commitment that IBM will deliver
specific features or capabilities, or that IBM will deliver any product
releases at all. Future product direction, dates, features or
capabilities can change at any time without notice.
 Information contained in this presentation is IBM Confidential and
cannot be shared with anyone outside of IBM without a non-
disclosure agreement specific to this information. Information
about an IBM product release becomes public information at the
time of its official IBM announcement at which time a non-
disclosure agreement is no longer required.
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
In This Session …
 The 8.5 release of Lotus Domino and Lotus Domino Designer
revolutionize Domino Web application development
 We’ll introduce you to our new approach for building Web
applications
 We’ll cover some advanced techniques that allow you to leverage
the true power of 8.5
 Finally, we will give you a glimpse of the future
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
What We’ll Cover …
 Introduction
 XPages — the basics
 XPages — advanced topics
 A glimpse at the future
 Wrap-up
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Domino Applications
 Domino is a rapid application development platform for writing
collaborative applications
 Flexible document-based datastore
• Semi-structured data
• Manages hierarchies of documents
• Seamlessly handles data model changes
 Easy deployment model
• Simple NSF copy or replication operation
• Create new instances based on application templates
• Update design provided through design task or replication
 Client access options: Notes, Web browser, or Mobile
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Serving Up Applications to the Web
• Yes, we made it easy to provide browser-based access to your
applications, but they often looked like this:
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Web Development — A Mixed Blessing
 Developer experience
 Programming model delivers maximum capability when building for Notes
 Building compelling Web applications proved challenging
• Domino HTTP rendering issues
• No modern Web controls
• Event model was less than ideal
 So, if you were up for the challenge, you could build compelling
Web applications
 But there has got to be a better way!
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
8.5 Application Development Themes
 Provide developers with a modern development tool IDE
 Do for developers what Notes 8 did for end users
• Improve usability and productivity
• Address various developer pain points from previous versions
 Attract new developers to the platform
 Make building compelling Web applications easy
 Allow developers to build attractive, modern Web apps that leverage Web
2.0 technologies with less work
 Provide means to update existing Domino Web applications incrementally
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
The 8.5 Answer
 Domino Designer and Eclipse
 Same Designer Productivity: Built on Eclipse
• Eclipse adds: search, editors (CSS, JavaScript, … ), …
 Uses a well-known extension mechanism
• Allows third-party tools to be added
 A new set of design elements
 XPages and Custom Controls
• Designed for developing Web 2.0 applications
• Easy to understand for both Domino and non-Domino developers
 Themes
• Easily define an application’s look and feel
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Compelling Web 2.0 User Experience with
8.5
Custom
Branding
Styles
Themes
Improved
Usability
Discussion 8.5
XPage showcase
Compelling UI
Quick to Customize
Easy to Deploy
Faster
Navigation
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Demo
Let’s take a look at some applications
built with XPages
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
What We’ll Cover …
 Introduction
 XPages — the basics
 XPages — advanced topics
 A glimpse at the future
 Wrap-up
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
From Cool Tools … Cool Pages … XPages
• Visual Web page construction
 Advanced UI controls
 Drag and drop development
• Instant Application Development
 XML markup with source
 Full control of HTML
 Presentation using CSS
 Business logic using JavaScript
• Leverages existing NSF assets
 Web agents, formulas, security, …
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
XPages Value Proposition
• Provide a better Web development experience to Domino
developers
 Can be used to incrementally enhance an existing application or write a
brand new one
 Fully integrated within Domino Designer
 Decreases the time for writing Web Applications
• Solves problems expressed by the Domino community
 Known limitations are addressed
• UI/Data separation, HTML generation control, Server
state, Localization, Extensibility, …
• Fully integrated with Domino Web server
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Designed for Web 2.0
• Based on an extended version of
Java Server Faces (JSF)
• Advanced set of controls
 Web pager, Section, Tabbed Panel, …
 Advanced View layouts using repeated sections
• Native support for Ajax behaviors
 Partial refresh, available to every event
 Typeahead
• Comes with the Dojo JavaScript library
 Natively leverages Dojo widgets (RichText,
Date/Time picker, … )
 Gives easy access to Dojo modules and widgets
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Leverages Domino/Web Developer Skills
• Leverages the existing design elements (Forms, Views, Agents, … )
 Forms carry the document schema (data definition) and some business
logic (computed fields, … )
 Views used to query the Domino store
 Agents can be called using the back-end API
• JavaScript is used as the main scripting language
 JavaScript used on the client and on the server
 Simple actions are also provided for common tasks
• Leverages and exposes the back-end API
 JavaScript accessors on top of the Java back-end API
 JavaScript has been extended to support @Functions()
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Complete Control of the Rendering
• Look and Feel is driven uniquely by CSS
Full support for CSS classes or inline styles
Uses CSS file resources
• Support Themes for skinning an application
Predefined styles for controls
A theme can be defined locally, in an NSF, or globally
2 themes provided out of the box
• HTML tags/attributes can be embedded within XPages
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Enables Enterprise Scale Applications
• Extensible architecture
 Custom controls
 An XPage can call any Java code/library
 JSF config files can be used to provide custom options
• Extended data access capability
 Applications can access data located in multiple NSF databases
 Multiple documents/views can be displayed on the same page
• Built-in localization and internationalization support
 Support String localization and dedicated pages per locale
 Automatic support for user time zone
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Architecture
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
XPage Prerequisites
 Installation and configuration
 XPage runtime is installed by default
 If doing custom install, make
sure Dojo and XPages are checked
 HTTP task must be running
 Skills
 Knowledge of Domino object model
 HTML, CSS, XML, and JavaScript are very beneficial, but you can built an
application without them
 Question = Do I need to learn Java?
 Answer = NO!
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
XPage Security
 XPages use agent security model
 Settings for Xpage application access
 XPage signer must have explicit
access to server or select users
listed in all trusted directories
 Other settings that likely
require XPage design element
signature to be added
 XPage Web user access
 Standard Domino Web authentication applies
See XPage User Guide: Designing with XPages \\ Creating XPages \\ Signing XPages
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Demo — Creating Your First XPages
Application
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
What We’ll Cover …
 Introduction
 XPages — the basics
 XPages — advanced topics
 A glimpse at the future
 Wrap-up
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Logic for Your XPage
 The ―official‖ language for XPages is JavaScript
 JavaScript runs on client or server (or both — your choice!)
 Simple actions available for common operations
 (Almost) every property is computable!
 Labels, column titles, visibility, style, …
 Rich event model
 Ajax behaviors
 Built in in some cases (typeahead, pager)
 Easy to build on your own with simple event properties
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Server Side Actions
 No need to create agents
 Although they can be leveraged
 Simple actions
 Simple to use, utilizes parameters
 Can be grouped
 Users/partners can provide their
own simple actions
 JavaScript on the server
 Extensive library of predefined objects
• Domino back-end classes
• Familiar @Functions (@DbLookup, … )
 Full featured editor environment
 Bridge to Java
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Client-Side Scripting
 User can handle client-side events from the event panel
 JavaScript Libraries
 Available as resources to the page
 Can also reference Dojo modules
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Predefined Ajax Behaviors
 Partial page refresh
 Available on each event
 Prebuilt on view pager
 Ajax typeahead
 Add behavior to an existing text box
 Can use JavaScript handlers or
external URLs
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Custom Controls
 Composite controls
 Parameterizable sub-forms
C on trol is lik e a p ag e
 Controls made by assembling
existing controls
 Behave exactly as native controls
 Appear in the Control palette
 Define their own set of properties
• Hierarchical with custom editors
C on trol ad d ed to a p ag e
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Advanced Demo
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
What We’ll Cover …
 Introduction
 XPages — the basics
 XPages — advanced topics
 A glimpse at the future
 Wrap-up
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
About the Future
 This is not a commitment on the new features being developed
 This is provided as information to keep you updated and get your
feedback
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Lotus Mashup Integration — iWidget
 A new Component design element is used to define iWidgets
 Any XPage can be projected as an iWidget, leveraging the platform
capabilities (parameters, properties/events, … )
Note: Information is subject to change without notice at IBM’s discretion
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Rich Client Support
• Allows XPages applications to run within the Notes client
 Any XPages application can be run offline
 Do not require a local Domino Server
 Data and Design elements get replicated
• Same code runs identically on the client and the server
 Same programming model on both platforms
• Not restricted to the common denominator
 Takes advantage of the platforms when it makes sense
• Ex: The view control can either render HTML or the Java counterpart
control, depending on the context
• A new theme ensures the consistency with the other Rich Client
applications
Note: Information is subject to change without notice at IBM’s discretion
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Running XPages in Notes
• Can be used in place of an existing design element
 An XPage can be specified as the launch option
• As a component, within a Composite Application
 Same Component definition used for the iWidgets
 Get access to the platform events (Eclipse selection events, … )
Note: Information is subject to change without notice at IBM’s discretion
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Mobile Device Support
• An XPage application can be rendered within the embedded
browser of the device
• The device is detected
 Specific markup can be emitted
 Conditional statements can apply
Note: Information is subject to change without notice at IBM’s discretion
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Futures Demo
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
What We’ll Cover …
 Introduction
 XPages — the basics
 XPages — advanced topics
 A glimpse at the future
 Wrap-up
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Resources
• Domino Designer wiki
 www.lotus.com/ldd/ddwiki.nsf
 Articles and videos
• Samples applications
 OpenNTF.org: XPages Wiki, Lead Manager, TaskJam, XPages Demo
 jmackey.net: Survey Tool
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Resources (cont.)
• Tutorials
Basic tutorial ships with Domino Designer 8.5. See XPage user guide.
developerWorks Tutorials
• Harness the Power of Xpages in Lotus Domino Designer
− www.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ls-dw-ls-
ddxpages.html?S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=EDU
• XPages, Themes, and Mashups in a Domino Web …
− www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/tutorials/xpages-themes/lz-
dw-lz-xpages-themes.html?S_TACT=105A
GX13&S_CMP=EDU
Declan Lynch’s — Learning Xpages
• www.qtzar.com/blogs/qtzar.nsf/htdocs/LearningXPages.htm
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
7 Key Points to Take Home
• XPages remove current pain points for Domino Web developers
• Separation of UI and data means data from multiple sources can
be presented in a single UI
• Leverage simple actions and JavaScript for business logic
• Use Ajax to improve your end-user experience
• Custom Controls improves productivity and maintainability
• Themes provide a way to easily change the look and feel of your
application
• The revolution starts with 8.5, and the future looks bright
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IBM Software Group | Lotus software
Your Turn!
How to contact us:
John Head: jhead@psclistens.com
Twitter: johnhead
Philippe Riand: priand@us.ibm.com
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