ICS User Group Conference 2014 - XPages using third party java libraries

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Coffee from a Friend:
Using Third Party Java Libraries
2014/03/18 –Matthew Fyleman

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Matthew Fyleman
21 Years as a Notes/Domino Developer
Mostly Working on:
Xpages conversions
Product development
Who Am I?

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Based on My Experiences
Beginner Level!
Using Java Generally in XPages
Will focus on .jar files, but will look at other ways of incorporating Java
What to use when
What is this Talk About?

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Why Java?
Advantages over SSJS
Java Options
Prepackaged Options
.jars packaged into Extension Libraries
OpenNTF.org
Apache POI Example
Raw Libraries
Deploying
Incorporation
Security
Creating .jars
Questions
What am I talking about?

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It has a better structure than ssjs
 Strongly typed
 Object Oriented from the ground up
It‘s a very useful skill
 Widely used outside Notes/Domino
 Encourages better programming practise
Why Java? – 1. The basics

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<<Demonstration>>
Why Java? – 2. Its Faster than SSJS
But not as much as youmight think!

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See also Stephan Wissel‘sblog post:
http://www.wissel.net/blog/d6plinks/SHWL-8SLCVR
Why Java? –3. Its Easier to Debug

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Why Java? –4. There are Lots of 3rd Party Libraries
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Manipulation
Word and Excel Creation and Modification
XML parsing
... Many more
If you need it, there is probably a Java library out there
Tested and stable (relatively!)

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Raw Java
You’re already doing this!
Java Class Files
Better for development
.jars provide obfuscation
.jars are easily portable –write once use anywhere
Managed Beans
Much easier to create than you might think
Automatically work within a scope
.jar Files
Java Options

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Almost certainly done this already:
varvecThis= new java.util.Vector();
Can Import Packages
importPackage(java.util);
varvecThis= new Vector();
Can be a disadvantage, particularly for beginners!
Java Options –Raw Java

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Easy to create
In the code section under Java
Create new java class
Java Options –Class Files

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Need to generate constructor?
Under the source menu
Generate Constructor using ...
Getters and Setters?
Same menu
Correct indentation?
Same menu
Java Options –Getting Help From Eclipse

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Rules for Managed Beans
If you have a constructor, it must be parameterless
Fields in your class are only publically accessible through getters and setters
To support persistence it should implement the Serializableinterface
It needs an entry in the faces-config.xml file
See Per Laustenspage ‘Creating Your First managed bean for Xpages’
http://per.lausten.dk/blog/2012/02/creating-your-first- managed-bean-for-xpages.html
Java Options –Managed Beans

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You are probably not the first!
Check OpenNTF.org
Pre-Packaged into an Extension Library
Easy to Use
Documentation (?)
Once ext lib installed, no security settings to think about
Pre-Packaged Options

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Demonstration
Pre-Packaged Options

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Not Always Available
Extension Libraries need to be deployed to the server!
What can you do if this is not an option?
Pre-Packaged Options -Issues

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This was the situation I found myself in on a recent project
Customer needed .docxfile manipulation
Customer would not permit third party deployment to the server
Deployed the POI Libswithin my Application
No Deployment to the Server (technically speaking!)
Simple
Still had access to the Functionality
Use the Library ‘RAW‘

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Three Options:
1.Deploy to the server file system
Non-starter
2.Deploy under WEB-INF
Better but only use if you are 8.5.2 or lower
3.Deploy to jar area under ‘code‘
Best option
Deployment Options

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Java Libraries for manipulating Microsoft Word and Excel files
Open Source
Main library is poi-3.9-20121203.jar
But you will need others particularly if you wish to work on docxand xlsx
dom4j-1.6.1.jar
stax-api-1.0.1.jar
xmlbeans-2.3.0.jar
Apache POI Project

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To create an Excel spreadsheet using POI, have your code perform the following steps:
Create a workbook object:
varxl=new org.apache.poi.hssf.usermodel.HSSFWorkbook();
Add a sheet to the workbook:
varsheet = xl.createSheet("Sheet 1");
Apache POI Creating a Spreadsheet

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Add a row to the sheet
They start at 0
row = sheet.createRow(rowCount++);
Write data into cells into each row
cell = row.createCell((java.lang.Integer)(cellCount++));
cell.setCellValue(document.getItemValueString(“AField”));
Watch out!
Apache POI Creating a Spreadsheet

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Demonstration
Deployment

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Sooner or later you will hit this
Need to edit the ‘java.policy’ file
Proper way is to database specific entry
For Production Systems
Doesn’t work on Domino 9 ?
For Dev Environments You Can Cheat!
grant { permission java.security.AllPermission; };
See blog post ‘Java Security in Xpages’from Stephan Wissel:
http://www.wissel.net/blog/d6plinks/SHWL-8JYAT5
don‘t miss Nathan Freeman‘s comment!
Deployment -Security Issues

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Similar to working with Excel:
Get the document
Get document’s paragraphs
Get the text runs in the paragraphs
Search and replace in text runs
Get the tables
Iterate through the rows
Iterate through the cells
Do paragraph search and replace in each cell
Apache POI Search and Replace in Word

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Java Libraries for manipulating Adobe Acrobat (pdf) documents
Open Source –but Apache License!
Main library is itextpdf-5.5.0.jar
Unlike POI, this is all you need for basic PDFs
iTextPdf

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Its open source so its free, right?
Maybe, but check the license
E.g. Apache License
Free to use if your software is also distributed under an Apache License
Otherwise there may be a fee for commercial use
iText–OEM license, 125 desktops, approx. $3,000
Deployment -License Issues

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Doing a lot of @Formula conversion to SSJS
Encountering a lot of List Ops
SSJS has no built in permutation operations
Wanted a library of List Op utilities
What About My Own .jars

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In Domino:
Create the class files
Test and debug
Go to package explorer view
File export
Create the .jar
Deploy into your database
-Simple!
My Own jar

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We4IT –www.we4it.com
OpenNTF–www.openntf.org
Ulrich Krause –www.eknori.de
Wissel.net –Stephan Wissel‘sblog
XpagesPortable Command Guide –
Martin Donnelly et. al., IBM Press
Resources and Information

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Questions?

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matthew.fyleman@we4it.com