This document summarizes Matthew Fyleman's talk on converting LotusScript and @Formula to SSJS. It discusses options like using NotesAgent.run() or search and replace with regular expressions. Search and replace is most useful for LotusScript conversion if some refactoring is done first. Regular expressions can help match patterns during search and replace. Converting @Formula to JavaScript requires understanding functions like @If. Dedicated tools can help with complex conversions but still require some manual work.

1. The Road to Damascus – A Conversion
Experience:
LS and @Formula to SSJS
Matthew Fyleman, Product and Project Manager
MWLUG 2014

2. Who am I?
• Matthew Fyleman
• 21 Years as a Notes/Domino Developer
• Mostly Working on:
– Xpages conversions
– Product development

3. What is this Talk About?
• Based on My Experiences
• Converting LotusScript and @Formula
to SSJS
• Tools that can help – particularly
regular expressions

4. What am I talking about?
• When should you convert existing code?
• Conversion Options
– NotesAgent.run() with parameter doc
– Search and Replace
– Dedicated Tools
• Search and Replace
– Preparation
– Introduction to Regular Expressions
– Examples and Demonstration
– Tips and Traps
• Dedicated Tools
• Questions

5. When should you convert code?
Never!

6. When should you convert code?
What is the problem?
• It is always going to be slow
• GIGO
• You will introduce new bugs
• Re-developing will be quicker, cheaper
and you will end up with a better result
• But if you really must ...

7. Conversion Options
What are your options?
• NotesAgent.run()
– Quick and Dirty
– Agent must run independently
– Only use when agents are available and time is critical
• Search and Replace
– LotusScript -> JavaScript (and Java)
– Less useful for @Formula
• Dedicated Tools
– @Formula

8. LotusScript to SSJS - Preparation
• Search and Replace is most useful for LS conversion
– Syntactically similar
• Easiest if you do a little refactoring first
– Option Declare
– doc.field(0) -> doc.getItemValue(“Field“)(0)
– Camel Case Notes Objects
– Make Sure Method calls are consistently named
• Best to Avoid All-In-One-Go
– Function or Sub at a Time

9. Regular Expressions
• Regular Expressions are your new BFF
• Sophisticated Pattern Matching
• Elements from search can be carried through to
replace
• The Search and Replace built in to DDE can use
Regular Expressions
• Useful outside LS conversion (e.g. Validation)
– See Planet Lotus - http://planetlotus.org/profiles/ross-swick_97733

10. Starting Simple – Dim
• Tidy up first – Option Declare, remove clustering e.g.:
Dim x as Integer,y as Integer,z as Integer
• We want to match any variable name in the pattern:
Dim <var name> As <Any valid type>
• Fairly simple:
Dim[ ]+[A-Za-z0-9_]+[ ]+As[ ]+(Integer|String|Boolean|Double|Variant)
• But how do we replace?
– Modify the search:
Dim[ ]+([w]*)[ ]+As[ ]+String
– Use this for replace
var 1 = “”;

11. Starting Simple – Dim (2)
• For Notes Objects, Things are simpler
Dim <var name> As Notes<rest of object name>
- Ignore ... As New NotesSession for now
• Also, initialising in SSJS, = null is ok:
var <var name>:Notes<rest of object name> = null;
• So our terms are:
– Search:
Dim[ ]+([w]*)[ ]+As[ ]+(Notes[w]*)
– Replace:
var 1:2 = null;

12. Less simple – If Statements
• For the most part, simple S & R (but order is important):
End If to }
[ ]*Then to ) {
Else[ ]+If[ ]* to } else if (
If[ ]* to if (
• But what about:
If (x = 10) Then
• Use Search: If[ ]+([w()[].<>" ]*)=([w()[].<> "]*)[ ]+Then
• Use Replace: if (1==2) {
• NB: Works but not optimal!
• Other comparison operators not a problem

13. ! – session objects
• The problem:
• Session object is global in ssjs: ‘session’
• In LS it is created:
Dim sess As New NotesSession
• Need to find all LS session objects, and replace with session
• How do you get a list of session object names?
You need a coffee!

14. Adding Java
• Java String Object has regex search and replace
String source = “Dim x As String”;
String result = source.replaceAll(“Dim[ ]+([w]*)[ ]+As[ ]+String”, “var $1 = “”;”);
• Pattern and Matcher objects make this even more powerful
Pattern p = Pattern.compile(pattern);
Matcher m = p.matcher(this.source);
int startPos = 0;
while (m.find(startPos)) {
if (!itemList.contains(m.group(1))) {
itemList.add(m.group(1));
}
startPos = m.end() + 1;
}

15. Field Handling
• Similar Issue to Session
• Need to find all document object names, and replace field
handling methods
• Will probably need to handle dot notation
– Arrgghh!
• How do you search for dot notation?
<doc name>.([^GetItemValue])([0-9]+)
• Still hard work!

16. Search and Replace: Tips & Traps
• There are other types than string!
– Always review and test converted code thoroughly
• Date handling is a pain
– Script libraries can help here – Java?
• Watch out for User interaction and particularly dialogues
Work out your strategies in advance!

17. Converting Formula
• @Formula JavaScript Wrappers help a lot
– Mostly just ‘;’ to ‘,’, and converting lists to arrays
• Some constructions are obvious:
@SetField(“Field”, Value);
• Goes to:
doc.replaceItemValue(“Field”, Value);
• Or
S: @SetField([ ]*([w”]*)[ ]*,[ ]*([w”]*)[ ]*);
R: doc.replaceItemValue(1, 2);
• But there are some issues ...
@

18. Formula – List Processing
• No direct equivalent in SSJS for *+, *= *>= etc.
when applied to Lists
• Need to plan for this
• Java Class/Library to provide direct substitute
• Unfortunately, Java does not permit operator
overloading, so has to be a set of methods
@!

19. Formula - @If, @Do and @While
@If(@Contains(_WFData_neu;_Key);"";
@Do(
@Set("_Sachgebiet_Zuordnung";@DbLookup("NOTES":"NOCACHE";"":_ADM$StructureDB;"Workflows";"WFArbeitsanweisung";"Sachgebietzuordnung"));
@If(_Sachgebiet_Zuordnung = "" | !@Contains(_Sachgebiet_Zuordnung;_Key2);@Do(
@Prompt([Ok];"Hinweis";"In der System Struktur VBM wurde für das aktuelle Sachgebiet kein Workflow definiert. Das Dokument wird zum ehemaligen
Kompetenzträger zurückgegeben, damit dieser ein neues Sachgebiet auswählen kann.");
@Set("_Kompetenzträger";Bearbeiter1);
@Set("_tmpintern";5)
);
@Do(
@Prompt([Ok];"Hinweis";"In der System Struktur VBM wurde für das aktuelle Sachgebiet ein neues Sachgebiet konfiguriert. Das Dokument wird zum
Kompetenzträger zurückgegeben, damit dieser das neue Sachgebiet auswählen kann.");
@Set("_neues_Sachgebiet";@Left(@Right(_Sachgebiet_Zuordnung;_key2);"||"));
@Set("_Elements";@Elements(@Explode(@Left(@Left(@Right(_WFData_neu;"||Sachgebiet#");"||"); _neues_Sachgebiet) + _neues_Sachgebiet; "$" )));
@Set("_KompetenzträgerData";@Explode(@Left(@Right(_WFData_neu;"||Kompetenzträger#");"||"); "$"));
@Set("_Kompetenzträger";@Subset(@Subset(_KompetenzträgerData;_Elements);-1));
@Set("_tmpintern";6)
)
)
)
); @!!

20. Focusing on @If
• @Formula is a FUNCTION language
• @If is a function not a statement
@!!! • In practice:
@SetField(“Author”; @If(Status=“1”; Manager; Salesman));
• Needs to convert to:
if (Status == “1”) {
var author = doc.getItemValueString(“Manager”);
} else {
var author = doc.getItemValueString(“Salesman”);
}
doc.replaceItemValue(“Author”, author);

21. Tools
• Search and Replace can be used for @Formula ->
SSJS ...
• ... but it can only take you so far
• A dedicated tool can go further
– Only real alternative to manual translation for complex
statements
– Time consuming to create
– Still not a silver bullet

22. Third Party Tools
• Espresso - http://www.ultrapico.com/Expresso.htm
– Good for learning regex, and serious regex dev
– Free!
• GREP
– Sophisticated regex file search
– Where regex started (UNIX grep)!

23. Resources and Information
• We4IT – www.we4it.com
• OpenNTF – www.openntf.org
• Regex Quick Reference
http://www.night-ray.com/regex.pdf
• Loads of websites for all aspects of regex development
• Mastering Regular Expressions – Jeffrey E.F. Friedl –
O’Reilly Publishing

24. Questions?

25. matthew.fyleman@we4it.com