Start Your Notes App the SuperNTF Way

Starting Your Application Starting Your Application the SuperNTF Waythe SuperNTF Way

Kevin Pettitt

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Your Host for Today’s Session …Your Host for Today’s Session …

Kevin PettittPresidentLotusGuru Consulting

Independent ConsultantDeveloper, Admin, Architect

Blog: www.lotusguru.com

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What Is SuperNTF?What Is SuperNTF?

Generic starter application template that isn’t “-blank-”

Notes Client application framework designed for easy understanding to encourage wide adoption

Built from the ground up with the goal of making development best practice easy for even novice Notes developers

Fusion of many other open source projects

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Agenda…Agenda…

A brief history of File – Database – New Overview of standards and frameworks SuperNTF feature walkthrough What’s under the hood Creating a new application Overhauling an existing application Final Word

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In the Beginning, There Was -Blank-In the Beginning, There Was -Blank-

And it really was “blank” Next step - Doc Library or Discussion

template – Just to have some code to start

Advanced developers created their own “common design elements”– Great for reusing code among

many applications– Problem: Only they understood

how it worked

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Agenda…Agenda…


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Design Standards – Huh?Design Standards – Huh?

Notes is a very “approachable” development platform– Any decent spreadsheet jock can whip up a Notes database

limited skills hinder code standardization efforts

It takes time and effort to enforce standards Only way way to achieve some level of

coding standards for novice developers – Make it EASY to do things “right” without thinking

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Key Benefits of Standardized CodeKey Benefits of Standardized Code

No more reinventing the wheel– Unless it’s a better wheel

Commonly used routines are readily available Easier to troubleshoot, maintain, and

enhance– Especially when the standard code has been more rigorously

tested than any one application

The next developer to touch the app won't curse your name

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What Is an Application Framework? What Is an Application Framework?

A basic template for jumpstarting a new application

A collection of generic design elements useful in any kind of application

A way to standardize the “plumbing” of all your custom Notes applications

Everything *except* what makes the application unique

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Framework PitfallsFramework Pitfalls

Often developed organically over time by single developer– Thoughts of having others use the framework may not take

hold until after most of it is built– Only that developer understands the “quirks” – Steep learning curve for others without that developer on the

team

Tendency toward complexity– Time spent “improving” the framework may actually detract

from others’ ability to maintain code later– The more tightly integrated it gets the easier it is to break

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What Makes SuperNTF Different?What Makes SuperNTF Different?

Conceived with ease of understanding in mind– Novices can create nice looking applications without "breaking"

something

Design goal: Make it easy to follow and thereby gain wide adoption– Low learning curve also helps intermediate and advanced

developers ability to customize and extend more easily– Code is written for readability – elegance over complexity

Designed to facilitate "cherry picking" code– Many individual pieces can be copied and reused in other

applications and still work– Copying elements with their dependencies will be made easier in

the future

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Meet the SuperNTF TeamMeet the SuperNTF Team

Head of R&D: Kevin Pettitt– aka "Robbery and Deployment"

With contributions from: The Domino community– No one has a monopoly on best practice ideas– Most borrowed code reworked significantly to adhere to

SuperNTF simplicity standards

New "volunteers" all the time as more great ideas appear

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Simple doesn’t mean boring– There are still lots of cool features, as you will see– Significant attention was paid to offering an attractive default

UI design

Many advanced functions are “black boxed”– Eliminates the need to manipulate truly complex code (although

you still can if you want)– High degree of configurability further minimizes need to touch

code

So How Simple Is “Simple”?So How Simple Is “Simple”?

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Agenda …Agenda …


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Key Navigation ElementsKey Navigation Elements

Separate frameset for normal use…

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…and for administrative functions

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Standard action bar in separate frame– Eliminates need for most typical view actions– Leaves room for a descriptive view title– Actions show only when appropriate (e.g., “Search” only visible

if database is full-text indexed)

Administration panel logically organized– Configuration– Logging– Cool Design Views– Utility views (e.g., Design element views, All Documents)

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Alternate “Dashboard” InterfaceAlternate “Dashboard” Interface

Content of each tab is configurable Double-clicking on preview opens document

fully

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Centralized Form ConfigurationCentralized Form Configuration

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Centralized Form Configuration (cont.)Centralized Form Configuration (cont.)

Each application-specific form has its own “configuration” document

Controls which form features are enabled– Shared Actions – (e.g., Edit, Save & Close, etc.)– Validation – edit a form-wide formula right on the form config.– User Activity Tracking – who read/edited what and when– Field Change History – what did they change and when– Comments – user feedback mechanism

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View ConfigurationView Configuration

Set the View “Header Title” Configure “Help” and “New Document”

behavior

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User Activity Tracking – Summary User Activity Tracking – Summary

Keeps a running history of every time a document is READ or EDITED

Saves each record as a separate document– Can be easily tabulated and sorted in views– Allows user to “jump” directly to the source document

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User Activity TrackingUser Activity Tracking

Consolidated Activity History

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User Activity TrackingUser Activity Tracking

Current Document

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User Activity Tracking – Dashboard ReportsUser Activity Tracking – Dashboard Reports

At-a-glance view to most active users and documents

Apply custom filters to highlight the specific information you want

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Field Change HistoryField Change History

Form config specifies which form fields to track– Also assign user-friendly field labels

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Field Change History (cont.)Field Change History (cont.)

All changes to target fields are recorded in a single rich-text field– Change history dialog accessed via action button

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OpenLog Used for Error and Event LoggingOpenLog Used for Error and Event Logging

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Integrated HelpIntegrated Help

Create help documents within the application Link them to specific forms and views via configuration

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Integrated Help (cont.)Integrated Help (cont.)

Press F1 to pull up the relevant help document

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Exporting Data – The Quick and Simple WayExporting Data – The Quick and Simple Way

View actions export all or selected docs Use column naming “trick” to …

– Get categorized column titles to appear– Omit specific columns from export

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Exporting Data – The Structured and Exporting Data – The Structured and Repeatable WayRepeatable Way

Integrated with the OpenNTF ASND Export Facility

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Soft Deletions Work!Soft Deletions Work!

No matter how you delete a document– Press <Delete> key at document or view level– Cut document(s) from a view– Drag to Trash– From “Delete” action in document or view

Confirmation warning always appears

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Soft Deletions Work! (cont.)Soft Deletions Work! (cont.)

Easily restore some or all deleted documents Configure deletion purge interval in main DB

configuration

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Design ViewsDesign Views

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Design Views (cont.)Design Views (cont.)

Yes, that’s right, you’re seeing design elements in regular views!– Made possible via the $FormulaClass “hack”– Allows ALL design elements to appear in a single view– Includes action button to “clean” the design elements (i.e.,

remove old $UpdatedBy entries and re-sign them)

Other variations show– All image resources with image preview– All fields and subforms listed by form(s) where they appear

Views can be copied to any other database to provide instant value

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Icons, Icons, EverywhereIcons, Icons, Everywhere

Outline entry and action icons used throughout to provide visual cues to associated function

Many include mouse-over animations– Further improves visual cue of mouse position– Injects a little fun into the application, which users love

All images can be previewed in the “Images Preview” design element view

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All Documents ViewAll Documents View

Shows all docs in the database grouped by form name Useful for finding “lost” docs, the “last” one edited, or the

300 customer documents you accidentally pasted

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Agenda…Agenda…


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So What’s It Look Like Under the Hood?So What’s It Look Like Under the Hood?

It’s not a Ferrari, but then you wouldn’t let your rookie mechanic work on it if it were that complicated

It is, however …– Cleanly designed– Easy to work on without

“breaking” anything– Individual parts are

clearly identifiable– Yet still highly functional

with lots of cool features

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A Code Tour of SuperNTFA Code Tour of SuperNTF

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Agenda…Agenda…


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Creating a “SuperNTF” ViewCreating a “SuperNTF” View

Shortcut: create a new view based on one of the demo views– Easy way to get actions that are the “hooks” into the view

configuration

Customize columns, row colors, etc., as desired Display view into the outline and open it Click

– Any guesses what that does ?

Fill out the view configuration– You may need to come back after creating a form to change the

“New Document” behavior

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Creating a “SuperNTF” FormCreating a “SuperNTF” Form

All the “hooks” into the configuration are encapsulated in two subforms– SYSTEM - Standard Hidden Form Header– SYSTEM - Standard Hidden Form Footer

Just a few other details– “Form” field – set to form alias– Window title: @If(@IsNewDoc; "New Document";

WindowTitle)– Turn off the create menu – PLEASE!

Tie the form into one or more views Compose a document and click

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Agenda…Agenda…


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Basics of Overhauling Existing ApplicationBasics of Overhauling Existing Application

Add SuperNTF design elements to existing application– Or for very simple examples, copy the key elements into a

“blank” SuperNTF database

Migrate views to new design– Remove unnecessary actions– Add Standard SuperNTF Actions– Update column fonts– Ytria Tools make this dead easy

Add standard SuperNTF subforms to key forms– Configure the enabled features for each form

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Agenda…Agenda…


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ResourcesResources

Download SuperNTF– www.superntf.org

My Blog: www.lotusguru.com– Includes many articles pertaining to SuperNTF, including

upcoming features

SuperNTF IdeaJam?– Stay tuned

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Parting ThoughtsParting Thoughts

Coding standards will only gain wide adoption if they are easy to learn and use– And what use is a “standard” no one uses?– Even experienced developers will appreciate the freedom to

focus on application logic

Cool things to do with SuperNTF– Give power users more power without giving yourself more

headache– Give older apps a professional facelift

Sharing is good!– Please share your good ideas and useful SuperNTF

customizations

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Sharing is GoodSharing is Good

Sharing is good!– Please share your good ideas and useful SuperNTF

customizations

Start Your Notes App the SuperNTF Way

Business

new application

kind of application

application unique9

design standards

applicationspecific

standard code

reusing code

borrowed code