IBM Lotus Domino Web Facelift Using AJAX and DXL (BP308)
This was actually my first real session after the general opening session. I spent the previous slot in the certification prep lab looking into exam 701 (Notes 7 AppDev update). The selftest software test was quite good, the CertFX one seemed to contain some errors.
Lance Spellman and Dwight Wilbanks delivered a session that was inspiring, fun and instructive. They presented Domino Facelift (DFL) which might become a framework for a better web-enablement of Domino web applications. The approach they use is clever and can easily implemented into nearly any existing Domino web application. They have a database which contains all the code necessary. To use it for example in a form you just need to include references to the CSS file and the JavaScript code in the facelift database. The database reads the form's DXL and processes it. It then returns a facelifted form with a lot of JavaScript calls and CSS references. This will make the web form behave a lot more like a Notes form by just using the settings you made in the Notes form. Date fields only accept valid date values, number fields only accept valid numbers etc.. You can also use enable your form's rich text fields to use FCKeditor just by setting a CSS class in the field properties.
A little different approach is used for views. From the facelift database you select the view in your target database which you want to facelift. The facelift database then adds a $$ViewTemplate form for the specified view which calls the facelift JavaScript and CSS code. Some features of the view facelift is the support of (cascaded) simple actions which are automatically translated (and even do work on multiple selected documents in the view), a quick search to jump to a specific view entry (just like in Notes) and a scrollable view.
DFL definitely has a big potential and I think it is a great tool to use (and of course to expand, share and thus improve). Get the DFL database at www.faceliftfordomino.com and also get the presentation if you are an attendee of Lotusphere and are interested in Ajax.
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