Having been wrestling with the mail template for some considerable time now, I have been very tentatively considering trying to write a manual on it. Whether I go ahead with it or not will probably depend on two things - the level of interest in such a thing, and whether I could get any support from IBM/Lotus to do it (in the way of information etc.)
There has been a suggestion that this would also be a good idea for the Domino Directory, but I’m not as familiar with its internal workings and this may need to be done by someone else.
I’m currently wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing something like this produced?
The e-mail + C&S has a central function in most work routines, and hence the mail-file needs various kinds of integration with other Notes applications. It should be a basic requirement for the Notes documentation that developers have available the know-how to achieve such integration without creating any risk for unforeseen troubleI think it would be great if we could get something to fill the large void we have been living with in this area. (Not only isn’t there any particular documentation projects for the mail file, such as Lotus has given us for some of the other common mail templates, but the mail template internal documentation in scripts etc, does not represent a consequent adherence to best of practices for code documentation - to put it mildly. (The problems to get some overview is enhanced by the fact that the mail template has mixed web-elements (which are irrelevant for lots of us) into the various forms etc, rather than creating separate forms for the different clients as Lotus recommend us to do!)
Underlying this general issue is the fact that lot of incomming and outgoing e-mail is group related, while the mail file (template) is a personal thing. We therefore need to be able to create group-mail functionality in other applications and to move/copy mail out of and into the personal mail files.The same goes for (creating) calendar entries and todo’s. (Strange for the leading “groupware” product to not address this issue a little better, I think.)
What I therefore miss from Lotus documentation is at least the basic documentation of:
What items/fields (and their formats) need to be included in calendar entries or todo’s if we programmatically create them in a user’s mail file from outside of the the mail file UI (to avoid any trouble with all the advanced functionality that may at some stage come into play in the mailfile)?
When moving/copying documents from the mail file into other applicatons, what elements of memos etc, calendar entries and todo’s are dependant on other design elements of the mail file (like script libraries, shared fields etc)? To what extent could we just remove such dependancy, or to what extent will we need to include copies of those design elements on which there is a dependancy into the other applications.
Information on the relationship between the true events of the mail form and those shadow-events that seem to be in function – so that we know where to place code when we e.g. need to trigger a certain functionality when the user for the first time opens/closes a new mail memo he has received in his mail file.
Nice to know:
The functionality ot the vairous functions in the script libraries of the mail file. (Are there any functions we could exploit when seeking to achive the abovementioned targets, and are there any common functions of a more general nature that can be reused for various other purposes?)
To understand the other items above, I guess we also need a general description of all the various class definitions and their methods and properties.
Many applications will need to include the functionality of sending mail from within the application. I know and use the @SendMail and NotesDoc.Send functions. Still, operating with a mixture of external and internal receipients, and with little knowledge ot the internet-mail protocols and all the advanced aspects of the Notes mail-file, I would appreciate any documentation that gives me a better total understanding of how things relate:
What fields (besides SendTo, CopyTo and BlindCopyTo), come into play (and how) for purposes such as e.g. sending mail on behalf of others, setting another reply address etc. To some extent this relate to the whole set-up of the messaging system – e.g. what settings and values in various messaging configurations decide what sender address and format is seen by external receipients? (See all the items in this forum for an illustration of the troubles fairly competent people run into in this important area.)
To ahcieve the full mail functionality of a mail-enabled custom databases, such as reply, reply with history (with or without attachments) without any trouble, what items/functions are needed?
Actually, thinking more about these issues, what I really miss is an authorised, minimalized template that include all the necessary basic design elements that are generally needed for group-owned mail applications to interplay with the personal mail files. Such a template could then be used for building the other custom functionality on top of it. (There is a halfharted attempt at a limited-scope application in this direction in Sandbox (vanillamail.ntf). Something for OpenNTF.org, perhaps, if not Lotus will do it??)
Subject: Mail and Address Book template documentation
It’s a great idea which might help many people out there. You may have noticed that quite a lot of postings here in the forum are basically because of not understanding which views are used where.
One suggestion to get things running (funding, assistance, input and marketing): IBM has a “redbook” series and I’d consider suggesting this topic with them - maybe they are interested.
Subject: RE: Mail and Address Book template documentation
I’d suggest that IBM/Lotus are possibly not all that interested, given the deafening silence to the many many requests for this over the years. I could have a guess at the reasons for that as well, but I won’t…
If I do go ahead with this it will be a fair while in the making. It’s not a small subject, and I’m not really free to work on it full time (unfortunately.) However, if some-one wanted to sponsor me to do it…
The main needs for documentation of the Address book design is imho to learn what views are utilised in the addressing functions - Forward typing of addresses, Select Addresses dialog box, and group resolution and adress resolution upon sending. (I’m certain the view $PeopleGroupsFlat is central, but I think there are also other views involved, $Users ? $Groups ?)
We should have a description of what data Notes expects to find in the functional columns involved in theses views.
It would be nice to know what are the basic requirements, and what are additional functionality necessary only for the purpose of maintaining backwards compatibility with earlier versions of Notes (which is not relevant to everybody) , and also what are the additional requirements for web clients.
We will normally reach Notes-users via existing Domino Directories. Developers’ needs for giving addresss book functionality to custom applications are therefore mostly limited to address registers referring to external contacts with an internet-mail address only. So lets start form there and possibly take it further to mixed Notes/internet mail requirements later, if necessary.