Need info on possibilty of integrating domino DB with website

HCL Domino Domino Forum
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I am considering our options for a project and need to know if this scenario is possible.

Can a domino DB services be used to post data to an external website as well as be updated?

Example:

Client has a website that is hosted offsite by a third-party. The website has user accounts that need to access information from the domino DB located in the office and be able to write back changes to the Domino DB.

I assume that there would not be a problem in creating a service that responds to requests and displays the customer account history, correct? But can the Domino service also receive a request to update records in it’s DB?

I just need to know if this is possible before investing the money and more time into the research.

Thank you!

2

Subject: Certainly sounds possible. Need some clarification.

Can a domino DB services be used to post data>to an external website as well as be updated?

Yes this can be done, but it’s possible you are making this more complicated than necessary.

Three key questions to ask here are:

  1. Does this client already have Domino?

2a) If not, is there a particular reason to choose Domino for this app?

2b) If so, does the client really need to integrate the Domino app into the user accounts of the third-party site (as opposed to handling all user accounts within Domino)?

You can do all of the following (some of which might be useful for your needs)

  • Display Domino data within a frame of some other application (if you need sophistication here, you may be looking at some kind of portal product).

  • Expose Domino data as a web service for access by authenticated or unauthenticated users.

  • Write data to a web service exposed by some other app server.

  • Integrate with other servers in some kind of web single sign-on arrangement (depends greatly on the technologies involved).

Example:

Client has a website that is hosted offsite by

a third-party. The website has user accounts

that need to access information from the

domino DB located in the office and be able to

write back changes to the Domino DB.

So the user accounts configured on the web server need to be “trusted” in some way for Domino authentication? If there’s a lot of them and you require different access for each user, then you’re looking at some kind of LDAP directory integration, possibly mapping external accounts to Domino users. That’s all doable.

I assume that there would not be a problem in

creating a service that responds to requests

and displays the customer account history,

correct? But can the Domino service also

receive a request to update records in it’s DB?

Sure, that seems fine. Seems like these user accounts are for customers accessing an extranet. Is that right?

I just need to know if this is possible before

investing the money and more time into the

research.

I’m sure people here can guide you further if you expand a little on the elements involved.

Rupert Clayton

Chicago

3

Subject: More info/clarification

Thanks for you response and information.

Here’s some more information on our scenario.

The client does not have Notes/Domino, he currently uses a non-centralized Access DB which contains his client accounts and history.

We were already discussing migrating him to Notes for greatly flexibility and because I know Notes and this would be a benefit to him.

He currently hosts his company website on a shared system using a power open source web framework. This frame work is very modular and customizable using PHP.

So my thought is that he can use Notes as his customer DB to keep track of his customers and their histories and use a service for customers to see and possibly update their records (history) on the Notes server.

So now as I’ve been told that this is doable, is there any resources that may help me figure out the configuration of the web services for this application?

Thanks again for any help~

4

Subject: How about a hosted Domino app?

Shawn,

OK, this is getting a bit clearer. Unfortunately I’m not enough of a hardcore developer to quickly suggest a way to integrate user identities between the open source web server and Domino.

However I’d be tempted to take a simpler approach: Replicate a Service History database to a hosted Domino server (could be a shared server from a provider such as Prominic). Have clients authenticate with the hosted server and then get access only to their own account and service histories. Integrate the Domino UI on the web app server with the main web site.

That approach would require a license for each customer account created. Alternatively, Domino Utility Server Express might be a good licensing fit.

To my mind, that’s easier than adding an unnecessary layer of complexity in the form of web services.

Rupert