Unread mark document woes

We have a database where our users “live and die” with their unread mark documents indicators.

In this database we have some scheduled agents that run on the documents in this database. Whenever these agents run, the users complain because the number of unread documents changes and they are unsure which documents they have actually read, and feel they need to go to each unread document and re-read them.

We have been messing around with the database property “Do Not Mark Modified documents as UnRead”.

We have found that if we set this property in the database before the scheduled agent runs, run the agent and then turn off the property once the agent runs, that the user’s unread marks remain untouched by the activity of the scheduled agent.

We of course, set this property manually. But are wondering how to set the property programatically. And if this would indeed solve our problem.

What we thought we would do is have the scheduled agent set the property, the update the documents, then have the scheduled agent deselect the property.

Unfortunately, this property isn’t exposed through the notesdatabase classes in lotus script.

I have never written any Notes api code, but thought to give it a whirl.

I looked on line at the notes api help and I didn’t see any property exposed there either.

Did I miss something?

Do you think this might work if I can indeed find a way to set this property?

Am I barking up the wrong tree?

I spoke with Andre (my hero) and he indicated that it wouldn’t work the way we intended. I relayed that information to my boss. I figured that would be the end of that.

But, my boss, being a Notes developer, was still curious. And she was the one who tried it manually and now is convinced it will work, if we can figure out how to set that property.

So… I figured I’d ask and see what I anyone was able to tell me.

Thanks in advance for any insight…

Subject: Unread mark document woes…

It won’t work. I already tested it before (this flag is in the replication settings). Problem is that unread marks are stored also in the wks and in the server… if you check/uncheck it manually from the wks then it may work since you are in the wks but for real you must do it in the server. What if you set this property forever instead of switching it off back?

Subject: Unread mark document woes…

It is a curious one actually :)!!!

If someone else goes into my mail file they don’t see my read/unread marks… they have their own. I am surprised that it doesn’t work the same way with your scheduled agent. Assuming the agent is not signed with said users ID file.

Subject: Unread mark document woes…

It would probably be quicker to come up with a better way to identify the documents that require the user’s attention than to continue to use unread marks for this purpose. You could mess around for a week or two and figure out a way to control marks better, but really all you are accomplishing is perpetuating a crappy program design.

Subject: Unread mark document woes…

thanks so far for the comments you have posted.

Gives me some food for thought.

This is really just a discussion database…