Lotus Notes View

Lotus Notes View

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The Lotus Notes View portlet allows the user to access Notes databases using a Web browser.
The portal administrator can configure the Lotus Notes View portlet to provide access to specific types of Notes databases as described in the following list:

Notes Mail Displays any view (for example, Inbox, Calendar, or To Do) of the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal.
Notes View Displays any view of any Notes database to which a portal user has access. Users can add multiple views to a View menu, and the views can be from multiple Notes databases
Notes Teamroom Displays any view of a Notes Teamroom to which a portal user has access.
Notes Discussion Displays any view of a Notes Discussion to which a portal user has access.
My Notes Mail Displays a portal user's own Notes Inbox, using the identity with which the user logs into WebSphere Portal to open that view from the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the user.
My Notes Calendar Displays a portal user's Notes Calendar, using the identity with which the user logs into WebSphere Portal to open that view from the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the user.
My Notes To Do Displays a portal user's Notes To Do (task) list, using the identity with which the user logs into WebSphere Portal to open that view from the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the user.

There are several messaging portlets that you may prefer to use to access mail and calendar data on a Lotus Domino server. Be sure to read the descriptions of both the Lotus Notes View and Common Personal Information Management (Common Mail and Common Calendar) portlets before deciding which ones to deploy in the portal.
An example of the Lotus Notes View portlet appears among the Domino and Extended Products Portlets on the Domino Integration > My Databases page of the portal.
For information about working with the Lotus Notes View portlet, see the Help that is available from the portlet title bar.
As an administrator, you see the command Edit Shared Settings instead of Personalize for Lotus Notes View portlet instances. This command works the same as Personalize except that the changes apply to all users of the instance of the portlet whose settings you are editing, up until the time a user decides to personalize the portlet. Use caution when editing shared settings. In particular, IBM recommends that you do not select Edit Shared Settings and then add views intended for all users of the portlet; instead, select Configure and then add any such views.
For more information on the commands, see Configuration levels for portlets, and for considerations on adding views, see the What's New section of this topic.

Configuration mode

Lotus Notes View now has a configuration mode where one can set the portletType from a list instead of using the parameter in Portal Administration. The default type of a new Lotus Notes View portlet is Any Notes View and is controlled by the value of the parameter (NOTESVIEW). However, as soon as the portlet type is changed in the configuration mode for an instance of the portlet, the value of the parameter in the portal Administration will no longer affect that portlet instance.
In the new configuration mode, we can perform all the tasks available in personalization. We can add views to the View menu, thus making them available to all users of the instance of Lotus Notes View you configure. If you also grant users of the portlet access to add their own views, they will be able to personalize only the views they add, not the ones you provide to all users.
Use the configuration mode to specify view columns for awareness.
Because the configuration mode provides an easier method of modifying settings, the UseiNotesTemplate, PeopleColumn, and DocumentLaunchColumn parameters are no longer necessary and have been removed from the portlet.

Considerations for adding views

As the administrator, you have the ability to add views to all instances of a portlet so that users of the site will have access to them. The method of adding the view determines the behavior of the view.
When you select Configure and then add a view to the portlet, the view appears in all instances of the portlet in the site, and users cannot delete or personalize the view. We can add a new view intended for all portlet users at any time and it will appear regardless of whether users have personalized their instances of the portlet. In addition, we can use this command to modify a view that appears dimmed to users.
When you select Edit Shared Settings and then add a view to the portlet, if a user has not yet personalized an instance, or does not have access to do so, the view appears in that user's portlet. However, as soon as a user personalizes the portlet in any way, views you add subsequently will no longer appear for users who have personalized. If the site does not grant access to users to personalize the Lotus Notes View portlet, this difference will not affect view behavior. But when users do have personalization access, avoid using Edit Shared Settings to distribute a view unless you intend users to personalize the view for themselves, and you also do not intend to distribute other views afterwards, or update the ones you have already distributed.
Using Edit Shared Settings to add the view is currently the only method that allows modification of the Application Title field, which controls the portlet title the user sees.
CAUTION: Do not use both Configure and Edit Shared Settings to add views in the same portal session.

DIIOP requirement
DIIOP is now required to gather critical information used by the Lotus Notes View portlet. The following items are all supplied by DIIOP, and without its being enabled, the portlet cannot function properly. DIIOP gathers the following items of information:

The current portal user's name in the Domino Directory

The list of Notes databases available for selection as a source for the portlet

The list of view categories for selection

Calendar information (when the Domino release is unknown)

The number of entries (count) in a categorized view

The name of the design template used for the source Notes database, once selected

The Launch Application feature in Lotus Notes View now can open a document into the separate Lotus Document Viewer portlet instead of into a separate browser window. The user interface is also updated with other improvements such as better paging and column management.
Lotus Notes View is supported as a remote WSRP service; however, people awareness will not work in an WSRP instance of the portlet.

Use the Lotus Notes View portlet

The Lotus Notes View portlet displays information stored in a Notes database on a Lotus Domino server that is set up to work with WebSphere Portal.
The Lotus Notes View portlet works with Web-enabled Notes mail databases that have either the standard Notes mail design or the Domino Web Access (iNotes) design.
Tip: For ease of use in the portlet, if you have designer access to a source Notes database for the portlet, enable sorting in its views.
The parameter that is most important to the appearance and function of the Lotus Notes View portlet is PortletType. The following table provides detailed information on the behavior of the portlet when configured with different values for this parameter.

PortletType parameter value Portlet functionality
NOTESVIEW Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting Any Notes View.
Specifying this value configures the portlet with one view, if you as portal administrator also pre-configure values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters. Otherwise, the portlet requests the user to specify a data source in edit mode. Users can add more views in edit mode.
NOTESMAIL Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - All.
Specifying this value configures the portlet with the following views:

All Documents
Inbox
Sent
Drafts
Calendar
To Do
Meetings

With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal. Users can add more views in edit mode; if so, a View menu appears in view mode.
MYINBOX Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - Inbox.
Specifying this value configures the portlet with the default view of Inbox. With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal,. Users can switch to the All Documents view in edit mode, but cannot add more views.
MYCALENDAR Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - Calendar.
Specifying this value configures the portlet with the default view of Calendar. With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal. Users cannot add more views.
MYTODO Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - To Do.
Specifying this value configures the portlet with the default view of To Do. With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal. Users cannot add more views.
NOTESDISCUSSION Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting Notes Discussion.
Specifying this value creates no views and, unless you as portal administrator also pre-configure values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters, requests the user to specify a data source in edit mode. Users can add more views, selecting from a list of views available in the Notes Discussion database design; if they add any views, a View menu appears in view mode in the portlet.
NOTESTEAMROOM Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting Notes Teamroom.
Specifying this value creates no views and, unless you as portal administrator also pre-configure values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters requests the user to specify a data source in edit mode. Users can add more views, selecting from a list of views available in the Notes Teamroom database design; if they add any views, a View menu appears in view mode in the portlet.

Portlet security

By default, the Lotus Notes View portlet supports single sign-on (SSO), with an LTPA token, giving the user access to both the Lotus Domino server that has been set up for use with Collaborative Services, and the Notes database that is the source for data displayed in the portlet, based on the identity (name and password) the user types to log in to WebSphere Portal.
As portal administrator, we can set up the Credential Vault to allow portal users to log in to an instance of the Lotus Notes View portlet using an alternate name and password. Credential Vault must be enabled in portal administration to work with this portlet, and configure the VAULT_SLOT and UserCredentialClass parameters for the portlet. When you have configured the parameter, the name and password a user types into the Switch ID field in edit mode authenticates the user for access to one or more source Notes databases for the portlet. However, the user must also be listed appropriately in the access control list of any source Notes database to open it.
We can create one slot in the Credential Vault to be used for every instance of the Lotus Notes View portlet, or we can create separate slots for different instances of the portlet with different values for the PortletType parameter. We can also create a shared vault slot that stores a common credential for all portal users or specific groups of users to use when ing in to any Lotus Notes View portlet; however, if you create a shared slot, other separate slots that you create for different instances of the portlet must remain unshared.

Test assumptions

This portlet has been tested on and is compatible with all supported WebSphere Portal platforms, as listed in Supported hardware and software.

Set up the portlet

This portlet is installed automatically as part of the Domino and Extended Products Portlets.
Before we configure the portlet, make sure the WebSphere Portal environment meets the following client and server requirements.

Client requirements

The portlet supports browsers and devices capable of rendering HTML markup. The following table provides detailed information.

Minimum requirements for HTML
Markup level HTML 4.01 Transitional
Java applet None
JavaScript 1.30
<iframe> Yes
Style sheets Portal styles only
Software

The Lotus Notes View and Lotus Document Viewer portlets are compatible with the specific Web browser software releases listed in the Supported Web browsers (required) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software.

The Domino Web Access portlet is compatible with the specific Web browser software releases listed in the Supported Web browsers (required) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software, as long as those releases are also supported by the release of Domino Web Access running on the Lotus Domino server configured as the data source for the portlet. For information on supported browsers for Domino Web Access, see the release notes for the relevant Domino Web Access release.

The Domino Document Manager portlet is compatible with the specific Web browser software releases listed in the Supported Web browsers (required) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software, as long as those releases are also supported by the release of Lotus Domino Document Manager software running on the Lotus Domino server configured as the data source for the portlet. For information on supported browsers for Lotus Domino Document Manager, see the release notes for the relevant Domino Web Access release.

Accessibility Yes

Awareness in this portlet may be supported in a slightly different set of browsers and client platforms than listed in the table above, because the portlet depends upon the STLinks applet on the Lotus Sametime server. For more information, see People Finder portlet, people awareness, and Person menu problems in Troubleshooting Domino and Extended Products Portlets .

Server requirements

The Lotus Notes View portlet requires access to a Lotus Domino messaging/application server with HTTP support enabled. The Lotus Domino server hosts the Notes information source. A Lotus Sametime server supports awareness in the portlet.
The portlet is compatible with the specific releases of Lotus Domino and Lotus Sametime server software listed in the Supported software for collaboration (optional) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software.
If you want users of the portlet to be able to select the source Notes database file name from a drop-down list, the Lotus Domino server must run the DIIOP service, and on the Server document Internet Protocols - HTTP tab, the option "Allow HTTP clients to browse databases" must be set to Yes. For more information, see Allowing users to run Java agents.
If you do not choose to run the DIIOP service on the Lotus Domino server, we can specify a default database filename in the portlet parameter NotesDatabase, and users of the portlet can type over that filename if necessary to specify the information source.

Deployment/Installation

This portlet is installed automatically as part of WebSphere Portal installation.

Configuration parameters

The following configuration parameters are available in this portlet.

Parameter Value
NotesServer When the PortletType parameter is set to NOTESVIEW, NOTESDISCUSSION, or NOTESTEAMROOM, we can specify the fully qualified Internet (HTTP) host.name of the Lotus Domino server that hosts the Notes database that is the information source for the portlet.
Example: yourdominoserver.yourdomain.com
NotesDatabase When the PortletType parameter is set to NOTESVIEW, NOTESDISCUSSION, or NOTESTEAMROOM, we can specify the file name of the Notes database that is the information source of the portlet.
Examples:
mail/notesid.nsf (for a Notes Mail database)
mail/jdoe.nsfnotesdatabasename.nsf (for any other type of Notes database)
sales/salesdiscussion.nsf
NotesView When the PortletType parameter is set to NOTESVIEW, NOTESDISCUSSION, or NOTESTEAMROOM, we can edit the following default values for this parameter to change the view of the Notes database that displays when users view the portlet.
NOTESVIEW: ($All)
NOTESDISCUSSION: ($All)
NOTESTEAMROOM: ($All)
VAULT_SLOT Specify the name of the slot in the WebSphere Portal Credential Vault that stores credentials for authenticating users of one or more Lotus Notes View portlets.
Default:
lotus.notes.portlets
The default value is the slot for all Lotus Notes View portlets. We can define separate slots for different instances of the Lotus Notes View portlet by changing this parameter in each instance copy you create.
Example:
lotus.notes.portlets.notesDiscussionPortlet
The value for this parameter is case-sensitive and must match the name of the Credential Vault slot that was created under Portal Administration --> Security.
PortletType The PortletType parameter determines the type of Notes database source that will be displayed in this instance of the Lotus Notes View portlet. The following examples are fixed values that determine the type of Notes database source that will be displayed in this instance of the Lotus Notes View portlet. Enter one of them exactly. For details on the results of configuration with these parameters, see Using the Lotus Notes View portlet.
Example: NOTESVIEW (default)
Example: NOTESMAIL
Example: MYINBOX
Example: MYCALENDAR
Example: MYTODO
Example: NOTESDISCUSSION
Example: NOTESTEAMROOM
As soon as the portlet type is changed by selecting Configure from the portlet drop-down menu for an instance of the portlet, it overrides the value of this parameter for that portlet instance.
UserCredentialClass Specifies the Java class for the portlet to use when creating credentials.
Default:
com.ibm.wps.portlets.notes.NotesPortletCredential
To support the Switch ID feature, use the following value:
com.ibm.wps.portlets.notes.NotesPortletVaultCredential
selectedViewIndex Default view to show from the source Notes database.
Default:
$All
useAnonymousAccess Specifies whether portal users who have not authenticated can use the portlet.
Default:
no
pTitle_attr Specifies a custom title for the portlet instance. This parameter has no default value.

Parent topic:
Domino portlets reference

Related concepts
Messaging: the Common PIM portlets

Related reference:
Troubleshooting Domino and Extended Products Portlets

Notes Mail	Displays any view (for example, Inbox, Calendar, or To Do) of the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal.
Notes View	Displays any view of any Notes database to which a portal user has access. Users can add multiple views to a View menu, and the views can be from multiple Notes databases
Notes Teamroom	Displays any view of a Notes Teamroom to which a portal user has access.
Notes Discussion	Displays any view of a Notes Discussion to which a portal user has access.
My Notes Mail	Displays a portal user's own Notes Inbox, using the identity with which the user logs into WebSphere Portal to open that view from the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the user.
My Notes Calendar	Displays a portal user's Notes Calendar, using the identity with which the user logs into WebSphere Portal to open that view from the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the user.
My Notes To Do	Displays a portal user's Notes To Do (task) list, using the identity with which the user logs into WebSphere Portal to open that view from the Notes Mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the user.

PortletType parameter value	Portlet functionality
NOTESVIEW	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting Any Notes View. Specifying this value configures the portlet with one view, if you as portal administrator also pre-configure values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters. Otherwise, the portlet requests the user to specify a data source in edit mode. Users can add more views in edit mode.
NOTESMAIL	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - All. Specifying this value configures the portlet with the following views: All Documents Inbox Sent Drafts Calendar To Do Meetings With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal. Users can add more views in edit mode; if so, a View menu appears in view mode.
MYINBOX	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - Inbox. Specifying this value configures the portlet with the default view of Inbox. With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal,. Users can switch to the All Documents view in edit mode, but cannot add more views.
MYCALENDAR	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - Calendar. Specifying this value configures the portlet with the default view of Calendar. With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal. Users cannot add more views.
MYTODO	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting My Notes Mail - To Do. Specifying this value configures the portlet with the default view of To Do. With this value, the values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters are ignored, and the portlet looks up (auto-detects) the Lotus Domino server and Notes mail database specified in the Domino Directory's Person document for the authenticated user in the portal. Users cannot add more views.
NOTESDISCUSSION	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting Notes Discussion. Specifying this value creates no views and, unless you as portal administrator also pre-configure values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters, requests the user to specify a data source in edit mode. Users can add more views, selecting from a list of views available in the Notes Discussion database design; if they add any views, a View menu appears in view mode in the portlet.
NOTESTEAMROOM	Equivalent to the portlet Configuration setting Notes Teamroom. Specifying this value creates no views and, unless you as portal administrator also pre-configure values for the NotesServer, NotesDatabase and NotesView parameters requests the user to specify a data source in edit mode. Users can add more views, selecting from a list of views available in the Notes Teamroom database design; if they add any views, a View menu appears in view mode in the portlet.

Minimum requirements for HTML
Markup level	HTML 4.01 Transitional
Java applet	None
JavaScript	1.30
<iframe>	Yes
Style sheets	Portal styles only
Software	The Lotus Notes View and Lotus Document Viewer portlets are compatible with the specific Web browser software releases listed in the Supported Web browsers (required) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software. The Domino Web Access portlet is compatible with the specific Web browser software releases listed in the Supported Web browsers (required) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software, as long as those releases are also supported by the release of Domino Web Access running on the Lotus Domino server configured as the data source for the portlet. For information on supported browsers for Domino Web Access, see the release notes for the relevant Domino Web Access release. The Domino Document Manager portlet is compatible with the specific Web browser software releases listed in the Supported Web browsers (required) table under Software requirements in Supported hardware and software, as long as those releases are also supported by the release of Lotus Domino Document Manager software running on the Lotus Domino server configured as the data source for the portlet. For information on supported browsers for Lotus Domino Document Manager, see the release notes for the relevant Domino Web Access release.
Accessibility	Yes

Parameter	Value
NotesServer	When the PortletType parameter is set to NOTESVIEW, NOTESDISCUSSION, or NOTESTEAMROOM, we can specify the fully qualified Internet (HTTP) host.name of the Lotus Domino server that hosts the Notes database that is the information source for the portlet. Example: yourdominoserver.yourdomain.com
NotesDatabase	When the PortletType parameter is set to NOTESVIEW, NOTESDISCUSSION, or NOTESTEAMROOM, we can specify the file name of the Notes database that is the information source of the portlet. Examples: mail/notesid.nsf (for a Notes Mail database) mail/jdoe.nsfnotesdatabasename.nsf (for any other type of Notes database) sales/salesdiscussion.nsf
NotesView	When the PortletType parameter is set to NOTESVIEW, NOTESDISCUSSION, or NOTESTEAMROOM, we can edit the following default values for this parameter to change the view of the Notes database that displays when users view the portlet. NOTESVIEW: ($All) NOTESDISCUSSION: ($All) NOTESTEAMROOM: ($All)
VAULT_SLOT	Specify the name of the slot in the WebSphere Portal Credential Vault that stores credentials for authenticating users of one or more Lotus Notes View portlets. Default: lotus.notes.portlets The default value is the slot for all Lotus Notes View portlets. We can define separate slots for different instances of the Lotus Notes View portlet by changing this parameter in each instance copy you create. Example: lotus.notes.portlets.notesDiscussionPortlet The value for this parameter is case-sensitive and must match the name of the Credential Vault slot that was created under Portal Administration --> Security.
PortletType	The PortletType parameter determines the type of Notes database source that will be displayed in this instance of the Lotus Notes View portlet. The following examples are fixed values that determine the type of Notes database source that will be displayed in this instance of the Lotus Notes View portlet. Enter one of them exactly. For details on the results of configuration with these parameters, see Using the Lotus Notes View portlet. Example: NOTESVIEW (default) Example: NOTESMAIL Example: MYINBOX Example: MYCALENDAR Example: MYTODO Example: NOTESDISCUSSION Example: NOTESTEAMROOM As soon as the portlet type is changed by selecting Configure from the portlet drop-down menu for an instance of the portlet, it overrides the value of this parameter for that portlet instance.
UserCredentialClass	Specifies the Java class for the portlet to use when creating credentials. Default: com.ibm.wps.portlets.notes.NotesPortletCredential To support the Switch ID feature, use the following value: com.ibm.wps.portlets.notes.NotesPortletVaultCredential
selectedViewIndex	Default view to show from the source Notes database. Default: $All
useAnonymousAccess	Specifies whether portal users who have not authenticated can use the portlet. Default: no
pTitle_attr	Specifies a custom title for the portlet instance. This parameter has no default value.