Lotus Notes 7.

0 new features

Lotus Notes 7.0 offers a number of new Calendar and Scheduling features as well as
tighter integration with Lotus Sametime. Other functional areas that have been enhanced
include mail, desktop, and interoperability. For details on these and all other new client
features, see the Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 release notes.

Calendar and Scheduling

Lotus Notes 7.0 Calendar and Scheduling (C&S) includes a new Calendar Cleanup action
that helps you quickly and easily maintain your calendar. To access this feature, open the
Tools menu and choose the new Cleanup Calendar option. This displays the Calendar
Cleanup dialog box.

Figure 1. Calendar Cleanup dialog box

As you can see, Calendar Cleanup lets you delete entries based on their creation or last
modified dates. It also lets you select the type of entries (calendar or To Do) to be deleted.

When conducting a meeting, you can set up the on-line portion of the meeting to restrict
attendees to only those on the invite list and to provide a password for the on-line
meeting. And the Meetings view has been renamed to All Calendar Entries and offers
new views and usability improvements.

We've also enhanced support for managing rooms and resources. For example, you can
specify a preferred site and a preferred list of rooms and/or resources to use when
scheduling meetings. You can see which rooms/resources are restricted when scheduling
meetings. We've upgraded the rooms and resources workflow to eliminate double
bookings -- rooms or resources booked directly through the Rooms and Resources
database are now processed the same way as those booked through Calendar and
Scheduling. (We talk more about rooms and resources improvements later in this article.)

On the server, a new Domino task called RnRMgr now handles rooms/resources event
processing. This single point of decision regarding rooms and resources requests prevents
overbookings. (For more information, see the developerWorks: Lotus article, "Rooms and
Resources design in Lotus Notes/Domino 7."

You can now instruct your calendar to accept a meeting even if it conflicts with an earlier
meeting. You can also cancel C&S workflow when responding to a meeting invitation
with comments and expand/collapse the Calendar Mini-view. Calendar managers can
now mark messages for follow up in mail files that they manage and are prompted to
specify where forwarded mail is saved. Administrators can limit how far into the future
users can make reservations. Administrators can also set automatic reminder notices to be
sent to the Chairperson who books a particular room/resource so that if a meeting is
cancelled, the room/resource can be released. In addition, embedded graphics in the
Description field now appear when you send an invitation through iCalendar.

Lotus Sametime integration

Lotus Notes 7.0 offers enhanced presence awareness based upon Lotus Sametime. With
presence awareness, you can see a person's name in a document or view and tell whether
or not that person is online (indicated by a globe icon), and if so, you can click the name
to initiate a chat session. Presence awareness has been added to C&S views, Team
Rooms, Discussions, To Do documents, the Personal Name and Address Book, the
Rooms and Resources template, and the Domino Directory.

To further support Sametime integration, Notes instant messaging chat windows are now
in a separate thread. (They are no longer blocked when the Notes client is blocked.)
Notes instant messaging contact lists now include three new options: show online people
only, show short names, and sort list. You can also minimize lists to the Windows task
bar.

Instant messaging preferences support three new options for when a new instant message
or invitation arrives: bring message window to front, blink window, and play sound.
Notes instant messaging meetings offer features such as screen sharing, whiteboard,
audio, and video. In addition, you can now paste Notes URLs into chat windows. And the
Toolbar displays icons for screen sharing, whiteboard, and audio and video instant
meetings. Also, you can now save a Sametime chat session to your Notes mail database.

Mail
We've added a number of new features to Notes 7.0 mail. For example, Notes now offers
a Quick Follow Up feature. This allows you to select one or more mail messages and to
mark them for follow up without displaying the Follow Up dialog box. You can set
default Follow Up values through a tab in the Mail Preferences dialog box. Follow Up
actions are also now available via the right-click mouse menu. You can display the
Follow Up dialog box by dragging and dropping to the Follow Up view. Plus, the Follow
Up action drop-down dialog box includes a new option called New Follow Up Memo.
This lets you quickly create a Follow Up item. In addition, Follow Up functionality is
available for those with Editor access to the mail file. (In Lotus Notes 6, the Follow Up
interface was hidden from non-owners of a mail file.)

In Lotus Notes 7.0, the Mail Rules feature offers support for Stop Processing Action and
blacklist/whitelist spam. Other mail enhancements include a warning if you don't enter a
Subject in an email.

Figure 2. "No Subject" warning

There is also a new status bar icon that indicates whether email you receive is digitally
signed, encrypted, or both.

Figure 3. Mail security status bar icon

Mail threads are easier to manage in Lotus Notes 7.0. For example, you can view them
from the Mail Threads view. You can also display them while reading mail in the bottom
pane through a new option in the Mail Preferences dialog box. Mail Preferences can also
be set via policies, allowing administrators to distribute the same set of preferences to all
users. These preferences may be locked down by the administrator, so end users cannot
modify them.

You can also sort by subject in your Inbox and other mail views. And mail archiving has
been enhanced. In addition, you can now display a view-level icon within your Inbox that
shows whether you are the only recipient or one of several listed in the To and/or CC
fields.

Desktop

The Notes 7.0 File menu offers a new option called Close All Window Tabs. This option
lets you quickly close all open windows. This feature affects only the window tabs
opened in the current window. For example, suppose you have one Notes window open
and one Domino Designer window open with multiple forms open. Selecting Close All
Window Tabs in Domino Designer closes all open forms, but keeps the Domino Designer
window open. Also none of the open tabs in Lotus Notes is affected.

In the Welcome Page Wizard, you can create a welcome page with frames, a Personal
Page, or a Workplace.

Figure 4. Welcome Page Wizard

Workplace has been incorporated into the Welcome Page Wizard to enable you to create
multiple Workplaces.

Microsoft Office interoperability

You can now access Notes mail through the Smart Tags feature in Microsoft Office XP.
(Smart Tags recognize certain types of text -- for example, person names -- and offer
related functions and commands.) For more information about Smart Tags, see the tip,
"Using Smart Tags in Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0."

Templates

As mentioned earlier, presence awareness has been integrated into the Mail, Team Room,
and Discussion templates; Domino Directory; the Rooms and Resources template; and
the Personal Name and Address Book. Also, the Team Room and Discussion templates,
Rooms and Resources, and Document Library now support the Mozilla browser.
Other Notes enhancements

In addition to the features listed in the preceding sections, the Notes 7.0 client includes:

• Improved rooms and resources usability, including a simple form to create a

reservation and the ability to transfer a reservation
• Better archiving
• Enhanced Meetings view
• Less wait while a view that needs updating is being opened
• Accessibility enhancement (You can designate row and column headers in tables
so that screen-reader applications can detect them.)
• The Notes application plug-in (This plug-in works with the IBM Workplace
Managed Client. For details, consult the Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0 release notes.)
• Ability to save your open window state on shutdown (For example, if you have
three windows open when you shut down Notes, those three windows will open
when you restart Notes.)
• AutoSave option for selected documents (see the developerWorks: Lotus article,
"All about Autosave in Lotus Notes/Domino 7")

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Lotus Domino
Designer 7.0
new features

The new
features added
to Lotus
Domino
Designer 7.0
build upon the
themes of
tighter
integration
with Web
standards,
more
interoperabilit
y with IBM
technologies,
and ease of
use. For
example, the
Domino
Designer
interface now
offers
improved
design lists
that display
information
more clearly
and allow you
to directly edit
listed
elements.

Figure 5.
Design lists

We also added
a number of
usability
features to the
Domino
Designer
interface
based on your
feedback. For
instance, the
Comments
column is now
sortable, and
the widths of
all resizable
columns are
saved. You
can also set
the name,
alias, and
comment
directly in the
design list. In
addition, you
can add view
actions to
right-click
menus.

Domino
Designer also
includes a
new toolbar
icon to toggle
the
LotusScript
debugger
state. This
toolbar icon
also indicates
whether the
debugger is on
or off.

DB2 views

As described
in a separate
article, Lotus
Domino 7.0
supports DB2
as a data store.
To
accommodate
this, Domino
Designer now
includes two
new types of
views for
DB2-enabled
databases:
DB2 Access
views and
DB2 Query
views. DB2
Access views
define how
your data is
organized,
enabling you
to leverage
features
available in
DB2. These
views identify
a common set
of notes in an
NSF file. This
information
can then be
used by DB2.
For example,
you can
organize
documents in
DB2 based on
the Notes
form used to
create the
document.
The DB2
Access views
make the data
available
directly by
SQL. Third-
party
applications
can read the
data using
Open
Database
Connectivity
(ODBC).

A DB2 Query
view uses an
SQL query to
populate its
data instead of
a view
formula that
selects
documents
from within
the NSF file.
With Query
views, you
can access
non-Domino
content. A
Query view
can also join
data from
multiple DB2
tables and
views,
allowing you
to join data
from two NSF
files indirectly
by joining two
separate DB2
Access views.

To further
support DB2,
you can define
fields to be
accessed
relationally on
a per form or
per database
basis.

NOTE: In the
first release of
Domino 7.0,
DB2
integration
features are
for test and
evaluation
purposes only,
not for
production or
development
work. Full
support for
DB2
integration
features will
be included in
an upcoming
release of
Domino 7.
For more
information,
see the Lotus
Notes/Domino
7.0 release
notes. You can
also
participate in
the DB2
features for
Domino 7 trial
program.

Web Services
design
element

Domino
Designer 7.0
introduces a
new design
element that
lets you
maintain the
function of a
Web Service.
This design
element
(which
internally is
stored in the
NSF file as an
agent)
includes all
the attributes
typically
expected of a
Web Service.
The code
consists of an
empty Service
Implementatio
n class and
Service
Support
classes for
handling
complex user-
defined types.
For more
information,
see the article,
"Lotus
Notes/Domino
7 Web
Services."

Programmabil
ity

Domino
Designer 7.0
also offers a
set of
programmabil
ity
enhancements
. This includes
a number of
new functions,
properties,
and methods,
for example:

• Notes
Databa
se.Get
Modifi
edDoc
uments
(Lotus
Script)
and
Databa
se.get
Modifi
edDoc
uments
(Java)
These
metho
ds
obtain
a list
of
modifi
ed
docum
ents.
• Notes
Admin
istratio
nProce
ss.App
roveH
ostedO
rgStor
ageDel
etion
(Lotus
Script)
and
Admin
istratio
nProce
ss.appr
 oveHo
stedOr
gStora
geDele
tion
(Java)
These
are
approv
e
metho
ds for
deletin
g
hosted
organi
zation
storage
.
• Notes
Docu
mentC
ollecti
on.Unt
ilTime
(Lotus
Script)
and
Docu
mentC
ollecti
on.get
UntilT
ime
(Java),
Notes
DOM
Docu
mentN
ode.Cr
eateAtt
ribute
NodeN
S,
Create
Eleme
 ntNod
eNS,
GetEle
ments
ByTag
Name
NS
(Lotus
Script)
,
Notes
DOM
Eleme
ntNod
e.GetA
ttribute
NodeN
S,
GetAtt
ribute
NodeN
S,
GetEle
ments
ByTag
Name
NS,
Remov
eAttrib
uteNS,
SetAttr
ibuteN
odeNS
,
SetAttr
ibuteN
S
(Lotus
Script)
• Notes
Docu
mentC
ollecti
on.Unt
ilTime
(Lotus
 Script)
and
Docu
mentC
ollecti
on.get
UntilT
ime
(Java)
These
metho
ds
have
been
added
to the
Admin
istratio
nProce
ss
class.
• @IsE
mbedd
edInsi
deWC
T
This
functio
n
determ
ines
whethe
r or
not
Notes
is
runnin
g
embed
ded
within
a
Workp
lace
Client
Techn
 ology
rich
client.
• @DbB
uildVe
rsion
This
functio
n
identifi
es the
server
versio
n for a
databa
se.
• @Get
DB2Sc
hema
and
@IsD
B2
These
functio
ns are
design
ed to
enhanc
e
Lotus
Notes/
DB2
integra
tion.

We’ve also
added the new
formula
function
@PolicyField
Locked and
command
@Command([
DiscoverFolde
rs]). And Web
Services
(provider
entities) can
be created as
LotusScript or
Java design
elements and
accessed
through a
Domino
server. In
addition,
we've added a
Performance
Profiler for
Java and
LotusScript
agents and
Web Services
and
integration of
a new version
of the XML
parser.

Java

Domino
Designer 7.0
supports JVM
1.4.2, as well
as the Java
debugger.
This lets you
prepare design
elements that
contain Java
code for
subsequent
debugging by
using the
checkbox
provided for
agents, Web
Services, and
script
libraries.

Other
application
development
enhancements

In addition to
an improved
UI and
support for
Web Services,
new features
in Domino
Designer 7.0
include:

• WebSp
here
Portal
integra
tion
improv
ements
• View
Shared
Colum
n
suppor
t
• Suppor
t for
multipl
e User
Profile
colum
ns in a
view

In addition,
the Domino
7.0 Web
server
supports the
ability for
Web
applications to
compress data
sent to HTTP
servers. The
Web server
also supports
the use of JSP
tags in
WebSphere
Portal. Lotus
Notes/Domino
7.0 also offers
enhanced
Linux/Mozilla
support,
including UI
improvements
to DOLS
plug-ins,
DOLS Sync
Manager
support for
scheduled
synchronizatio
n, and drag-
and-drop
functionality.

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Domino Web
Access

Domino Web
Access 7.0
(iNotes)
includes a
number of
new features.
For example,
a new Domino
Web Access
client
template
(dwa7.ntf)
provides new
features in a
user interface
for the
browser. You
can view mail
threads while
reading mail
or from the
Mail Threads
view. You can
sign, send,
and read
S/MIME
messages and
create your
own
personalized
stationery to
use when
composing
mail
messages. You
can also
import
country-
specific
holidays into
your calendar.

Domino Web
Access instant
messaging
awareness
integration
now more
closely
matches Notes
client
awareness
features. The
Sametime
Connect for
browser
clients is
integrated as
the default
Instant
Contact List
manager.
Productivity
enhancements
include
support for
single-click
Follow Up,
Quick Mail
Rule, and the
option to
forward any
Domino Web
Access object
in a message.
And we've
extended
support for
drag-and-drop
and off-line
scheduled
synchronizatio
n to Mozilla
browser users.

In keeping
with the
previously
mentioned
theme of
improved
capacity and
performance,
Domino Web
Access has
been
internally
engineered to
provide
increased
server
scalability and
reduced CPU
usage to help
boost
performance
and response
times both on
the client and
on the server.
We've also
added
administrative
options that
let you
disallow
access to mail
attachments
and to force
user logout
when all
Domino Web
Access
windows are
closed. And
we've
enhanced
S/MIME
support for
better security.

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Domino
Access for
Microsoft
Outlook

IBM Lotus
Domino
Access for
Microsoft
Outlook now
provides
Microsoft
Outlook users
many of the
features
available in
Notes/Domino
mail, address
book, and
Calendar and
Scheduling
functions via a
Domino
server (instead
of Microsoft
Exchange).
These include
changing the
owner of a
mail database,
changing
passwords,
setting up user
security,
customizing
replication
settings, and
so on. In
addition, users
can sign, send,
and read
S/MIME
messages.

For more on
Domino
Access for
Microsoft
Outlook, see
the
developerWor
ks: Lotus
article,
"Domino
Access for
Microsoft
Outlook and
the Domino
Migration
Tool."

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Lotus Notes
and Domino
Designer 7.0:
Continuing
the tradition

As you can
see, Lotus
Notes/Domino
7.0 is a
worthy
successor to
its
predecessors.
This release
continues the
Note/Domino
integration
with the Lotus
extended
product
family that
started in
release 6.5.1.
The extended
products
(Lotus
Sametime,
Lotus
Quickplace,
Lotus Domino
Document
Manager, and
Lotus
Workflow) are
also included
as part of the
Lotus
Notes/Domino
7.0.

But the story

doesn't end
here. We're
already busily
designing and
building the
next release of
Notes/Domino
. As these
features
become
available,
we'll cover
them in a
future article.
Stay tuned!