Using Lotus Notes Data links (e.g. DocLink, DatabaseLink, etc.) with Outlook 2007 (Part 1 of 2)
During the coexistence phase (Lotus Notes client (for using the Notes applications) and Outlook client (for messaging) both installed on the workstation), the Lotus Notes client could be activated using a Notes Data Link (NDL) (Lotus Notes proprietary link similar to a URL) distributed as part of an e-mail message or attachment for instance.
Notes Data Links exist for documents, views, folders, and databases and make it possible to directly jump to the destination.
To activate a link, a user must have access to the database the link leads to, which must be available locally or on a Notes/Domino server, as illustrated in Figure below:
Handling NDL correctly in Outlook 2007 is mainly relevant in three cases:
1. Notes workflow applications that send mails with NDL: in this case, mail with NDL are generated programmatically mainly using the Notes formula language
@MailSend( sendTo ; copyTo ; blindCopyTo ; subject ; remark ; bodyFields ; [IncludeDoclink])
or LotusScript
Set doc = curdb.Createdocument
doc.form = "Memo" 'mailmaske
doc.sendto = "TN08/R08@R08"
doc.subject = "Mail through Lotus Script with doclink"
Set rtitem = New NotesRichtextitem(doc,"Body")
Call rtitem.appendText ("Here is the link:")
Call rtitem.appenddoclink(yourdoc(A),"Click to open")
Call doc.send(False) ' False = just send without save
2. Notes mail users sending mail with NDL to Outlook users: a Notes mail user selects a Notes resources, copy it as a Notes data link within a mail using the Notes client. This will happen during the coexistence phase for users that has not been upgraded to Outlook yet.
3. Outlook users sending mail with NDL: since some applications will still be on the Lotus Notes platform, some users may want to send mails with links pointing to Notes resources and they will not be able to do it as described in case two.
Since Notes Data Links are proprietary to Lotus Notes, they are not supported as is in Outlook and a conversion is required at some point. Possible conversion option is as follow:
¾ Convert NDL to a mail attachment (.NDL extension file): A Lotus Notes Data Link contains all the information needed to find the Notes resources across the network. The .NDL file can be attached to a Notes mail message to be sent to a non-Notes user. You can also open Windows Explorer and then double-click the file, which will launch the Notes client and open the View link.
For instance, the following is an example of a Lotus Notes doclink NDL file:
<NDL>
<REPLICA 8525681F:0043D9C5>
<VIEW OFAA9D6A37:688AF3AB-ON8525681F:0043DA1C>
<NOTE OFF2AC8FF6:29F86386-ON8525681F:00484A80>
<REM>Database 'Outlook MS Office Automation', View 'Main', Document 'This is the subject'</REM>
</NDL>
¾ Convert NDL to a Notes url (notes://): The Notes URL is a type of URL with the notes prefix (notes://servername/replica-id/view-id/notes-id) that allows to add links to Notes documents, views, and databases into a web page or an HTML mail. This functionality[1] allows a web browser user to launch a Notes URL like it was a Notes doclink, view link, or database link. When a browser user clicks on a Notes URL link, it will launch the Notes client (if it wasn't already running) and will open the appropriate document, view, or database. Outlook supporting HTML mail, can display such kind of link.
¾ Convert NDL to a web url (https://): Lotus Domino uses URLs to access servers, databases, and other components of a Domino Web site. Domino URL commands have the following syntax: https://Host/Database/DominoObject?Action&Arguments You can use the URL commands to open databases and views, open framesets, open forms, navigators, and agents, open, edit, create, save, and delete documents, etc.
[1] The feature already works in Notes 5.0 but the Notes install program does not add the entry in the Windows registry for the notes protocol handler. A customer must add this manually. Starting with release 5.09, the Notes client installer will automatically add the Notes protocol handler information to the registry.
The Table below: NDL Conversion Option Pros and Cons below highlights the pros and cons of these conversion options
NDL conversion option |
Pros |
Cons |
Convert NDL to a mail attachment |
· Will work with both Outlook and Notes mail client |
· User-friendliness is reduced as in context link in the mail body is replaced by a file attachment |
Convert NDL to a Notes url |
· Will work with both Outlook and Notes mail client · User friendly |
|
Convert NDL to a web url |
· Will work with both Outlook and Notes mail client · User friendly |
· Requires that the originating Domino server and application is Web-enabled |
There are several solutions available to convert NDL to mail attachment, Notes url or Web url. These solutions range from keeping and configuring some Lotus Notes Domino servers to route mail to Exchange 2007, using ISV like Genii Software CoexLinks or Binary Tree Zapp to custom development.
More to come on Part 2...
