COMPOSITE APPLICATIONS - DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT

Storing the Composite Application in a Notes Database
To automatically launch a composite application when you open an NSF file in the IBM® Lotus® Notes® Standard client, you must store the composite application in the Notes database. There are two ways to do this:
The Composite Application design element behaves just like other design elements in terms of replication, template inheritance, and so on. You may have more than one of them in a single Notes database, though this is unusual.

In addition to storing the Composite Application XML in the Notes database, you must also change certain settings to tell the Notes client to launch the Composite Application when the user opens the Notes database. (This has already been done for you if you created the Notes database from the Composite Application template.)

The easiest way to set the database to launch a Composite Application, is through the Database Properties Launch tab.

If you do not select a page, the default page of the application will be used.

Using the Launch property works in most cases. However, there are circumstances where it may be better to do it another way:


In such cases, you would not use the "Launch as Composite Application" option in the Database Infobox. Instead, do the following:

Create a frameset, and set the frameset to open the composite application and page you want.

In the Launch tab of the Database Infobox, select that frameset.

When the database is opened in the Standard Notes client using Ctrl+O or an outline entry that points to the database, it will ignore the regular contents of the frameset, and instead open the composite application specified in the frameset properties. The Notes Basic client, or an earlier version of Notes, will ignore the Composite Application setting of the frameset, and you will see the frameset in the client.

Of course, a Notes database can contain multiple framesets, so if you want to have your application open to different pages of the composite application depending how it's launched, you can define several framesets that open to different composite application pages. Then, create outline entries that link to those framesets.

To edit a composite application stored in a Notes database, you must first launch that composite application in the Standard Notes client and then use the Edit Application menu item. If you have not opened the Notes application as a composite application, the Composite Application Editor does not know where to find the composite application XML to edit.

See Also