Domino Developer Plugin ^{beta}
for Aptana Studio            

Version 0.6.0

   

The Domino Developer Plugin for Aptana Studio is an Eclipse plugin that provides virtual file management and editing for Lotus Domino database resources within the popular Aptana Studio Ajax development environment.

This plugin simplifies the process of marshaling web resources such as JavaScript libraries, stylesheets and static XML files between Domino application databases and the external IDE. It provides an alternative to traditional methods such as WebDAV, manual resource refreshing and simple copy-and-paste.

The current beta version provides read, write, copy and create operations for CSS, HTML, JavaScript and XML resources stored as shared file resources, JavaScript script libraries or page design elements within the source database.

System Requirements

• Aptana Studio version 1.1 or above (the stand alone install or the Eclipse plugin running on Eclipse 3.2 or above)
• Lotus Notes / Domino Designer version 7 or above
  • Version 6.5.x may also work by virtue of Java 1.3 compliance, but is untested
  • Version 7.0.2 or above is required to support shared file and style sheet resources

License

The Domino Developer Plugin for Aptana Studio is completely free and open source. It is distributed under version 3 of the GNU General Public License. Go to the domino-aptana project page on Google Code for further information or to access the Subversion source code repository.

Version History

• Version 0.6.0
  • Full compatability with Aptana Studio 1.2
  • Support for path/folder information in design element names
  • Support for local databases
  • Support for drag & drop copying to and from the file system
  • Fixed last byte truncation bug affecting certain file resource lengths
  • Improved performance retrieving design elements from large databases
• Version 0.5.2
  • Support for additional content types:
    • Shared file resources (ND 7.0.2+ required)
    • Shared style sheet resources (ND 7.0.2+ required)
    • JavaScript script libraries
  • Fixed database label display bug in Aptana file view
  • Code completely refactored to Model-View-Controller pattern
• Version 0.1.0
  • Initial release

Installation

1. This plugin makes a local Notes connection via the Domino Java API, so you will need to place the location of your Notes program directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes) in your system PATH environment variable
2. In Aptana/Eclipse, Select Help - Software Updates - Find and Install...
3. Select 'Search for new features to install' and click Next
4. Click 'New Remote Site...' and enter the following:
   • Name: Domino-Aptana Update Site
   • URL: http://www.jeffgilfelt.com/eclipseplugins/
5. Click OK, then Finish to connect to the Update Site
6. Select the feature 'Domino Developer Plugin for Aptana Studio' and click Next
7. Agree to the terms in the license agreement, click Next then Finish to begin installation
8. When installation is complete you will be prompted to restart Aptana/Eclipse
9. After the restart, the My Aptana start page should appear showing that 1 new plugin was installed

Usage

To add a new Domino database reference, right click on the 'Lotus Domino' entry in the File view and select 'Add New Database...'

The database configuration dialog will appear. Enter the server and full path to the database you want to connect to. Enter the password for your Notes ID file. You can omit this if you have set the option 'Don't prompt for a password from other Notes based programs' in your Notes client. Click 'Test Connection' to make sure the plugin can connect to the target database. Select the database content options and click OK to save the new database reference.

A new database entry will appear in the File view. Expand it to see a series virtual folders that are used to sort and display the web resources contained in the database. Expand a folder to see its content.

You can now read and write to the web resources from Aptana's Eclipse editors as you would in a normal file system. Right click on the the appropriate folder and select 'New File' to create a new resource. Drag and drop files to copy them between databases and the file system.

All database references are serialized upon shutdown and will be available again when you restart the IDE.

Resources

• Eclipse
• Aptana Studio
• IBM Lotus Domino
• Aptana Studio Developer Wiki

Other Tools

Other tools I have created that relate to Eclipse, Notes and Domino:

• iUIView - Domino view rendering for Safari on iPhone
• Formul8 for IBM Lotus Notes 8
• Secret Agent for IBM Lotus Notes 8
• SideLog for IBM Lotus Notes 8

Contact

I can be reached via email at jgilfelt [at] gmail [dot] com