Create a lotus notes document from external application

2
votes

I have an Microsoft Access database that is used internally by my company. Our parent company has a similar system in Lotus Notes. I have been asked to investigate getting information out of our Access databases and into the Lotus Notes system. I would like to create a document in Lotus Notes to mirror a record in the Access database. Please keep in mind

  • I do not have developer rights in Lotus Notes
  • I do have full control over the Access Database
  • I am comfortable in VBA, .Net, and some Java
  • I cannot install any new software on the client or server machines

Is this possible, and if so, could you point me in the right direction to get started?

4
ms-accesslotus-notes

4 Answers

1
votes

A lot depends on the structure of the Lotus application. The easiest way to get data into the Lotus application, if you do not have developer rights would be to match the access tables to the Lotus views and import the data.

Another way would be to create a new lotus application where you would have developers rights and prepare the data for import there. The change that it is an 1 to 1 conversion is usually very small, and building the conversion on the target platform (Lotus) would be easier.

Lotus script is similar to VB. The way Lotus deals with data (NoSQL) is different.

1
votes

Step one, try to get developer rights for the Lotus Notes database.

Even if you don't change anything, it would be helpful for you to get an understanding of the structure of the Notes application. Notes database files contain both the data and the design, and perhaps someone from your parent company can provide you with a copy of the application and grant you full access to it, and you can bring that to your development machine to poke around.

It's hard to tell from your question whether this is a one-time move of data or you want to integrate the two applications. If it is a one-time move, you might be able to get away with doing a File > Import using an Excel spreadsheet loaded with data. You'd have to know the field names in Notes, and you might have to 'massage' the data before importing.

If you are trying to integrate, you could use the COM API and create Notes Documents from MSAccess, populating them with data from your Access records at the appropriate time.

0
votes

From VBA/VBS, you can openup Notes using COM. You can then navigate Notes objects to create documents and populate Notes documents with field values. There are some minor differences between the objects/methods/propertoes available via COM and internally from say LotusScript, but on the whole its fairly easy. You don't need designer rights to open up a external notes session via com and assuming that you can use the existing forms/views in the database, then all you do need is ACL rights to create/deposit docs, and ECL rights to access via COM. There is help in the Notes-Doc (albeit brief) and some examples out on the web. You will need to open up your external session using a notes-name and password.

You start with a simple: 

set ns = createobject("Notes.Session")

(or something similar) in VBA, and take it from there.

Performance might be an issue if creating many thousands of docs but on the whole its ok.