How do I connect an SQL database to Lotus Domino Designer?

Question

I am creating a Lotus Notes application which has to have dynamic combo boxes. The choices for the combo boxes need to be retrieved by selecting from a SQL database.

I am new to Lotus Notes / Domino, I would love to know how to connect my SQL database for use in the domino designer. Thanks.

Edit: this is the client, not the web

Sub  Initialize

    On Error GoTo e
    Dim pw As String,user As String,odbc As String
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim conn As ODBCConnection,query As ODBCQuery,rs As ODBCResultSet
    Dim db As NotesDatabase
    Dim session As NotesSession
    Dim view As NotesView
    Dim doc As NotesDocument
    Dim newDoc As NotesDocument
    Set session = New NotesSession  
    Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
    Set view = db.GetView("Reports")
    Set doc = view.GetFirstDocument 
    Set conn = New ODBCConnection
    Set query = New ODBCQuery
    Set rs = New ODBCResultSet
    Set query.Connection = conn 
    Set rs.Query = query

    odbc =  "server"  
    user =  "user" 
    pw =  "pass"
    Call conn.ConnectTo( odbc , user , pw ) 
        i = 0
        query.SQL =  "SELECT * FROM table" 
        rs.Execute 
        rs.FirstRow
        Do  While  Not rs.IsEndOfData
            i = i + 1
            rs.NextRow
        Loop
    conn.Disconnect
    Exit  Sub 
e : 
    MessageBox "Error " & Err & " line " & Erl & ": " & _
    Error        
    Exit Sub

End  Sub

Answer 1

The questions is tagged Lotusscript so I assume that this is Lotusscript related (and not XPages related).

Have a look at the ODBCConnection, ODBCQuery, and ODBCResultSet Lotusscript classes in the Domino Designer Help database.

Answer 2

If you're not able to use any XPages components, you could try the ODBC variant of @DBLookup in the 'Use formula for choices' part of your combobox.

Answer 3

The code you have added to the question is going to cause an infinite loop due to the while/wend

Depending on how often the choices for the dropdown boxes change you could also create a scheduled agent that connections to the SQL server. I do this a lot for some of my own internal applications as it cuts down on unnecessary traffic to the SQL server if the values being returned are always the same.

Your scheduled agent would need to use the LSXLC extensions by adding UseLSX "*lsxlc" to the options section of the Lotusscript agent.

The LSXLC has a LOT of options which would be beyond the scope of this question so I would recommend looking at the Domino Designer Help files and searching for lsxlc. There are lots of examples in the help files.

Answer 4

Have a look at extlib on OpenNTF. It has an XPages component that allows you to connect to make SQL calls.

http://extlib.openntf.org

Answer 5

if you are using an xpages application, you can use a managed bean or static java method to get the data you want and bind it to the select values of the of combobox control.