Building a search function with DataTables plugin (VI)

Introduction

Often business analists who work with the data in tables eat & sleep in their spreadsheet world so a common asked question is: can we export the data? “Ofcourse you can!” with the datatable component.

Modifications

Below is a short summary of the changed/added items.

Configuration

In order to add the buttons you specify in the datatable configuration which buttons you would like to have e.g.:

dom: ‘Bfrtip’,
buttons: [
‘copy’,
‘csv’,
‘excel’,
{
extend: ‘pdfHtml5’,
orientation: ‘landscape’,
pageSize: ‘LEGAL’,
title: ‘Person Details’
},
‘print’
]

 

Required files

Which files are required for the buttons feature depend on which buttons you would like to display. In the download builder you can specify for which options you would like to go.

AMD fix

An important thing to notice is that most JS files use AMD loading. There have been posted multiple questions and answers how to fix AMD loading with XPages. In my repository I have just removed the amd checking.

Files overview

Probably the files you would like to use will be listed in the Theme design element:

<!– adding buttons –>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/buttons-1.2.1/js/dataTables.buttons.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/buttons-1.2.1/js/buttons.flash.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/jszip-2.5.0/jszip.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/pdfmake-0.1.18/build/pdfmake.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/pdfmake-0.1.18/build/vfs_fonts.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/buttons-1.2.1/js/buttons.html5.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>application/x-javascript</content-type>
<href>DataTables/buttons-1.2.1/js/buttons.print.js</href>
</resource>
<resource>
<content-type>text/css</content-type>
<href>DataTables/buttons-1.2.1/css/buttons.dataTables.min.css</href>
</resource>

 

Result

As a result you will see the buttons displayed above the table. If you apply filtering to the table the buttons will pick up the provided terms.

A little less coding than an X-agent to create a PDF or spreadsheet 🙂

A downsize might be that users are not aware of the amount of data that might reside in your datatable (the only x-number of entries are displayed). Pressing the PDF button with 40K of documents in your notes view takes a bit of time…

Using Bootstrap in XPages – The ultimate incomplete guide

This document describes how to integrate the popular front-end framework Twitter Bootstrap with XPages. The purpose is to provide developers an introduction to use Twitter Bootstrap in XPages development projects by building an actual application.

Below you can find a document/manual I started to write a while ago but I never finished (I guess there is no finish since new boundaries are explored every day). At least the document should give you a head start with using ‘raw’ (Twitter) Bootstrap in XPages. I also recommend you to take a look at the Bootstrap4XPages project on OpenNTF since this project offers lots of ‘out of the box’ conversions of components from the Extension Library (e.g. data view control).

Bootstrap in XPages

Enjoy reading!

The View free online?

During the cleanup of my paper library with the View magazines I noticed that a lot of articles, including the PFD’s, of The View are indexed by Google and available online. I am not sure if this is a mistake or a seasonal gift from Wellesley Information Services but if you search online most of the older articles appear in the search results.

Older? “What is their use?” you may wonder. Most techniques described are obsolete or a sin, but others are so general (performance, programming best practices) or describe the core (2)of Notes that they are still interesting and fun to read.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

In case you wonder how to obtain the titles of the articles that WIS has published you can check for example this site.

Some search tips:

• Enter titles case sensitive.
• In case the PDF file does not appear in the results add ‘PDF’ as keyword or use Google Advanced Search where you can specify file type.
• The locations VOLR6.nsf or viewr5.nsf are pretty unique keywords.

JSF Expression Language (presentation)

Yesterday I participated in an Advanced XPages Workshop by Emvege which was interesting. In the course material was a presentation on the JSF Expression Language which is also available online: link.

Inside Notes Yellowbook

In order to set up some common Notes Development terminology for our quality books I googled around and found some great resources: What is Lotus Notes? , The architecture of Lotus Notes, Domains, Servers, Databases, Directories… What does it all mean? (@Alan: Coming Next: Databases, Folders/Views, Documents/Forms/Pages, and Fields. – This has never been released, right?).

You are welcome to drop here references to information you can recommend =)

While I am waiting for HTML5:Up and Running (and the XPages book) I thought reading the Inside Notes Yellowbook will help me become a bit more profound in Notes terminology (I have read the development Yellowbooks, never the Inside Notes one).

Inside Notes provides a single place where you can quickly learn about the overall architecture of
Notes. It clearly presents gist of Notes design, without getting bogged down in details. While some
of the information included here has appeared elsewhere, other information has never before been
published.

Oh boy/sister! This book is doper than dope! A must-read for devs, architects and admins. Maybe it does not tell anything new you did not know, but it reads like a hot knife through butter. Too bad the book covers Notes untill release 5.

So all basics are covered, but is has never been updated with release 6,7 and 8 stuff (if needed). A good thing though that Notes is all about notes, already from it’s start.

It also makes clear to me that the WIKI’s are nice as reference, but they lack completeness and a table of content a guidance from ABC to XYZ.

So IBM: continue to publish Yellowbooks/Redbooks, simply because no one else seems to publish something about Lotus Notes Domino.

For now, I am enjoying some happy reading with some Swedish summer-rain.

Using the Dojo widgets XPages

The following URL on the Japanse version of developerWorks leads to a nice document that describes the opportunities about using Dojo widgets on XPages:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/jp/ysl/library/lotus/y-lot-dojoonxpages/

Since the document is in Japanese Google Translate is probably your friend:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibm.com%2Fdeveloperworks%2Fjp%2Fysl%2Flibrary%2Flotus%2Fy-lot-dojoonxpages%2F&sl=ja&tl=en

Uhm.. nice translation…

Btw, translation seems to work best with Chrome, as expected.

Using the Dojo widgets XPages

Developing XPages – IBM Material

I have no idea if the following files were intended to make public, anyway they contain a good introduction and exercise in understanding and developing in XPages technology:

Developing XPages – Part I

Developing XPages – Part II

Developing XPages – Part III

Developing XPages – Part IV