LOTUS NOTES GADGET

Draft Ver 0.2

Hemant Puri
 INTRODUCTION

 Domino Notes can be accessed via HTTP. There are 2 products

 Lotus Domino R5

• Domino R5 Mail provides a unified architecture for e-mail, Web access, online
calendaring and group scheduling, collaborative workspaces, bulletin boards and
newsgroups. Unmatched mobile capabilities and support for the widest array of
clients -- from Lotus Notes clients to Web browsers to Outlook to PDAs -- give users
secure messaging anytime, anywhere.

• Released in Jan 2000.

• Supports Internet Explorer 4.x and above, Netscape 4.7 and above.

• Although it provides Web Access, the view is not that slick. Lotus has since come out
with iNotes Web Access (still in beta).

 INotes Web Access

• Lotus iNotes Access is a presentation view in Domino that allows users to access
their messaging, personal information, company information via a standard Web
browser. It gets the information from the Lotus Domino Server. It enables one to
access e-mail, calendar, to-do items, contact management using a Web Browser
(IE5.x ond above. Support for Netscape 4.7 and above is broken as of this writing. )
www.notes.net/inotes.

• On the Browser side, it uses DHTML which encompasses HTML, XML, CSS,
JavaScript. It avoids using Java Applets to give better performance.

• iNotes had a beta release on 23 October 2000.

http://www.notes.net/inoteswebaccesswelcome.nsf/9ef083dbcc1d1c5c8525695b0050c564/f97
737d60ca63ec885256993006f4587?OpenDocument

• iNotes has a planned ship date for early Q1, 2001.

http://www.notes.net/today.nsf/lookup/inotes_web_access_interview

• iNotes basically provides an enhanced presentation over Lotus Domino Server.

 INTEGRATING IN NPS

Based on the documentation available on their web sites and interacting with Jason Dumont
(Product Manager for iNotes), there are 2 alternatives we have:

 Alternative 1 : Add the entire Web Access URL as a single Gadget using iframe.
 Alternative 2 : Provide gadgets to get e-mail, calendar, todo, etc….

Alternative 1

 Domino and iNotes provides web access to Domino to get email, calendar. So we can use
the iFRAME feature [for IE and Netscape 6.0 and separate window for Netscape 4.7] and set
the URL link as the Domino Web Access URL, based on the portal user logged in. The
disadvantage is we cannot customize the view since we are pretty much stuck up with the
views Domino provides ( ie will always see e-mail, todo, etc… ). But should be good enough
for a first cut since anyway it will be in an IFRAME.

 Use Secret Store functionality to provide single sign-on

 Domino and INotes supports the following authentication mechanisms

 Basic: Simple base64 encoded. This is the authentication mechanism in which the
Browser pops up an authentication dialog when logging onto the Domino/iNotes Server.
While integrating into the Portal, this dialog can be avoided by getting the
UserName/Password from the Secret store and using a POST to do a single sign on for
that session.
 Form: UserName/Password sent in HTTP header. This is the authentication mechanism
in which the Browser displays a Form when logging onto the Domino/iNotes Server. By
using Secret Store to get the UserName/Password, the Browser can do a single sign on
using the POST method.

Alternative 2

 This builds on Alternative 1 and provides more customization. iNotes is going to provide direct
URL addressing of components for portal hosting of specific iNotes views. With this we can
specifically just get the e-mail view or the calendar view or any other views. The
implementation will be similar to GroupWise Mail and GroupWise Calendar Gadgets.

 This alternative will allow us a lot of flexibility in terms of customization.

 However after interacting with iNotes Product Manager (Jason Dumont) via their news group,
this is what I got.

 iNotes beta was released in October 2000.

 iNotes FCS Gold will be released in Q1 2001.
  The Beta release does not support direct URL addressing, but the final release
(scheduled in Q1 2001) will support it.
 They are still working on finalizing the documentation for the URL addressing.

 Dependancies

 iNotes URL addressing documentation, which Lotus is still finalizing

 Release of iNotes FCS, which will have this feature.

 Limitations.
 This will be possible with only the iNotes version and not the pure vanilla Domino Server.

Conclusion

 We should go ahead with Alternative 1, since Alternative 2 will be feasable only once iNotes
is released.
 DEPLOYING NOTES GADGET

Installation of Notes Gadget

 In NPS Administration, Select “Add a Gadget”

Figure 1: Add a Gadget

 In the ‘Add a Gadget’ screen

 Assign a name to the Gadget.
 Select the DN of the Gadget (cn=Notes,o=novell).
 Set ‘Assignment Can Be Configured by the User’ to true.
 Click on ‘Set Gadget Configuration’ Button to get the following screen.
Figure 2: Set Gadget Configuration

 In the ‘Set Gadget Configuration’ screen

 Enter the IP address or DNS name of the Domino Notes server.
 Select the protocol (http/https) to access the Notes server.
 Select the Authentication Method (Basic/Form) depending on what authentication method the
Domino server is configured for.
 Select ‘See Advanced Settings’ if you want to configure the Height and Width of the Gadget.
 Click on ‘OK’ to return back to ‘Add a Gadget’ screen. Click ‘OK’ again to complete the
configuration.

 The Administrator portion of Notes Gadget configuration is now complete. Now whenever any user
logs on to the Portal the first time, he/she will be prompted to enter username/password/mail file. This
username/password/mail file will be stored in the Secret Store and used subsequently to provide single
sign on.
Using the Notes Gadget

 When the user logs in the first time, he/she will be prompted for the username/password/mail file.

Figure 3 Configure Credentials

 In the ‘Configure Credentials’ screeen

 Enter the Mail file name (/mail/user.nsf). Each Notes user has a mail file. Consult the Notes
Documentation.
 Enter the User name.
 Enter the Password.
 Click on Continue.
 Notes is now configured for the user and the user will see his/her Notes page within the portal.
Depending on whether the Notes server is vanilla Domino Server (Fig 4) or iNotes Web Access (Fig 5), the
corresponding view will show up.

Figure 4 Domino Mail View

Figure 5 iNotes Access View

 If the User name / password/ mail file needs to be modified for the User, click on the personalize
bitmap on the top right hand side of the view. This will enable you to configure the values.
 TEST CASES

 Browser requirements:
♦ Pure Domino Server
• Supports IE 5.0 and above.
• Netscape 4.7 and above

♦ INotes Web Access

• Supports IE 5.0 and above.
• Does not work with either Netscape 4.7 or Netscape 6.0 because at the time of writing, iNotes
(beta version) is not compatible with Netscape.
 Serial Test Case Simulation Steps
Number
1 Notes Server Address Log in as Administrator. Edit the
not specified gadget property so as to remove
the Server address.
2 Notes Mail file not Log in as a portal user. First time
specified. you will be prompted to enter
Mail file (.nsf) file. Do not enter
anything.
3 Notes user not Log in as a portal user. First time
specified you will be prompted to enter
Notes user name. Do not enter
anything.
4 Basic Authentication Setup a Notes server to do Basic
method test. Authentication. Log in as Portal
Administrator and configure the
Notes Gadget to use Basic
Authentication.
5 Form Authentication Setup a Notes server to do Form
method test. Authentication. Log in as Portal
Administrator and configure the
Notes Gadget to use Form
Authentication.
6 Invalid Mail file Specify an invalid Mail file name.
7 Invalid User name Specify an invalid user name.
8 Invalid Password Specify an invalid password.
name
9 Secret Store test. Create 2 iNotes users. Create 2
portal users and configure the
iNotes gadget for each portal user.
Log in as first portal user and you
should get iNotes page for the
first user. Log in as second user
and you should get iNotes page
for second user.
10 Portal Dimension Log in as Portal Administrator.
test. In the iNotes Advanced
configuration modify the height
and width.
11 Netscape 4.7 Try accessing the iNotes page
Compatibility test. using Netscape 4.7. Since
(only for Vanilla Netscape 4.7 does not support
Domino Server and IFRAMES, it should appear as a
not for iNotes) link.
12 Netscape 6.0 Try accessing the iNotes page
Compatibility test. using Netscape 6.0.
( only for Vanilla
Domino Server and
not for iNotes )
13 SSL check Setup the Notes Gadget to use
HTTPS. Configure the Domino
Server to accept SSL connections.
Domino Documentation has
details on how to setup a test SSL
Pass/Fail Definition Result
When the user connects to the
portal, should get back a message
saying ‘Server not configured.
Please contact administrator’.
Portal should give back an error
prompting for Mail file name.
Portal should give back an error
prompting for user name.
Should be able authenticate with
Notes and show the Notes
Mail/Calendar, etc in the browser
properly.
Should be able authenticate with
Notes and show the Notes
Mail/Calendar, etc in the browser
properly.
Authentication should fail and
Notes access denied.
Authentication should fail and
iNotes access denied.
Authentication should fail and
iNotes access denied.
User / Password information
should not be mixed up between
the 2 users.
The changes should be reflected
when the user logs in the next
time.
On clicking the link, iNotes
should be launched in a separate
window.
Since Netscape 4.7 supports
IFRAMES, iNotes should appear
embedded in the Portal view.
Should be able to get the Notes
page. Confirn with a Lanalyzer
that the data is indeed going
encrypted.