LOTUS NOTES GADGET

Draft Ver 0.2Hemant 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/f97737d60ca63ec885256993006f4587?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 Number

Test Case Simulation Steps Pass/Fail Definition Result

1 Notes Server Address not specified

Log in as Administrator. Edit the gadget property so as to remove the Server address.

When the user connects to the portal, should get back a message saying ‘Server not configured. Please contact administrator’.

2 Notes Mail file not specified.

Log in as a portal user. First time you will be prompted to enter Mail file (.nsf) file. Do not enter anything.

Portal should give back an error prompting for Mail file name.

3 Notes user not specified

Log in as a portal user. First time you will be prompted to enter Notes user name. Do not enter anything.

Portal should give back an error prompting for user name.

4 Basic Authentication method test.

Setup a Notes server to do Basic Authentication. Log in as Portal Administrator and configure the Notes Gadget to use Basic Authentication.

Should be able authenticate with Notes and show the Notes Mail/Calendar, etc in the browser properly.

5 Form Authentication method test.

Setup a Notes server to do Form Authentication. Log in as Portal Administrator and configure the Notes Gadget to use Form Authentication.

Should be able authenticate with Notes and show the Notes Mail/Calendar, etc in the browser properly.

6 Invalid Mail file Specify an invalid Mail file name. Authentication should fail and Notes access denied.

7 Invalid User name Specify an invalid user name. Authentication should fail and iNotes access denied.

8 Invalid Password name

Specify an invalid password. Authentication should fail and iNotes access denied.

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.

User / Password information should not be mixed up between the 2 users.

10 Portal Dimension Log in as Portal Administrator. The changes should be reflected

Serial Number

Test Case Simulation Steps Pass/Fail Definition Result

test. In the iNotes Advanced configuration modify the height and width.

when the user logs in the next time.

11 Netscape 4.7 Compatibility test.(only for Vanilla Domino Server and not for iNotes)

Try accessing the iNotes page using Netscape 4.7. Since Netscape 4.7 does not support IFRAMES, it should appear as a link.

On clicking the link, iNotes should be launched in a separate window.

12 Netscape 6.0 Compatibility test.( only for Vanilla Domino Server and not for iNotes )

Try accessing the iNotes page using Netscape 6.0.

Since Netscape 4.7 supports IFRAMES, iNotes should appear embedded in the Portal view.

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 certificate.

Should be able to get the Notes page. Confirn with a Lanalyzer that the data is indeed going encrypted.