NOTES APPLICATIONS

Creating a Notes application
You can easily create IBM® Lotus® Notes® applications. You can, for example, use a template that contains forms and views, but not documents, to create an application. You can also use a blank template to create an application that is an empty .nsf file containing no views or forms. To make design changes in the applications you create, including creating views and forms, you must use IBM® Lotus® Domino ® Designer®. You can create an application locally, or on a server if you have the access to do so.

About inheriting design changes

Many of the templates that ship with Notes are "master" templates. This means that changes made to the master template are passed on to the applications created from the template, unless you specify otherwise. If you plan to customize an application and want to prevent design changes to it, make sure that your application does not inherit future design changes. You can do this in one of two ways:


For more information about application properties, see the topic To change Notes application design properties. For information about improving the performance of your application, see the topic Advanced Application Options

To find out if you have access to create a Notes application on a server

1. Open the Domino Directory that lists the server you want to access.

2. Click the Servers view in the Domino Directory, and then select the server.

3. Double-click the selected server name to open the Server document.

4. Click the Security tab in the Server document.

5. In the Server Access section, if your name or a group you are part of is listed in the Create databases and templates field, then you can create an application on that server.

To create a Notes application

1. Click File > Application > New.

2. Select Local in the Server field to store the application file on your hard disk, or enter a server name.

3. Enter a title for the new application in the Title field. The title also serves as the title if you bookmark this application. You can use a maximum of 96 characters.

4. To change the default file name, which is entered as you enter a title for your application, specify a unique, descriptive file name of fewer than 32 characters, followed by the extension .NSF in the File Name field. If you are creating the application locally on your hard disk, as part of the file name, specify a drive and directory to store the new application in, for example C:/Applications/myapps.nsf. Otherwise, the application is stored in the data directory. If you are creating the application on a server, specify the server and directory to store the application in.

5. (Optional) Click Encryption to encrypt the new application, if it is being stored on your hard disk. Select Locally encrypt this database using, select an encryption type, and click OK. See Restricting access to local applications for more information.

6. Select Show advanced templates to see all the templates available to you on the selected server, and then choose a template from the list, or choose Blank if you do not want to use a template.

7. Select Inherit future design changes if you want your application design to get updated when the nightly server task runs (not available for applications created using a blank template).

8. (Recommended) Check Create full-text index for searching to speed searches on your new application.

Tip For a complete list of templates shipped with Notes, see Notes templates. Click the About button to read a general description of an application created with the template you have selected.

See Also