COMPOSITE APPLICATIONS - DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT

Deploying NSF-based composite applications with components in the same NSF
Composite application definitions (CA XML) can be stored in design notes in IBM® Lotus® Notes® databases. You can have databases that do not contain anything other than this composite application definition and an ACL (access control list) on the database. From this composite application, you can then refer to other Notes databases and the NSF components using Notes URLs.

You can also store the composite application definitions and the NSF component in the same database. This is currently done for the Notes Mail and Contacts applications. Both of these are composite applications in Notes and refer to components in the same databases.

In this case you do not want to refer to the NSF components via a Notes URL that contains a replica ID or file path. Whenever you move the NSF to another server or whenever you create a new NSF based on an NTF (template), you have to change the composite application definition with the new Notes URL. For this case, a new type of Notes URL is available. If you use '0000000000000000' in the Notes URL, Notes "knows" to open the NSF components from the same database where it read the CA XML.

For example, use the 'Blank Composite Application' and add a view named 'MyView1' to it. You then use the Composite Application Editor to put the NSF component into the application. You can type in the '0000000000000000' either manually or you can use the NSF component picker and choose 'current database' (but in the current build there are some issues with the NSF component picker).

Note For more information on using the Composigte Application Editor, refer to the Composite Application Editor help system.

As a result, when you open the composite application you get the same "user experience" that you would get if you opened the NSF "standalone" (in the regular Notes way). The difference is that now your application is actually a composite application that can be extended with other components via the Composite Application Editor.

You can also use the following special replica IDs: