The following are the general differences between accessing Domino Objects through either LotusScript or COM:

• In a COM application, you cannot create Domino objects with the New modifier, except for NotesSession. You must initialize the NotesSession object and use properties and methods that return Domino Objects.
• COM supports only back-end classes. It does not support the following classes: Button, Field, Navigator, NotesTimer, NotesUIDatabase, NotesUIDocument, NotesUIScheduler, NotesUIView, NotesUIWorkspace.
• COM does not support the concept of a current environment (for example, current database, current agent, or document context).
• Boolean values are typed as Boolean in COM, and Boolean, Variant, or Integer in LotusScript. This is not a problem porting from LotusScript to COM, but may be a problem porting from COM to LotusScript for Variant and Integer
• Parameters typed as Integer in LotusScript are typed as Long in COM. This should not be a problem porting between LotusScript and COM.
• Values that take a constant are typed as Enum in COM, and Variant or Integer in LotusScript. This should not be a problem porting between LotusScript and COM.
• In COM, you cannot use item names as NotesDocument properties. For example, in LotusScript you can refer to the Subject item as doc.Subject (where doc is a NotesDocument object). In COM, you cannot do this; you must use the properties and methods that get and set item values.
• Where a Domino property or method returns an array of Domino objects in a late-binding application, you must assign the return value to a variable before you can index it as an array. For example, the following code results in a run-time error with late binding (but works with early binding):

  Set col = view.Columns(2)

  You must first assign the Columns property to a variable:

  cols = view.Columns
  Set col = cols(2)

• Error codes in COM are four bytes. The first two bytes contain the value &H8004. The last two bytes contain the Domino error code as specified in lsxbeerr.lss in the Domino or Notes program directory. See the discussion of constant values below in "Constants."
• Where the return type of a property or method is an unknown object, COM may issue the compile-time error "Method or data member not found," or one of the run-time errors "Object required" or "Type mismatch." An example is the Parent property of NotesViewEntry, which can be a NotesViewEntryCollection, NotesViewNavigator, or NotesView object. LotusScript resolves the object but COM does not. There is no work-around.

Accessing the Domino Objects through COM

Glossary