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Would you use these Web 2.0-like fields in your Lotus Notes Domino Web Applications?

I'm playing around with a technique here for data maintenance on multiple NotesDocument targets via single interface data entry via a HTML Form in Lotus Notes Domino Applications via a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/AJAX... but not too sure if this User Interface/User Experience shift will work or not.

Let's say you have a set of fields for a user's contact information. They show up on the form UI, but they're not a part of the form nor are they intended to be part of the end-result NotesDocument. Here's an example of what I'm getting at:

Example 
1: Contact Information Lookup

So here's my contact information - and go with me here - via dynamic lookup to the Lotus Domino Directory when I log-in and open the given web form. It grabs my phone number and email address, and puts it into the form.

My idea is simply this:

Allow the user to verify their information from here without the need to go into the Domino Directory (directly anyway...) by opening a quick DHTML-style popup, and use AJAX to communicate via the Domino CRUD API to the Domino Directory.

Example 
2: Contact Information Update 1

Now this has been done before - really simple stuff to be honest. But here's idea and the thing that I'm not too sure would work.. so I'll need your opinion.

Instead of having a DHTML-style pop-up that the user can complete, what if I simply turned the contact information fields on when clicked/moused-over, and allow the user to update their information there.

And instead of saving that information back to the target NotesDatabase (and in the resulting NotesDocument), this information would split off and to the AJAX + Domino CRUD API update of the user's Person Document in the Domino Directory.

Example 
3: Contact Information Update 2

So, based on the UX for most applications, would this approach confuse the user? Additionally, would this be something that you could use in your Lotus Notes Domino Web Applications? If it won't confuse the users and you could use it, I'll include it in my list of upcoming articles.


About the author: Chris Toohey

Thought Leadership, Web & Mobile Application Development, Solutions Integration, Technical Writing & Mentoring

A published developer and webmaster of dominoGuru.com, Chris Toohey specializes in platform application development, solutions integration, and evangelism of platform capabilities and best practices.



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