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HOW I BUILT IT
Using dynamic HTML and JavaScript in Domino
By Kevin Hoffman
Question: What do you do when you're a Notes developer and a potential client comes to you and says, "I need to show four charts that display 30 dimensions of a project's data, data that can overlap, dynamic data. I need it in four weeks and it has to be on a single screen"?
Answer: Freak out for a day or so.
Then, you start thinking of options. Being a Notes developer, you think, "How can I build this in Notes?" You could definitely do an API, but in four weeks? You could jump on the "bandwagon-to-nowhere": JAVA. As a joke to yourself, you momentarily think "components?" Then you think of Domino and its unique and powerful functionality. You also remember hearing something about Dynamic HTML.
Finally it hits you. You can use dynamic HTML (cascading style sheets), specifically Netscape's LAYER tag, and JavaScript to place multiple HTML pages atop one another, creating these multi-variate charts. Combining Domino's great flexibility you can layer views, agent output and forms together to satisfy your clients needs.
I developed the following Domino application last summer. There are still things I'd like to improve, but the client is happy and I am relegated to making modifications in my spare time, free-of-charge. First, I'll describe the application and some of the initial problems I faced and then describe the final product.
The Application
The purpose of the application, called Innovation, was to track potential projects the client company is considering and their affect on finances and corporate image, over a five-year time frame. The application serves as a tool for a corporate panel from various businesses groups within the company to quickly and concisely get information about every project and develop a "picture" of how the whole portfolio could impact the company. This panel reviews each project at critical phases of its development.
The first of the four charts, shown in Figure A, is called "the Roadmap". This seven-dimensional chart shows all the potential projects the company currently has on its "radar screen." It has six phases, from project proposal to project launch. At each phase, the application needs to display six key characteristics of the project:
- type of project (product, service)
- degree of impact to the company (minor, major, radical)
- potential financial costs (low, medium, high)
- status of the data (preliminary, final)
- the project's business unit sponsor
- the project name.
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