But so far we have no rules. Click the Rules Action, which will take us to the view of Rules by Name which, in my example in Figure B, has some rules already.

FIGURE B

Here's a view of Rules by Name, showing a summary of all rules. Click picture for a larger image.

To get what we want, we need to create two rules, one to determine if people are in the London office, and another to check the department.

To check the London office, we need a rule like the one highlighted in the view in Figure B. This specifies that the field OfficeCity needs to be equal to "London". However, a more complex rule is required for the Sales or Marketing department, as seen in Figure C. I've also pulled out the dialog for the available comparison operators.

FIGURE C

Here's the detail of a rule, also showing the available operators. Click picture for a larger image.

First, the rule has a name so that we can refer to it in Group definitions. Then it has one or two field/value comparisons, as in the case of the InLondon group we discussed a moment ago. This one has two. Each of these has a Directory field name, followed by a comparison operator. In figure C above, you saw the list of operators available. There's also a value field and a checkbox to specify whether the comparison is to be case sensitive.

Between the two comparisons, you specify whether the two comparisons are connected by an And or an Or when the rule is evaluated. In fact, as you fill in the form, the fields for the second comparison are not displayed until an And or Or is selected.

Now that we have some rules, we can go back to our Group and select them. Hitting the rule select button in the Group definition brings up a pick-list window, and we select the rules that apply, as shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D

Here's the rule selection for a Group via pick-list. Click picture for a larger image.

Once you click OK, the rules are listed on the document. Also, because you selected more than one, you need to define whether these are to be connected with an Or or an And. This can be seen in Figure E, along with two other features of the Group definition.

FIGURE E

Here's the completed Group definition with two rules. Click picture for a larger image.

The first is a rudimentary security feature. You specify in Rule Owner a value that must appear in the Owner field in the Group. If it doesn't, the group doesn't get updated. The second feature is the Group Must Always Contain list. In here you enter names of people, groups, or mail-in databases that must appear in this group regardless of what the rules specify.

How does it all work?
So, now you've been introduced to my System Managed Groups application. If you think you've got the programming power, you can check out "Inside mail distribution: the programming project," elsewhere in this issue of DominoPower Magazine, for all the necessary code.

Mick Moignard has been working with Notes and Domino for very nearly ten years. He is a Principal CLP with UALS (Unipart Advanced Learning Systems), a Lotus Premier Partner in the UK. If you want any more information or a preview of this application, contact Mick at mick_moignard@unipart.co.uk, or via http://www.uals.co.uk. UALS will also happily discuss commercial work on this application or any other Notes and Domino application development projects you need help with.