• A Setup Wizard is included to assist in importing data from existing sources, generating XSP pages and populating the application with XML data.

• There are XSP Import and XSP Export wizards to move application data and database content.

• Finally, there is a Resource Checker to validate all resources that have been defined in the resources.xml file.

As you can see, Flowbuilder 3.0 is a big package, but, thankfully, documentation is generously supplied with numerous PDFs and there is an on-line forum. I also found that everyone I spoke with at Trilog was very passionate about FlowBuilder 3.0, which I suspect is an indicator of positive customer involvement.

Testing migration
New to release 3.0, FlowBuilder adds a dedicated tool to assist in migrating a Notes application into the FlowBuilder XSP Studio. You start by choosing a Domino database to migrate, as shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B


Start by choosing a database to migrate. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Much of the Domino design features such as, forms, views, formulas (in JavaScript), Rich Text, etc., are all rendered in XML/J2EE. To begin, I opened up an application running on a Domino server and selected forms, fields, views, and even script libraries that I wanted to convert. For my exercise, I selected a simple application built from the standard Domino discussion template. You can see my migration settings in Figure C.

FIGURE C


Here are the migration settings for my test project. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The earliest versions of FlowBuilder were primarily workflow enablements for Domino, and FlowBuilder 3.0 continues to provide this embedded workflow as an option. Because workflow applications rely on more detail relationships than what a directory supplies, I accepted the offer to use a sample organization structure, as shown in Figure D. Normally, I would have created a standalone organizational structure on which to build workflow relationships.

FIGURE D


I accepted the offer to use a sample organization structure. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Next, I configured my XSP settings as shown in Figure E.

FIGURE E


Next up, I configured my XSP settings. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Then, I watched as it pulled the data into XML tables and presented up confirmation and error messages during the progression, as you can see in Figure F.

FIGURE F


Here are the messages my project generated. Roll over picture for a larger image.

I expected to have to do a lot of cleanup and rework the layout, so I was quite gratified to find that all the data made the transfer (this is not always the case moving documents from a Domino NSF into a RDBMS).

After the conversion was complete, it was possible to compare the two applications against each other. Figure G shows the result of the FlowBuilder conversion without any touch-up.

FIGURE G


Here's what FlowBuilder built. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Figure H shows the original Domino application.

FIGURE H


Now, compare it with this original Domino application. Roll over picture for a larger image.

An examination of the data structure showed that all the data had been transferred, the forms were re-created, views were built and a default Web UI was created to present the revised application. I rated the conversion as highly successful.