SHARING INFORMATION WITH OTHER APPLICATIONS


Adding a custom control to a Lotus Notes document
If you use IBMR Lotus NotesR on MicrosoftR WindowsR and have OLE custom controls installed, you can create custom control objects in documents. An OLE custom control, also known as an OCX or ActiveX control, is a small, self-contained software module with its own data.

Your organization may create or acquire OLE custom controls from various manufacturers and provide the controls for you to use in Lotus NotesR. Some controls may not provide online Help for their application. Also, there are certain controls you have to do some programming to use. You can insert these into Lotus Notes manually, but you can't do much with them without programming.

Peform any of the following tasks related to controls.

To create a control

1. With the document in Edit mode, click in a rich-text field.

2. Click Create > Object.

3. Do one of the following:

4. Click OK.

To edit a control

1. With the document in Edit mode, click the control object.

2. Click any of the following from the Applet menu:


Applet menu options
OptionDescription
Object PropertiesLets you access Lotus Notes properties for the control, including the name of the control. You can also specify other settings, such as alignment.
Cut

Copy

Acts upon the entire object. To cut or copy selected text within the object, use the Edit menu.
Copy ExternalLets you copy the control to a non-Lotus NotesR application
Associate file to objectOpens a dialog box where you can specify a file path. This feature is for use by DominoR designers, and requires use of the Lotus Notes Application Programming Interface (API). For example, a designer who includes a media player object may want to associate music files with the control object.

For more information on design, see LotusR Domino Designer Help if you have it installed. Or, go to Lotus Documentation on the Web to download or view Lotus Domino Designer Help.

Edit Events & PropertiesGives you access to both the control's properties and Lotus Notes properties.

Note: If you are a designer, you can modify the behavior of the control by changing its events using LotusScriptR. For example, you can modify the Click event to open a message box when a user clicks the control.

For more information on both types of properties, see Modifying an OLE object or ActiveX custom control using Lotus Notes properties.

Show Property PagesDisplays the control's own (not Lotus Notes) properties in a dialog box
Design ModeLets you work with the control in either Design Mode or Run Mode. As a designer, you can modify the object in either mode, but Run Mode shows you what other users of the object will see.
Freeze EventsFreezes or unfreezes the control's events. If you are a designer, this can be useful when you are modifying the control.

3. Click anywhere in the document outside the control object.

4. To save the new data, click File > Save.

To copy an entire control, a picture of a control, or data from a control

1. With the document in Edit mode, click the control and select the data you want to copy.

2. Do one of the following:

3. Select the location in the document where you want to paste the new control or picture of the control.

4. Click Edit > Paste.

To expand a control

1. With the document in Edit mode, click the control object.

2. Click Applet > Object Properties.

3. In the Applet properties box, click one of the following:

4. Close the Applet properties box.

5. Save and close the document.

6. Reopen the document in Edit mode.

Lotus Notes

To allow changes to a control while in Read mode

You can tell Lotus Notes to allow changes to a control object from Read mode.

After you have set this property, you can change the object and print the changes while in Read mode, but to save changes to the object, you must edit and save the document.

Note: Some control objects do not render anything for display in Read mode. Setting this property forces the object to display.

1. With the document in Edit mode, click the control object.

2. Click Applet > Object Properties.

3. In the Applet properties box, select "Run object when reading document."

4. Close the Applet properties box.

5. Save and close the document.

6. Reopen the document.

To delete a control from a document

Edit the document, drag over the control object and click Edit > Delete. In the message that says the operation cannot be undone, click Yes.

To remove a control from the list of controls

When you remove a control from the list, it also removes the control from the Windows registry. You can add a control back to the list and restore it to the registry at any time.

1. In a rich-text field, click Create > Object.

2. Click Control.

3. In the list, select the control you want to remove and click Remove Control from List.

4. Click OK in the warning dialog box that appears.

5. (Optional) To restore the control to the list and registry, click Add Control to List, browse the operating system to locate the necessary .ocx file, and click OK.

Related topics
Sharing information with other applications
Object linking and embedding
Embedding data in a Lotus Notes document