Create an HTML link or button to add an event to a Lotus Notes user's calendar

Question

My client uses Lotus Notes for calendering. We have a need to serve event information on SharePoint. I'm trying to create an HTML link or button I can use in a custom display form on SharePoint (HTML) that users can click to add the event to their Notes calendars. So far, I've found no way to do this.

An app exists on my client's Domino deployment(?) that creates buttons for use in Notes email messages that also can collect response information. The action of this button is handled by what looks like Java to me. I've included a sample in case it's relevant, and I can include all of it if it looks like it would be helpful, but it's quite long:

    Set CurDb=Session.CurrentDatabase
'Get mail file information from Location document using Notes.ini
    MailServer$ = session.GetEnvironmentString( "MailServer",True)
    MailFile$ = session.GetEnvironmentString( "MailFile",True)
'Set MailDB = session.CurrentDatabase
    If CurDb.Server = ""  Then
            'Attempt to open local mail file
        Set MailDB = session.GetDatabase("", MailFile$) 
        If Not MailDB.IsOpen Then
            Set MailDB = New NotesDatabase(MailServer$, MailFile$)  
            If Not MailDB.IsOpen Then
                Msgbox "Unable to add event to your calendar because your local and server mail file cannot be located.",16, "Notice"
                Exit Sub                  
            End If
        End If          
    Else
            'Attempt to open server replica of mail file
        Set MailDB = New NotesDatabase(MailServer$, MailFile$)  
        If Not MailDB.IsOpen Then
            Msgbox "Unable to add event to your calendar because your server mail file cannot be located.",16, "Notice"
            Exit Sub                  
        End If
    End If

The same app can create a "web" version that can be added to our current intranet platform, but it uses what looks to me like a custom "hook" to interact with the button application and the user's calendar, and it has no function if not placed within an object on that platform. I include the snippet here in case it offers a clue:

<input type="button" onclick="SendEmailNotification('PTHN-132512')"
value="Send me a Notes Calendar Invitation" id="HTMLWebBtn">

I'm wondering if using the snippet elsewhere is as easy as linking to a .js file in my source, and am waiting to hear back from people managing the platform internally, but experience says this is a dead end.

Searching on the Googlybox has so far been basically fruitless. I know you can have a link open Lotus Notes by replacing the http:// with Notes:// followed by the server's name and the application/database/document address (usually a sometimes-really-long string of alphanumeric characters). And I found an article containing strings you can place after the Notes:// to open a new document in a given application, i.e., the email editor. But that's as close as I've come.

Any help, folks?

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 11 '12 at 15:37

3

You can leverage the fact that Notes supports the .ics file format. When a ICS file is opened, Notes can respond by creating a new calendar entry. The best thing is that this works in other mail platforms too, in case your environment is mixed.

Here is some info on setting up Notes: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes85-icalendar/

You can programmatically generate that ICS file, or if you're looking to just play around there are sites online that will generate one for you: http://www.pratie.com/lab/icalendar/

answered May 11 '12 at 15:37

Ken Pespisa

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Ken, that was perfect! I exported the event as an ICS, saved it to a repository, and linked to it in my HTML. Thanks! – Pete May 11 '12 at 18:09
Here's the ICS exporting instructuions from Lotus Notes internal Help system: Optional: To export only selected calendar entries, select the entries to export by highlighting each entry and then pressing the space bar. Choose File > Export. In the Save as type field, select Calendar File (.ics) Specify the path to the location to which you are exporting the calendar entry. Click Export. Specify whether to export only selected entries or all entries from the calendar. Click OK. – Pete Aug 13 '12 at 17:29
Hi, @Ken. After a lot of mucking about, it looks like exporting an event as an .ICS for others to open from an HTML link requires the user to walk through a process I'd like to avoid. Some will need to specify that Notes should open the file, and it looks like all users will need to specify that Notes "Import these entries into your personal calendar", rather than "Add this calendar to your Show Calendars list". I'm looking for a solution that allows users to click a link (or button, etc.) and have the event added to their calendar directly, as if they's clicked a button in a Notes invite. – Pete Nov 13 '14 at 16:40
continued... What I'm imagining (without knowing much at all about how Notes and its constituent parts operate) is a link formatted like similar to how one opens a note app from an HTML page, i.e., `Notes:///###/###/###`. – Pete Nov 13 '14 at 16:44
That would be great, but I don't believe there's any support for that. The Notes:// links are designed to refer to objects in Notes but not as a means to create them. – Ken Pespisa Nov 14 '14 at 14:59

Create an HTML link or button to add an event to a Lotus Notes user's calendar

1 Answers1