Create Workflow-Related Forms
In much the same manner that field attributes can be modified to enable built-in workflow capabilities, forms can also be modified to expose built-in workflow capabilities. The following sections explain how to create these workflow-related forms.
Mail-Enabled Forms
You can enable forms to easily route mail to other team members. Enabling the Present Mail Send form property causes the Send Mail dialog box to appear each time the user closes an edited document. This dialog box presents the user with the option to send the document (see Figure 11.8). The recipient of the mail is determined by the values listed in the SendTo field on the Notes document.
Figure 11.8. The Send Mail dialog box.
Some of the built-in workflow capabilities of Lotus Notes/Domino can be easily enabled or disabled if their reserved fields are set to TRUE or FALSE. This feature makes it fast and simple for designers to build powerful workflow applications.
Some of the reserved fields that can be enabled if their value is set to TRUE are
MailOptions— Gives users the option to mail the document. Setting this field to FALSE disables the user's capability to mail the document to other users.
SaveOptions— Controls whether the document is saved when mailed. Setting this field to FALSE disables the option to save this document to disk.
Sign— Signs the document with the creator's name to verify the document is not modified by anyone other than the signer.
DeliveryReport— Returns a report (mail message) when the mail has been successfully delivered to the recipient.
ReturnReceipt— Returns a report (mail message) when the mail has been read by the recipient.
SecretEncryptionKeys— Encrypts the document with secret encryption keys.
Setting Workflow-Related Form Attributes
The Send Document simple action is a form attribute that enables developers to easily enable mail forwarding for the current document.
The Send Document simple action sends the current document to the recipients contained in the SendTo field. This action does not work in field formulas or agents.
 | When using the Send Mail Message simple action, you can mail the selected document as a document link, or you can send the entire document. |
Store Form in Document
As previously explained in this chapter, when a user creates a document, the data is saved as items in the Notes document. When the user opens the document, the document uses a form to display its content; that form can be the one used to create the document or a default database form. These forms are saved in the database in which the document was created. If the document is mailed, the form that was used to create the document will not be available when the user opens the document (because the form design is not available in the user's mail database). Therefore, when documents are mailed to users in workflow applications, it may be necessary to store the form in the document.
Storing the form in the document uses more memory (as much as 20 times more disk space), but it ensures that the document can be opened even if the database where the document was created is missing, renamed, or deleted.
If a document has been created and the form is stored in the document, you can remove the form; then the document is opened with the designated form or default database form. To remove the stored form in the document, simply remove the $Title, $Info, $WindowTitle, and $Body fields.