Technology Brief

IBM Lotus Domino and

BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications
that Interact with Domino Databases.
IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
Table of Contents

Part 1:
Introduction to Mobile Applications and the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution
Executive Summary 1
The BlackBerry Mobile Data System 2
Application and Device Management 2
Information Security 3
Rapid Development and Implementation 3

Part 2:
BlackBerry Development Options
Building Web-Enabled Domino Databases for the BlackBerry Browser 4-5
Building Applications using BlackBerry MDS Studio 6
Building Applications using the BlackBerry JDE 7

Part 3:
Example Application: Discussion Forum Template
Example Application: Discussion Forum Template 8
Forms 8-9
Views 9
Agents 10
Download the BlackBerry Discussion Forum Sample Code 10
Summary 11
Additional Resources 11
References 11

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 1.

Executive Summary
Only 18 percent of the world’s 50 million mobile professionals can access business data and applications wirelessly. Of these nine
million users, the majority can access only email. Extending the reach of critical business applications to mobile workers has been
proven to increase productivity and efficiency, generating measurable ROI. By mobilizing IBM® Lotus® Domino® applications and
enabling those gains, IT departments can leverage their investments and drive revenue, rather than cost. [1]

The BlackBerry® Enterprise Server is part of an integrated mobility solution that connects Lotus Domino databases to mobile users
with minimal effort and expense. With “Out of the Box” control of devices through IT Policies and secure connectivity to your
environment, the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution ensures that your application data remains confidential.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution offers several free development options to enable applications for wireless usage. These include:

1. A full-featured Java™ Micro Edition (Java™ ME) development environment called the BlackBerry® Java™ Development
Environment (BlackBerry JDE)
2. BlackBerry® MDS Studio, a rapid application development (RAD) environment to extend existing Web Services, and
3. Optimizing web content for viewing on the BlackBerry® Browser.
Flexibility

BlackBerry Java BlackBerry BlackBerry

Development MDS Studio Browser
Environment

Ease of Development

Figure 1: BlackBerry Development Approaches: Flexibility vs. Ease of Development

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 2.

The BlackBerry Mobile Data System

Mobilizing applications for the BlackBerry platform increases responsiveness to customers and partners by optimizing staff
resources. The median user of BlackBerry-mobilized applications reclaims 196 hours of productivity per year [2]. By linking
distributed groups more closely, the average efficiency of BlackBerry-mobilized teams increases 29 percent. These productivity
gains allow IT departments to step out of their traditional, reactive “cost center” roles and build enabling applications that increase
revenue across the entire workforce.

The BlackBerry® Mobile Data System is an optimized application development framework for the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution.
It provides application management, rapid time-to-market, and the data security required for using the wireless network to access
corporate applications.

Application and Device Management

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server functions as the middleware between the Domino server and the BlackBerry devices. As part of the
BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the BlackBerry Manager application provides the IT department with full control over their BlackBerry
environment, including the applications running on end-users’ devices.

Managing BlackBerry Browser Applications

The Access Control settings in the BlackBerry Manager provide granular control over BlackBerry users’ browser access. While other
devices allow only “all or nothing” control, the BlackBerry Manager provides administrators with complete authority over the Web
sites users can view. The BlackBerry Manager also allows IT to determine which content is pushed out to specific users and which
administrators can perform the push. Push Rules ensure that content is deployed to only authorized users in compliance with
company policies.

Managing Custom Java and Third Party Applications

The Software Configurations in the BlackBerry Manager enable consistent configuration of policies regulating third-party and
custom wireless applications. Using simple drop-down menus, administrators can mark wireless applications as optional, required,
or not allowed. The BlackBerry Manager then enforces these permissions across all devices in a designated group. Administrators
can use the All Users or User Groups tabs to inspect the configurations of each wireless device.

Managing BlackBerry MDS Studio

The BlackBerry Manager provides similar control over applications built with the BlackBerry MDS Studio rapid application development
(RAD) environment. With just a few clicks, administrators can quarantine or remove any application, schedule application deployment
on any number of devices or groups of devices, and upgrade BlackBerry MDS Studio applications on all or some devices.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 3.

Information Security
Wireless applications present several unique management challenges. Since wireless networks are inherently non-secure, administrators
must ensure that any data passing outside the firewall is reliably protected. To guard against device loss and theft, administrators must
also be able to control the content and behaviour of a device remotely.

In addition to protecting competitive information from loss and theft, modern businesses must maintain compliance with industry and
governmental regulations, such as Sarbanes Oxley, PCI, HIPAA and GLBA, all of which require stringent security and privacy standards.
Failure to maintain these standards can result in lost customer confidence, fines, and even criminal litigation. Businesses with multi-
national operations may be held to even higher standards by overseas privacy and security regulations, such as the European Union
Privacy Directive.

Wireless applications add two new layers of concern for IT administrators—network and device-level security. Enterprise applications use
and modify a company’s most critical, proprietary information. Sending that data across a wireless network unprotected can jeopardize
the privacy and confidentiality of this information. Device-level security is an even greater threat. Due to their small form factor and high
value, wireless devices are ideal targets for theft.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is built with corporate data security in mind. It features an end-to-end security model designed to
seamlessly protect your corporate information from attack as users send and receive email and access data wirelessly. More information on
the security of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution can be found at:

http://www.blackberry.com/security

For a complete list of security accreditations for the BlackBerry solution, please refer to:

http://www.blackberry.com/products/enterprisesolution/security/certifications.shtml

Rapid Development and Implementation

In organizations using the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution and IBM Lotus Domino, most of the required infrastructure to mobilize
a Domino database is already in place. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server offers developers three different methods of mobilizing
applications, depending on the degree of sophistication needed on the wireless device. All three leverage the BlackBerry Enterprise
Server’s integration with both the Domino server and the BlackBerry OS to reduce the learning curve and development time
involved. By integrating with the existing security and administration model of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, developers can
focus on the business logic of application development, while the BlackBerry Enterprise Server looks after items such as wireless
protocols, data encryption, and application management.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 4.

Building Web-Enabled Domino Databases for the BlackBerry Browser

Enabling wireless access to Domino databases via the BlackBerry Browser requires very little development. If the Domino server is
configured to allow Web access and the database is “Web Enabled”, the only development required is refining the content for the
wireless device. Wireless devices have smaller screens and slower processors than desktop PCs. Removing applets, large images,
scripts, and tables can provide a better and more user-friendly wireless experience. Table 1 lists a number of best practices for
optimizing web pages for mobile devices.

Developers can enable web-based applications for BlackBerry devices using two different methods:

• Modification of existing forms and views – In this method, developers change forms or views to make them easier to
view and quicker to render on wireless devices. This can included removing or hiding anything that is unnecessary,
such as large images, applets, tables and views with a large number of columns.
• Creation of an access portal – In this method, developers create a form with exactly the information needed for your
mobile users. This option can simplify the development burden because developers do not have to modify existing
forms or views.

The HTTP headers can be used to detect what type of browser is making the request and tell the web-enabled Domino database
whether to display the regular or optimized version of the content. Administrators can also push Web links and content to the device
via the following options:

Channel push – This adds an icon to the BlackBerry device’s ribbon or home screen allowing a visual entry point to a
Web-based application. It also allows administrators to modify the icon to alert users that new data is available for viewing.

Message push – This sends a message to the inbox utilizing the existing alert profile for notification. The message
presents an “Open Link” that will direct users to a specified URL.

Cache push – This is used in conjunction with “Channel push” to direct the application to the local data cache so it does
not have to rely on an active connection. This is very useful for users needing access to data in areas of very low or no
network connectivity.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 5.

Table 1. Explanations of Recommended Practices for Web-Enabling Applications for BlackBerry Browsers

Recommended Practices for Web-Enabling Applications Explanation of Practices

Use an existing Domino server with web capabilities to present No additional development work is required.
data from a Web-enabled database to your BlackBerry users.

Turn off JavaScript™ and Java applets whenever possible. JavaScript is partially supported by the BlackBerry Browser, but
is resource-intensive. Consider disabling JavaScript to create a
wireless-friendly lightweight client. Applets are not supported on
the BlackBerry Browser and should be changed to an HTML view.

Remove large images and other unnecessary form components. Improves rendering quality and speed on mobile devices.

Reduce the amount of columns in your views Helps with presenting useful data to the BlackBerry users.

Push web content to the BlackBerry devices. For example, Push support is built into BlackBerry devices and the BlackBerry
using a Domino agent. Use the following link to see examples Enterprise Solution. Users can be notified of virtual real-time
of a Domino agent being used to push icons. changes in data and access is fast as the user does not have to
www.blackberry.com/go/dominoresources wait for the web content to be pulled over the wireless network.

Mobilize access to only critical information. Reduces application size and complexity for better rendering on
small screens.

Create data portals to simplify access. For databases with large amounts of information, a portal-like
interface with a number of views available provides an easy way
for wireless users to navigate. Even a small number of top-level
options can reduce a user’s search time by a substantial amount.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 6.

Building Applications using BlackBerry MDS Studio

BlackBerry MDS Studio is a visual RAD tool that helps developers mobilize Web service applications with a simple, point-and-click
interface.

BlackBerry MDS Studio is designed to provide the performance, application responsiveness, and user experience of applications
created using the BlackBerry JDE, but without the need for coding.

The development environment allows you to connect to Web services within a Domino database, IBM Websphere or other Web
hosting systems that provide your Web services (WSDL’s). BlackBerry MDS Studio allows developers to create a BlackBerry
application with three internal methods:

Quick Start – This method will create all segments of the application based on the Web service being connected. This is the
quickest method and only requires small amounts of customization.

Bottom Up – This method provides developers the flexibility of designing and creating the user interface while the tool
creates the underlying data and message structure.

Top Down – This approach is designed to allow complete flexibility for the creating of highly customized applications.
This method has no pre-generated components.

For databases already using Web services, BlackBerry MDS Studio is a simple way to create rich client applications using advanced
features, such as persistent storage on the wireless device. This means that developers can spend their time fine-tuning application
behavior instead of writing basic connectivity and functionality.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 7.

Building Applications using the BlackBerry JDE

BlackBerry applications requiring access to Bluetooth®, peripherals or core applications on the device need to be created using
the BlackBerry JDE. The BlackBerry JDE is a free, fully integrated development environment for building Java ME applications
for BlackBerry devices. The environment also provides server and device simulators so you can test your applications before
implementing them in a live environment.

In addition to providing development resources for all the versions of the BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry JDE includes the following
features designed to speed development and leverage core BlackBerry Enterprise Solution functionality:

• An enhanced Application Programming Interface (API) set, documentation and samples that enable developers to tightly
integrate their applications with BlackBerry email, text messaging, Web browsing and organizer applications. The API
enhancements include support for Bluetooth and the BlackBerry push architecture.

• New Java Specification Request (JSR) implementations, including JTWI, MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 and PDAP PIM, which provide
developers with a familiar development environment and greater flexibility with applications.

• A new simulator with improved emulation accuracy, support for new BlackBerry devices, and extensive ease-of-use
improvements allows developers to quickly emulate and determine how their application will behave on a wide range of
BlackBerry devices.

• Synchronization tools that leverage BlackBerry Enterprise Server for managing data synchronization between back-end
applications and device applications.

• An XML Generator that allows developers to perform XML-related tasks without writing additional code.

• Support for WAP’s Push Access Protocol (PAP), which provides developers with protocol choice for reliably pushing data
with their application.

IBM Lotus Domino is an ideal system for implementing a custom java application that interacts with an existing Domino Database
because it already provides functionality to access data and send or receive network (HTTP) requests. By taking advantage of the
functionality of an existing Domino application, you save research, development, and testing time and costs.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 8.

Example Application: Discussion Forum Template

The IBM Lotus Domino Discussion Forum template is included with installations of IBM Lotus Domino. It provides the tools to create a
discussion forum where members can ask questions and share information with other members. The template contains a built-in agent that
can periodically create a newsletter containing new discussion items and email it to the discussion forum members.

This template can be extended to BlackBerry users using a push-based application. When mobilized, discussion members can read, respond
to, and create discussion items while they are out of the office. Because IBM Lotus Domino can present data to the web, the BlackBerry
extension of this application is largely web-based. There is a custom application component that is used to emulate the IBM Lotus Domino
view of discussion items. Using a custom component, you can represent the view information on the BlackBerry device while still using the
BlackBerry Browser to view the forms, which can be easily reformatted for the smaller BlackBerry screen.

Because the agent that creates the newsletter already exists, you need to extend the agent to push new articles to the BlackBerry device.
To perform the HTTP post to the BlackBerry MDS Services on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, you need to use some Java code embedded
in the IBM Lotus Domino database.

Forms

To extend the sample application to a wireless environment, we created several new forms by modifying existing ones.

Form Name Description Benefit of new form

BBWeb-Main Topic a new form; modifies Main Topic Removes some visual complexity
(an existing form)

BBWeb-Response a new form; modifies Responses Removes some visual complexity

(an existing form)

Interest Profile Preferences an existing form adds information that is necessary to perform a push to
a BlackBerry device

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 9.

In the following screen shots, the original database form on the left is more complicated and contains more information than the modified
form on the right. The form on the right has been optimized for wireless devices and only the essential information appears.

Figure 2: Original database form Figure 3: Database form modified for wireless device

Views

The BlackBerry All Documents view is a new view that was created in the sample application. It is similar to the default All
Documents view, but it uses a different form selection query. This form selection query enables you to select the type of form to use
depending on the browser that is viewing it. If the pages are viewed using a desktop browser, the default forms are selected. If the
pages are viewed using a BlackBerry Browser, the BlackBerry forms are selected.

Figure 4: Form selection query

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 10.

Agents

The Send BB Update agent is based on the existing Send Newsletters agent and uses similar code. The main difference is that
instead of generating a newsletter and emailing it to the users, the agent generates a push using the same information and calls a
Java class that can complete the HTTP post that is necessary to perform a push.

The Java class is necessary because you cannot create an HTTP post using Lotus script or another formula language.

Figure 5: A view of an IBM Domino agent

Download the BlackBerry Discussion Forum Sample Code

You can download the sample code for this example from
www.blackberry.com/go/DominoResources.

There are three samples for the Domino Discussion Forum database included on the sample code page. Each one illustrates how a
Domino developer can extend this application to the BlackBerry device using the different development approaches.

1. BlackBerry Browser Domino Samples: Optimize standard Forms and Views for the BlackBerry Browser and uses push to
send out new data;
2. BlackBerry MDS Studio Domino Samples: The Domino Discussion forum Web service is based on a Discussion Template
bundled with Lotus Domino v7;
3. BlackBerry JDE Domino Samples: Learn how to push new discussion forum postings to a BlackBerry Java application.

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 11.

Summary
Providing BlackBerry users with access to an IBM Lotus Domino database on a BlackBerry device can increase productivity and
reduce costs. Before you extend an IBM Lotus Domino database to BlackBerry users, consider how mobilizing it will help users
better perform their jobs or decrease operating costs.

Because the infrastructure and data is already in place, mobilizing an existing IBM Lotus Domino database is faster and easier
than creating a new application. Administrators and developers with IBM Lotus Domino experience already have the necessary
knowledge, skills, and tools to extend an existing IBM Lotus Domino database to BlackBerry devices.

Additional Resources
To learn more about the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, please go to www.blackberry.com/go/DominoResources.
This website includes information and sample code for getting started with mobilizing your Domino applications using the
BlackBerry solution.

Contact a Research In Motion office:

Head Office Europe

Research In Motion Research In Motion
295 Phillip Street Centrum House
Waterloo, Ontario 36 Station Road
Canada N2L 3W8 Egham, Surrey
United Kingdom TW20 9LF
tel: (519) 888-7465
fax: (519) 888-7884 tel: +44 (0)1784 477465
fax: +44 (0)1784 477455
help@BlackBerry.net
help@BlackBerry.net

References
1. “Getting the Workforce Better Connected,” Yankee Group Research, Inc., October, 2006
2. “Analyzing the Return On Investment of a BlackBerry Deployment,” Ipsos Reid Research Study, 2004

©2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved.

IBM Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Applications
An Overview for Effectively Creating BlackBerry Applications that Interact with Domino Databases 12.

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© 2007 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. Research In Motion, RIM logo, BlackBerry, and BlackBerry and dataflow
design, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries. These marks,
images and symbols are owned by Research In Motion Limited. All other brands, product names, company names, and trademarks
are the properties of their respective owners. The specifications and features contained in this document are subject to change
without notice. MKT-15409-001