SnT Thursday - Reference Lookup 1.1.0
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Here is my second installment of Show n Tell Thursday. In July of last year Reference Lookup was published, which talked about using alias to get a database location from documents instead of having to hard code the path or replica IDs in code. The initial release used Server names and paths with Reference Lookup 1.1.0 replica IDs can be used to access database information through Java, LotusScript, or Formula. Quick Elementer was also updated in this release, which allows the Reference Lookup design elements to be quickly copied to an application.
The Reference Lookup database has been a life saver for me, because it has allowed each of my environments to look the same but to be configured differently. A good example is in our production environment. A workflow application is used to allow employees information to be submitted and approved. Once it is approved it updates the Domino Directory (names.nsf) nightly through an agent. Because names.nsf is used in each of the environments as the primary address book a different database is used. With the use of Reference Lookup all the needs to be changed is the database path of the same alias. No code changes and the configuration stays with each of the environments. On top of the environments is the ability to move database home or to some other computer and not have to worry about changing code.
Another example is the use of Reference Lookup to define the path of files that are used to import or export information from Domino. I have been able to move databases and files in production as requested without having to make any code changes, without having to re-test the application, and make the changes in minutes.