Getting a handle on an unsaved document's properties Tip submitted by Anthony Vanlerberghe

Level: Advanced Works with: All Updated: 02-Jan-2002

We all know that until a new document is saved, it—and its document properties—exist only in memory. But with some applications, it is handy to be able to manipulate or use this document information before the user saves the document. With a little design work, you can get a handle on the document properties of a newly composed document—by declaring and setting the document in the Postopen event of the form being composed. Here's how.

First, create a "calling agent" with the following code. You might, for example, create a Create New Document action button in a view.

Dim ws As New NotesUIWorkspace
Dim newDoc As notesdocument
Dim newUIdoc As notesuidocument
Set newUIdoc = ws.composeDocument("","","newDoc")
Set newDoc = newUIdoc.document 'This will get handle on document to allow manipulation

Then, in the Postopen event in the document's form, add this:

Sub Postopen(Source As Notesuidocument)

Dim doc As NotesDocument
Set doc = Source.Document

End Sub

This makes the document properties available through LotusScript, to be used as necessary for the application. You can pull out whatever information you need, such as the creation date, field names, UNID, and so on. For example, the following variation pops up a message box with the new document's creation date:

Sub Postopen(Source As Notesuidocument)

Dim doc As NotesDocument
Set doc = Source.Document
Dim createDate As Variant
createDate = doc.Created
Messagebox (createdate)

End Sub

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