Migrator for Notes to SharePoint 7.4


	NOTE: This is the pre 5.2, way of generating InfoPath forms. While this method is still supported for backward compatibility, a new, easier InfoPath form generation is now available. For more information, see Generating InfoPath forms (post version 5.2).

A common use for this feature is generation of InfoPath forms for use in SharePoint applications. Customers who are trying to replace existing Notes applications often build new InfoPath form templates that reproduce the dynamic behavior of their Notes form, such as hide-when formulas, computed fields and validation logic. These InfoPath form templates can be integrated in a variety of ways with SharePoint to create powerful document management, workflow and other compelling solutions. Migrator for Notes to SharePoint can rapidly migrate complex Notes documents to InfoPath forms for use with such solutions.

To generate XML documents

Add a column of type “Document” to your Notes Source Data Definition. The DocumentTemplate property of the column definition should be a complete XML document that contains all the declarations and tags you want in your generated documents. Users would typically create a sample document in their target application and use that as the starting point for their Document Template.


	NOTE: Applications such as InfoPath can be very sensitive to the schema version and other metadata such as form template location (that is, the information expressed in the mso-infoPathSolution tag). A common best practice, therefore, is to first develop your InfoPath form template, publish to SharePoint, and fully verify the integrated solution. Then create your sample XML document in the context of your working SharePoint application and use that as the basis for creating a Document Template in Migrator for Notes to SharePoint.

Add a namespace declaration for ‘ppm’ to map to the namespace “http://schemas.proposion.com/PortalMigrator/V4”. You can then add special <ppm:replace> tags to specify the parts of your XML document that you want to replace with data extracted from Notes documents. The ‘src’ attribute of the <ppm:replace> should refer to another column in the same Notes Source data definition.

To generate repeating entries (an array) based on the values in a Notes multi-valued item, add the multi=‘repeat’ attribute to your <ppm:replace> tag. This will cause the surrounding XML tag to be repeated once for each input value encountered. You can also specify multi='repeatparent' to repeat the surrounding XML tag and its parent once for every value encountered in the multi-valued item. This option is useful for encoding multiple attachments (see below) or other repeating group elements in InfoPath.

To avoid generating tags when the Notes values are null, missing or empty strings, use the ifempty='remove' or ifempty='removeparent' attribute. This will cause the surrounding XML tag (or its parent) to only be generated if there is actual data in the source Notes item.

To generate rich text entries, add the encode=’xhtml’ attribute to your <ppm:replace> tag. This will cause the HTML markup extracted from your Notes documents to be saved into your generated document as XML tags rather than as plain text.

When using encode='xhtml' you can also add an 'images' attribute. This is similar to the 'src' attribute in that it should be the name of another source data definition column. The images are encoded right into the XHTML and you go not need to migrate them separately.

When using encode='xhtml' any Notes DocLink icons that are encountered are converted to encoded icons in your XML document. To disable this behavior, add the attribute linkicons=’false’ to your <ppm:replace> tag. This will cause Notes DocLink icons to be replaced with a simple text link instead.

Other possibilities for the encode attribute are 'commonname' and 'abbreviatedname' for formatting Notes names and 'datetime', 'dateonly' and 'timeonly' for formatting XML Date/Time values.

If you wish the source data column to copied “as is” into the XML document, you can use encode=’xml’ rather than encode=’xhtml’. This might be useful if, for example, you have a Notes item that contains pure XML or you have created a formula column in your source data definition that emits an XML fragment. If you omit the encode attribute completely, the source data will be encoded as a Text element by default and any special characters (such as XML angle brackets) will be escaped.

To encode your attachment as an InfoPath attachment (using InfoPath’s proprietary format), add the encode=‘attachment’ attribute to your <ppm:replace> tag. To encode your attachment using standard base64 encoding, add the encode=‘base64’ attribute to your <ppm:replace> tag. This later choice is useful in some XML applications, but not for InfoPath.

To substitute target information in your XML, use the tag, <ppm:replace target=’site’>. Currently, the only supported value is “site” which yields the complete site URL.


	NOTE: To make sure InfoPath attachments display properly, include the <?mso-infoPath-file-attachment-present?> processing instruction at the top of the document.


	NOTE: While this release only implements the <ppm:replace> tag, more advanced tags and attributes are planned for subsequent releases. As a workaround to most limitations you might encounter, consider using Formula columns to create XML fragments.


	NOTE: In this release, a simple drop-down text editor is available for entering multi-line Document Templates. In practice, many users would prefer to use their favorite XML editor and copy/paste the results in Migrator for Notes to SharePoint. A more powerful editor/designer is planned for future releases which will assist with loading a sample XML document, merging source columns, generating PPM tags.

To save your generated XML documents into a Document Library or Forms Library in SharePoint, simply map your new “Document” column to a File field in SharePoint, just as you would when extracting attachments or embedded images. You can also map Document columns to List Item text fields or List Item attachment fields.

You can control the name of generated XML files by mapping a dynamic source column to a FileName field in your target data definition.

Generating InfoPath forms (post version 5.2)

To generate InfoPath form documents from Lotus Notes documents that were created using Notes forms

Create an InfoPath form template from the Notes form. Migrator for Notes to SharePoint can do this automatically for you. See Generate InfoPath Form Template for detailed instructions on how to do this. You can also start with your company's existing InfoPath form template.

Use the InfoPath client itself to publish the form template to SharePoint. You do this using the InfoPath client's File/Publish… menu option. For more information, see your InfoPath help guide.

Copy the published form template from the SharePoint document library to your local drive. This template is what you will use in your Migrator for Notes to SharePoint migration job definition. If the template is the default template for the document library, you can copy it by changing the “Allitems.aspx” in the URL of the document library to “template.xsn”.

Save it from the pop-up that appears. Be sure to turn of your Pop-up Blocker before doing this. If the template is not your default, you can copy it by going to the Form Library Advanced Settings page.

Once you have the form template (.xsn file), you can then add it to the Migrator for Notes to SharePoint migration job using the Target Data Definition.


	NOTE: You cannot use the template that was generated from the InfoPath Form Template generation tool. You must use the copy of the template that was published to the document library in your Migrator for Notes to SharePoint migration job.