Server Setup

To use NotesCal you first need to setup your Lotus Notes server to export calendar data in a NotesCal-compatible format. This is accomplished easily by dropping a simple script into your Agents folder in your Notes Calendar.

Requirements

  • Your Lotus Notes server must have webmail enabled
  • Webmail must be accessible via the Internet
  • You must have standard Notes webmail authentication (i.e. when you visit your webmail the small window pops down and asks for your username and password - you do NOT have a custom login screen) - Support for web-based authentication has been implemented in v1.1 and has been seeded to Apple - look for it in the coming week
  • You must have designer access (which is pretty normal)
    • If you’re not sure if you have this keep reading - if you don’t have it you won’t be able to proceed past step 5.

Setting Up Lotus Notes

  1. Right-click and ‘Save File As..’ to save this file to your desktop: Cal2NotesCal.txt
  2. Start Lotus Notes
  3. Open your calendar in Lotus Notes
  4. Go to View/Agents
  5. Click on ‘New Agent’
  6. Make sure Target is set to ‘None’ and give your agent a friendly name (Mine is ‘Cal2NotesCal’). Close this window.
  7. Click on the ‘(Options)’ node on the left, then select all content on the ‘(Options)’ node page on the right (being that this is a new agent it should only have ‘Option Public’ - if it has more, just select all of it).
    • Only see an ‘Actions’ node? In the right pane, at the top, click the ‘Simple Action(s)’ dropdown and change it to ‘LotusScript’. You should now get the proper nodes on the left.
  8. In a text editor like Notepad on Windows, or TextPad on a Mac, open the Cal2NotesCal.txt file that you downloaded in step 1
  9. Highlight ALL the text in this file and copy it (go to Edit/Copy).
  10. Go back to Lotus Notes where you have the content on the ‘Options’ node highlighted - Go to Edit/Paste. Your Agent should now look like this:
  11. Close your agent by clicking on the X in the tab
  12. Save your new agent
  13. Open your favorite web browser
  14. You will access this agent by accessing a URL similar to the one you use for your webmail. This last step will let you test your new Agent before purchasing NotesCal for your iPhone.
  15. Access your new agent by typing in this URL:  http://SERVER.URL.COM/mail/DATABASE.NSF/Cal2NotesCal?OpenAgent&rangeStart=STARTDATE&rangeEnd=ENDDATE
    • Replace the following variables in that URL with your information:
    • SERVER.URL.COM - the address of your webmail server for Lotus Notes
    • DATABASE.NSF - the database name from your normal webmail url (for instance, mine is jmooney.nsf - look at the URL you get once you are logged into webmail for this portion)
    • STARTDATE and ENDDATE - In the format mm/dd/yyyy (such as 09/01/2008 and 09/07/2008)
  16. If you get an error - please recheck your work. If you get a page full of text that looks like gibberish - then success! You have successfully setup your Lotus Notes server to work with NotesCal.

Install NotesCal

Visit the Apple App Store and Install NotesCal

Once installed, open Settings on your iPhone and click on ‘NotesCal’

Server URL: you need to enter the Cal2NotesCal without a portion on the end. You will need to use only the portion in red below when configuring NotesCal:

http://SERVER.URL.COM/mail/DATABASE.NSF/Cal2NotesCal?OpenAgent&rangeStart=STARTDATE&rangeEnd=ENDDATE

Username and password: The username and password you use to access Lotus Notes.

Lastly: Then choose how far back and forward you want to sync to your phone.

Hit the home button and start NotesCal. Once it finishes loading (depending on how far back and forward you requested, it could take 10-15 seconds) you should see your calendar. Tap any entry for detailed information about that entry.

You’re done! Congratulations!