An agent to change field values to help in #XPages

With our transition to XPages, I’ve been finding more and more often that I don’t have a form interface in the Notes client to just change one field value on the back end. Too often, on the front end, in XPages, there’s a value I simply haven’t exposed for editing or don’t even display. I often don’t add the fields to the back end Notes form because it really doesn’t add much value. So, when I want to change one field, or change one field on multiple documents, I do it with an agent. Heck, over the years, we all have. We just usually did it in a very static manner – writing a quick @formula to change the value of a specific field. That requires changing the design to create the agent and then delete the agent – or leaving a mess behind that slowly grows your agent list with more and more single-use agents.

So, I wrote an agent that allowed me to replace a text field by naming the field and the value. Then, I found I wanted one for numbers as well. So, for a few weeks, I had two agents. Then, I realized the folly and wrote an agent that detects the field being updated (or asking you if the field doesn’t exist). I only did it for text, numbers and dates, so I imagine it could be extended. It’s enough for me. Since I had occasion to share it this week with another developer, I thought I’d also post it here to share via the blogosphere.

While there’s nothing brilliant about it, it sure is useful.

%REM
	Agent Change Field Value
	Created Jun 19, 2015 by David Navarre/DAI
	Description: This Agent allows the user to name a field and change the value
		It checks the field type on the first document selected and
		handles strings, numbers and dates differently
%END REM
Option Public
Option Declare
Use "Utilities"
Dim ws As NotesUIWorkspace
Dim newDate As NotesDateTime
Dim newvalue As Variant
Dim fieldname As Variant
Dim change As String
Sub Initialize
	Dim session As New NotesSession
	' thisdb declared in Utilities '
	Dim ndc As NotesDocumentCollection
	Dim itemdoc As NotesDocument
	Dim itemToChange As NotesItem
	Dim numericValue As Double
	Dim itemType As Long
	Dim selectedType (2) As String
	Dim choice As Variant
	Dim reason As String

	On Error GoTo errorhandler

	Set ws = New NotesUIWorkspace
	Set thisdb = session.CurrentDatabase

	selectedType (0) = "Date"
	selectedType (1) = "Text"
	selectedType (2) = "Numbers"

	Call StartAgentLogging (session )

	fieldname = ws.Prompt ( PROMPT_OKCANCELEDIT, "Field Name", "Enter the name of the field to change" )
	If IsEmpty ( fieldname ) Then
		Exit Sub
	End If

	newvalue = ws.Prompt ( PROMPT_OKCANCELEDIT, fieldname, "Enter the new value for " & fieldname )
	If IsEmpty ( newvalue ) Then
		Exit Sub
	End If

	' get the collection before issuing the confirmation, so we can determine field type '
	' from the first document selected, assuming it is the same on the rest '
	Set ndc = thisdb.UnprocessedDocuments
	Set itemdoc = ndc.GetFirstDocument
	Call agentLog.LogAction ( "Items: " & ndc.Count )

	If ( itemdoc.Hasitem(fieldname) ) Then
		Set itemToChange = itemdoc.Getfirstitem(fieldname)
		itemType = itemToChange.Type
	Else
		choice = ws.Prompt(PROMPT_OKCANCELLIST, "Select field type", "Field " & fieldname & " does not exist on the first document. Select field type to create", "Text", selectedType )
		If IsEmpty ( choice ) Then
			MessageBox "Action cancelled"
			Exit Sub
		End If
		Select Case choice
		Case "Date"
			itemType = 1024
		Case "Text"
			itemType = 1280
		Case "Number"
			itemType = 768
		End Select
	End If	

	If Confirm ( itemType ) Then
		While Not itemdoc Is Nothing
			Select Case itemType
			Case 1024  ' DATETIMES '
				Call itemdoc.ReplaceItemValue ( fieldname, newDate )
			Case 1280  ' TEXT '
				Call itemdoc.ReplaceItemValue ( fieldname, newValue )
			Case 768  ' NUMBERS '
				' if the value supplied is an integer, save it that way '
				If ( CInt ( CDbl ( newValue ) ) = CInt ( newValue ) ) Then
					Call itemdoc.ReplaceItemValue ( fieldname, CInt ( newValue ) )
				else
					Call itemdoc.ReplaceItemValue ( fieldname, CDbl ( newValue ) )
				End If
			End Select

			Call agentLog.LogAction ( change )
			Call itemdoc.Save ( True, False )

			Set itemdoc = ndc.GetNextDocument ( itemdoc )
		Wend
		MessageBox change & Chr$(10) & "Successful on " & ndc.Count & " documents"
	End If

exiting:
	Call agentLog.LogAction ( "-------" )
	Call agentLog.LogAction ( "-------" )
	Exit Sub
errorhandler:' report all errors in a messagebox '
	reason = "Error #" & CStr (Err) & " (" & Error & ") on line " & CStr (Erl)
	MessageBox reason, 16, "Error"
	Call agentLog.LogAction ( reason )
	Resume exiting

End Sub
%REM
	Function ConfirmValue
	Description: This function displays a confirmation dialog based on the field type
%END REM
Function Confirm ( itemType As Long ) As Boolean

	Select Case itemType
		Case 1024  ' DATETIMES '
			Set newDate = New NotesDateTime ( newValue )
			change = "Change date in " & fieldname & " to " & newDate.Dateonly
		Case 1280  ' TEXT '
			change = "Change text in " & fieldname & " to " & newValue
		Case 768  ' NUMBERS '
			change = "Change number in " & fieldname & " to " & newValue
		Case 1  ' RICHTEXT '
			Confirm = False
			MessageBox "Cannot change rich text using this agent"
			Exit Function
		Case Else
			Confirm = False
			MessageBox "Cannot change " & fieldname & " using this agent" & Chr$(10) & "Field type: " & itemType
			Exit Function
	End Select 

	Confirm = ws.Prompt ( PROMPT_YESNO, "Confirmation", change & "?" )

End Function

Oh, and the relevant snippet of the Utilities script library….

%REM
    Library Utilities
    Created Mar 29, 2012 by David Navarre/DAI
    Description: Some database utilities
%END REM
Option Public
Option Declare

Dim thisdb As NotesDatabase
Dim agentLog As NotesLog
Sub Initialize

End Sub

Sub StartAgentLogging ( session As NotesSession )
    ' this module starts agent logging '
    ' 29 Mar 12, David Navarre '
    Dim title As String
    Dim agent As NotesAgent

    Set agentLog = session.CreateLog ("Agent log")
    Set agent = session.Currentagent
    Call agentLog.OpenAgentLog
    Call agentLog.LogAction ( "Log Open" )

End Sub