Data typing
Fields in a document are typed. They are either Text, TextList, Number, Time or Date or some other data type. Be careful not to rely strictly on a certain data type when you work with VA Smalltalk. Always expect that a field might contain data of a different data type.
Note:
If you have a form with a field definition named "Info", which is type text and is enabled to hold multiple values the following can occur: You type in a single string into the 'Info' field and save a document. The resulting AbtLnNote will have an AbtLnItemText named "Info". If you use the same form and type in two separated stings into the "Info" field, the resulting note will have an AbtLnItemTextList named "Info".
Fields in a document can change their field type from time to time, depending on the form which is used for processing. So be flexible with your VA Smalltalk application or take measures to keep strict typing within documents.
Note:
Forms can display data of any type in every field (i.e. a form field which is designed to be used with numbers can display a RTF field with bitmaps and graphics). Only if you want to store data of the wrong type, the form will signal an error.
RTF
Domino Connection offers limited RTF support. You can access every byte in a rich text field - but you have to fully understand the RTF format to actively manipulate the bytes. There is no public support for byte by byte access to RTF fields.
The regular RTF protocol performs a RTF to ASCII text conversion when you read a document. When you write to an AbtLnItemComposite, you can only pass Strings, which will be converted via a special API call into RTF format. That means if you read an note containing a RTF field with data other than text, and you modify and store that RTF field with Domino Connection, non-text data will be lost!
Last modified date: 01/29/2015