Before you try to connect to a Domino or Notes database, you should make sure that you understand the basic principles and components of a Domino or Notes system. You should be familiar with terms like user ID, notes.ini, server name, database name, replica, view, form, note, field and so on. Not knowing these basics makes understanding the following description harder, if not impossible. Use your Domino or Notes documentation as a reference for these topics. If you want to have a detailed look into Domino or Notes internals and understand the Domino Connection feature low level classes in detail, we strongly recommend you investigate the C API toolkit reference databases and user guide. The toolkit is available from Lotus.