@GetMachineInfo: New macro for probing user's workstation
Category Domino Application Development Tips
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I came across a new @Function that I was always always hoping to see added to Lotus Notes one day. @GetMachineInfo has been been introduced in 8.5.3 and can be very useful to both administrators and developers.
Administrators can use it with policies to distinguish between different workstations that any given user is running Notes on. As per IBM's Technote 1501673, "in prior versions of the Notes Client, and policy control, an administrator could target an individual, but not a specific machine configuration for that individual. For certain settings and customers, this made the enforcement of specific settings problematic, either because a user had multiple machines, or because the configurations and usage were not easily partitioned. "
Developers can use it in applications that need to be aware of the user's environment, or applications that collect information about user's workstations (eg. corporate computer inventory) to extract info ranging from specs on hardware (memory, disk space, whether it's a laptop or desktop) to data on Notes client itself (Standard vs. Basic, Multi-user vs. Single User install, does it have Designer or Admin clients installed). Some of this was possible before but you had to use different @Functions (or LotusScript methods/properties) for different things often in combination with queries to Windows Registry and VMIService objects and a lot more code. Now, most of it can be accomplished with just one simple @Function that is platform independent (yes, it works on a Macintosh as well as it does on a Windows PC).
Don't look for any information on it in your Domino Designer 8.5.3 help file, because you will not find anything useful. For some reason, help file that shipped with 8.5.3 was not updated to include any info on this. Refer to IBM's Technote 1501673 for detailed description.
I'm just a bit disappointed that this new formula does not include any keywords for finding out machine's operating system version, and processor info. In my code, I'm currently doing it by querying Windows Registry and VMIService objects, but obviously this works only on Windows based machines. I need to do the same on Macintosh..., does anybody know how to accomplish this with Lotus Script on a Mac?
Syntax for @GetMachineInfo:
@GetMachineInfo( [Keyword]; "Needed for some Keywords string" )
Keywords:
IsLaptop boolean return True if machine is a laptop, otherwise false
IsDesktop boolean return True if machine is NOT a laptop, otherwise false
Example:
info := @GetMachineInfo([IsLaptop]) ;
msg := @If( info ; "This machine is a laptop" ; "This machine is a desktop" ) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; msg )
MachineName string return Name of the machine
boolean return True if MachineName string after keyword matches this machine's MachineName, otherwise false
Example:
info := "Machine name is " + @GetMachineInfo([MachineName]) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
Memory number return Total amount of memory (RAM)
Example:
info := "Total RAM installed " + @Text(@GetMachineInfo([Memory])) + " MB" ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
DiskSpace number return Amount of free disk space
Note: With this keyword, you can add a second parameter for the drive to scan for free space. If this parameter is not passed to the function, free space for the first (logical) drive - for example, drive C on Windows system - is displayed.
Example:
info := "Drive M free space is " + @Text(@GetMachineInfo([DiskSpace];"M:")) + " KB" ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
IP string/list return String representation of the IP address(es) in the form XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX , otherwise "" (null string) if not available
boolean return True if pattern IP string after keyword matches this machine's IP address, otherwise false
Example:
info := @GetMachineInfo([IP]) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
MAC string/list return String representation of the MAC address(es) in the form XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX , otherwise "" (null string) if not available
boolean return True if MAC string after keyword matches this machine's MAC address, otherwise false
Example:
info := @GetMachineInfo([MAC]) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
IsSingleLogOn boolean return True if machine has Notes client installed with "single sign on", otherwise false
IsMultiUser boolean return True if machine has Notes client installed as Multi-User, otherwise false
HasDesigner boolean return True if machine has Designer client installed, otherwise false
HasAdmin boolean return True if machine has Admin client installed, otherwise false
IsStandard boolean return True if machine is running Standard Notes client, otherwise false
EnvVariable string return Requires string of the variable name in Notes.ini to read, and returns the value of that ini variable or "" (null string) if not found
SysEnvVariable string return Requires string of the variable name in system environment to read, and returns the value of that variable or "" (null string) if not
found
Bookmark :
I came across a new @Function that I was always always hoping to see added to Lotus Notes one day. @GetMachineInfo has been been introduced in 8.5.3 and can be very useful to both administrators and developers.
Administrators can use it with policies to distinguish between different workstations that any given user is running Notes on. As per IBM's Technote 1501673, "in prior versions of the Notes Client, and policy control, an administrator could target an individual, but not a specific machine configuration for that individual. For certain settings and customers, this made the enforcement of specific settings problematic, either because a user had multiple machines, or because the configurations and usage were not easily partitioned. "
Developers can use it in applications that need to be aware of the user's environment, or applications that collect information about user's workstations (eg. corporate computer inventory) to extract info ranging from specs on hardware (memory, disk space, whether it's a laptop or desktop) to data on Notes client itself (Standard vs. Basic, Multi-user vs. Single User install, does it have Designer or Admin clients installed). Some of this was possible before but you had to use different @Functions (or LotusScript methods/properties) for different things often in combination with queries to Windows Registry and VMIService objects and a lot more code. Now, most of it can be accomplished with just one simple @Function that is platform independent (yes, it works on a Macintosh as well as it does on a Windows PC).
Don't look for any information on it in your Domino Designer 8.5.3 help file, because you will not find anything useful. For some reason, help file that shipped with 8.5.3 was not updated to include any info on this. Refer to IBM's Technote 1501673 for detailed description.
I'm just a bit disappointed that this new formula does not include any keywords for finding out machine's operating system version, and processor info. In my code, I'm currently doing it by querying Windows Registry and VMIService objects, but obviously this works only on Windows based machines. I need to do the same on Macintosh..., does anybody know how to accomplish this with Lotus Script on a Mac?
Syntax for @GetMachineInfo:
@GetMachineInfo( [Keyword]; "Needed for some Keywords string" )
Keywords:
IsLaptop boolean return True if machine is a laptop, otherwise false
IsDesktop boolean return True if machine is NOT a laptop, otherwise false
Example:
info := @GetMachineInfo([IsLaptop]) ;
msg := @If( info ; "This machine is a laptop" ; "This machine is a desktop" ) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; msg )
MachineName string return Name of the machine
boolean return True if MachineName string after keyword matches this machine's MachineName, otherwise false
Example:
info := "Machine name is " + @GetMachineInfo([MachineName]) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
Memory number return Total amount of memory (RAM)
Example:
info := "Total RAM installed " + @Text(@GetMachineInfo([Memory])) + " MB" ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
DiskSpace number return Amount of free disk space
Note: With this keyword, you can add a second parameter for the drive to scan for free space. If this parameter is not passed to the function, free space for the first (logical) drive - for example, drive C on Windows system - is displayed.
Example:
info := "Drive M free space is " + @Text(@GetMachineInfo([DiskSpace];"M:")) + " KB" ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
IP string/list return String representation of the IP address(es) in the form XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX , otherwise "" (null string) if not available
boolean return True if pattern IP string after keyword matches this machine's IP address, otherwise false
Example:
info := @GetMachineInfo([IP]) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
MAC string/list return String representation of the MAC address(es) in the form XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX , otherwise "" (null string) if not available
boolean return True if MAC string after keyword matches this machine's MAC address, otherwise false
Example:
info := @GetMachineInfo([MAC]) ;
@Prompt([Ok] ; "" ; info )
IsSingleLogOn boolean return True if machine has Notes client installed with "single sign on", otherwise false
IsMultiUser boolean return True if machine has Notes client installed as Multi-User, otherwise false
HasDesigner boolean return True if machine has Designer client installed, otherwise false
HasAdmin boolean return True if machine has Admin client installed, otherwise false
IsStandard boolean return True if machine is running Standard Notes client, otherwise false
EnvVariable string return Requires string of the variable name in Notes.ini to read, and returns the value of that ini variable or "" (null string) if not found
SysEnvVariable string return Requires string of the variable name in system environment to read, and returns the value of that variable or "" (null string) if not
found
