LotusScript® offers the following advantages:
Since LotusScript is a superset of the BASIC language, it is easy to learn, especially for Visual Basic users. You can write sophisticated scripts using conditions, branches, subroutines, while loops, and other conventions.
LotusScript is a multi-platform BASIC-like scripting language. It works with platforms such as Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, UNIX, z/OS®, and OS/400®. Scripts developed on Windows execute unchanged on any other supported platform. This portability is important as desktop applications become workgroup-enabled and documents are e-mailed to or shared by users.
Lotus® software provides Object Classes that are available to LotusScript. You can write scripts to access and manipulate these objects. The scripts are event-driven, such as by an action, clicking the object or button, opening a document, or opening a view.
LotusScript gives you the ability to create your own classes and objects, and easily subclass these classes.
LotusScript is supported by Lotus software, so these products can access product classes using a product-supplied LotusScript extension. You can use one language to write scripts in different Lotus software applications.
Using LotusScript, you can create Notes® containers for documents created with IBM® Lotus SmartSuite® applications and other OLE-enabled applications, such as Microsoft Office. You can use external OLE 2.0 automation objects by scripting them, such as 1-2-3® worksheet objects.
Notes registers itself as an OLE automation server. External applications can use these objects in scripts to create and reference them. LotusScript can combine all the parts and provide the means for controlling and manipulating objects.
You can call formula language and @functions from LotusScript. You can also call Java™ and JavaScript.
The LotusScript Integrated Development Environment (IDE) provides an interface to create, edit, and debug scripts, and to browse variables and properties of classes. The IDE allows you to write more complex scripts in Notes.
You can create function and class libraries in the language and reuse them in other applications or Lotus software applications via the USE statement language extension.
LotusScript allows users to create their own classes and objects, called Lotus software extensions (LSXs). LotusScript classes support single inheritance, constructors/destructors and method overriding. This functionality allows users to take advantage of object-oriented programming, and to rapidly prototype their own custom business objects. For more information about LSXs, visit the Lotus Developer Network at http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/developernetwork.