LotusScript for Visual Basic Programmers - IBM Redbooks

Where LotusScript commands and syntax are like Visual Basic’s (for
example, the %If ... %Endif as compared to the #If ... #End If conditional
compilation commands), they will need to be converted, redone or not used
in order to create code that is truly portable between Visual Basic and
LotusScript.
Unlike Visual Basic, LotusScript is not centered around the Properties,
Methods, and Events metaphor. LotusScript is built around interacting with
the objects provided within the respective host application and
development tools provided by Lotus. For example, objects don’t have Tags
or Captions. A static text object uses a text property rather than a caption
property to read and change its value. So any Visual Basic code that refers
to captions for labels needs to be changed. Similarly, LotusScript doesn’t
support the tag property. But LotusScript does have a Name(variable)
function that returns an item’s name, which can then be used to operate on
objects dynamically at runtime.
Control Arrays
LotusScript does not support control arrays or indexes on individual
objects in the same way as Visual Basic. So your Visual Basic code that sets
up an array of text objects with a common code routine — as with Sub
txtAmtField_Click (amtIdx as index) — will need to be rewritten. Buttons
under LotusScript are set up as individual buttons or to act as group or
checkbox buttons when they are placed onto the screen.
Visual Basic Environment Constants
If you are using any of the new Visual Basic embedded constants, you will
need to provide a translation file of codes for anything that you want to
move to LotusScript. Or you can simply choose not to use the Visual Basic
constants in the first place. For example, you might be using things like this
in Visual Basic 4 applications now:
If rc = vbYes or rc = vbAbort Then
' add processing here.
EndIf
You will need to add constant declarations for vbYes and vbAbort in code
ported to LotusScript; otherwise the references to vbYes and vbAbort
would prove invalid.
Caution If you are not using Option Declare in your LotusScript or Option
Explicit in your Visual Basic modules and move the code shown above, it
may compile and give you erroneous results. Both vbYEs and vbAbort
would be treated as uninitialized variables and both contain a 0. The code
Chapter 1: LotusScript and Visual Basic: A Comparison 29