Creating an agent to change Location.

[dustinlammers]

Good Day,

We are currently in the process of implementing Microsoft ISA to replace Microsoft Proxy and we're running into a problem with our Lotus Notes clients. All their proxies settings in the Location document are set for the old one, we would like to change these to update for the new server name. We don't want the users to leave their PCs logged on or have to manually go around to every desk. Is there any way to create an Agent to change a field in the Location document?

Thanks for your time,

Dustin

 

[pmonett]

Any programmer can do that easily.
The real issue is doing that so that the change script can be mailed to users and done at the click of a button.
What I would do is ensure that I have the exact field name and content to implement, as well as making sure that changing the current Location document will not invite unexpected surprises (ie. checking a few key users to see what their locations are and what the implications would be).
Then I would create a new form in the corporate template, with a button the user would click on.
In the button, I'd write the script to make the field update (or a Simple Function if it is usable), then save the form into the template.
The next day (typically), all users will have their mail files updated with the template change, and then I (or the Admin) could send that form to all users. When the users open the form, it would give the necessary prompt to click the button. You might even want to include a return function in order to track who has clicked the button and who has not to ensure that everyone is up to date.
After everyone is up to date, you can erase the form in the template.

The real issue here is that the Location document is in the user's Names.nsf file which is locally stored on the user's PC. That precludes any possible automation of the process via standard Notes functionality. Thus, you have to get the user to do the update somehow, either by sending the instructions (in a basic mail), some code (when possible), or going on a field trip.
Maybe with R6 a real Notes Admin can find a different, more automated way, but I doubt it.

Pascal.