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How to mimic the action buttons from java views (close but not perfect)
If you’re like me, you like the design of the action bar in the inbox of your R8 mailbox.

The round buttons, the orange gradient and the blue match the new client very well.
Unfortunately, for us, developers, these are features that are out of reach to build in regular views and forms at this moment. Even in the mailbox the buttons on the memoform have “normal” looks.
I tried to get as close to this “ideal” as possible and this is the result.

How were the buttons created?
First you’ll need to download the background images. Note that the R8actionbutton.jpg needs to be set to images across=4 in the image resource properties.
These are the Action Bar settings I applied:
- Bar Height: fixed, 30 pixels.
- Color: RGB 231,233,240.
- Image: r8actionbar.jpg, repeat horizontally.
- Border: style=solid, color=RGB 169,192,215, 2px bottom (other borders=0).
- Button Size Height: fixed size, 30 pixels.
- Button Options: display border=on mouse over, internal margins=0px.
- Button Background: color=RGB 240,240,240, image=r8actionbutton.jpg
- Font: default sans serif, 9pt, plain, RGB 0,64,128
That’s it! If you see ways to make it a closer match, let me know!
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August 29th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Action buttons respect multi-part images for hover effects? NICE! I didn’t think that worked anywhere except in images embedded in forms.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Yep, this works. I didn’t think there were still things I could teach you :-).
August 29th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Ths is great! I am at the moment occupied with setting up a new standard template for our company based upon the Lotus Notes 8, Sametime, Symphony and Expeditor design guidelines and an example database (I can not remember 123 a reference) but the mouseover effect was completely forgotten in the example. Thanks!
August 29th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’m glad it was useful, Patrick
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Hej, I notice some differences in height with the original image that is used for the background (37 px compared with 30px).
Maybe I am wrong or I have different properties for the view. For example bar height I have 4,75 Exs in stead of fixed 30 px.
I took the properties from this example db:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-discussion-template-posted
…
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 am
Hi Patrick,
You’re right about the height, I used fixed size pixel height, that is different from the original one. I guess the only time this makes a difference, is when people start to change their fontsizes. In other cases it looks exactly like the Lotus template.
Thanks for the link! It’s both interesting for those who want a fresher looking Discussion Template, and for an example new actionbar.
Regards,
Martin
September 7th, 2008 at 10:48 am
[…] Also Martin Vereecken wrote a usefull tip about mimicing the action buttons from Java views. […]
November 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Help, please. I’m in my first web design class and there is little to no help from the Prof. I am trying to make some graphic buttons I found on a web site appear as if they have been clicked. I used the z-index to stack the images on a background which I made. The only info I received from my teacher was use Java. Kind of scary since I’m just learning XHTML.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Awesome is the word , i have been trying various java snippets to achieve this effect tried once using the borders and all but i wasn’t even close to this . Good Job !
March 5th, 2009 at 8:35 am
there are 2 nice articles on developerworks that describe how to use java views in your common Notes databases…
March 5th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Hi Patrick,
Thanks, I think you mean: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes-java-pt1/?S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=ART and
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes-java-pt2/
Could be useful for those who want the real stuff :-).
January 5th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
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