Some time ago I was asked to make a print form in Lotus Notes (R7), that required certain things you would normally rather do with a word processor. One of these things was a variable, computed footer (a dblookup from a parameter).

Now Notes knows footers and Notes knows computed values, but it doesn't know computed values *in* a footer. Placing a computed value at the end of the form (there already, how would you define the end?) didn't help as the footer had to be on every page, well, just as expected from a real footer.

Trying to find a solution, I even went into the DXL code:


 
I found some interesting patterns changing the footer ;-), but nothing that would really help. Until, on one of these magic coffee breaks, I finally found a solution:

The footer on a Notes form knows the placeholder "&W", which stands for the window title of the document. The window title can be computed, so I placed my dblookup in the formula section of the window title, added "&W" to the footer of my Notes form, and had my variable, computed Notes footer.

One thing that does not work with this, is placing the formula in a computed field and adding the fieldname to the formula section of the window title. Notes computes the window title before the computed field, so the footer would be empty. In order to make it work, you would have to code the complete formula directly in the window title.

About the Author
Marcus Foerster works as Systems Architect for Pentos AG in Munich, Germany. His focus lies on the application side, creating collaboration systems for users, groups and enterprises to get their daily work done. This approach includes integrating complex workflows with intuitive user interfaces, using Lotus Notes/Domino with Adobe Flex and other Web technologies.
Read more in Marcus' blog: http://marcus.foerster.com/blog