We have already written several articles about the document-oriented database MongoDB. For many properties similar to IBM Notes we use it in our web applications based on PHP and Symfony. For purpose of data synchronization from Lotus Notes to MongoDB we’ve developed a converter. Document-oriented nature of MongoDB database allows the transfer lot of different data types, such as RichText, attachments or multi-valued fields.
The converter itself is in the form of Lotus Notes application and you can set up entire data synchronization there. The configuration contains:
- Notes server and file path
- Form name for data filtering
- Last modification data to fine tune synchronization
- Field mapping
Field mapping is done in the form of separate documents, where you can specify:
- Lotus Notes source data – it may be a single field, formula or attachment
- MongoDB field name
- Multivalue field type
- Field Type – apart from common field types, such as text, number, date, it also supports RichText (they are converted into HTML) and Attachments (which are stored in GridFS, file store of MongoDB)
The synchronization can be run manually or periodically. It uses Lotus Notes document unique ID as a main key to properly connect all related data..
