The goal of the AJAX Name Picker project is to provide an easy to use component for selecting names from a Domino Directory (or Domino Directories) in a Lotus Domino Web application. The project was started by Steve McDonagh in 2007. He created a very feature rich component which actually works better than the default Name Picker in the Lotus Notes client. In contrast to the LoNo Name Picker, this Name Picker allows you to search on both first and last name at the same time and search in multiple directories and show the results of all directories in one list. It also has the possibility to show some details of the selected person, making it easier to find the right person. By using AJAX technology the Name Picker is very responsive.



For a series of applications for a large customer of ours, my colleague, Richard Brouwer, and I decided to use Steve's brilliant Name Picker. Though this Name Picker was more feature rich than anything else which was available as an open source name picker for Domino, we felt it did use more resources than strictly necessary. We therefore reduced the code to the bare basics needed to retain the same functionality and in the process tried to iron out any bugs still left in Steve's last version. In the best tradition of open source we decided to give our version back to the community. In consultation with Steve we publish our version as the v2.x series of the AJAX Name Picker. Compared to Steve's last version, this version features:

- Just one rather small Javascript library (Steve's version uses Yahoo's YUI libraries. Our version no longer needs those)
- Full support for special characters
- Small changes to the GUI

So what does it look like?
By setting a parameter in the onFocus call the Name Picker can be used in 4 different ways:

1. Type ahead suggestion
A picture named M2

2. Simple popup
A picture named M3

3. Popup with extra details of selected person
A picture named M4

4. Popup for a multivalue name field
A picture named M5

As this Name Picker is an important component in the applications for this customer, we are determined to solve any bugs as soon as possible. If you find any, please let us know using the form in the Project view. Also if you'd like to see more features in the Name Picker, you're more than welcome to submit those.
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