Setting the Dojo djConfig variable in XPages

Last year I wrote about how to load
the Firebug Lite debugger in Internet Explorer by downloading
the javascript files and adding them into your xPages application. At the
time I mentioned that Dojo contains a version of Firebug Lite but that
there was currently no method to enable it.

With Lotus Domino 8.5.1 we can now use
the built in Firebug Lite. To turn it on you need to get the Xpages parser
to add isDebug:true to the djConfig line that it uses to load the base
Dojo javascript files. The way to do this is a little hidden away so here
is a step by step…

First of all open the application that
you want to add the Firbug Lite console to in your Domino Designer client.
We then need to open the package explorer view. This is an eclipse view
that is not part of the Domino Designer perspective so to open this view
click on the ‘Window – Show Eclipse Views – Other’ menu. In the dialog
that pops up scroll down to ‘Java’, expand it out and then select ‘Package
Explorer’.

A new eclipse view should open, probably
on the right of your screen where the the list of controls appears when
your editing an xPage. You will see a set of folders that kinda matchup
to the different design elements in the Domino Designer perspective along
with a few extra folders. the one we are interested in is a file called
xsp.properties and it is inside the WebContentWEB-INF folder.

Opening this file will show you all
of the xsp properties in effect for this application. Most of them you
will recognize from the Application Properties dialog. To set the djConfig
line just add in xsp.client.script.dojo.djConfig= and put in the additional
values that you desire, so for the Firebug Lite you add in isDebug:true.

Now you just close and save that tab
and Firebug Lite will automatically load in any web browser that supports
it.

Just don’t forget to take the value
out before releasing your code to end users, I’m sure they won’t want to
be seeing a debug console all the time.