lekkimworld.com - IBM category

Notes 8 Utility plugins

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:20:46 GMT

From time to time I come across some functionality I think should be part of the Notes client but isn't. If it's really a big pain point for me and I can implement it myself I do so as a Notes plugin. I've implemented a number of such plugins over time but few have ever been published. Since I get requests for similar functionality from time to time I decided to create a page and publish the functionality there as I find the time and dig out the code and polish it of. I envision the list growing over time so do come back! :-)

If you got suggestions let me know.

Signing of from 2009 - looking back at a great year

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:34:19 GMT

2009 is drawing to a close and in less than 10 hours I'll be in my tuxedo and drinking champagne. What a year from a personal and a professional perspective.

On the personal front the highlight of 2009, by far, was on 22 August where I got married to my lovely wife. 4 months into our marriage we're having a blast. Not much have changed in our relationship which I take as a good thing. I'm looking forward to January and once again bringing her along for Lotusphere. I think she's growing used to staying in the Swan and the fact that return guests get some good deals at the spa... :-) Apparently some sun and warm weather (crossing my fingers) in January doesn't hurt either.

On the professional front it's been a year of both many changes and new challenges. As previously the year really got kicked of at Lotusphere and it was very nice seeing all of my "collegues" again and hooking up. I'll remember BALD, being part of the blogger program in those yellow bean bags, frost in Florida in January and the associated state-wide "panic", giving a session with good reviews though having a high fever and missing 1,5 days due to sickness as the highlights of my Lotusphere 2009. Of couse being in the US for the inauguration also made it special. Being "on location" in Florida bar for Superbowl was also a very nice experience.

The rest of the year has been filled with a lot of consulting on Notes and Domino, Lotus Connections and other related Lotus products. It's been very nice being able to share experience and consult on a wide variety of subjects. 2009 was also the year where I started doing a lot of teaching and we started doing Notes 8.5 Application Development workshops. I've been giving the workshop a number of times across Denmark during 2009 and it has always been a good experience. Of course some workshops has been better than others but I have always felt that I've given the attendees what they signed up for and all attendees have gone home amazed at the potential of the new Notes releases. If only more would take the time to learn Java - that's still the Achilles Heel of IBM Lotus...

Towards the end of 2009 I have also assumed the day to day management of some of the developers in the company. It's been a big change from billing out 40-50 hours a week to mostly managing and planning. It's also meant spending far more hours in the office which has been weird. I set a personal record this winter by having lunch in the office 12 days in a row. That's a first in my 2+ years at IntraVision. The change of role has been fun but also a big change and challenge and something that I'm finding myself enjoying very much. I'm looking forward to the new year and getting more into that role.

In 2009 I have also enjoyed still being part of the Design Partner programme with IBM. It's fun, educational and inspiring to be part of these conference calls and getting the inside story. The calls are something I look forward to attending and the debate is good and lively. Of course it's also frustrating sometimes when IBM Lotus do something that we design partners just don't get but that's part of the deal. All in all I still find it very positive that IBM Lotus listens and lotusknows it makes a difference! :-)

On the whole lotusknows thing I find it very positive that IBM Lotus finally got the message and starting being offensive. We still haven't seen much, if any, of it here in Denmark but hopefully it's coming at some point. There's still a big need for air cover.

In November this blog turned 5 years and it was a milestone that were reached. As I wrote on that day, this blog is something I cannot imagine not having today. The blog and way it connects me with the community is amazing. Of course more and more communication moves from blogs to Twitter these days but it's all good.

2009 was also the year where I finally got to finish LotusScript.doc version 2. It's been a long time coming and it was very nice finally to get the new version out there. Expect interesting stuff to be coming your way in 2009 when I start leveraging the LotusScript.doc Java API in other contexts.

In three months TwitNotes turns 2 years - wow! Has it already been that long? Besides, of course, being my Twitter client of choice it has also served as a very good example in all of my speaking gigs as one of those new applications that are possible in the "new" Notes client. TwitNotes is an application that builds on the Notes foundation but reads and writes data in the cloud. Showing it as an example always raises some eyebrows until people "get it". I used it as an example for the big IBM Software Day event here in Denmark this fall.

As 2009 draws to a close I'm doing another sidebar application that I hope will be useful for many of you out there although I'm mainly doing it for myself to increase my productivity. I hope to be able to reveal it by Lotusphere. It's again a cloud-based application that integrates into the Notes experience to showcase just what's possible with the "new" platform. Stay tuned...

Before I write too much I'll wrap it up by wishing you all a very happy new year - see you on the other side. For those of you going to Lotusphere - see you there!

Bye, bye 2009...

IBM Lotus Danmark is blogging in Danish

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:09:06 GMT

Your favorite characters from IBM Lotus Danmark has started a blog (well actually some time ago) and they are now blogging in Danish. It's a good blog to subscribe to to stay updated on everything Lotus from a Danish perspective. The blog may be found here: Lotus Danmark.

So Lotus - how about that CSI view connector for Outlook?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:05:52 GMT

Microsoft is opening the PST file format and making documentation available for developers to read/write and recreate PST files on other platforms. You can read more about it on winsupersite.com (Outlook PST: Open for Business where Paul Thurrott writes:

"So Microsoft will provide documentation so that any third party vendor can recreate the PST format on other platforms, for free and without fear of recourse, and interoperate with PST files more seamlessly. The potential results of this transformation are far-reaching. One imagines Google email servers that interoperate directly with PST file stores on Windows PCs, Macs, or Linux boxes. Or perhaps third party email solutions that can take an existing PST file and make the migration to a new solution easier than ever before."

Reading this I'm left think: "hmmmm - so Lotus - what about that CSI view connector for Outlook?". Admitting that I do not know which API's are available now, wouldn't this mean that Lotus could write a CSI view connector for Notes that would allow using Notes as the frontend to PST data files? I remember hearing about the new view technology in Notes 8 (that is Java views == CSI views) and it being mentioned that Notes 8 could just as well read data from Outlook. Well here's your chance. It's an intriguing thought... :-)

Troubleshooting wierd Traveler startup message

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:09:34 GMT

Today I troubleshot an issue with a newly installed Domino 8.5.1 server with Lotus Traveler installed. Whatever was done the Lotus Traveler code would not initialize correctly and would print the following errors to the console despite being configured in the Domino Directory:

Notes Traveler: SEVERE *system Server document for server 
      SERVER/ORG in domain DOMAIN not found
Notes Traveler: SEVERE *system Exception caught while 
      trying to access NTS server settings during
   at com.lotus.sync.admin.NTSSettingsINI.alarmCallback(
      NTSSettingsINI.I.java:776)

After much digging (and some reverse engineering) I found that it was caused by an invalid configuration. One of the first things the Lotus Traveler code does is open the Domino Directory, switch the the Servers view and lookup the server in question using the domain and server name. The domain and server name is read from the notes.ini file on the server using the ServerName and Domain notes.ini settings.

The problem was however that the Domain setting in the notes.ini contained an invalid domain name hence the server name couldn't be found in Domino Directory. This hadn't caused any problems mail routing why it had gone undetected. After fixing this small notes.ini setting Lotus Traveler started without any problems.

Rundown of what's new in 8.5(.1)

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:41:31 GMT

If you need ammunition to sell a Notes/Domino 8.5(.1) upgrade in house see "What's New in Lotus Notes 8.5 and 8.5.1?" in the Infocenter.

Enabling Quickr entry in Quickr Connectors 8.2

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:12:05 GMT

Apparently entry places are not enabled by default in the Quickr Connectors with Quickr 8.2. To enable these entry places refer to technote 1388263 (For Lotus Quickr 8.2, enable or disable Entry when using connectors for Microsoft Windows Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Office applications).

Why you should get Notes/Domino 8.5.1 if you take Notes as a PLATFORM seriously

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:57:37 GMT

Yesterday Ed asked "Notes/Domino 8.5.1 available: So what do you think?" so I thought I would take a little time and reflect over the new release. I have to admit that I have been running 8.5.1 as my production client for so long that it's difficult to remember what's new but I'll give it a try.

For me as developer and a "Java guy" the main things about 8.5.1 is of course the new DDE extensibility API and the official release of the Java UI API not to mention that we FINALLY have a decent LotusScript/Java editor in DDE. That's great but that's is not it.

On of my biggest pet peeves with IBM has been how they for a long time referred to Lotus Notes as a mail client. It IS a mail client but albeit much more than that. By far. Notes 8 (Standard) showed the way by giving us a PLATFORM to develop for. Part of the platform is Java extensions no matter whether they are for the sidebar, toolbar or context menus. Java extensions are of course also an integral part of the Composite Application framework. The biggest problem with the Java extensions when Notes 8 came out was that they were hard to provision to users. That was later remedied by the introduction of widget descriptors (drag'n'drop install of Java extensions to the MyWidgets sidebar or using the widget catalog) so that's great. The approach had however one major flaw in that the Notes client prompted users when installed unsigned Java extensions. There were ways around it but it wasn't pretty.

So....

The reason to get 8.5.1 if you take Notes as a PLATFORM seriously is a little, tiny, addition to the security policy in Domino Directory. "But you're a developer" you might say and you're (mostly) right. This addition is however of great importance to all developers - it may just be the one thing that gives you success with your Notes Standard client deployment.

Once you have upgraded to 8.5.1 open your Domino Directory and check out the Security Settings document for policies. Switch to the "Keys and Certificates" tab and scroll to the bottom. Look closely - you might not see it at first. Way down of the bottom there is a new section called "Administrative Trust Defaults". In this section you can specify the internet certificates and/or internet cross certificates to deploy to your end users using policies. With this crucial piece in place you can deploy signed Java extensions to end-users and have them install them without being prompted. At all!! The wont get confused, they wont have the option of aborting the install. This is great news and it works great.

Now that we're able to push internet cross certificates to end-users these issues goes away. So go!! Deploy away!! Break out Eclipse and get going writing these Java extensions and deploy them seamlessly and transparently...

Of course there are caveats and stuff you need to know but that's for another day! Oh - and that's what Lotusphere is for! :-)