lekkimworld.com - Sametime category

Sametime screencapture tool

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:12:00 GMT

Although I have previously been having problems with the screencapture tool in Sametime I still use it a lot. Today I was surprised to discover that it uses the clipboard to transfer data between the screencapture component and the text input box. The clipboard is also used when sending the captured data directly to the chat partner. The fact that any unsent message in the text area is lot when doing that is a topic for another post.

Using the clipboard is fine by then why isn't the contents of the clipboard restored after submitting? What if I had some important stuff on the clipboard I was using? Hmm... To me this isn't a nice user experience.

P.S.: I'm running Sametime 8 in Notes 8.0.1.

Re: (y) becomes _

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:36:52 GMT

I think it's a bug in the chat window display since inserting a space after the emoticon once you have written some more text displays the emoticon.

I did a video of the bug but for some reason Youtube wont convert it so please download it here.

(y) becomes _

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:26:00 GMT

Am I the only one where typing (y) in the Sametime chat windows doesn't result in the yes-emoticon but an underscore instead? We're seeing this across the office on Notes 8.0.1 Standard.

Update: Now :-D also turn into an underscore instead of a grin-emoticon and apparently it happens in both ends of the conversation. Restarting the chat doesn't solve the problem.

Enabling debug on the Sametime Connect (8.x) client

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:42:00 GMT

Technote 1291048: Enabling debug on the Sametime Connect 8.x client.

This technote �s only for Sametime 8 and refers to the "proper" Eclipse way of debugging. Refer to technote 1244422 for info relating to Sametime 7.5.

Custom Sametime blackbox for bleedyellow.com

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:05:00 GMT

Over the last few days I have been working with Chris Whisonant from LOTUS911 / bleedyellow.com to write a custom Sametime blackbox for bleedyellow.com. In case you don't know, a blackbox in "Sametime speak", is what you write if you would like to get business card info from systems other than Domino Directory or LDAP.

This blackbox uses the DB2 JDBC drivers to plug into the Lotus Connections Profiles database at bleedyellow.com to get business card data from there. This means that if you update your bleedyellow.com profile with a photo your co-bleeders will now be able to see it when they hover their mouse over your name in Sametime.

Besides the photo we also surfase the blog-link and the timezone instead of company name and department as you can see in the screenshot below.

During my work with this blackbox and previous work I have done with the UserInfo API for two upcoming articles in THE VIEW on the same subject I have learned a lot of stuff, both good and bad, about the API. The API gives you a lot of flexibility but there are also major shortcomings so expect some blogging on this in the future. For now simply rejoice! :-)

Now I invite you to update your Lotus Connections profile and share any comments you have on the hovering with me or Chris.

P.S.: I know there is a Lotus Connections plug-in for Sametime that provides hover-functionality from the Solution Catalog but I really wanted a server-based solution.

Lotus Sametime for Microsoft products

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:37:00 GMT

Nice video of the Lotus Sametime integration into Microsoft Office incl. Outlook (main focus is on Outlook). It's nice even if you just need to see what the integration looks like since you're probably running Notes. Right? :-)

Announcement: Sametime Awareness Simulator

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:46:00 GMT

So I'm finally done with version 1.0 of the Sametime Awareness Simulator (SAS) application that I hinted to during Lotusphere.

The purpose of the application is to solve the problem that all that run demos involving Sametime run into: How to get 20 users on Sametime, some available, some away etc. without running 20 concurrent Sametime Connect clients. With SAS you can simply manage all this from with one application.

From the screenshot on the right you can see the application with 3 users added. Only one is logged into Sametime and as you can see you can set the status for each individual user by right-clicking or using the menu or toolbar. There's also a preference dialog for setting the hostname of the Sametime server to use.

I need you!

I'm interested in getting some initial feedback before releasing the application into the wild so if you need something like this let me know by e-mail (mh [at] intravision.dk). I'm looking for 5 people or so to test drive the application. Please only write if you're actually going to use it and not if you just need a new toy... :-)

I will be releasing it soon enough.

Technical stuff

The application is written in Java using the Sametime Java API and using the Eclipse RCP application framework. It runs as a standalone application so you do not need Eclipse installed.

Plans for future improvement

Configure SAS to automatically add a predefined set of users. Now you have to manually add the users each time the application starts.
Add update site functionality to allow for easy updates and bug fixes.
Add functionality to allow users logged into Sametime using SAS to respond to chats (using predefined responses or simply echo), join group chats and accept file transfers.
Log into Sametime as a server application and use the LightLoginService instead of a fullblown STSession per user.

Sametime Awareness Simulator - part 2

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:40:00 GMT

Well I discussed the SAS with Nathan last night at the Welcome Reception and it seems like it struck a nerve and it's something that's usable for a lot of the guys in the showcase. I cleared everything out last night so I will probably be sharing the application during the day (Monday).

I have many plans for future enhancements. For now it only simulates awareness but a logical extension would be for it to be able to accept file transfers, join group chats and reply to 1-on-1 chats. One should be able to specify a prerecorded chat script for individual users.

More to follow...