Month: February 2008

IBM Tivoli Composite Application Management

Anyone who have tried this piece of software? Is it a server install, does it have client agents (most errors would probably be generated locally), does it support Notes 8? Below is the description from IBM.com.

“Application management is difficult because code has been written by various sources (outsourced, consultant or internal development). Composite applications further complicate management because applications are created by linking various pieces together (web servers, databases, web services, etc.). When there is a problem with the application, you may have an indication of the problem, but it is very difficult to pin point where the problem is without end to end composite application monitoring software.”

Direct link: IBM Tivoli Composite Application Management

Custom Sametime blackbox for bleedyellow.com

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.

developerWorks article – Designing composite applications: Unit testing

Craig Wolpert and Jo Grant from the composite application team at IBM are on a roll. They have just published their fourth article on developerWorks on developing composite applications:

“The ease with which users can assemble composite applications from components increases the need to unit test your components before users use them. This article, fourth in our series on composite applications, describes how to test your components prior to assembling composite applications.”

Designing composite applications: Unit testing

Imagine combining this with Notes 8!

I was directed to a site for an interesting product by my subscription to Eclipse news. The piece wasn’t on Eclipse per say but on a product based on Eclipse. The product is called Tasktop and looks awesome. There’s a *very* nice Flash demo as well that I recommend you take a look at.

So what’s so special about this? Well besides being a nice tool with some, what appears to be killer functionality, it’s written on the same platform as Notes 8! (that would be Eclipse for those who hasn’t guessed that) It wouldn’t be a monumental task to bring it into the Notes 8 client. How’s that for a context sensitive workbench? Combine it with the workflow of Notes – you could work wonders. Imagine having context tasks in Notes combined with links to activities, e-mails, databases, views, Notes documents, Sametime transcripts, Quickr documents, documents on file shares… It makes my mouth water!

Wow!

IBM should definitely pick up on this. That would be nothing like my dear old Notes client! It would be Notes on steroids!

P.S.: I know I went a little overboard with the exclamation marks! 🙂

Podcast: Ze Frank – Keynote

Not for the easily offended but worth a listen.

“In this extremely funny RailsConf keynote, performer and consultant Ze Frank radiates the quirky energy and hip creativity of new media and the interactive web. Riffing on everything from nonsensical airline safety cards to the creation of an Earth sandwich…”

MP3 off IT Conversations

developerWorks: IBM Lotus Notes composite application podcast series

I haven’t listened yet but it sounds interesting. Too bad there isn’t a RSS feed for the series available.

“In this three-part podcast series on composite applications, you hear about the application development benefits and capabilities of IBM® Lotus® Notes® and Domino® 8, about how to integrate your Eclipse™-based or IBM Lotus Expeditor-based applications with Lotus Notes and Domino 8 applications, and about how to create composite applications in Lotus Notes and Domino 8.”

developerWorks: IBM Lotus Notes composite application podcast series