Finally after talking about it for a long time and working on it for even longer I’m happy to announce that I have uploaded TwitNotes v. 1.0.5 to the update site. This release became bigger than first expected and required more work than expected so I’m really happy to get it out there. Before you go ahead and upgrade/install let me tell you a little about what has happened with TwitNotes since the last public release (v. 1.0.3).
The first and most important is that TwitNotes 1.0.5 runs on Notes 8.0.1, 8.0.2 beta 2 and Notes 8.5 public beta 1 (I admit I haven’t tested on Notes 8.0). The second biggie is that I have rewritten the entire HTTP layer to use the HTTP classes built into the Lotus Expeditor framework (more on this is a separate post). This affords me automatic authentication (due to integration with the Accounts API) but also, supposedly, proxy support. I’m not behind a proxy but the feedback from beta testers is positive. The third and final thing that has changed is that TwitNotes now have two tabs – one for normal tweeting and reading tweets (the UI you know) and the second for searching for Twitter posts (using the service formerly known as Summize). See this post for more info (although the UI has changed slightly).
The caveat
As noted above this release took more work than first expected but I’m really happy about the result and as noted I ended up scrapping my own HTTP layer. By doing that I got automatic HTTP authentication and proxy support. The drawback is that TwitNotes now require a patched version of the org.apache.commons.lang plugin if you’re running Notes 8.0.1 or Notes 8.5 public beta 1. This is due to some rather unfortunate packaging of this plug-in from IBM Lotus. For some reason this patch isn’t required on Notes 8.0.2 beta 2.
On the positive side I have a conference call with IBM on Friday. This is to confirm that the patched version of the plug-in that I submitted makes it into the next releases of Notes so this no longer will be an issue once 8.5 and 8.0.2 are released.
For now however it means that you have to patch your Notes install (if running Notes 8.0.1/8.5 public beta 1) before installing TwitNotes 1.0.5. It’s really easy and only takes a minute or two. See below to installation instructions.
If you wonder why patching the plugin is necessary read the separate post (Why patching the org.apache.commons.lang plugin is necessary).
Installation
- Close your Notes client
- Download the org.apache.commons.lang plugin that’s appropriate from the list below (remember that Notes 8.0.2 beta 2 doesn’t require the patch).
- Locate your Notes installation directory and open the framework/rcp/eclipse/plugins directory (e.g. C:Notes8frameworkrcpeclipseplugins).
- (optional) Rename the file called org.apache.commons.lang_2.2.0.yyyymmdd.jar from something else.
- Copy the jar-file you downloaded to the directory optionally replacing the copy that’s already there.
- Install TwitNotes using the update site I have setup (http://update.lekkimworld.com/attentionotes/) or refer to the somewhat outdated installation guidelines for instructions.
Wrap-up
That’s it. I hope you will install TwitNotes and that it will work for you! 🙂 As always comments and suggestions are more than welcome.
lekkimworld.com 
Thanks for the release. Quick question though. In order to get proxy support do I need to be running 8.0.2 or 8.5? I am currently running 8.0.1 and I can’t seem to get out through our proxy server.
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You should be able to get it to work in Notes 8.0.1. Have you configured your proxy in the proxy setup in Notes?
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As I use the Notes 8.0.1, I just followed the steps to update the commons lang lib and, when I restated my notes it just identified the availability of the update for TwitNotes 1.0.5, which I just accepted.
After that I restated my notes again and now the TwitNotes screen is blank, like if something went wrong connecting to the web site.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Ricardo.
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Do you have an account in your local names.nsf called TwitNotes?
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No I don’t. How should I setup this account?
I’m not behind any proxy.
Thanks
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I assume that you’re talking about the proxy settings in my location document. If that is a yes, then I have the proxy setup there. If this is a different proxy setting please let me know.
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The reason that I asked was that this account document should automatically be created by the TwitNotes plugin when you login on the Twitter login screen (in the sidebar). Try manually creating the TwitNotes account following the directions given here.
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Yeah that’s what I’m talking about and should do it and it’s how I tested it using a public proxy. It’s the http proxy you need to fill in.
Are you using a NTLM proxy by any chance?
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Trying TwitNotes 1.0.5 on MAC Public Beta 8.5. I get this error in search and at startup:
Yes, I updated the jar file
An internal error occurred during: “Getting initial input”.
org/apache/commons/lang/exception/NestableRuntimeException
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… and yet my Tweet posted OK. Strange.
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The underlying platform (OSGi) caches the plugin meta data which might be what you’re seeing. If you know how try starting Notes with the -clean operator. If not let me kow.
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I think I need the -clean too, because I’m getting the same error msg.
Could you tell me how to start Notes with such param?
Thanks.
Ricardo.
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I get an error when I try to uninstall the plugin, is there a manual way to uninstall it ?
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Out of curiosity which version are you uninstalling?
You should be able to manually uninstall by removing the features and the plugins themselves. You should be able to do it like this (this is for v. 1.0.5):
Close Notes
Find your Notes data directory
Open the workspace/applications/eclipse directory
In the features directory delete the com.lekkimworld.feature.attentionotes.core and com.lekkimworld.feature.attentionotes.twitter files
In the plugins directory delete the org.joda.time_1.5.2, net.unto.twitter_0.0.3, net.sourceforge.jsonlib_2.2.1 and net.sourceforge.ezmorph_1.0.4 files
Start Notes
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Nop, that did not work, after starting Notes I get errors when doing file – application – install and I cannot install it again as I get configuration errors.
The reason I want to uninstall is because I installed Version 1.0.5 from the update site without reading your instructions. So I want to reinstall it using your instructions.
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Try running Notes with the -clean option. If Notes is installed in c:lotusnotes run the following command from a DOS prompt:
c:lotusnotesframeworkrcprcplauncher.exe -config notes -clean
This will clean out the OSGi registry. Maybe that will do it.
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Sorry to say that that did not help. I did a search in the Notes directory for com.lekkimworld and found the following references:
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updatehistory1216801160578.x
ml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updatehistory1217083051937.x
ml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updatehistory1217083066031.x
ml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updatehistory1217768834757.x
ml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updatehistory1217768846054.x
ml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updatehistory1217769158117.x
ml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updateinstall.log
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updateplatform.xml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.configorg.eclipse.updateregistry
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.metadata.pluginscom.ibm.rcp.personality.framewor
kpersonalityWindowStatecom.ibm.rcp.platform.internal.shelfPersonality.config.xml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspace.metadata.pluginscom.ibm.rcp.propertybrokerowne
rsbyinstance.map
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspacelogserror-log-0.xml
c:ProgramIBMLotusNotesDataworkspacelogstrace-log-0.xml
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Got time to try this… no joy
I’m on a Mac.
Went to Terminal
hit cd /Applications/Notes.app/Contents/MacOS/rcp
hit ./rcplauncher -config notes -clean
Notes Client tried to start but then came up with:
CLFRJ0005E: Notes is not installed
Did it actually do the clean?
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AH, but my Clean instructions for the Mac work, even though an error is popped.
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This is what I figured. I have the proxy configured properly in the location document and the plugin does not appear to be able to get out past the proxy server.
As far as I know we are not using an NTLM based proxy as I need to authenticate via a user id / password (unless I save it) via my browser.
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Just fixed a similar issue yesterday for another TwitNotes user. He had to configure the proxy in the preferences page rather than in the location document. I must admit I cannot remember if this is a Notes 8.0.2/8.5 feature. See the "Network Connections" page of the preferences. Use the "manual proxy configuration" option.
Let me hear how it goes.
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There’s a problem with the "update" action here. Only after a restart of notes, new tweets are displayed. Neither the auto refresh nor manually updating with the dropdown action does add new entries. A clean restart of Notes did not fix that.
Notes Client 8.01 on XP, jar-file downloaded and installed.
The status indicator says "Updating AttentioNotes UI", the time of last refreshed is updated, but no new entries appear, even they are on the web and loaded after a manual restart of Notes.
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Please go into "Help/Support/View trace" in the menu after trying to update the UI and send me the contents (mh[at]intravision.dk) so I can take a look. Maybe there is an exception there that can help.
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