I’m continuing to improve TwitNotes and to make it a killer demo application for Notes 8. Last night I added OSGi console commands so you can interact with the application from the OSGi console running underneath Notes 8. Thanks for Bob Balfe from IBM for sharing info on how to do this.
The example in this case is a little far fetched but it serves the point of demoing some of the capabilities you have with the platform.
Just found an article called “Explore Eclipse’s OSGi console” by Chris Aniszczyk from IBM on the OSGi console. Worth a read.
As partly addressed by Bob Balfe there are numerous ways to debug Eclipse/SWT components in Notes 8 or Lotus Expeditor. One is as Bob mentions to launch the client using the -console switch so the OSGi console is displayed. While confusing at first the OSGi console is really your friend when developing applications. From the console you have direct access to the OSGi subsystem of Eclipse. But it isn’t just for the Eclipse stuff. Since some Notes 8 components such as the property broker and topology manager have console commands you can interact with them from the console when troubleshooting/debugging.
To launch Notes 8 with the OSGi console create a new shortcut and use the following command (change the path if Notes isn’t installed in c:notes8):
"c:notes8frameworkrcprcplauncher.exe" -config notes -console
Besides the -console switch the the rcplauncher.exe executable takes a number of interesting arguments. One of the really cool ones is that you can supply a port number after the -console switch to make the console listen on a telnet port. This way you can connect to a remote client using telnet.
"c:notes8frameworkrcprcplauncher.exe" -config notes -console 23
Cool, cool, cool.
If you’re developing Eclipse components I really suggest you look into the OSGi console as it can assist in troubleshooting bundles that fail to load due to unsatisfied requirements.
Were to start? Well when you have the console available try out these commands:
So where are the samples you ask? When you have installed the Lotus Expeditor toolkit into your Eclipse environment search the plugins directory for two plugins called com.ibm.rcp.tools.samplegallery_6.1.1.20070731 and com.ibm.rcp.tools.samplegallery2_6.1.1.20070731. Each of these two directories have an archive directory where you’ll find the samples.
See Lotus Expeditor Samples with code on Bob Balfes blog for the links.
Just a quick update on what I’m working on for TwitNotes 1.0.4.
Now I have a question to you. Which feature would you like to see next?
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.
Yes I know it’s scary but I talked to Bruce and Julian last night and found this morning that the recording was already out. So if you want to learn more about sidebar plugins and the TwitNotes plugin in particular check out the Taking Notes podcast episode 81.
I haven’t listened to the podcast yet myself so it will be interesting to hear how I came across, if I’m understandable at all and whether the content is any good. iTunes is downloading…
…even though my calendar doesn’t quite reflect that!
Just a little glitch in the CSI view framework of the Notes 8 client. Nothing major but funny too see how the appointments are drawn correctly but the text didn’t quite make it to the UI.