Bob has, once again, written a very nice post on his blog. This time it’s on plugin preferences and how the plugin_customization.ini file fits in and where Eclipse preferences are stored. As this is common cause of concern and questions from plugin developers and admins I wanted to point to the post.
TwitNotes v2 and a little info on OAuthrViewPart
Ever since Twitter turned of support for basic authentication about a month ago TwitNotes hasn’t been working. Unfortunately I’ve been head down with work and unable to put out a new release that uses OAuth so I (and others) have been TwitNotes less. Bummer! But between some travel and a little weekend/evening time I’ve had enough time to work on it. And believe it or not! Below is a real screenshot from real code of TwitNotes v.2 running in my Notes 8.5.2 client. Did I mention it was real? 🙂
Of course the actions needs to be tweet aware (I’m afraid I cannot delete other peoples tweets) and there needs to be an input field for tweeting but the infrastructure is there already. It just needs to be hooked up. This will also be the first sidebar plugin to use my new abstract OAuthrViewPart class.
The abstract base class handles all the OAuth stuff for the developer. He/she simply extend the class, feed it an API secret and an API key and it will handle the rest incl. detecting if the initial OAuth handshake has been done, if network is available etc. before letting over control to the developer to show the “real”content. More information on the sidebar will follow in another post.
I’m planning to release the OAuthrViewPart as open source on OpenNTF.
As to TwitNotes v2 stay tuned – expect a beta out soon…
Announcing the Lotus XPages Cup Competition
Visit the Virtual Innovation Center (VIC) to learn about the “Lotus Building Collaborative Applications with XPages Cup Competition” running from 27 September to 29 October, 2010. Take this opportunity to learn about the latest XPages enhancements built on the breakthrough innovation started in Lotus Notes 8 and Lotus Domino 8. The competition is open to all IBM Business Partners and there is no charge to participate.
An update on the RedWiki
The writing on the wiki is almost done and all chapters are of to review. I think IBM is shooting for a release by mid October. As to the code examples it has been decided that all code goes on OpenNTF for easy download and hosting using the recently announced SVN capabilities. This will also make it easier to control additions to the code base as the wiki hopefully continues to evolve.
Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2010
Just completed the Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2010 survey per request via e-mail (and you’re welcome to do the same). I normally have quite mixed opinions about these kinds of surveys but I decided to give it a go and I was quite surprised over my answers. The survey is rather lengthy and goes into a lot of topics which aren’t really relevant for me such as adds, monetizing the blog, measuring traffic and hot topics from 2010 such as the Mexican Oil Spill. The survey also touches on other topics which was more interesting to me such as the amount of blogging, why I blog and stuff like that.
The survey has a whole section on Twitter, whether one uses it and what the purpose is. It also goes right to the heart of microblogging vs. blogging namely that it makes me blog less. Looking at my blogging stats it’s very obvious that microblogging has made me blog less. But when I do blog it’s generally longer than before microblogging. It was quite an eye opener and something that will probably take a little while to digest.
One thing is certain – blogging has become a very prominent way of getting news no matter who niche it may be. Whether it’s about super local politics, whether it’s about what to do for Lotusphere or what the new cloud initiative from IBM is all about. Blogging has changed the way information is delivered and consumed and it’s a better World because of it.
Out just in time for Lotusphere!
While ordering some stuff on Amazon today I stumbled over a nice book that is due out 21 January 2011. Apparently Martin (Donnelly), Mark (Wallace) and Tony (McGuckin) of IBM Lotus Domino XPage is writing a book about XPages and how to get going using a step-by-step approach. How nice.
Mastering XPages: A Step-by-Step Guide to XPages Application Development and the XSP Language
The Lotus Information Development Center (IDC) is looking for users
The Lotus Information Development Center (IDC) is looking for users to participate in XPages technical content and wiki usability evaluations coming up in October! In a usability evaluation you provide feedback directly to the Lotus IDC team about the documentation (help, wikis, etc,) for specific products or services. This is a great opportunity to share your thoughts and opinions with the people who create Lotus product documentation and wikis.
The team needs usability participants for the following evaluations: For this XPages technical content usability evaluation, the IDC team is looking for developers who are new to using XPages technology in their application development tasks but may have used Designer before the introduction of XPages. Familiarity with the legacy Notes application development model is a plus.
If you are interested in participating in any of these usability evaluations,
please contact the Lotus IDC team by clicking here: http://budurl.com/amwz
Provide your email address and the usability evaluation(s) you would like to participate in, and someone from the IDC team will contact you. Evaluations will be done via phone and web conference. Be heard and help improve the usability of Lotus technical content! The team looks forward to working with you!
I’m on The Taking Notes Podcast episode 122
On Friday Bruce and Julian let me on The Taking Notes podcast to talk about plug-in development and how to get started with plug-in development. We also talked a bit about the RedWiki we’re writing. I think it’s a pretty decent discussion about the topic and I hope it’s a pleasant listen.
“Let’s talk Eclipse plugins! It’s not just an Eclipse thing, plugins can be used to extend the functionality of your Lotus Notes client.
Mikkel Heisterberg has been instrumental in helping developers wade through the murky waters of Lotus Notes sidebar app and plugin development for several years, through Lotusphere and user group presentations, blog articles, and onsite training. Bruce and Julian talked to him about how this plugin technology can be used and what’s going to be in the new IBM Redbook he’s been working on.”
The podcast may be found in iTunes or directly using the following link: Taking Notes Episode 122: 2010.09.24 – Sidebar, Plugins, and Notes Client Extensions with Mikkel Heisterberg
So there’s no stuff out there on plug-in development?
Well I just did a quick search on developerWorks and it gave me a lot of info. Among others were the below articles that I think look very interesting. Especially those two first ones look like something that would be of interest to a lot of people venturing into this area.
- Eclipse’s Rich Client Platform, Part 1: Getting started
- Eclipse’s Rich Client Platform, Part 2: Extending the generic workbench
- Create an Eclipse game plug-in, Part 1: Getting started
- Create an Eclipse game plug-in, Part 2: Building and firing a BB gun
- Create an Eclipse game plug-in, Part 3: Gaming the system
- Create an Eclipse game plug-in, Part 4: Packaging, testing, and putting final touches
- Building Eclipse plug-ins using templates
- Eclipse Test & Performance Tools Platform, Part 1: Test, profile, and monitor applications
- An introduction to the Eclipse Web Tools Platform V1.0
NLLUG 2010: Wrap up! (and pictures)
So NLLUG 2010 is a wrap and what a great event! Two great days in Amsterdam at the Amsterdam ArenA with excellent content, excellent catering and excellent company. As for my sessions they went great and the presentations etc. may be found at lekkimworld.com/nllug2010. Throughout the event a lot of pictures was taken showing of the “Lotus Loves People” scarf in a wide variety of ways.
All the pictures from the event can be seen in the embedded Flash player showing pictures from Picasa. You might be able to spot your favorite Loti in the pictures. Is it me or does Maureen look like she’s not really sure what she got herself into? 🙂