So the public beta of Notes 8.5 is out and I’m sorry to say that it doesn’t play nice with TwitNotes. I have been in contact with IBM Lotus about it (funny that they contacted me) and we’re working on finding out why.
I’ll post more as I find out why but for now it seems to be due to conflicting Java libraries in the TwitNotes plugin and the Notes 8.5 client as such. I thought they were in separate class loaders by it doesn’t appear that way.
I have posted stuff on the OSGi console previously and why it’s important but even better is to see for your self. I did this myself by adding TwitNotes console commands to the TwitNotes plugin for version 1.0.4. For the normal user it wont matter but it actually proves to be very useful for troubleshooting and something I will definitely add to the other sidebar projects I’m working on.
For more info and code example see the post “Extending the OSGI Console” by Bob Balfe.
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 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?
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…
It’s been a while since version 1.0.2 of the TwitNotes plugin was released but the new version 1.0.3 is here now. All good things come to those who wait! 🙂 Installation instructions can be found here and update instructions can be found here.
The new version has a lot of new functionality that should make the plugin easier and more pleasant to use. The most noticeable new feature is probably that URL links are clickable and that you may now send direct tweets to other Twitters. This is however just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of code has been added due to the fact that some of the UI is custom painted to work around certain platform limitations. For a complete list of changes see below.
After you install version 1.0.3 from the update site you should see something like the below screenshot. Comments as always to the blog or by e-mail.
Additions
Fixes/changes
Who said a long off-line commute isn’t productive. I have been adding support for clickable links in the UI so that web-links and links to other Twitteres will be recognized in the UI. Links to other Twitteres will also be recognized within the body of the tweet as well. Presently the click-action for web links is to open the link in the default browser and the action for clicking a Twittere, is to filter the UI to posts by that user (I have added an action in the part menu to reset any filter that has been added). Please provide input on this behavior if you have opinions about this.
I need to finalize the API for this before releasing but a 1.0.3 release should be right around the corner.
Man it has been a busy week. I had Monday off due to Easter (national holiday in Denmark) but since then it’s been busy, busy, busy…
Besides being at a customer site all week incl. Saturday I hadn’t really expected the level of interest there would be in the TwitNotes plugin for Notes 8. Of cause I expected some to install it and try it out but not to the degree I have seen and heard about. I certainly got to test the comment system on lekkimworld.com – boy I have received a lot of comments. I would like to say thank you to all those who commented and all those who have contacted me by e-mail. The level of interest has been astounding and flattering.
Looking back it has also been an interesting journey from a development perspective as it has certainly brought some of the strengths and weaknesses of the “new” Notes platform into the light. I don’t think there’s much doubt that the platform is powerful and there’s potential but I was surprised to discover the level of difference in SWT performance and functionality across the different platforms (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux and Mac). It certainly takes some more consideration than plain ol’ Notes development.
Today I’m spending some time helping out my girl friends dad install and configure a new computer. Other than that I hope to get some time to work on TwitNotes. Yesterday I did some for on the UI to detect and handle links in posts to make them clickable. It sounds and seems simple but now that the table data is custom drawn to handle text wrapping nothing is simple. I have the fundamentals done already though.
TwitNotes v. 1.0.2 has been released to the update site. This release fixes the row height issue, some minor label provider stuff and adds the source of TwitNotes to posts so the source show up as “TwitNotes” instead of “web”.
This release also adds a “Clear author cache” action to reset the cache of Twitter author details during runtime. I use this to clear the cache if Twitter for some reason sends me incorrect images or I’m simply want to refetch the images. TwitNotes will cache author info for the duration of your Notes session otherwise.