Online webinars from Lotus Education
Mon, Mar 15th 2010 2:50p Bob Balfe Read Ed’s post about the up and coming Lotus Education webinars and the agenda’s look great. I saw the XPages and Composite Applications sessions at Lotusphere and I am sure the webinar’s will be more than worth the cost of these sessions. Interestingly, Hunters course outline looks very similar to the labs I am giving at Germany later this week. I think showing how to integrate Java, SWT, XPages and container components into a single application will be some good educa [read] Keywords: domino
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Do you want XPage components in the side bar?
Fri, Mar 12th 2010 8:00a Bob Balfe Looks like I lost two posts when they moved my blog between servers! I am going to post these back here. For this specific one, if you answered prior that you would like this can you please do it again. There was a request for what customers would want such a thing.
One of the biggest wins for Lotus Notes at Lotusphere was the fact that XPages can run in the 8.5.1 client. You can, in that release, also have XPages as components in composite applications. This also means you can have [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
notes
xpages applications
community
eclipse
integration
widget
widgets
Lotus Traveler is the killer app for the iPhone
Wed, Mar 10th 2010 6:00p Bob Balfe And its not even an app!
So I have had the iPhone for about 6 months now and I have to say it is an amazing device. Everyone I show the iPhone to is amazed with the different things it can do and the applications it can run. The biggest surprises I get are when I explain, and sometimes show them, how my calendar, email, and contacts all sync with the iPhone and that its not really even software its just another account. I have also updated my Notes contacts many times and it reaches the de [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
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applications
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Book Review: Learning Dojo
Wed, Mar 10th 2010 12:10a Bob Balfe Learning Dojo
by Peter Svensson
Review:
I really enjoyed this book. It hit on a lot of topics that kind of surprised me. I starting reading many sections in the book and thought “wow, what a great idea for a technical book”. It could have been something small like the depth of the introduction chapters or something larger like the chapter on AOL and Googls Content Delivery Network (CDN). I guess my point is, this book was an excellent tool and resource to learn Dojo - it cove [read] Keywords: dojo
javascript
network
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Cheaper moving from Exchange to Domino…
Mon, Mar 8th 2010 2:10p Bob Balfe After reading the article Greg posted I saw the comments at the bottom and wanted to pass them on from Karen. I am not sure who Karen is but this is a pretty nice comment about their choice and the comments about Microsofts service consultants.
Article link is here.
from Karen:
I wanted to share that we are in the middle of a migration from Exchange to Lotus Domino. I am amazed of the difference in cost. The Lotus product licenses are so much easier to understand and are significantly cheaper. [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
exchange
exchange
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Messing around with Dojo and reading a new book!
Tue, Feb 23rd 2010 11:30p Bob Balfe After attending Dojo.connect() conference I decided to review a couple of more books for Packt Publishing. The first one I am reviewing is Learning Dojo by Peter Svensson. I am only 6 chapters in and I am finding the book to be extremely helpful. It goes at what I consider a slow and in-depth pace - which is exactly what I look for when I am learning something new. I figured I would start to put some of the stuff to practice so I created a videos section on my balfes.net site. I st [read] Keywords: css
dojo
javascript
86
Google Translate and whether it is really needed?
Fri, Feb 19th 2010 7:11p Bob Balfe So I added Google Translate to my site. Most of my hits are from the United States, many European countries, China, and India. It would be interesting to hear whether or not this is needed on my site. It would be nice if I could figure out whether or not it would be used. Does anyone have any idea how I could track that?
technorati tags: blog, Google, translate [read] Keywords: google
143
Why SWT/Qt when you have the Lotus platform?
Thu, Feb 18th 2010 8:30p Bob Balfe I just read this interesting post about a project for an SWT version based on Qt. The project argues it is for styling purposes. What is interesting is the Lotus platform (Lotus Expeditor) which is what Lotus Notes 8.x is based on has had SWidgets since day one. We even tried to get SWidgets put back into the Eclipse platform but with no success. You can play with the Lotus Expeditor platform and the toolkit for free.
If you are not familiar with Lotus Notes or Lotus Expeditor you can [read] Keywords: expeditor
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eclipse
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59
Lotusphere Comes To You (LCTY) - Germany
Tue, Feb 16th 2010 11:30a Bob Balfe Looks like I will be traveling to Germany for the Lotusphere Comes To You event in March which is being run by SIT GmbH. I will be running a full day workshop with a series of presentations and labs and then giving the What’s new in Composite Applications in Lotus Notes 8.5.1 presentation Mike Cooper and I gave at Lotusphere on day two.
The full day workshop will be a series of labs around the creation of the application I presented at that session. Some key things you will learn:
Web B [read] Keywords: domino
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Dojo.connect() conference begins today!
Wed, Feb 10th 2010 8:40a Bob Balfe I will be somewhat live tweeking over the next few days - most likely random thoughts of what I am learning.
http://widespreadconferences.com/dojoconnect.html
technorati tags: Dojo, eclipse, seminar, web [read] Keywords: dojo
eclipse
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TODAY! Learn How to Add BIRT Reporting to JSF Apps using Rich Faces web seminar
Tue, Feb 9th 2010 10:30a Bob Balfe Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Time: 11:00am Pacific | 2:00pm Eastern | 7:00pm GMT
Duration: 40 minutes, including Q & A
Participant Conference Details
Conference Title: Learn How to Add BIRT Reporting to JSF Apps using Rich Faces
Moderator: Virgil Dodson and Max Katz
Company: BIRT Exchange by Actuate and Exadel
Conference Login and Dial In Information:
Toll free: 1-800-214-0694
Toll: 1-719-955-1425
Participant Passcode: 949872
To Join the live Web conference, click here:
1. http [read] Keywords: exchange
exchange
Should spell check in Lotus Notes remember your choices when you save as a draft?
Thu, Feb 4th 2010 9:09a Bob Balfe Unfortunately I have family that uses Lotus Notes and because they know I work for Lotus they think I am their personal technical support. Specifically my cousin has been complaining about this feature for years so I wanted to see who else thinks this would be a good idea. The behavior is, once you do a spell check, save the email as draft and go back to that email later you should not have to re-check the words you already have signed off on.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
email
Accessing advanced properties from an XPage component
Fri, Jan 29th 2010 12:40p Bob Balfe A question from the business partner forum was asked how to access a components preference, the ones entered in the Advanced Preferences panel in the Composite Application Editor. I got this tip from Padraic Edwards on the XPages team.
I edited my XPage component to include a new property named “BobsValue” with a value of “The Value is RED”:
What you have to do in the XPage application is access it using the context API’s. First thing you need to do however is [read] Keywords: xpages application
applications
eclipse
properties
140
Learn How to Add BIRT Reporting to JSF Applications using RichFaces
Thu, Jan 28th 2010 3:30p Bob Balfe Sign up for this webinar if you are interested in learning how to integrate Business Intelligent Reporting Tool (BIRT) into your Java Server Faces applications. It would be interesting to see how this could be done with XPages - maybe someone is already working on a tutorial.
February 9, 2010 | 11 AM PST | 2pm EST | 7 PM GMT
Learn How to Add BIRT Reporting to JSF Applications using RichFaces
technorati tags: BIRT, eclipse, xpages [read] Keywords: xpages applications
eclipse
java
server
108
Do you want XPage components in the side bar?
Thu, Jan 28th 2010 11:50a Bob Balfe One of the biggest wins for Lotus Notes at Lotusphere was the fact that XPages can run in the 8.5.1 client. You can, in that release, also have XPages as components in composite applications. This also means you can have XPage components in the side bar and somewhat standardize XPage technology as your component UI technology but it needs to be in a composite currently. This is all great but one piece of feedback was “How do I just put an XPage widget in the side bar without being in [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
notes
xpages applications
community
eclipse
integration
widget
widgets
10
Nice video series for creating applets in Eclipse
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe I checked out a couple of these videos this morning and I think John Montgomery does a great job with them. If you are a young developer or someone who wants to learn how to write Java then this is a great place to start. It is free and the code he writes is very good.
Videos can be found here.
technorati tags: applet, eclipse, java [read] Keywords: eclipse
java
32
XPages, Components, and Plugin development
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe I just attended a BOF for Plugin development for Lotus Notes, Sametime, Symphony and Expeditor that was led by Mikkel. The discussion was very good and the attendance was also pretty good for a 7am meeting after the engineering party (and then Jelly Rolls)! We had 13 people with very active discussion. The primary feedback I took with me was more documentation, more samples, and more API’s. This isn’t new to me, I hear it a lot. One thing that was interesting was some atten [read] Keywords: expeditor
ldd
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sametime
symphony
xpages application
development
google
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wiki
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Creating a calendar entry from an XPage event
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe One of the areas I struggled with in our demo was creating a calendar entry from the XPage component when the button was clicked in the previous post. The problem is you need to make sure you include all of the right fields otherwise your calendar entry will not display and open properly in the Notes 8.5 calendar. The key element I was missing was the”@GetCurrentTimeZone” as the computeWithForm() did not calculate all of the right fields when the note was saved. For the most pa [read] Keywords: lotusphere
notes
xpages applications
16
Demo: Using XPage components in your applications
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe Next Monday myself and Mike Cooper will be presenting AD202 - What’s New in Composite Applications in Lotus Notes 8.5.1. We will be showing a few technologies and demos but one application is pretty interesting because it has helped me add Lotusphere sessions to my calendar that I wish to attend.
The video shows me using that application and walks through it. It uses a single web container and an XPage component that runs locally in the Notes Client. We leverage the side bar for the [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
notes
notes client
xpages application
applications
eclipse
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Eclipse won the InfoWorld’s 2010 Technology of the year award!
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe This is great news! As Lotus Notes, Sametime, Domino Designer, and Lotus Expeditor are all based on Eclipse, not too mention all of the Rational tools and many more products, it is great to see Eclipse being recognized like this. They don’t really mention the fact that many of the IBM installed client portfolio is based on Eclipse, and they seem to focus on tooling.
Link.
technorati tags: eclipse, Lotus Expeditor, lotus notes, Sametime [read] Keywords: domino
expeditor
ibm
lotus
notes
sametime
eclipse
11
Integrating Eclipse static perspectives into composite applications
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe One feature in Eclipse is the ability to “code” windows, or in Eclipse terminology, perspectives. This means you write Java code to layout the view and editor parts. Composite Applications use dynamic perspectives - perspectives that are declared in XML and generated on the fly. While that is a great feature and allows assemblers and developers somewhat of a WYSIWYG editor for perspectives, sometimes you just need to code it!
Well, composite applications allow you to integrate [read] Keywords: ibm
applications
eclipse
java
xml
11
Lotusphere 2010 Agenda on the iPhone!
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe I love it when I can “just use” something.
Mikkel just posted an application that his company IntraVision has created for Lotusphere attendees. I immediately opened the site on my iPhone and its absolutely perfect! It looks and acts just like an iPhone application in Safari.
Great job IntraVision!
technorati tags: IntraVision, iPhone, Lotusphere [read] Keywords: lotusphere
application
iphone
15
Make your existing NSF a composite
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:12a Bob Balfe I figured I would post this since it was asked many times in the Meet the Developer Lab down at Lotusphere. I will also, as promised, be posting some tutorials about the applications shown in AD202.
So you have an existing NSF and you want to make it a composite for any number of reasons. Mostly, I had heard were to get Eclipse views, Java views, or XPage components next to their existing NSF based components or putting XPage components in the side bar. It is actually a lot simpler than yo [read] Keywords: ldd
lotus
lotusphere
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xpages application
applications
database
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Survey: Is anyone using JQuery in XPages/Domino?
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 10:21a Bob Balfe I have been playing with JQuery and was thinking about doing some integration with XPages components. I have seen a few posted questions about JQuery but I am not sure how widely used it is in the Lotus community.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
technorati tags: survey, xpages [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
xpages community
integration
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RAP or GWT - Which Java-Based AJAX Technology is for You?
Wed, Dec 16th 2009 2:29p Bob Balfe I watched this video recording from EclipseCon 2009 and I think it is a great primer for these two technologies. Dan and Mark from Instantiations do a great job in laying out most of the pros and cons for them. The recording is 37 minutes long and I think it is more than worth the time.
Reference recording is here.
technorati tags: E4, eclipse, expeditor, SWT [read] Keywords: expeditor
ajax
eclipse
java
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Digging into E4 and the new XWT
Fri, Dec 11th 2009 10:18p Bob Balfe In case you missed this article that was authored by Yi Ming Huang a few days ago, here it is! It is a great intro to the E4 platform and the new declarative XWT (XML Window Toolkit) programming model. The article walks you through creating your first UI based on XWT. I think this stuff is very important to Lotus Notes and Expeditor customers as we see more and more web technologies get into the Lotus Platform.
Abstract:
The e4 project is the next generation of Eclipse. e4 will provide a p [read] Keywords: expeditor
ibm
lotus
notes
application
applications
eclipse
interface
java
wiki
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Help me fill my kettle!
Wed, Dec 9th 2009 12:06p Bob Balfe I thought I would try this out this year with a modest goal of $150. I am reaching out to all of my communities and readers to help support my kettle for the Salvation Army.
No donation is too small!
technorati tags: donation, eclipse, lotus [read] Keywords: lotus
eclipse
widget
14
Introduction to the Host on Demand container
Fri, Dec 4th 2009 8:00a Bob Balfe We recently published an article “Introduction to the HOD container in composite applications” to the composite application wiki. Believe it or not many businesses are still using HOST based applications and now with composite application technology in Lotus Expeditor and Lotus Notes you can easily integrate those applications with other technologies with little development expertise. This also means the container can communicate with other Eclipse based view parts and even be in [read] Keywords: composite
expeditor
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applications
development
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New tutorial: Creating state in a custom action
Thu, Dec 3rd 2009 10:39a Bob Balfe When using the container framework and extending the containers with Java actions you can do some pretty interesting things. One common request has been for how to create memory state within your action. Since the action can be re-used across many instances of a component (many Eclipse view parts), if the action wants to save state per instance, it needs to account for that. The tutorial uses the secondary identifier of the view part (where in composite applications is unique) to store the [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
lotus
applications
eclipse
java
properties
11 Must-Dos for the serious blogger
Tue, Nov 24th 2009 8:19a Bob Balfe I got directed here from a colleague, very good stuff and a must read for bloggers. Now if I could only get an editor or software that fixes my grammar and spelling! I would have to add “getting involved in a community” to the list. The fact that places like Planet Lotus and Planet Eclipse exist help my readership greatly and also give readers a place to get more information about a specific topic.
11 Must Dos For The Serious Blogger
View more documents from Jason Baer.
tech [read] Keywords: lotus
application
blogger
blogging
community
eclipse
planet lotus
planetlotus
planetlotus.org
21
My iPhone saved me almost $60 yesterday!
Mon, Nov 23rd 2009 10:20a Bob Balfe I went to Herb Phillipsons to buy this jacket and it was $199. I used my iPhone and the application called RedLaser to see if I could get the jacket cheaper on the internet. Sure as heck, most of the sites on the internet sold it for the same price but there was one site, BackCountry.com, that had it for $159! With the Oneida county tax the jacket at Herbs would have been close to $220. The order on BackCountry totalled $159.16 and will be here in 7-14 days. I just got an email saying [read] Keywords: application
email
iphone
16
What office suite does your kids school use?
Mon, Nov 23rd 2009 8:09a Bob Balfe I sent an email to our local technology director asking what software the district uses for email and office documents; I was surprised to here they use GroupWise and not so surprised they use Microsoft Office. But then I started thinking about this, they are paying for the use of this software! I am paying for them to use this software through my taxes. I guess the email can be many options but there are so many services out there that are dirt cheap I don’t know why they would ch [read] Keywords: lotus
symphony
community
eclipse
email
microsoft
office
openoffice
14
Facebook has Easter Eggs!
Wed, Nov 18th 2009 1:09p Bob Balfe From my buddy Mark:
“Go to any Facebook page and click once in a white area just to get a blank timeline to do this with. Press up arrow, up arrow, down arrow, down arrow, left arrow, right arrow, left arrow, right arrow, B, A, then the Return key. If you left-click or right-click, scroll or push any keyboard key after that, a strange shining set of circular rings will appear on your screen.”
technorati tags: Facebook [read] Keywords: facebook
26
Randall C. Kennedy: Why I hate Microsoft Office 2010
Tue, Nov 17th 2009 12:36p Bob Balfe This article is a very interesting read. “Office 2010 is clunky” - that is not a good start for an evaluation. Randall continues the article with comparisons to Outlook and Office 2007 - makes you wonder if MS did any kind of performance modeling against previous releases? He ends with a brief description of the “Back Stage” feature and how it causes pain because it is not consistent from option to option.
“The idea well has finally run dry in Redmond. Maybe the [read] Keywords: lotus
microsoft
office
outlook
18
Automating SWT based applications with SWTBot
Fri, Nov 13th 2009 12:19a Bob Balfe Many Lotus customers (and Lotus itself) use Rational Functional Tester(RFT) and in many ways RFT does a great job and in many ways it can be just too much for what you need to do. If you want to integrate UI testing into your unit testing you might want to check out SWTBot. I have recently started looking at SWTBot with a serious eye. I plan on playing around with it for our own team use and I also have some team members looking into it to automate their areas. I would like to get some f [read] Keywords: lotus
applications
development
eclipse
java
wiki
17
Lotus Developers should follow PlanetEclipse
Thu, Nov 12th 2009 9:57a Bob Balfe Planet Eclipse is the go to place to get first hand information from the vast Eclipse community. You can learn the direction of Eclipse and how it affects Lotus Notes going forward. You can also learn a lot of tips and tricks you would not normally get in product documentation. I know many on the Loti are diving deep with Eclipse but I think there is a lot more potential and opportunities for business partners and companies if they put some attention to PlanetEclipse.
technorati tags: [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
community
development
eclipse
14
Adding a component configuration toolbar to your container
Wed, Nov 11th 2009 11:16a Bob Balfe There is a new tutorial on the CA wiki that shows how you can add a toolbar to your container. The article assumes you are writing SWT/Eclipse Java code. This toolbar shows up conditionally in the Composite Application Editor (and does not show in the applications run time). The toolbar allows you to provide an intuitive user interface to configure your component. You can pretty much do anything in the toolbar - from defining values for preferences to launching full dialogs right from th [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
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application
applications
eclipse
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java
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5
Take some time today….
Tue, Nov 10th 2009 8:09a Bob Balfe Take some time today to recognize a Marine. Today is the Marine Corps 234th birthday.
During the American Revolution, many important political discussions took place in the inns and taverns of Philadelphia, including the founding of the Marine Corps.
A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore.
The resolution was approved on November 10, 1775, officially forming the Cont [read] Keywords:
Android will kill the iPhone
Tue, Nov 3rd 2009 11:29a Bob Balfe I am sure many have seen the press on Android and all of the features it “does better” than the iPhone.
The one feature I think that will ultimately kill the iPhone is the Android SDK. You can download the Android SDK for Windows, Mac, and Linux and you can also just install it into your existing Eclipse IDE. Just having this available to all Eclipse developers is HUGE. This means you can start playing immediately without owning a specific OS/Computer - like a Mac.
This is a co [read] Keywords: apple
eclipse
google
iphone
linux
mac
9
Why GWT is a great concept.
Fri, Oct 30th 2009 6:01a Bob Balfe One of the most powerful aspects of tools, samples, templates, etc is the fact that most developers learn by example. So while the last post I put here (Is GWT the future of web development?) went viral on the internet and you heard many rebuttals, affirmations, and other comments, there is one fact that remains - GWT is a very cool technology that “hides” a lot of the complexities of creating state-full web applications that implement Web 2.0 functionality. It also does another [read] Keywords: javascript
application
applications
community
development
google
java
viral
web 2.0
15
Who are your top referrers?
Thu, Oct 29th 2009 3:42p Bob Balfe I check this stuff every so often.
I always find it interesting who are the top referrers for Balfes.net. It looks like most of my hits are from Planet Eclipse, DZone (which is new to me), and Planet Lotus but I also find it interesting how many readers access the feed directly from Google Reader.
#
Hits
Referrer
1
9198
http://www.planeteclipse.org/planet/
2
5748
http://planeteclipse.org/planet/
3
2208
http://www.google.com/reader/view/
4
1700
http://planet.eclipse.org/planet [read] Keywords: lotus
eclipse
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planet lotus
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10 things Google has taught us
Tue, Oct 27th 2009 4:15p Bob Balfe Very interesting article for all of you software and services companies out there on CNN Money:
10 things Google has taught us
1.) Passion wins
2.) Focus is required
3.) Vision is required too
4.) A team culture is vital
5.) Treat engineers as kings
6.) Treat customers like a king
7.) Every company is a frenemy
8.) Don’t ignore the human factor
9.) There are no certitudes
10.) “Life is long but time is short.”
I am pretty sure all young companies preach this kind of atmosphere [read] Keywords: development
google
7
Learning about Eclipse 4 with these two great webinars
Mon, Oct 26th 2009 9:22a Bob Balfe Eclipse 4 is right around the corner (release schedule is 2010) and it is currently in an incubator project called E4. You can learn about this stuff with two great recorded weninars from the Eclipse site:
E4 - the Next Generation of the Eclipse Platform (Part I)
E4 - the Next Generation of the Eclipse Platform (Part II)
technorati tags: E4, eclipse, java [read] Keywords: eclipse
java
36
Is GWT the future of web development?
Mon, Oct 26th 2009 9:22a Bob Balfe Pretty much most people who live in the technical world have seen, played with, or heard of GMail and all of the other applications like Google Wave. Ever wonder how applications like these can be created? Well, you should check out the Google Web Toolkit (GWT). I started playing with this last week pretty heavily and I have to admit the concept is very intriguing and I think this stuff may have some legs. The idea is you get all of the benefits of the Eclipse IDE (coding, type-ahead, de [read] Keywords: javascript
application
applications
css
development
eclipse
google
java
server
web 2.0
widget
widgets
11
Extending Notes with new view context menus and text selection context menus
Mon, Oct 19th 2009 9:29p Bob Balfe Over the last few weeks received several Eclipse questions and how business partners and customers can extend Notes 8 in new ways. The following two posts should answer some of those questions. The first post shows how you can extend the right click menu for a text selection in a Notes document while the second post explains how you can extend the right click menu in a Notes view entry.
How to extend the right click text selection menu in a Notes Document
Adding right click options to your N [read] Keywords: document
notes
eclipse
YouTube, China and what you need to consider as a blogger of IBM technology
Wed, Oct 14th 2009 11:09p Bob Balfe So I am here visiting the IBM China Development Lab, also known as CDL and I have figured out a major flaw in the way many Americans and Europeans blog today. The problem is many people use YouTube to publish demonstrations, samples, and tutorials and from the Chinese perspective they see an introductory paragraph and a blank body! This is because the Chinese government blocks Youtube (and Twitter and Facebook for that matter). Yes, my Farmville farm is probably all wilted at this point.
S [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
blogger
development
facebook
planetlotus
planetlotus.org
twitter
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Programming Symphony with Java
Tue, Oct 13th 2009 4:49a Bob Balfe I am not sure if everyone has identified the correlation between the Symphony Toolkit announcement and some of the composite application articles that have recently been published. Mixing custom actions and the new Symphony API’s you can do some pretty amazing things - you can for instance, easily create new containers for Symphony or extend the new Symphony Spreadsheet container (with custom actions) using the new API”s that ship with Lotus Notes 8.5.1. The plugin for the Sympho [read] Keywords: agent
composite
ibm
javascript
ldd
lotus
notes
symphony
application
eclipse
java
office
wiki
9
Poll ends today: Do you use Live Text in your enterprise?
Fri, Oct 9th 2009 8:07a Bob Balfe I will be ending the Live Text poll at the end of my day today. Thanks to all who participated.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
technorati tags: Live Text, poll [read] Keywords: enterprise
14
Do you use Live Text in your enterprise?
Wed, Oct 7th 2009 9:38a Bob Balfe I want to get a feel for how many of my readers and their companies use Live Text in their daily work. We have some things we are thinking about for the next release and it will be interesting to see the interest level.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
technorati tags: Live Text, Notes 8 [read] Keywords: ldd
lotus
notes
enterprise
8
Is Adobe slowing taking over?
Tue, Oct 6th 2009 2:19p Bob Balfe I think Adobe is a pretty amazing company and it seems they do a good job re-inventing themselves and this latest announcement is not very shocking but tells you something a about how they work. Getting Adobe Flash on the iPhone is in my opinion huge because now you don’t need a Mac to do iPhone development and if you are already a Flash developer your apps will “just work”. This will be huge for games I am sure but on the business side I am seeing more and more companies d [read] Keywords: apple
development
google
iphone
mac
mobile
11
Why does Spring suck so bad? And why is the iPhone so awesome?
Mon, Oct 5th 2009 4:39p Bob Balfe Ok, I finally made the move off of Sprint and I went to ATT and got the new iPhone 3Gs. At this point the number of reasons I left Sprint are way too long to dive into here but I will give a little insight into why I made the change. First off - the customer service had gotten progressively worse throughout the years (both the knowledge of the people at their ‘centers’ and the phone service) - I had been with Sprint for 4 years and Nextel for 5 years prior to that. I know a lot [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
notes
rich text
traveler
applications
iphone
mobile
7
More structured Tutorials page on Wiki for new users.
Wed, Sep 30th 2009 10:29a Bob Balfe I went ahead and changed the Tutorials page on the Composite Application Wiki. The page now has a couple of sections at the top to get people started. With 25 tutorials I can see it be pretty difficult to “get started” in this area so hopefully this helps. Any other suggestions on things like this are great so keep them coming.
Referenced page is here.
technorati tags: tutorials, wiki [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
lotus
application
wiki
6
Text transformations in Java or with the Property Converted???
Mon, Sep 28th 2009 1:56p Bob Balfe Ben Fletcher does an excellent job in his new Wiki article explaining how the Property Converter works and then compares it to the same concept using a custom action. He even goes to the extent to explain the Pro’s and Con’s between the two approaches in a table format. Ben then references the Property Converter project on OpenNTF - which is a very nice component to have around.
Transformation in Composite Applications
Thanks Ben!
technorati tags: custom actions, property conv [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
lotus
applications
java
openntf
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What’s new in Composite Applications in Notes 8.5.1/Expeditor 6.2.1!!!
Mon, Sep 28th 2009 10:49a Bob Balfe I just published this all around “What’s New” document hitting the various areas with some basic screen shots and a short description. What is probably more valuable is the Wiki Articles index at the end of the document. It outlines based on area the different articles that were posted for 8.5.1 education. The 18 articles/tutorials are designed to walk you through a particular feature - most are in tutorial format with a step by step process and should be able to be compl [read] Keywords: composite
document
expeditor
ldd
lotus
notes
application
applications
wiki
8
Adding configuration panels to your custom component
Fri, Sep 25th 2009 10:15a Bob Balfe If you are one of the low level Eclipse/Java people out there and you want to create Eclipse components for Lotus Notes 8.5 you might want to check out the new article on the CA Wiki. There is an extension in the CAE that allows you to contribute your own configuration tab (user interface) to the Advanced Properties dialog for your component. This would make configuring your component as custom as you would like.
If you use the OpenSpan container for native applications you can see the exte [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
lotus
notes
application
applications
eclipse
interface
java
php
properties
wiki
5
Closing the Dev/debug on Mac poll at the end of the day
Fri, Sep 25th 2009 8:09a Bob Balfe I never know how long a poll should be open so I was thinking of announcing the closing of the poll to give it more attention. I will be closing this poll at the end of the day today (Eastern Standard Time) so if you haven’t voted please do.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
technorati tags: closing, Mac, poll [read] Keywords: mac
5
Introduction to custom actions and a new OpenNTF project
Thu, Sep 24th 2009 8:03p Bob Balfe Lotus Notes 8.5.1 offers a wide range of extensibility and one of the new exciting features is custom actions. This is an easy way to add function to any container type with basic Java. We have just published a new article on the CA Wiki (Introduction to custom actions) that does a pretty in depth walk through of what custom actions are and how you can use them to add functionality to any of the containers (Web browser, Notes View, Notes Document, Symphony, HOD, etc). Unlike the other tuto [read] Keywords: agent
document
javascript
ldd
lotus
notes
symphony
java
openntf
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Host on Deman (HOD) lesson learned
Wed, Sep 23rd 2009 4:26p Bob Balfe I am seeing more and more companies using host based systems in composite applications. Ben Fletcher is currently working with one customer who is doing just that.
Ben Fletcher, Master Inventor and developer for IBM Software Lab Services, is working on a project for a customer and came across an issue with the HOD container. He documented the problem and his work around in an article on the CA Wiki. It’s not really an issue but I can definitely see many people running into this. If [read] Keywords: composite
ibm
ldd
lotus
applications
wiki
5
Updating and Deploying a Composite Application
Tue, Sep 22nd 2009 4:19p Bob Balfe If you want to leverage the NSF Update site template and include your Eclipse plugins with your composite application then this article is for you. It shows you step-by-step based on role how to do this. The great thing about this method is all of the Eclipse features and plugins are self contained in the NSF - which makes distribution a snap.
Check out the article here.
technorati tags: eclipse, Features, Update Site [read] Keywords: composite
domino
ibm
ldd
lotus
template
application
eclipse
20
Creating your own composite application container
Tue, Sep 22nd 2009 10:49a Bob Balfe The generic container framework was introduced in Notes 8.5. The framework is based on Eclipse extensions so just like the Web Browser, Notes Document, Notes View, Symphony Spreadsheet, and the Open Span containers, you too can create your own container.
Mike Cooper published a pretty in-depth article on how to do this. This is not for the light-hearted and to be honest not many companies/people should be creating a container. You might want to check out the first link the article that exp [read] Keywords: composite
document
ibm
ldd
lotus
notes
symphony
application
eclipse
13
Creating your own dynamic variable resolver
Tue, Sep 15th 2009 4:40p Bob Balfe Just as Chuck introduced the new variable substitution support in composite applications in this article, you can also create your own variable resolver just as Notes and Expeditor have. At the base of this technology is actually a core Eclipse extension point, the id is “org.eclipse.core.variables.dynamicVariables“. The Lotus Expeditor platform has defined “ECLIPSE” as the tag for Eclipse preference resolver we introduce in Notes 8.5.1 as described in the article. [read] Keywords: composite
domino
expeditor
ldd
lotus
notes
policies
application
applications
eclipse
8
Creating a component that does not use WSDL
Tue, Sep 15th 2009 2:40p Bob Balfe If you are a Java/Eclipse enthusiast but not too enthused about using WSDL then this article Mukundan wrote is for you. The article walks you through the steps to construct an Eclipse/SWT component that can interface with other components in a composite application (using the standard CAE wiring techniques). You can certainly create components with the new containers or the old fashion way using WSDL but this technique is pretty straight forward and gives you an alternative to the WSDL madne [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
lotus
application
eclipse
interface
java
5
Introduction to the Notes Document Container
Tue, Sep 15th 2009 9:32a Bob Balfe Ashok Mammen has published a great introductory article to the new Notes Document Container in Notes 8.5.1. The great thing about this container - like all of the others - is you can completely define the inputs and outputs right within CAE and not have to use WSDL or Designer. There are also some special settings that give this container some niceties due to its nature. For instance, you can tell the application how the view and perspective should be reset when a document is closed or sen [read] Keywords: composite
designer
document
ldd
lotus
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Extending the Notes View container with a custom action
Fri, Sep 11th 2009 9:29a Bob Balfe In Notes 8.5.1 the Notes view container supports a few basic actions for numbers - Count, Total, Min, Average, Max, etc and with the custom action extension you can add as many as you want to that list. Greg Roberts wrote a nice article that shows how you can do this with a sample action that adds “Median” to the set.
Referenced Article is here.
technorati tags: Composite Applications, custom actions, Notes View [read] Keywords: composite
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9
Using Dynamic Variable Substitution in Composite Applications
Thu, Sep 10th 2009 1:38p Bob Balfe One way to make your components more dynamic is to tie their configuration to system variables - like Eclipse preferences. In Lotus Notes 8.5.1 and Lotus Expeditor 6.2.1 you can now use the standard Eclipse variable substitution mechanism right within your components data settings. This article written by Chuck Imperato on the CA Wiki explains how the feature works.
Referenced Article is here.
technorati tags: components, subsitution, variable [read] Keywords: composite
expeditor
ldd
lotus
notes
applications
eclipse
wiki
10
A great Lotus Notes Composite Application tutorial
Thu, Sep 10th 2009 10:39a Bob Balfe Kristin, a member of the composite application development team, just posted a pretty nice tutorial for a Lotus Notes based composite application. While the application is simple in nature it explains at a very fine detail how the application, Social Dashboard, was created. The tutorial mixes some Lotus Script, the Notes view container, and some web browser components. The interesting thing about this pattern is you can easily mix Notes views with web content using composite applications. [read] Keywords: composite
ldd
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applications
development
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Two new tutorials for web based components
Wed, Sep 9th 2009 9:04a Bob Balfe Integrating web based components into Lotus Notes is becoming more and more popular. Whether they are Widgets in the side bar, Xpage components or full blown web sites as components you can now do some pretty interesting integration with not a lot of effort. These two articles below show how you can take ordinary web based applications and integrate them in with your Lotus Notes databases in the rich client. The first article is somewhat of a primer for web based components so start there. [read] Keywords: composite
javascript
ldd
lotus
notes
applications
integration
widgets
3
Should Niklas’ discussion template concept be the default for threaded discussions?
Tue, Sep 8th 2009 2:29p Bob Balfe I am going to stay away from the Notes 6, 7, XPages, standard client, Java Client, etc, discussion but would I like to recognize the concept his video that shows how you can create new entries in a threaded discussion. The video Niklas shows, in my opinion, is how all threaded databases should be. I love the fact that I can navigate through the thread while typing my response. This is basically how blogs and wikis work - ie. you can see the entire thread when responding and to have this in a [read] Keywords: composite
notes
template
xpages application
applications
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openntf
31
Extending the Notes View Container with a “Run Agent” custom action
Tue, Sep 8th 2009 9:49a Bob Balfe The Notes View container introduced as a web delivery for Notes 8.5 is going to ship with the Notes 8.5.1 release. When you mix that with the custom action extension point introduced in Notes 8.5.1 you can do some pretty neat stuff. In this article I use the Notes View container, a custom action and the Notes Java API’s to give the Notes view container the ability to have agents be called from a property change from another component. This is really a technical article and has no rea [read] Keywords: agent
composite
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Extending containers with custom code
Thu, Sep 3rd 2009 11:49a Bob Balfe Introduced in Notes 8.5 the generic container framework made it possible for all of the different containers you will see shipped in Notes 8.5.1. A new extensibility element introduced in Notes 8.5.1 is custom actions. This extension allows for new actions to be contributed to an existing container. Meaning, you can now write custom actions that can be wired to for the Notes view, Document, Sympony Spreadsheet, or Web container. We use the Eclipse extension point model and its nothing mo [read] Keywords: document
ldd
lotus
notes
template
eclipse
java
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12
Creating better looking client applications in Notes 8.5.1
Wed, Sep 2nd 2009 2:49p Bob Balfe As demonstrated in this article, you can use the “com.ibm.notes.isDocumentPlaceholder” setting to have documents opened within a composite application page. This setting is a very powerful setting and many use cases can be achieved with it in composite applications. Now with the introduction of the Notes Document container in Notes 8.5.1 you can also use this setting and completely do your wiring to/from your Notes documents from within CAE. Keep in mind, this setting does work [read] Keywords: composite
document
ibm
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xpages application
applications
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4
Using the Notes Document Container - Side by Side Editing use case
Wed, Sep 2nd 2009 10:22a Bob Balfe The Notes Document container allows you to use documents in your composites. This is a new feature in Notes 8.5.1 and an article showing one of the many use cases for this container was posted on the CA wiki. The concept of the document container is to easy get data into and out of Notes fields - whether it is in read only mode or edit mode and share that data with other components. This article is the first, and most basic, use cases but also shows how you can manage the life cycle of the [read] Keywords: composite
document
ldd
lotus
notes
applications
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It is easy to use Java Views in 8.5.1
Tue, Aug 25th 2009 10:53a Bob Balfe In the soon to be released Notes 8.5.1 you can give your applications the new Java UI look and feel with composite applications. Using the Notes View container you can now point to any Lotus Notes view and in the component settings for that view you can now switch between Native and Java rendering.
First thing you do is create a new composite application and in the CAE drop a Notes View container onto the screen.
You then use the Component Properties dialog to select what view you want:
Once y [read] Keywords: composite
lotus
notes
application
applications
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4
1
I love kids!
Thu, Aug 20th 2009 9:58a Bob Balfe Coaching flag football last night (5-7 year olds). Started working on the defense and the different positions. One of the new kids (Nicholas) to football was put at line backer and I tell him how he has to follow the ball and get the flag from the person with the ball. I emphasized on “watch the ball!”. The center hikes the ball to the quarterback and Nicholas runs right at the quarterback - almost like a blitz. The quarterback turns around and hands it to the left back - it was a sw [read] Keywords:
4
Lotus Knows Idea Jam is open for input!
Wed, Aug 19th 2009 11:49a Bob Balfe Go ahead and register, post, and vote on the various “Lotus Knows” postings. You can access the site here. It looks like there is already over 250 posts and its not even noon eastern! Take this opportunity to give Lotus your ideas and feedback.
technorati tags: IdeaJam, Lotus Knows [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
idea jam
ideajam
ideajam.net
4
10 Ways to be a better thinker
Wed, Aug 19th 2009 11:25a Bob Balfe As I get older I start looking for ways to keep my mental capacity and learn how to do things like “think better”. I read this article on CNN and I think it has some good pointers I wanted to share with everyone.
technorati tags: thinking [read] Keywords:
2
Plug for Lotus Knows IdeaJam
Wed, Aug 12th 2009 3:29p Bob Balfe I have a lot of friends and customers who use Lotus Notes and may not be familiar with IdeaJam, so I figured I would plug the IdeaJam for the “Lotus Knows” campaign.
Register for the event here. There are four categories of topics where you can submit your own ideas for Lotus software.
* “Lotus knows working smarter depends on great technology…”
* “Lotus knows marketing is key to technology adoption…”
* “Lotus knows technology is only gre [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
ideajam
ideajam.net
twitter
4
Googles Friend Connect
Tue, Aug 11th 2009 10:19a Bob Balfe I figured I would play around with the Google Friend Connect stuff. I added it to this site (see the right side panel under Planet Lotus). You can join my site and also comment using your Friend Connect id. This id can then be used across all of your sites you “subscribe” to. As I play I might add more features - since there seems like a lot of things you can do with this.
technorati tags: Friend Connect, Google, OpenSocial [read] Keywords: javascript
lotus
gadget
google
planet lotus
Domino Server Extensions: RunJava or Eclipse Plugins?
Mon, Aug 3rd 2009 10:39a Bob Balfe The last couple of posts on this subject sparked some interesting discussion on whether OSGI/Eclipse plugins with extension points or RunJava with the right Java API’s (callbacks etc) should be supported. So I pose this question to you, which would you prefer?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
technorati tags: Addin, Domino, java, Server [read] Keywords: domino
eclipse
java
server
14
Eclipse memory analyzer - excellent tool!
Thu, Jul 30th 2009 10:21a Bob Balfe I attended an excellent presentation yesterday from a colleague in IBM on the Eclipse Memory Analyzer. This is a must have tool for any shop developing in Java/Eclipse. Its open source, and free!
technorati tags: eclipse, Memory, Performance [read] Keywords: ibm
eclipse
java
Would you like to extend your Domino server with an Eclipse plug-in?
Wed, Jul 29th 2009 9:42a Bob Balfe You can extend your Domino server many ways today - new processes, DLL’s, agents, servlets, etc. But what about writing an Eclipse plug-in? The first things that come to mind is writing new AdminP requests in Java/Eclipse would be really neat. I can imagine a simple Eclipse extension point to extend AdminP and viola - you just install the plugin and you get a new AdminP handler.
You could go on to have all kinds of extension points via Eclipse - new HTTP server extensions, your own p [read] Keywords: admin
adminp
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eclipse
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