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| LotusUserGroup.org Developer Tips Newsletter - April 06 | |
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*********** DEVELOPER TIPS NEWSLETTER ***************
Issue #7, April 2006 PRESENTED BY LOTUSUSERGROUP.ORG
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IN THIS ISSUE
* From the Editors: Plagiarism or Collaboration?
* Quick Tips: Remember the Better Way
* On Thursdays, the Blogsphere Shows 'n Tells!
* Reviewing The Bookshelf – Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 7
* You Were Looking For What?
Newsletter archive available at
http://www.lotususergroup.org/submissions.nsf/news?openform .
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FROM THE EDITORS: Plagiarism or Collaboration?
by Thomas "Duffbert" Duff
Welcome to the April issue of the LotusUserGroup.org Developer Tips newsletter. Since my co-editor, Jess, is so quick with the movie quotes, let me offer an anonymous quote from one of the many books I've read recently:
"Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster."
There... Now that book is a business tax write-off. :) But seriously, this issue has a lot to do with sharing and collaboration, sometimes known as "R&D" (Rob and Duplicate). The Notes/Domino community is well known for, not surprisingly, their collaboration skills. By tapping into that community via email, blogs, events, what have you, you gain the experience and expertise of the "collective mind." Sorta borg-like, I know, but it's true. I'm not good enough to come up with a new question that's never been answered by someone else out there. All I have to do is know how to ask. Odds are someone else is more than willing to share their knowledge with you. Why recreate the wheel yourself when someone else is willing to let you have one they created? And why not share your own wheels, knowing that the person you share with may just add a few features and give it back in even better shape? I know I owe a lot to others who have made me the developer I am today, and I hope I've had the chance to add a bit back into the larger community of which I am a part.
In this month's issue, Jess Stratton carries on the sharing theme with a couple of articles that share tips and highlight an active sharing phenomenon that's being carried out in the Notes/Domino blogging community. I also share a book review on upgrading to Notes/Domino 7, as well as some information I found helpful while integrating Domino with Flash. There's plenty of "collaboration/plagiarism" material in here to keep you looking good to your bosses for months!
As always, if you have any ideas or topics you'd like covered in this newsletter, please send me an email at duffbert@gmail.com. Jess can be contacted at jess42@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you, and your input will continue to shape the direction of our writing. After all, you're the reason they allow us to do this each month... :-)
Thomas "Duffbert" Duff
Duffbert@gmail.com and http://www.twduff.com
Co-Editor, LotusUserGroup.org's Developer Tips newsletter
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Quick Tips: Remember the Better Way
by Jess Stratton
There's always a better way to do anything. This cliché is a fact. Pick a process - there's a better way to do it. In fact, we'll take reading this newsletter as the topic. You may think you're doing OK. And you probably are. But, now try reading this while sitting on the couch eating your favorite dessert and listening to a great CD. A-HA! Gotcha. It's much better, right?
Learning the better way is not actually the real trick to optimization. Contrary to popular belief, that's actually the easy part. The trick lies in actually remembering to continue using the "better way" afterwards. We hear something cool, file it away in our brains for later use, and then months later, hear it again somewhere, and say "oh YEAH! I forgot about that!" Or maybe it's just me.
At any rate, here are some gems I've been told, read, or otherwise found out. The chances are good that you probably already know these tips too. But this is your friendly courteous reminder, just in case you forgot.
Without further ado, here's the short list:
* Stylesheets can be put in a PAGE, not just in the stylesheets section. When stylesheets are on a Page, just name them myfile.css as usual, and enjoy editing them in place.
* Want an easy-to-read printout of your Domino server's web configuration? At the console, type: Tell http dump config. In ND6, Domino will output httpcfg.txt to the \data directory. In ND7, it will output the file to the IBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORT folder. Print the configuration document for a handy reference.
* In ND7, shared actions give you a new setting you've all been waiting for: "Include in right mouse button menu." The option is located in the first tab of the Shared Action properties, underneath "Include in action menu." Remember, you won't see this new option unless you're creating a *shared* action!
* Would you like to print ALL objects in source code, not just the active one you are working on? When printing from the Programmer's Pane, choose "all objects" as the source instead of the default - "current section." You'll have all your code in one handy place.
What else can you add? Submit some more quick developer tips to mailto:jess.42@gmail.com, along with your name, and I'll make another list. Let's pass on the Lotus-y goodness. In the meantime, so as not to forget the great new way to read this newsletter, I am going to grab some ice cream and a CD, and head for the couch. Practice, practice, practice, right? Hey, it's all in the name of memory building. It doesn't get more noble than that.
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On Thursdays, the Blogsphere Shows 'n Tells!
by Jess Stratton
In the previous article, I talked about remembering cool tidbits you heard "somewhere." Now we're going to focus on the "somewhere."
Back in February, a couple of Domino bloggers had noticed that lately, the blogging community needed a little kickstart. The discussions on our community's blogs were getting feisty, feedback comments were a bit on the negative side, and the glass was becoming half empty, so to speak.
So, our colleagues in the blogging community decided to create a unique way to bring the positivity and excitement back to the Lotus community – and the idea for Show n' Tell Thursdays (SnTT) was born. The rules are simple: on Thursdays, bloggers can post some cool new tip or technique they've developed, and we can all remember why we love our jobs again.
If I were from the movie Napoleon Dynamite, I'd start posting about my "Skills! You know, nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, LotusScript skills..." (That last one was mine; as far as I know, Napoleon Dynamite doesn't have any LotusScript skills. Not that that means anything. I was in a bar once on vacation in Florida, and struck up a conversation with the lead singer of the band while they were taking a break. It turned out he was a LotusScript programmer. You just never know!)
So what does this mean if you are a blogger? Start thinking of code samples, demos, tips, techniques, anything cool you've done that you can post on Thursdays. If you want to use it, Rocky Oliver has a logo available here (which is also the inception post for SnTT):
http://www.lotusgeek.com/SapphireOak/LotusGeekBlog.nsf/d6plinks/ROLR-6LYJEG
What does this mean if you are a blog reader? There's more good news! A comprehensive list of Domino bloggers is available at http://www.dominoblogs.com, which contains links to blogs by geographic region as well as their complete RSS feeds. Actually, in many of those SnTT posts on blogs, dominoblogs.com is mentioned, which gets aggregated into feeds… there's gotta be a recursion joke in there somewhere, I just know it.
What does this mean if you don't have your own blog, but still want to participate?
You have a lot of options. You could head over to LNDCentral.com, which works the same way that Slashdot works, except it's all about Lotus. You might post on the developerWorks: Lotus forums (http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/community/) or in the forums at LotusUserGroup.org (http://lotususergroup.org/UGForum.nsf). All these things follow the spirit of the exercise: sharing what you know and what you've done to improve the community.
In fact, LotusUserGroup.org just announced that members can blog in the group blog hosted there; this option is a GREAT way to get started if you want to get into blogging. Log in and post on a Thursday and show your stuff! Go to http://www.lotususergroup.org/blogsphe.nsf.
To tie in my last article, the only thing left to do at this point is remember all the great stuff you'll be reading. Now, what are you going to do? According to Napoleon Dynamite, Whatever you FEEL like doing, GOSH!
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Reviewing The Bookshelf – Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 7
by Thomas "Duffbert" Duff
Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 7
Tim Speed, Dick McCarrick, Tara Hall, Barry Heinz, Matthew Henry, Wendi Pohs
315 pages
Packt Publishing
ISBN: 1904811639
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904811639/duffbertsrand-20)
By now, you probably are aware of Lotus Notes and Domino 7 and have it on your upgrade radar. But where can you find a single source of information that shows all the new features for the user, the administrator, and the developer? One place to start would be Packt Publishing's Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 7, by Tim Speed, Dick McCarrick, Tara Hall, Barry Heinz, Matthew Henry, and Wendi Pohs.
Often, one of the hardest things to do in an upgrade project is to convince management that the upgrade is needed. Vague marketing fluff won't (or shouldn't) sway those who want detailed explanations of the new features, including how they will benefit the organization. This book can help you get beyond the generalities in the three major areas of the Notes/Domino platform. From the client perspective, there is good coverage of the new mail features, Sametime integration, and the new Autosave function. In the course of 20 pages, you'll have enough information to start selling the benefits to your users. From the developer's perspective, the information is a little on the light side as there weren't a large number of changes or additions in the Designer. But there is good coverage on AutoSave, enhanced Java support, and the new Formula language and LotusScript commands. Where the book really shines is in its coverage of the new administration features. A large percentage of the book goes into moderate detail on new items like Domino Domain Monitoring as well as some of the new enhancements to policies. The book is not at the level of a reference manual, but there's enough detail to help you to understand what's going on. There's even a nice case study on how IBM upgraded the developerWorks site to the Notes/Domino 7 platform. There is some good information in there that you can use to structure your own upgrades.
So why recommend an "admin" book to Notes developers? Good question! It's because I think you need to be able to step back and "sell" the value of your technology. Just wanting to use shared columns or profile your agents isn't going to cause the CIO to budget your upgrade. Being able to speak to the value to the users as well as the value for the infrastructure is important. Rather than venturing into the Domino help files to find administration stuff that you may not understand, you can get everything you'll need to understand right here, at the right level to be able to discuss the issues coherently with management and the administration side of your team.
So, expand your view of Notes/Domino 7 outside of your "developer or administrator" role, and understand the overall value-proposition that upgrading to Notes/Domino 7 brings. Pick up a copy of this book and convince management that upgrading sooner rather than later is a good thing...
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You Were Looking For What?
by Thomas "Duffbert" Duff
Looking through the Notes/Domino-related search hits I have received on my blog (Duffbert's Random Musings at http://www.twduff.com), I've noticed a few searches that have been showing up frequently. This month I'll highlight those searches and let you know where you can find more information related to those subjects…
Domino Flash
I get a steady trickle of people trying to find out how to let Domino display their Flash animations. I ran into this same issue at my place of employment when a department asked me to add a Flash animation file to their departmental intranet file. Not knowing to accomplish the task, I went off on a search much like those who end up on my site looking for the same thing. Let me share what I found and what worked for me.
My primary source of information was a DominoPower article from 2001(!) called "Putting Some Flash into your Domino Applications" (http://www.dominopower.com/issuesprint/issue200101/flash.html). Yes, some things age well. By learning where to put the HTML file and the SWF file, I was able to get the Flash animation linked on the website, and everyone was happy. The only thing I have to remember each year is how I did it the prior year when the update comes. :)
DominoPower has also published a short "Solutions Guide" titled "Using Flash With Domino" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000071440/duffbertsrand-20). This guide can be downloaded from Amazon and it goes into more detail about integrating various Flash features into your Domino application.
But probably my favorite article and demo site for using Flash with Domino comes from Vince Schuurman (of OpenNTF mail template fame). Back when I was writing for e-Pro, Vince wrote an article where he described how to dynamically create Flash menus and Flash charts using data from Domino. Not only did he describe the process, but he's got functioning demos you can dissect and use! Although e-Pro is no more, he has the article and demos posted out on his site at http://demo.vinceschuurman.com/goto/(LUContent)/Flash+Integration. This is, in my opinion, a must-read if you're at all interested in bringing Flash and Domino together.
So now when the Marketing guy comes over and asks you to add a Flash animation to the company website, you can merely smile and say "no sweat!"
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