XSPtalk - All things Java, Mobile and Web Application Development Sharing new technologies and best practices http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/ en-us Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:32:23 +0100 Speaking at BLUG 2013 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:32:23 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/12022013083222CCOC2B.htm BLUG Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/12022013083222CCOC2B.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/12022013083222CCOC2B.htm
Will be great to attend my first BLUG - heard so much good stuff about it. Also looking forward catching up with all the usual suspects and meeting some new ones....

Great thing is - it coincides with a certain landmark birthday (the one that no-one must mention). That is a week later - good excuse to try out some of the much talked of local beers!

Hope to see you there! ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/12022013083222CCOC2B.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/12022013083222CCOC2B.htm?opendocument&comments XPages Case Study Application - Procurement Tracking - A Hybrid NSF / SQL Application Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:27:56 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21112012112756CCOFFZ.htm XPages Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21112012112756CCOFFZ.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21112012112756CCOFFZ.htm application design for an XPages application that one of my customers were considering. This was a procurement / contract tracking application that was to track spend / values over a annual periods etc (Not really the sort of application that is best suited to the NSF structure). However, we were keen to build on existing XPages resources and RAD benefits such as

1. Security driven by Groups and the ACL
2. Use the One UI and the Extension Library as a starting point for UI design
3. Build and extend our own libraries of OSGI code that can be used for future applications
4. Being a large Notes user make use of current Domino Web Infrastructure
5. Make use of internal support resources available from a Domino Administration perspective
6. Build on internal Notes / Java skills that are available

The list could go on...But one major headache remained - The "NSF" data structure - its not really built for this.

From experience we should not bend this data structure to do this - the main data structure had to be the NSF.

I intend in posting in the near future a series of blogs (and perhaps video) will provide some insight into how I....

1. Used Java to build a data access layer initially modelled for Notes for prototyping but then switched to MS-SQL.
2. Built Custom Controls and Java for customisable Query Screens and Reports in Excel - Direct from SQL using stored procedures.
3. Built Java libraries for a host of useful (and re-usable) custom converters, validators.
4. Used Phase Listeners, Value Change Listeners and Scoped Objects to write a full audit trail to SQL - for every field!
5. Used beans as controllers for various application operations

The purpose of this exercise with my client was not only to deliver this application but also to provide a template for future use that covers a wide range of application use cases for most situations. Also vital in this process was the skilling and enabling of the internal team for future projects.

Hopefully these blog posts / videos etc will prove useful to others considering this path! (Any questions, comments or areas you would like me to cover would be most welcome) ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/21112012112756CCOFFZ.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21112012112756CCOFFZ.htm?opendocument&comments Websphere portal 7.0 / RAD 8.0.4 and file uploads with <hx:fileUpload> Tue, 7 Aug 2012 02:02:46 -0500 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07082012015434DOMA56.htm Websphere Portal Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07082012015434DOMA56.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07082012015434DOMA56.htm Been working on a rather interesting proof of concept application with Websphere Portal 7 and RAD 8.0. All going well connecting MS SQL Server 2008 via JPA and building JSF based portlets. Once major concern though is the use of the . At the moment something strange occurs if you simply add it to the page - no content in the portlet is displayed on the screen!

Basic control - blank screen is rendered in all main browsers (IE, Firefox and Chrome). The error in Firefox is as follows

this.eventService is undefined
com.ibm.pb is undefined
com.ibm.data is undefined
com.ibm.pb is undefined
dojo.byId("ibm-menu-links") is null
<%@taglib
uri="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/websphere/portal/v6.1/portlet-client-model"
prefix="portlet-client-model"%>
I know there are some issues around 8.0.4 and fileUploads - this is fundamental though!!
 
Code is attached in a text file below.
 
Appreciate any comments or feedback if you have similar experience.
 ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/07082012015434DOMA56.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07082012015434DOMA56.htm?opendocument&comments Releational Database options for Reporting and Scaling / Performance with XPages and General Notes / Domino Tue, 22 May 2012 09:38:41 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/22052012093841CCOC68.htm RDBMS Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/22052012093841CCOC68.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/22052012093841CCOC68.htm
Based on this I was considering evaluating

1. DomSQL - built for this very purpose. Uses SQLLite to "duplicate" view data. Some initial things to consider are
(a) Easy to setup - Install some OSGI plugins on the server for XPages and configure some XML settings
(b) Synch happens with Notes / Non Notes without having to do anything
(c) Performance - a concern. Dont think this is the sort of thing we can just start to "switch on" on a production server without serious consideration of traffic / transactions, databases / data volumes etc.
2. Build some scheduled / triggered agents that move the data between both RDBMS data and NSF (one way from NSF to RDBMS)
3. Writing some sort of triggered event (on save of the document) in XPages that pushes the data over to the RDBMS  (Say their corporate SQLServer / Oracle database structure)
4. Using the Relation Data Access stuff released last year to read / write to the SQL store.

These options all mean "duplication of data" on both sides of the system

Don't really see that as a big issue - as you can still take advantage of the XPages framework for workflow / mail and RAD. Its only a subset of the data that would be copied to the relational structure (towards the end of the project once we start honing reporting requirements). All of the points (except 1) involve writing code to push data to the RDBMS - there is a time and cost factor here.

Will be progressing these investigations - hopefully document findings here on approaches. Keen to hear your thoughts / comments...



]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/22052012093841CCOC68.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/22052012093841CCOC68.htm?opendocument&comments getCurrentElement() null issue in Java UI Classes for Eclipse Mon, 21 May 2012 17:38:50 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012173850CCOMJC.htm RCP Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012173850CCOMJC.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012173850CCOMJC.htm
A similar threads on DeveloperWorks forum (or Notes.net as I still like to call it..)

Kevin Duan  http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd8forum.nsf/5f27803bba85d8e285256bf10054620d/e0da559819b54d0b852579a20034ce5c?OpenDocument

Also being hinted at in some other places that the view behaviour is unreliable at best.

 At the moment (until I can come up with a better idea) I am running some code as follows for this condition in the job thread

        if(elem==null){
                return Status.CANCEL_STATUS;
        }
....
....
....
return Status.OK_STATUS;


I then check in my calling code to see what the jobs status was returning as follows

if(job.getResult().equals(Status.CANCEL_STATUS)){
                MessageDialog.openInformation(composite.getShell(),"Document Not Uploaded","Document NOT Uploaded. Instead of running this process from a view please retry again from an open document.");
}

This is far from ideal. However, it is at least catching the null situation and informing the user. It is also allowing the user to attempt to perform the action from the view screen.

Anyone know of a better approach?

]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/21052012173850CCOMJC.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012173850CCOMJC.htm?opendocument&comments Plugin Development with Java UI Classes Mon, 21 May 2012 14:19:42 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012141941CCOHMV.htm Eclipse Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012141941CCOHMV.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012141941CCOHMV.htm
So the user right clicks to select a document and chooses the "Bookmark" option below

Image:Plugin Development with Java UI Classes
Which provides this dialog

Image:Plugin Development with Java UI Classes

The bookmark document contains simply

1. A subject describing the document
2. A Tag for the document (category)
3. A "Notes URL" link to take the user to the source document

The idea is that people can then search the knowledge base using the tags etc and then open the source document for more info.

So this works on the basis that the URL is built from the selected document (this is where the issue lies... It is running a piece of code that does

NotesUIWorkspace ws = new NotesUIWorkspace();
NotesUIElement elem = ws.getCurrentElement();

Now - if I run the process direct from the Eclipse "Run Configuration" it works fine. If I build the plugin and then install it some strange behaviour can be observed in that "elem" sometimes returns null when run from a view on "Selected Documents".

Note it always returns a valid value if ran on an open document in the Notes UI (ie from the document through the form).  

It sometimes resolves itself to return a correct value (sometimes on subsequent runs, sometimes requires you to open a document and run it THEN try it on a view / document).

Its fairly intermittent and extremely frustrating!

Anyone had any experience / knowledge of this? ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/21052012141941CCOHMV.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/21052012141941CCOHMV.htm?opendocument&comments XPages DataModels and Exporting to Excel Fri, 4 May 2012 08:44:41 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/04052012084441CCOB4G.htm Export to Excel Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/04052012084441CCOB4G.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/04052012084441CCOB4G.htm
So I thought - let the Excel class have different methods to do different things such as Export a view, a document collection and even the data used in a repeat control (essentially what is on screen). Package it up as an OSGI plugin and it can work for any app - sounds great.

However, the main problem that I am having with this centres around the repeat control export concept which is tied to a dataModel object. Consider the following piece of Java Code.

        public DataModel getRepeatModel(String repeatid) {
                this.repeat = (XspDataIterator) JSFUtil.findComponent(repeatid);
                this.datamodel = this.repeat.getDataModel();
                System.out.println("Repeat rows is "+this.repeat.getRows());
                System.out.println("Data Model Row Count on initial get is = "+this.datamodel.getRowCount());
                return this.datamodel;
        }


Frstly the repeat.getRows() returns 30 = which is to be expected as that is the number of rows that we specifiy in the repeat control. Thats fine ... but....

It seems the dataModel.getRowCount returns 246 documents - even although there are 500+ there. I believe (not confirmed -Wei mentioned this in my blog a while back a while ago that he was having a similar issue) that there is some sort of buffering going on - this could be stopping the processing past this number. Is there a way around this? Is there a better way?

The javax.faces.model.DataModel class is a standard JSF class with methods for things like getRowData() and setRowIndex() which allow you to traverse the structure and seem ideal for this sort of task. Of course if it IS buffering then I am sort of stuck and its workaround time...

One simple idea to get around this could be to to pass in the exact same Full Text Search String that is present for the repeat control. Then I would write a method that runs a second full text search and then process that data. I did something similar a while ago for XDesk on OpenNTF  with its excel export (as we are basically doing a double hit - one to display the data in the repeat from and then again another to export it). It is a full text search so performs well though....but not "optimal" - hate the idea of doing a double hit.

Any ideas on the dataModel class or a different approach would be welcome!

Sure an efficient approach that runs as an OSGI plugin to be shared over all your apps would benefit everyone! ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/04052012084441CCOB4G.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/04052012084441CCOB4G.htm?opendocument&comments Relational XPages access for Hybrid Application access Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:39:11 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/19042012093911CCOC6J.htm Relational Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/19042012093911CCOC6J.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/19042012093911CCOC6J.htm
Keen on the idea of a hybrid option with XPages. By that I mean

NSF / Domino
1. Workflow support (using standard Java OSGI libraries we have developed)
2. Rapid Application Development
3. Flexible Data Storage for Forms type processes
4. Built in Domino Data / Security

RDBMS
1. Best for storing transactional type data
2. Good for storing / working with data that relies on relationships
3. Good at handling large volumes of data

To me a hybrid model with XPages makes sense.For this piece I see there being a few options

1. Use the new Extension Library tools made available via the extension library
2. Use JDBC to process the data (not great option - memory leaks, boilerplate code etc)
3. Explore the use of Hibernate (not really a "supported" configuration)

Reporting being a key part of this can be handled over NSF and / or RDBMS with the traditional "servlet" type approach in XPages, Spring MVC or Websphere Portal. This means pushing the output to Excel / PDF.

Or do we look at another platform? Spring MVC / Websphere Portal (the technologies of choice).

Appreciate your thoughts / comments and experiences! ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/19042012093911CCOC6J.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/19042012093911CCOC6J.htm?opendocument&comments Open Source / Free CMS and Commerce Engine Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:48:16 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/18042012094815CCOCC9.htm Question Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/18042012094815CCOCC9.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/18042012094815CCOCC9.htm
Been doing a lot of varied work recently on top of the usual XPages stuff. WebSphere Portal, Spring / Hibernate, Spring MVC stuff. Hope to incorporate that into this blog soon.

Anyway...

Thought I would throw out a request to see if anyone could recommend or point towards a free open source CMS / shopping cart type application - preferably built on the Java platform (although open to ideas on that too).

Really aimed at delivering a low cost solution that is easily "tweaked" for a small business selling medical products. Sorry have nothing more specific - all ideas welcome! ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/18042012094815CCOCC9.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/18042012094815CCOCC9.htm?opendocument&comments LS12 Slides for SHOW111 - How YOU deliver mobile applications the easy way with XPages Web Apps Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:17:08 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012131706CCOHL9.htm Lotusphere Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012131706CCOHL9.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012131706CCOHL9.htm
The following link is link to the slides from the presentation. Will be developing and contributing the Blog Reader App to OpenNTF in the coming weeks so look out!

Link to Presentation

Link zip of associated files ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/23012012131706CCOHL9.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012131706CCOHL9.htm?opendocument&comments LS12 Slides for BP118 - Using Java to build applications fit for the enterprise Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:23:53 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012122351CCOGJZ.htm Lotusphere Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012122351CCOGJZ.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012122351CCOGJZ.htm
Will be upgrading and publishing the library files in this application onto OpenNTF in the coming weeks. I will also post the instructions on creating and working with OSGI libraries as discussed in my session.

Link to Presentation ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/23012012122351CCOGJZ.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/23012012122351CCOGJZ.htm?opendocument&comments Day 1 Lotusphere - Business Development Day Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:01:38 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/15012012130126CCOHAL.htm LS12 Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/15012012130126CCOHAL.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/15012012130126CCOHAL.htm
Anyway "settled in" yesterday evening well. Great evening (although jet lag took its toll) I attempted to soldier on through to around midnight.

Looking forward to the announcements and sessions of the next few days. Will be doing last minute prep around my two sessions if you are interested in attending.

Wed 10:30 - 12:15
SHOW111 - How you deliver Mobile Applications the easy way with XPages and Web apps.
Will walk you through how to build both a 100% web app with the extension library and a hybrid app with PhoneGap.

Thursday 8:30 - 9:30
BP118 - Using Java to build Applications Fit for the enterprise
Will discuss and demonstrate how Java helps provide a scalable platform for developing your XPages applications.


]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/15012012130126CCOHAL.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/15012012130126CCOHAL.htm?opendocument&comments Resource Reservations advice - Wrestling with free time Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:57:10 -0500 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14122011035142DOMDKV.htm Resource Reservations Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14122011035142DOMDKV.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14122011035142DOMDKV.htm Writing a booking front end using the extension library - the UI works really well and supports browser events for creation, deletion, moving etc.

The issue is "wrestling with free time". Not a lot of good information out there in terms of setting the various field values. In essence I am mailing a document to the room that is setup in the database. I then use the events to save updates / delete to the booking as required. This works well other than.....

The emails that are generated are not very configurable - infact the one on creation of the booking that is sent to the chair gives an error on opening the mail message - I think it is expecting to open a reservation in the actual mailfile instead of the resource reservation database.

Might be easiest to switch the mailing aspect of this off (I still want it to be "reserved" by the free time engine).

Been hunting around in the dark - anyone got any thoughts or advice?

]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/14122011035142DOMDKV.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14122011035142DOMDKV.htm?opendocument&comments Speaking at LS12 - my first Lotusphere session Tue, 6 Dec 2011 12:52:35 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/06122011125235CCOH4W.htm LS12 Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/06122011125235CCOH4W.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/06122011125235CCOH4W.htm
Going to be a lot of work between now and the 20th but hopefully it will be rewarding for me and more importantly for those who attend!

Flights need to be booked (probably Aer Lingus - do I ever learn anything from last year?), the ESTA (or whatever they are called - the forms that allow me into the country) need to be completed and a new pair of  (industrial strength) drinking shoes need to be bought. The must be capable of propping me up at various bars for the whole week.

Oh yeah - before I forget the subjects are

1. XPages and Java - focussed around why I have used it and how it really benefits me in doing my job for clients
2. XPages and Mobile Web Applications

Themes that I have been running with for the year and plan to develop further for LS12 and beyond.

Looking forward to meeting the folks lucky enough to attend this year. Also look forward to the news and general interweb chatter that kicks off around the event too! ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/06122011125235CCOH4W.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/06122011125235CCOH4W.htm?opendocument&comments Turbo Charging your Legacy Notes apps with XPages relational access Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:30:45 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14102011123045CCOFHT.htm XPages. RDBMS Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14102011123045CCOFHT.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14102011123045CCOFHT.htm
1. Application works well - needs extending via a "web app" to browser or mobile.
2. Application needs to integrate into our Portal, Intranet, be made available on public Website etc.
3. Application functions badly due to the way it was deployed on the older Notes client

All of the above can be addressed by putting together an XPages "front end" or as in case 3 by rewriting the application to work better with XPages (dojo, jquery, modern web ui tools).

There are however a large number of applications (I am sure we have all seen them) that have underlying problems with the architecture. This usually comes down to two issues

1. Sheer numbers of documents.
2. Complex structure of relationships between data / documents.

I am thinking the huge timesheets database, enormous CRMs with huge numbers of documents and relationships with visits, callbacks etc etc.. Again we have all seen them....

This usually manifests itself in performance issues, applications that are difficult to change and maintain and even more difficult to leverage good reports from. We then see loads of views, loads of categorisation, lots of bloat / index issues, server struggling when a view is rebuilt, requests for reports where information is captured but stupid methods have to be employed to get it ...etc.. etc.

This is where the new XPages Relational Database Access tools come in. Now we can...

1. Use Domino security (readers fields, authors fields, acls) - these are easy to configure and change using the same methods that are in current support / operation with developers and the admin team.
2. Use Domino workflow eg a "main document " could have "related records" that are stored in a relational db somewhere and called for display at the appropriate point.
3. Get better reporting (always a pain as already mentioned). You can use standard reporting tools (Crystal reports etc) for building reports and even delegate more to business users.
4. Handle better volumes of "record" type data.
5. Kick off transactional processes that are in other systems (as well as your own table structure)
6. Build powerful database searches that incorporate a combination of Full Text and SQL queries.

Of course with all of that we can leverage the full benefits of a JSF based Java Web application server built around dojo UI components for cross platform mobile and web applications.

The opportunities are endless. We now have a true web application server and with XWork and further developments in the pipeline I am looking forward to LS12!

Anyone else able to share their own stories around this?

Oh yes - before I forget go to OpenNTF and download the Extension Library and install on 8.5.3. There is good visual material there to help you on your way! ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/14102011123045CCOFHT.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/14102011123045CCOFHT.htm?opendocument&comments Web Enabled Resource Reservations Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:55:30 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/10102011155530CCOKHR.htm XPages Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/10102011155530CCOKHR.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/10102011155530CCOKHR.htm
1. Nice (Web 2.0 - I hate that expression) modern web experience
2. Works well on mobile devices
3. Built on XPages

Ideally I would like this to be based around dojo - although there is nothing I could find at this stage. I know there would not be too much effort to do this around jQuery as there are a plethora of nice looking calendar tools that use Web Services / XML / JSON or whatever for pushing data backwards and forwards. Paul Withers is also advised on some interesting stuff (from part of his stuff on the new XPages extension library book) from the extension library which takes the iNotes interface and makes it more available via xpages and web services. It has built in controls for events for creating entries, rescheduling etc - so looks interesting.... (Paul bribed sorry asked if I would reference the Excellent Extension Library Book - coming soon on amazon).

Another developer Toby Samples took the jQuery approach using "Full Calendar" - that also looks interesting. There has also been some work on the 8.5.3 template which I have yet to look through. I suspect though that the UI / customisation requirements may exclude that option....  

Anyone else doing anything similar out there? ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/10102011155530CCOKHR.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/10102011155530CCOKHR.htm?opendocument&comments Simple Domino Internet Mail Monitoring Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:11:23 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07102011121122CCOF5P.htm Administration Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07102011121122CCOF5P.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07102011121122CCOF5P.htm
Cutting to the chase - I thought that this would be easy to do. Need to run adhoc queries on external internet emails sent such as.

1. How many mails were sent to domain @xyz.com
2. Which recpients in that domain
3. Which senders sent to that domain
4. How many mails were sent with the following subject line contents "Top Secret: xyz"
5. Again to who / by who

Fairly basic parameters running around date window and from/to and subject.

Now I know Domino is not great with high volumes of this kind of stuff and the initial look of the Tracking Request functionality does not really fit the bill (nor does the format of the data lend easy for exporting).

It strikes me that this must be asked all the time and is either

1. Part of the core product that needs configuring properly
2. Done somewhere else (such as a mail gateway) with reporting tools there
3. A 3rd party Domino tool to help

Anyone please care to help a struggling developer and share what they do?
]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/07102011121122CCOF5P.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/07102011121122CCOF5P.htm?opendocument&comments XWork application server Mon, 3 Oct 2011 13:55:07 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/03102011135507CCOH6H.htm XWork Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/03102011135507CCOH6H.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/03102011135507CCOH6H.htm
Keen to see where else this leads us with changes moving forward. With other competitive open source Java Server platforms such as Tomcat, Glassfish (and many others) there are still many choices for ISVs out there. The XWork platform has its own value proposition though that I hope shines through. With some good case studies and some positive work in the community I am sure we can all help there.

Hoping this also puts some fresh impetus into working with the IBM local IBM sales teams - my targetting used to be based around "yellowspace" and as such did not really fit with what they do.

Hopefully the new initiative helps change things a bit. Keen to see what IBM has in mind around that.

]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/03102011135507CCOH6H.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/03102011135507CCOH6H.htm?opendocument&comments XPages futures....relational access? Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:45:27 -0500 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13092011012758DOM9LJ.htm XPages Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13092011012758DOM9LJ.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13092011012758DOM9LJ.htm blog on what he thinks are options for the future of Domino and XPages with the inclusion of an in built relational data store. For many years now the NSF has been an excellent data structure but has had its known achillies heel which often led to poor performing applications or applications that did not scale. This led to issues around complex architectures, archiving, poor reporting outputs. For years we have asked the question "Will this work in Domino? Or is a relational platform a better choice". Now with the advent of open source and free web application software it is more important that this issue is addressed.

Paul Withers yesterday made some excellent points around the direction of "java" and what it means to the development community and the platform in terms of integration options and attracting new blood to the platform. Extending on this I see an opportunity for us to extend the offering that domino brings by including a data model that is industry standard and addresses the issues from the past.

Been doing some basic work on glassfish recently. As such I have been getting involved in JPA / EJB technologies for ORM (object relational mapping) and data access. It would be fantastic of somehow XPages could extend on this industry standard technology (either by webphere integration or "stealing" some parts from that stack) to give us a rock solid platform for doing ORM that covered mapping "Objects" to both "Documents" and relational data.

This may be pie in the sky - but I can see this approach really position XPages / Domino (or whatever it is called next) as a true industry leading platform with proven unique capabilities. Of course options would exist as well for integrating with other NoSQL platforms as well. This would also mean that the code we build (assets == money) will be available for the client (RCP) and our web application server (JSF).

Important times lie ahead for the platform - radical action is needed. We need to take advantage of the Eclipse / OSGI model that is available for the server and client and position the product as a true scalable platform that can address any business problem - irrespective of data constraints.

Any thoughts anyone? ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/13092011012758DOM9LJ.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13092011012758DOM9LJ.htm?opendocument&comments XPages, XDesk, Java, Mobile, OSGI and a European Event Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:32:37 +0100 http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13072011093236CCOC2G.htm XPages Chris Connor http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13072011093236CCOC2G.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13072011093236CCOC2G.htm
Firstly I am delighted to announce that I will be speaking at DanNotes in Denmark on the 23rd and 24th November on XPages and mobile. Will be joining an excellent group of speakers in Niklas Heidloff and Ulrich Krause - it's quite far in the future but I have some good plans and projects to work with to build on my mobile presentations from earlier in the year.

This will help drive some new articles in the coming month on XPages and mobile. Also been doing some work with Java / OSGI on XPages as part of some XPages mentoring I have been doing for a client here in the UK - really all about building an "XPages infrastructure" for building and supporting multiple applications on the XPages platform. As well as this I plan to release (finally) a new version of XDesk that has been optimised for mobile webkit browsers - this is 99% ready to go and will be put into the OpenNTF catalog as well.

The blog should be a more active place in the coming 4 - 8 weeks! But first - off to la manga club in Spain for some much needed sun and rest.... ]]> http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dxcomments/13072011093236CCOC2G.htm http://www.xsptalk.com/Public/Website/Blog.nsf/dx/13072011093236CCOC2G.htm?opendocument&comments