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McGarelGramming

Notes-based collaboration, communication and cogitation

Seven words you can't say to a Lotus fan

Mike McGarel  

In honor of George Carlin and his "Seven words you can never say on television," here's my take on seven words that's bound to cause grumbling and grimaces among the Loti:

  • OOXML
  • SearchDomino.com
  • Sharepoint
  • iPhone
  • Lyons
  • Radicati
  • Workplace
(Special thanks to John Roling for inspiration.)

Purported OOXML

Mike McGarel  

 I'm adding the term "purported" when referring  to Microsoft's Office Open XML because:

  • As it written now, Office doesn't use it.
  • It is filled with proprietary specifications so it is not really open.
  • It is not very good XML.
Hence I will use the new acronym: POOXML.

(Childish, I know.)


No rules -- just write!

Mike McGarel  


I staked out a spot (I'm in the back) in the new round robin writing experiment, "Albino Butterfly," initiated by Ben Langhinrichs.

(OK. There are some rules. But I noticed there is nooooooooooooooo Rule 6.)

Start with Chapter 1 , which is great IMHO. You can get an RSS feed that Julian Robichaux so graciously hosts at http://www.andthentheboilerburst.com/AlbinoButterfly.rss.


A Notes Paladin

Mike McGarel  

I was saddened last week to hear of the death of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and someone who was instrumental in popularizing paper-and-pencil roleplaying games. Some of my favorite memories include times with friends spent around various kitchen/dining room/coffee tables, fighting nefarious creatures and hoping their treasure included some magical item which would help us smite the next, more dangerous, nefarious creature. Although to me, the best part of gaming was having a reason to get together regularly and share each other's company.

I am not alone in the Notes community in being a fan of the game, which got me to thinking: Microsoft has Exchange Rangers, a "ranger" being a type of warrior in D&D. Shouldn't Notes have "Paladins,"  who in the game were warriors for the side of good? Who among us hasn't fought for Lotus solutions at least once in our careers?

And I know some of my apps have "healed" business problems. :-)

Front Matter Matters

Mike McGarel  

A new field in Notes 8 saved me much development time.

The issue: The day after Notes 8 was installed on our server, I finished a small intranet database which I'll call "DbX." DbX copied the look and feel from the main intranet database by referencing its style sheet. All was well when I compared the two databases in FireFox, but I saw major font differences in I.E.

The solution: After much searching and verifying that the styles matched everywhere, I finally noticed the cause. In DbX, Domino was generating the usual doctype of HTML 4.01 Transitional for the $$ViewTemplates. In contrast, the main database used WebQueryOpen agents to display views. A doctype of XHTML 1.0 Transitional was hard-coded in the agent. I mentioned this situation to my co-worker, Declan, and he suggested the $$HTMLFrontMatter field. I added the field, entered the XHTML doctype information above and my font issues were gone.

I better get going on my Notes 8 reading.

Background? Check.

Mike McGarel  


Before I post anything else, I should probably provide a little background:

  • I have been a Notes/Domino developer since 1999, starting with Notes 4.5. It was a case of love at first sight.
  • Like many other N/D developers, I come from a non-programming background. My degree is in broadcast communications.
  • I live and work in the Chicago, Illinois area.
  • I have the good fortune to work at the same company with both John Roling and Declan Lynch.
  • I first started reading Lotus blogs right before Lotusphere 2006. Doing so re-invigorated my enthusiasm for the future of Notes.

Server Agent Man

Mike McGarel  

I couldn't make it to Lotusphere this year and therefore missed the Jamfest. In that spirit of fun, though, here's . . .

Server Agent Man
(sung to the tune of "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers)

There's a man who writes agents with fervor
And all the code he writes runs on the server
With every function he calls
The agent queue might stall
Odds are you'll be outsourced again tomorrow

(Chorus)
Server agent man, server agent man
They've given you an ID -- don't save under your name

Beware of simple fixes that you find
A simple fix can hide some buggy lines
Be careful what you say
As you declare the array
Odds are you'll be outsourced again tomorrow

(Chorus)

[guitar solo I'm not good enough to play]

(Chorus)

Archiving the mailboxes every work day
Logging document changes triggered by QuerySave
You've let a deadline slip
While searching the blogs for tips
Odds are you'll be outsourced again tomorrow

(Chorus)

Server a-a-a agent man

Twas the Night Before Lotusphere

Mike McGarel  


'Twas the night before Lotusphere
In the world of the Mouse
All the attendees were partying
(Some even were soused)

The IDs were hung
By the backpacks with care
In the hope William Shatner
Soon would speak there

As Lotus soars forward
The future looks great
Happy Lotusphere to all
And to all -- more Notes 8!
 

Start with a Joke

Mike McGarel  

That's a tip for presenters -- I'll apply it to blogging . . .

I heard Microsoft is always scared when this conference is held.

They suffer from "Lotus Fear."