Beyond The Yellow Bubble

Disclaimer: IBM Lotus Notes/Domino and Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.1 is prerelease code and there are no guarantees from IBM that the functionality presented or discussed will be in the final shipping product.
YES FELLOW LOTUSSCRIPT DEVOTEES - THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER!!!

If you are like me and you write lots of LotusScript code you have probably been waiting for a new LotusScript editor more than anything else.  With 8.5.1 that long awaited dream comes true.

Note: If you are most unlike me and write lots of Java code then you long awaited Java editor is also here but I will leave that for someone better qualified than I to blog about....

The extent to which this new tool will make a difference to you life will largely depend on the style of LotusScript code you write.

Object Oriented Programmers (OOP), like me, write almost all their code as classes inside placed in the Declarations module of LotusScript Libraries.  As much as 98% of our LS code can be contained in these LS libraries.  We have our own weird language with terms like base classes, properties, methods, constructors, event handlers and delegates.  It is this style of LS coding that will benefit the most from the new DDE LS Editor.

Procedural Programmers strive to build reuseable code using functions and subroutines that are typically stored in LotusScript libraries and/or agents.  You too will benefit from the DDE LS Editor but not to the same extent.

The third style of LS coding is what I call spaghetti coding.  Here the focus is placing code directly in the various events for forms, views, fields, actions etc.  Code re usability usually consists of copy/paste from one event to another.  This is perhaps the most common style of LS coding and the style that will benefit the least from the new editor.  If you code this way almost none of your code is in LS Libraries and the only time you are likley to make use of the new DDE LS Editor is when you code LS Agents.

Class Editor
For OOP this is a HUGE productivity saver...  Some of the LS Libraries in the .Domino Framework have 5,000+ lines of LS code.  Prior to 8.5.1 this meant navigating through 5,000+ lines in a single Declarations module.  With the new class editor the outline for my library is broken into classes and then into properties and methods (Subs, functions).  All the code for each class is shown as a single text stream.  They properties/methods are all shown in alphabetical order, regardless of the order they were written.  This can be a plus to some and a minus to others.  Personally I like it although I would prefer properties are shown first before methods.  Color, icons etc are used to convey information such as private versus public, property versus method.  Clicking on an entry causes the editor to jump to the declaration for that code element and it is highlighted.

Warning: It was previously possible to declare constatnt in the Options section.  If you (like me) did this to get at least some of your code out of the declarations section, the DDE LS Editor willmove the constants from Options into Declarations but leave any comment statements behind.  It is best to use a non DDE editor to move the constants with the comments manually into Declarations so the comments dont get jumbeled.

Error Reporting
All LS coders get the benefit of the improve LS error handling.  Now you no longer need to do a save before finding out if you have errors in your code.  Nor do you have to manually find each and every line reporting an error.  As you complete statements the DDE LS Editor places a red line next to each line with an error.  You also have the option to save you LS code even if it has errors.   complete list of error is shown in an Errors panel that can even be detached and moved to another monitor for your viewing pleasure (especially if your list is as long as mine gets sometimes!)

Class Definitions
The next killer OOP feature is that the new editor recognizes custom classes.  Hover over any declaration and a definition of the datatype or class will appear as a tool tip.  If its a custom class it displays information about that class.  Press F3 and the editor will take you to the definition of that class.


Template & Comment Templates
This was a feature I had not been expecting so it was a nice surprise.  Notes Preferences now has a section under Domino Designer for LotusScript Editor.  In there you can define templates of commonly used code that can be quickly inserted into your code.  Comment Template allow you to define documentation for each type of code module that is then automatically inserted each time you create a new module (class, sub, property get etc.).  There are a whole host of parameters that can be specified to get the date, developer name, module name etc. inserted in a specific way.  I use the LotusScript.Doc standard for comments so now I have an easy way to have this style added automatically to my code saving me heaps of time on one very important, but very dull, task.

Other Goodies
There are other useful feature...

1. The ability to auto indent your code
2. The ability to manually indet entire blocks of code
3. The ability to turn a line of code into a comment (and undo) via <Ctrl></>
4. Goto Line <Ctrl><L>

Verdict
This is version 1.0.0 of the DDE LS Editor.  It is nowhere near as sophisticated as the editor I used for C# (Visual Studio) but it is a great start.  It is almost guaranteed to make every LotusScript programmer smile.  I was surprised it was developed as an Eclipse component as so far it is the only component of Classic Notes that IBM have shown any signs of migrating to Eclipse.  I am hoping this may mean that IBM have plans to use LotusScript in the future for its new wave of design elements (Xpages) or at least are keeping the door open for such a possibility.  Whatever the logic I am very thankful that this tool is finally available and simply cant wait until I can use it on a daily basis.  Thanks IBM.....

Disclaimer: IBM Lotus Notes/Domino and Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.1 is prerelease code and there are no guarantees from IBM that the functionality presented or discussed will be in the final shipping product.

It seems that finally participants of the 8.5.1 Managed Beta program are allowed to blog about their experiences with the most reason beta version of Notes 8.5.1 aka CD8 aka Managed Beta Refresh....  So I thought I would share a few thoughts about the one feature that I most wanted to review as part of the 8.5.1 beta - Xpages for the Notes client.

The good news is that pretty much any Xpage that you might have developed for the Web client in 8.5.0 (or your dreams about getting 8.5.0) will run EXACTLY the same in the Notes client.  The bad news is that it will run EXACTLY the same in the Notes client.  By that I mean even though you are running a Notes client you are essentially using the Notes client to act as a (Mozilla) Web browser.  e.g. if your Xpage has a rich text field you will now be using the Xpage browser control to edit the rich text and not the Notes client rich text editor.

So the logical question is how are you better off using the Notes client to run your XPage applications versus just doing Web development?  Well the good news on that front is there are a couple of additional things you get:-

1. The Notes client authentication means your Xpage apps will not need to authenticate using your Sametime password, they will take your identity directly from Notes.
2. Because the Xpage is being presented in Notes using a single Mozilla based browser you do not have the same cross-browser issues in getting your Xpage application to look/work on every variation of Web browser out there.
   
3. Xpages running in the Notes client can be used as components for Composite Applications.
4. The Notes client now uses replication as a way of taking Xpage databases offline - kind of like a rebirth of DOLS.

If you were to ask me how I feel about XPages now that more about the strategy is revelead with 8.5.1, my answer will depend on which day you ask me!  On some days I am so excited about all the cools stuff XPages can do, and the potential it is yet to fulfil.  On other days I lament its lack of compatability with Classic Notes development and the lack of support for LotusScript in particular.  One thing is certainly clear.  If you are developing applications for Web clients or applications that have level of Web access and some Notes access then you should be looking to move as much of your development  to Xpages as soon as you can.  For pure Notes client development I am not sure.  There are still a lot of things that can be done in Classic Notes that XPages does not yet support.  And there are so many "legacy" applications that I must support I suspect it will be a while before I am ever doing 100% Xpage development.  And the learning curve is steep.  My hope is that in the coming releases IBM find ways to narrow the gap in functionality with what only Classic Notes can do , exploit the Notes thick client in Xpages in new and amazing ways, and decide support for LotusScript will help bring the masses to Xpages.  After all I would hate to see all that effort developing a shinny new Eclipse LotusScript editor going to waste (More on that in a later blog).

As the release date for 8.5.1 gets closer more and more information about 8.5.1 is coming into the public domain.  Over the past few months I have been keeping an updated blog entry with links to the various public announcements that have been made so far about what is in 8.5.1, 8.5.2, and 9.0.  It is being updated daily as new information appears.

Unfortunately I did not wake up in time for this morning LotusKnows Jam bloggers call.  For me 5am meetings can be something of a challenge!  So despite missing the call I felt compelled to at least add something on the topic.  So how about my top 10 LotusScript Knows...

1) LotusScript knows that not everyone wants to program in Java.
2) LotusScript knows how to exploit the power of the Notes client
3) LotusScript knows it is now under attack from JavaScript
4) LotusScript knows the meaning of the word patience when waiting for its new editor
5) LotusScript knows how to take out the garbage without being told
6) LotusScript knows how to talk with Forms, Views, Folders, Outlines, Agents, Framesets, and Pages
7) LotusScript still knows how to talk with all versions of Notes from 4.0 to Notes 8.5
8) LotusScript knows how to follow the same instructions on both the client and server
9) LotusScript knows it is still the favorite programming language of Notes developers
10) LotusScript knows its full potential is still to be realized

WOW... Yellowday generated more blogs than I can recall seeing in a single day.  Great stuff.  For those of you that found your way to my trivia challenge, the following are my answers.  There may be better answers out there, but these were the answers I came up wuth....

In honour of Yellowday I thought I would try and challenge a few of you to some Notes trivia.  This is a challenge to yourself so see how you go without Googling the answers.  I will post my version of the answers tomorrow.

1. The yellowverse began its existence with the release of Lotus Notes 1.0 in what year?
2. Yellow Fab Four: Name the four developers of the first version of Lotus Notes and name their company
3. Yellowtainers: Which of the following have NEVER performed at Lotusphere (Doobie Bros, Blue Man Group, Beach Boys, Earth WInd & Fire, Pointer Sisters)
4. Yellow Secrets: Name the undocumented LotusScript property that can be used to determine if any field has been changed since the document was last modified.
5. When did Big Blue (IBM) acquire a yellow tinge by purchasing Lotus?
6. Who's yellow blood was spilled to create the LotusScript object model
7. Yellow Code: What was the name of the product that first allowed Notes developers to use LotusScript to access Notes databases before it was provided as a standard part of Notes 4.0.
8. Yellow Names: The Notes workspace often has a little icon used to select replicas.  These icons are then placed on larger icons that represent each database/application.  What are the names for these icons?
9. Yellow Acronyms: What does NSF & NTF stand for?  What extension can be used to force a Notes database to a specific Notes version?
10. The last year that the lotus community did not get the chance to paint Orlando yellow with a LotusSphere conference.
11. Where/when did IBM announce Workplace?
12. Who wrote an article in InformationWeek entitled "IBM View: Lotus Notes is a part of the IBM Workplace Family"?
13. What was the last year the great yellow document management tool Domino.Doc was mentioned at the OGS?
14. Yellow Stars: Which of the following are yet to be awarded a yellow star on the Lotus Walk of Fame as official Lotuspehere guests (Jim Lovell, Walter Cronkire, John Cleese, Larry King, Neil Armstrong)
15. Yellow Talk: Which two companies were purchased by IBM in 1998 to create Sametime
16. Yellow Names: Where did the name Domino come from?
17. Eclipse was developed as a replacement for which Java IDE?
18. Yellow Fun: Who created the concept of Lotusphere Bingo?
19. Yellow Secrets: Name the undocumented @Function that can be used to retrieve information from the currents user's location settings (e.g.  home mail server)
20. Yellow Future: Who first posted this preview of Notes 9.0?

I was searching for something on the Internet and came came across an article published by Gartner in November 2004 entitled IBM's Workplace Will Be the Future of Lotus Notes/Domino .  One quote in particular struck me
 
 "but by 2009 the vendor plans to use a future version of Workplace as v.8 (or v.9) of Lotus Notes/Domino (0.6 probability). (This is not IBM’s official position.)"
 
So here we are 5 years later between Notes 8 and Notes 9.  Yes, Workplace is gone as a product but we now have the Notes Client and Designer clients running on an Eclipse platform.  We are also seeing IBM seemingly focus there efforts for Notes application development on a completely new Xpages design element, with little or no effort on enhacing the Notes classic design elements and LotusScript.  Could it be at LotusSphere 2010 we have announcements about Notes 9 that includes a repositioning of Notes to vertical-industry business application templates?   The path followed may not have been the one originally intended, but perhaps Gartner were right in predicting IBM Workplace and Lotus Notes/Domino would be folded into a single product in this timeframe.

For a longest time now I have been kind of curious to know just how many more weird people there were like me in the yellowverse preferring to develop applications using Lotus Notes rather than some of those other languages.  In my last blog I amused myself with a definition of all things yellow.  So I then decided it was time to do a little bit of research to see if there was any way to measure the size of the yellowverse and the various water coolers dispensing the yellow kool-ade.    It seems there are not a lot of hard numbers available in the public domain so I lined up a few of the key players to conduct a straw poll to at least put a number out there for others to refine.  Many thanks to Ed Brill, Bruce Elgort, Nathan T Freeman, and Chris Whisonant who kindly offered some of their insight.  The following are collection of stats, best guesses, (and not so good guesses) about our amazing yellowverse.....

134,000,000 - Number of Lotus Notes users
405,000 - Postings in Notes 6/7 Discussion forum
300,000 - Yellowverse - Those that have had cause to take the shrink wrap off their copies of either Domino Designer or Domino Admionistrator clients (est.)
100,000 - Yelow Core - Those who use either Domino Designer or Domino Admionistrator clients as a major part of their daily job (est.)
62,000 - Number of votes cast at Idea Jam
60,000 - Number of registered users at openNTF
20,000 - Number of people who have asked questions and/or posted answers in the Notes 6/7 Discussion forum
10,000 - Members of a Chinese Notes User Group
10,000 - Estimated attendees at Lotusphere 2001 (before enrollments were forced to close)
7,000 - Estimated attendees at Lotusphere 2009
7,000 -Comments added at IdeaJam
5,600 - Registered members at bleedyellow.com
2,500 - Total number of ideas posted at Idea Jam
1,500 - Yellow Bubble - active members of Notes community (est.)
1,500 - Highest known hit count for a blog entry at bleedyellow.com
840 - Highest known hit count for a blog entry via Planet Lotus
350 - Number of blogs found at Planet Lotus
200 - Typical number of yellowbleeders online at any time (Sametime group)
1 - The number of Lotus Notes developers required to build the average Notes application
0 - The actual number of other weird people found to be just like me.  (yes we in the yellowverse are all different in our own special ways)

Please feel free to add to or correct any of the above numbers.