Beyond The Yellow Bubble

Slowly but surely this XPage stuff is starting to make sense. A far cry from where I was this time last week...

The Good: This Thing Is BIG I am in total awe in just how much stuff is in this XPage thing (including Custom Controls & Themes).  Its so HUGE that my tiny little brain still has no idea how to even conceptualize much of the stuff that is in there.  Every time I open a door its like it opens into hallway with a whole bunch of more doors (a bit like a scene from The Matrix).  Take for example Custom Controls I spoke about yesterday.  Custom Control properties has ELEVEN tabs each with their own sets of properties and values.  One of these is the Property Definition tab that is used to define the properties.  Once you have properties defined you are then provided with a property tree allowing properties and groups (no idea what they are) in a hierarchical relationship.   For each property there is then another panel with THREE MORE tabs that then allow you to define attributes for the property.  Amongst the things you can define for a property is the data type.  All the basic ones are there such as string, int, boolean, and double.  But then you can pass parameters using a whole swag of complex types (ACL, ACLEntry, Action Listener, DataSource, LinkResource....), Converters, Data Sources, Simple Actions, and Validators.  Dont ask.... I haven't a clue about half this stuff..  So if that is not enough you can also then chose from a large list of editors (think controls) that can be used to edit the property value when it is included in another custom control or XPage.  I imagine I could get lost in just this one little area for weeks.  So if you're the type of developer that likes feature rich design elements I would estimate Xpages alone has more in it than all the other Notes design elements combined.

The Bad: This Thing Is BIG Just as the sheer magnitude of an XPage definition can be seen as a huge plus, it can equally be viewed by others as a minus.  I can see a lot of Notes developers (like me) being intimidated.  At this stage I expect it will take months just to get a basic working knowledge of this beast and perhaps years to truly master (if ever). Notes Developers who come as far as Forms, View & @Formulas are unlikely to make a quick jump into XPages (if at all).  I suspect even a lot of Full-time Note developers who use LotusScript will be intimidated and bawk at taking this on.  Training, documentation, and access to mentors will all be a big help to overcome these hurdles.  It's perhaps a good thing you can still build your apps the same you always have in the past as I suspect there may be more than a few who will.

Random Thoughts:  A lot of my thinking is still stuck on this programming language thing.  I promise I will move on eventually but I think it important to think through before heading off in a particular direction.  Ready... Fire.... Aim....  I posted an idea on idea jam that so far has received almost as many comments as it has votes.  There are some great comments in there too.  The views vary considerably, which is what I expected.  It is early days but I am very curious about how Xpages will pan out.  I have said for a long time that 8.5.1 could very well be one of the most pivotal releases of Notes yet.  And this may well still prove to be the case (even more so than 9.0).

I don't understand the technology behind how XPages is implemented but, it seems IBM may have had the choice to use LotusScript as its server sided programming language for XPages.  Instead it chose to use a programing language not found in Notes development before (SSJS).  Me thinks they have a plan.   It could be that this is being done to allow IBM to better integrate its entire product line.  Yes it may be that IBM unofficially retired LS after Notes 6.  But then I think IBM tried to retire NSF for DB2 and even the entire Notes product for IBM Workplace around this time too.  But we didn't all get the memo, proving it is not always about what IBM wants but also about what market forces allow.  I can see a lot of smart people doing some really cool stuff with Xpages.  But how many will stay behind, that is the question?  The people who read this and other Notes blogs, use Idea Jam etc are probably the ones most likely to make the jump.  Perhaps two forms of  application development  will evolve both within the same NSF container.  If that is the case it will be a shame if there are not migration tools available to migrate forms, views, agents etc into XPages. There is a huge opportunity there for someone....

As for me....  I'm inclined to think I will be  making the jump and hopfeully fully emersing myself in this new XPage technology.  Assuming I am allowed -- I doubt I could stay in the old world, especially if IBM was doing little to enhance it.   If only those Lotus911 guys would slow down so I can catch up.