I've actually had it on the Update Site for personal beta testing since last month, so if you are one of the clever people who found it before today please reinstall so you get the latest version. ;-)

The premise of this application is pretty simple: it's a calculator. Carl Tyler created the very nice Epilio Calculator Plugin for Sametime some time ago, so I'm certainly not the first one to have this idea. I had a few personal requirements for a calculator though:

• Parenthesis
• An "undo" button
• Visual display of the entire calculation I'm performing
• Hex and binary support, including logical operators and bit shifting
• Basic conversions (inches to centimeters, etc.)

There are other functions too -- including Rob "Bossman" Novak's request for a Base64 encoding/decoding dialog -- but those were the things that I really wanted in a calculator app. Also, I still have it informally listed as a beta release, mostly because I haven't developed a full suite of test calculations to use for validation yet. So please tell me if you think you find a bug.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-06-2009.htm#06-30-09 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 7:38:43 EST I finally got around to setting up a fresh new Linux virtual machine so I could install a Lotus Notes 8.5 client on Linux (and test multiplatform things like PandaBear and custom Sidebar apps). Despite some long download times, it was a relatively easy process once I got all the pieces together. Here are the basic steps:

• Download the DVD ISO for the Linux distro of your choice. In my case, I chose OpenSUSE 10.3. It's close to the "real" SUSE version on the official Notes 8.5 distro list and I just happen to like OpenSUSE. No "my Linux is better than your Linux" comments, please ;-).

• Install Linux as a virtual machine using all the defaults, with:
• Gnome as the default desktop environment (the Notes client will need some of these libraries)
• All current package updates downloaded and installed (this will take a while)
• If you're using VMWare, install VMWare Tools. Here are the instructions and requirements for SUSE. There are also some more generic instructions from VMWare.

• Make sure you have all the required Linux packages installed using your package manager of choice (like YaST).

• Download the RPM install of Lotus Notes 8.5 for SUSE and Red Hat, or the DEB install for Ubuntu. I'm not sure if this is available as a trial download right now or not; I got it from the Lotus software catalog for Business Partners.

• Install the Notes client as root using the install instructions from Domino Administrator Help. Note that for me, nothing actually happened after the RPM install was completed -- no "configure your client" screens or anything -- it just installed and then closed the installer. I thought I did it wrong and ended up doing it twice.

• As a normal, non-root user, run the Notes client from the "Start" menu (or whatever it's called for Linux... the "Computer" menu?). You should find a Lotus Notes icon in the "Office" section of your program menu icons. This will run you through the normal Notes client setup wizard.

The only weird problem I ran into was that all the fonts were really really small after I installed the VMWare tools; so tiny I couldn't actually read anything. The fix ended up being to edit my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, change the default resolutions from "1280x768" to "1024x768", and restart the X-server (or the whole workstation). Not sure why that worked but it did, and I can still stretch my VM screen to whatever size I want.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-06-2009.htm#06-18-09 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:30:45 EST Viktor has been working on an Adobe Air application for a little while now, and it's finally ready for a FREE public beta release. Looks really cool, and will be very handy for Lotus Quickr users. Go get it at pandabear.snapps.com.

Also see the announcements by Rob Novak and Viktor Krantz for more tempting details. Who said Adobe Air apps are only good for Twitter clients?
;-)

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-06-2009.htm#06-12-09 Tue, 19 May 2009 08:30:06 EST Hey look, free custom Sidebar apps!

Over the past few weeks I've been grabbing slices of my free time to finally finish some Lotus Notes Sidebar apps that have been in various states of unfinishedness on my laptop and in my brain. Here they are, in a Widget Catalog on the SNAPPS template server:

http://templates.snapps.com/widgets/SidebarApps.nsf

I'll talk a little more about them over the next few days. They're all free, a few are open source, and the more useful ones are the Remote Console (ReCon) app and the Scrap Collector (Scrapple) app pictured above.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-05-2009.htm#05-19-09 Tue, 12 May 2009 09:07:27 EST Registration is now open for Collaboration University 2009. It'll be in Chicago and London again, and new this year there's an extra $100 discount if you sign up on the first day of registration. That's today! See my boss Rob Novak's blog announcement for more details.

As a freshly minted SNAPPS employee last year, I attended both of the 2008 CollabU events. The locations were great and the speakers were fantastic. I've also referred back to the workshop lab materials a number of times as I've worked on Quickr place customizations and tweaks over the past 6 months (Tip: the workshops are very hands-on and useful).

If you're an admin or developer responsible for Sametime or Quickr, or you want to find out about Connections, there's no better place to learn.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-05-2009.htm#05-12-09 Mon, 11 May 2009 19:05:28 EST Very cool chalkboard animation music video. 6 months, 1900 frames, lots of chalk:

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-05-2009.htm#05-11-09 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:04:15 EST I've been playing around with a Notes 8 Sidebar app recently, and it looked like it was getting an error on my 8.5 client on the Mac.

If you start the Eclipse-based Notes 8.x Standard client with the '-RPARAMS -console' arguments (as described in Technote 1304955) then it launches with the OSGi console active. This allows you to -- among other things -- see any System.out and System.err messages that get generated in the background. The problem was, I couldn't figure out how to add command line arguments to an application launch icon on my Mac.

After some digging and searching, I found that I needed to launch Notes by opening a Terminal window and typing the following at the prompt:

/Applications/Notes.app/Contents/MacOS/Notes -RPARAMS -console

This launches the Notes client with the OSGi console running in the Terminal window like so:

If you're a plugin developer, you can even add functionality to your app so it accepts commands from the console. Bob Balfes and Mikkel Heisterberg have discussed this before, and there's also an introductory article on developerWorks called Explore Eclipse's OSGi console.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-04-2009.htm#04-30-09 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:09:35 EST Just a reminder that Collaboration University registrations will open soon, so if you need to talk to your boss about getting travel approval and whatnot you should do it now -- early registration is cheaper. Rob just blogged about guest speakers and he also set up an @CollabU Twitter account you can follow.

We're in the process of putting together the session list, so if you have any requests for topics you'd like to have covered please let us know either by Twitter or by old fashioned e-mail. Even though the event is about IBM collaboration products in general (Quickr, Sametime, Connections, etc.), it's really good to know what kind of focus people want. How to install? How to customize? How to integrate? What will provide the most business value? Keep in mind that this tends to be a pretty technical, hands-on kind of show.

Also on the subject of conferences, Chris Miller just opened registration for IamLUG in St. Louis and I think there are still a few slots left for UKLUG in Edinburgh.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-04-2009.htm#04-24-09 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:31:32 EST Last week I was up in Boston for the VIEW's Lotus Developer Conference. It was actually the 10th anniversary of VIEW Lotus conferences and it's still going strong. Excellent technical content and a really fun bunch of speakers, as usual.

One of the sessions I got to attend (I only gave 4 presentations this time around so I had a little freedom) was an update to one that I missed at Lotusphere: Maureen Leland's Domino Designer 8.5 And Beyond. She demoed the brand new LotusScript and Java editors in DDE 8.5.1 -- full native LotusScript class browser with type-ahead! "Real" Eclipse Java editor! Huzzah! -- and also mentioned that they're very close to XPages in the Notes client, although I can't remember if they've committed to that for 8.5.1 or not. No news on whether the Java UI classes that have been unearthed are going to be available for use (extremely doubtful).

I do have to say that from everything I've seen at conferences as well as NDA beta previews that I can't talk about, it really seems like 8.5.1 is going to be a very significant point release. Lots of features and improvements. There's no official release date yet, but it's supposed to be sometime this year.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-04-2009.htm#04-20-09 Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:44:35 EST Many of you may not know this, but in addition to putting information out on this website I also write a technical article for the LotusUserGroup.org Clippings Newsletter every other month (I write a developer article on the even months, Warren Elsmore writes an admin article on odd months -- 'cause admins are odd, heh heh).

If you're not currently subscribed, here are the articles I've written over the past year:

• Installing and Testing the Notes 8 Client (Feb 08)
• Lotus Notes Web-Based File Downloads (April 08)
• LS2J: Calling Java From LotusScript (June 08)
• Calling ActiveX Components (and OLE Classes) from LotusScript (Aug 08)
• Using Constant Values In LotusScript: Tips and Traps (Oct 08)
• Four Things You Thought You Couldn't Do With Rich Text (Dec 08)
• Writing Notes Data to Symphony Spreadsheets: A LotusScript Primer (Feb 09)

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-02-2009.htm#02-25-09 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:29:13 EST In case you haven't seen this in other places, Francie is helping put on a charity drive for a school on her home island of Anguilla. Not only can you donate money outright, there's also a raffle to win one of five 6 day/5 night trips for two at a 5-star resort hotel.

Do you want to win a vacation at the beach on a Carribean island? Come on, of course you do. Out-of-pocket these places will cost you over $500 per night. And you're helping a school by entering the raffle.

If you need more information (or you just don't trust me), Francie's got some background on the school and the contest on her blog.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-02-2009.htm#02-24-09 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:11:51 EST I'm sure someone else has already blogged this (someone else has ALWAYS already blogged everything), but I thought this little piece from Time magazine was pretty funny:

Why Facebook Is For Old Fogies

I think I have to agree with pretty much the entire article, although I guess that also makes me an old fogie ("Hi, my name is Julian and I've been on Facebook for over 14 months"). I'm not ashamed.
;-)

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-02-2009.htm#02-22-09 Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:47:20 EST I've had a lot of questions since Lotusphere from people who want to write their own custom Composite Application components or Sidebar applications. There's no magic wand that will get you going right away, but here are a few places to start.

• First and foremost, you must learn Java. Sorry, no shortcuts there. If you're starting from scratch Head First Java is a great first step.
• The PDF file CompAppsTutorialPart2M4.pdf is a step-by-step guide to creating a Composite Application component.
• Our friend Mr. Frunobulax has a three-part guide to writing a Sidebar app on his Domiclipse blog. Look in the "Tutorials" section of the left-hand sidebar on the page.
• The Composite Applications Wiki has a lot of information, but it's a bit spread out.
• For sample code and tips, Mikkel Heisterberg, Jeff Gilfelt, and Bob Balfes all have examples to look at, and the Composite App Library on OpenNTF.org is also good.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-02-2009.htm#02-20-09 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:23:46 EST I went to dinner with two of my brothers last night. The place we went to was out of the way and a bit of a dive, but decent food. When I asked my older brother about how he found it, he said that some of his friends have come here before, and that they have a Cornhole tournament every Tuesday.

"A cornhole tournament?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've told you about Cornhole before, haven't I? They have a place out behind the bar where they play. I think it's just sort of something to do while the guys are drinking beer."

I racked my brain trying to remember a previous discussion of Cornhole, and then I finally remembered. It's a game they play largely in the midwest -- Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, etc. -- 'cause I guess they have a lot of corn laying around, looking for a purpose. The guy who told my brother about the game said it's a really popular outdoor game out there at family reunions. You just set up the board out on the lawn and start tossing bags.

It might be fun to build a board and try out sometime. You can get all the rules on the American Cornhole Association website, and instructions on building your own set on cornholeplayers.net. There is also a nice selection of t-shirts at cornholeshop.com and equipment at windycitybags.com. And, of course, there's a Wikipedia page.

One word of advice though: if you're looking for information on the Internet, please make sure you have SafeSearch turned on.

UPDATE: Henry Newberry offered some additional history in the comments:

Cornhole as a competitive sport originated around 2000 in several bars on the west side of Cincinnati where I live. These bars range from extreme dives to almost nice. One of the past times is throwing real steel tip darts (not the plastic tip machine games). Cornhole grew in popularity because the league met on Tuesdays while the Darts league met on Thursdays. That gave players and bar owners two nights of increased beverage consumption and business.

So, I continue to play on a drinking team with a dart problem that occasionally gets into its cornhole problem.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-02-2009.htm#02-17-09 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:31:34 EST

Lotus Notes database icons are still limited to only 32x32 pixel, 16 color bitmaps. I will neither defend nor attack that position because there's nothing I can do about it, and an argument about what the icon limitation should theoretically be is beside the point. That's the current limit.

That being the case, it's usually hard to find or create your own nice-looking database icons due to this limitation. Gregory Engels was asking about where to get good "vintage" icon collections just the other day. I struggle with this every time I create a new database. It's difficult to create a new icon from scratch, and shrinking larger graphics often yields unsatisfactory results.

Here are a few places to look:

• Tango Icon Library is a great place to start, although you often have to play with the colors a bit when you import to 16 color
• The Notes Icon Database from the Notes.net Sandbox. Old, but a decent starting place for ideas.
• IconLibrary, a [non-Notes] database of old but "safe" icons
• Image Copier, another [non-Notes] database of old but "safe" icons

Something else you can do is search for .ICL files on the Internet. These are Icon Collection Libraries, so each file holds a large number of icons. You can view and extract the icons using a tool like IrfanView.

As a bonus tip, if you're looking for mini-icons for custom view graphics or outline entries the famfamfam Silk icons are fantastic.

]]> http://www.nsftools.com/blog/blog-02-2009.htm#02-12-09