TexasSwede
texasswede@gmail.com
  • About this blog
  • My Website
  • My Resume
  • XML Export Tool
  • Photos

I love being a Notes developer!

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Karl-Henry Martinsson Posted in Old Blog Post

Lotus Notes is a great tool, and I enjoy developing applications using the RAD capabilities in Domino Designer. But I also create some web applications on occasion.
This past week, when Hurricane Alex was moving in towards Texas, John, the CIO (and my boss), grabbed me first thing Wednesday morning and asked me to build a webpage. He wanted me to use the Google Earth plugin to consuming some KML files he created from the policy database (built using Visual FoxPro).

As I blogged about a year ago, I wrote some code to get the latitude and longitude for an address, and John had then rewrote the code for FoxPro so he could get the coordinates for the addresses he had in his system. So he could now very easily generate a couple of KML files, one of all our policies and one of the policy holders potentially in the path of the hurricane.
I built the webpage in a Domino database, that is usually the easiest way for me to put up a simple webpage. I added some overlays, the two different KML files that John created. I also found a KML file online with different projected paths, as well as one of the current path of Alex. The users could turn on and off these layers as they wanted. Suddenly it was very easy to see if we had any insured customers in the path, etc.

Of course, the same web page could as easily have been created using Notepad or any other tool, as it was pure HTML. But my next plan is to integrate this page with other Domino data, and we are talking about building a generic reporting tool with all different kind of geographic data. Imagine being able to map every accident/insurance claim, see where the accident happens, where the insured is located, etc. Perhaps run statistics showing the average distance from home the accidents take place, etc.

I think it is critical that I, as a Notes/Domino developer, show the power and business use of Notes by integrating it with different systems. When I first started working at this company, I was tasked with building a claim system, to handle insurance claims. The company had hired a pair of Notes consultants, who set up the environment and attempted to build a claim system. They failed, and they also told everyone that Notes and FoxPro could not talk to each other. Of course, when I came in and sat down with my (then) new boss after a few weeks at the new company, we quickly figured out a way to get the systems to communicate.
It took about 90 minutes to come up with the solution (using COM), write the basic specifications (yes, they changed some over the years, but not much), build the COM object and write some test code in Notes. Today, that COM object is used for all kind of things we never envisioned back then, in 2002. It even sends PDF files into our document imaging system.

Of course, it helps to have a CIO/manager who talks and thinks development. I don’t have to explain things that are obvious to me, we can go straight at the business logic or functionality. Something that would take 10-15 minutes to explain to a regular manager just takes seconds or a minute.

My next project, which I will start on Monday, is a database to document the claim system. There are so many design elements, with different functionality and access rights. Some buttons are hidden from certain users, using roles or document status, other design elements are restricted in other ways. Very little of this have been documented over the years, and I need to get all that documented in a good way. That is the power of Notes: I have a need, I build a solution.

 

« Notes developer – not a dead profession!
Am I a real Notes/Domino programmer? »

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stack Exchange

profile for Karl-Henry Martinsson on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites

Recent Posts

  • Domino 14 is now available
  • Domino 14 Early Access Program
  • Announced: Engage 2024
  • Integrate Node-RED with Notes and Domino
  • Notes and Domino v12 is here!

Recent Comments

  • Theo Heselmans on Announced: Engage 2024
  • Lotus Script Multi-thread Message Box [SOLVED] – Wanted Solution on ProgressBar class for Lotusscript
  • Viet Nguyen on Keep up with COVID-19 though Domino!
  • Viet Nguyen on Keep up with COVID-19 though Domino!
  • Mark Sullivan on Looking for a HP calculator? Look no further!

My Pages

  • How to write better code in Notes

Archives

  • December 2023 (1)
  • October 2023 (2)
  • September 2023 (1)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • April 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • August 2020 (3)
  • July 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (2)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (3)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (1)
  • October 2018 (5)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (4)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • November 2017 (2)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • July 2017 (6)
  • May 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (4)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (2)
  • June 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (4)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (2)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (3)
  • February 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (10)
  • December 2014 (1)
  • November 2014 (3)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • September 2014 (13)
  • August 2014 (6)
  • July 2014 (5)
  • May 2014 (3)
  • March 2014 (2)
  • January 2014 (10)
  • December 2013 (5)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (5)
  • September 2013 (4)
  • August 2013 (7)
  • July 2013 (3)
  • June 2013 (1)
  • May 2013 (4)
  • April 2013 (7)
  • March 2013 (8)
  • February 2013 (9)
  • January 2013 (5)
  • December 2012 (7)
  • November 2012 (13)
  • October 2012 (10)
  • September 2012 (2)
  • August 2012 (1)
  • July 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • May 2012 (11)
  • April 2012 (3)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (5)
  • January 2012 (14)
  • December 2011 (4)
  • November 2011 (7)
  • October 2011 (8)
  • August 2011 (4)
  • July 2011 (1)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • April 2011 (4)
  • March 2011 (7)
  • February 2011 (5)
  • January 2011 (17)
  • December 2010 (9)
  • November 2010 (21)
  • October 2010 (4)
  • September 2010 (2)
  • July 2010 (3)
  • June 2010 (2)
  • May 2010 (3)
  • April 2010 (8)
  • March 2010 (3)
  • January 2010 (5)
  • November 2009 (4)
  • October 2009 (7)
  • September 2009 (1)
  • August 2009 (7)
  • July 2009 (1)
  • June 2009 (4)
  • May 2009 (1)
  • April 2009 (1)
  • February 2009 (1)
  • January 2009 (3)
  • December 2008 (1)
  • November 2008 (1)
  • October 2008 (7)
  • September 2008 (7)
  • August 2008 (6)
  • July 2008 (5)
  • June 2008 (2)
  • May 2008 (5)
  • April 2008 (4)
  • March 2008 (11)
  • February 2008 (10)
  • January 2008 (8)

Categories

  • AppDev (10)
  • Blogging (11)
    • WordPress (5)
  • Design (5)
    • Graphics (1)
    • UI/UX (2)
  • Featured (5)
  • Financial (2)
  • Food (5)
    • Baking (3)
    • Cooking (3)
  • Generic (11)
  • History (5)
  • Hobbies (10)
    • LEGO (4)
    • Photography (4)
  • Humor (1)
  • IBM/Lotus (178)
    • #Domino2025 (14)
    • #DominoForever (8)
    • #IBMChampion (46)
    • Administration (7)
    • Cloud (7)
    • CollabSphere (9)
    • Community (49)
    • Connect (33)
    • ConnectED (12)
    • Connections (3)
    • HCL (15)
    • HCL Master (1)
    • IBM Think (1)
    • Lotusphere (46)
    • MWLUG (25)
    • Notes/Domino (99)
      • Domino 11 (7)
    • Sametime (8)
    • Verse (14)
    • Volt (3)
    • Watson (6)
  • Life (8)
  • Microsoft (7)
    • .NET (2)
    • C# (1)
    • Visual Studio (1)
  • Movies (3)
  • Old Blog Post (259)
  • Personal (23)
  • Programming (84)
    • App Modernization (11)
    • Formula (4)
    • Lotusscript (47)
    • NetSuite (4)
      • SuiteScript (3)
    • node.js (4)
    • XPages (4)
  • Reviews (9)
  • Sci-Fi (4)
  • Software (24)
    • Flight Simulator (2)
    • Games (4)
    • Open Source (2)
    • Utilities (6)
  • Technology (37)
    • Aviation (3)
    • Calculators (2)
    • Computers (6)
    • Gadgets (7)
    • Mobile Phones (7)
    • Science (3)
    • Tablets (2)
  • Travel (7)
    • Europe (1)
    • Texas (2)
    • United States (1)
  • Uncategorized (16)
  • Web Development (50)
    • Frameworks (23)
      • Bootstrap (14)
    • HTML/CSS (12)
    • Javascript (32)
      • jQuery (23)

Administration

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Tracking

Creeper
MediaCreeper
  • Family Pictures
© TexasSwede 2008-2014