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Monthly Archives: July 2010

Gone fishing

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Karl-Henry Martinsson Posted in Old Blog Post Leave a comment
Right now I am finishing my last few things at work, and in about 30 minutes I will be heading to the DFW International Airport and begin a 2 week vacation together with my son.
We will first go to London, where I hope to see one of my childhood friends. We have been friends since first grade. ThenSaturday evening I am flying to Stockholm, Sweden to spend almost 2 weeks with my sister, as well ass meeting up with some old friends and family.
My son is excited about seeing a new country and city,but he is most excited about seeing his aunt in Sweden again. This will be his 4th trip to Sweden, and he also got to visit Germany during one of those trips (in 2007).
Sweden and much of Europe have been having some hot weather lately, but it looks like it is cooling down to a very comfortable temperature. Forecast for the next 5 days in Ft Worth, TX:
image 
The same time period in Stockholm, Sweden:image
Because of my vacation being right before IamLUG, I will not be able to go this year.
 

 

Am I a real Notes/Domino programmer?

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Karl-Henry Martinsson Posted in Old Blog Post Leave a comment
A couple of posts by Peter Presenell and Dan Lowdenmade me think. Am I a real Notes/Domino developer/programmer? At least my business card says so. I think I am. But what makes me a "real" Notes programmer?
 
First of all, I make a difference between a programmer and a developer. My definition of a programmer is someone that pretty much just produce code, but is not that involved in the actual design of the application. A developer is more involved in actually designing the application, not just writing the code.
But for this discussion, I will use the term programmer, as I will focus on the programming part
 
I do not thinkthe languages one uses is what makes you a real programmer or not. I think it is in your mind and approach to programming.
  • A real programmer "thinks code" all the time. Not just at work.
  • A real programmer is a problem solver. He/she can’t resist trying to solve a problem when presented with one, may it be computer related or not.
  • A real programmer constantly try to improve himself and his applications, going back to fix old code to work better/faster, make the user interface better and more efficient, etc.
  • A real programmer understands the need of user/customer and can come up with solutions for them.
  • A real programmer have a set of functions in his "toolbox" that can be used in different applications, saving developmenttime.
  • A real programmer can learn new languages and tools when needed. Knowledge about the syntax of a languages does not make you a good programmer, knowledge about how to write efficient and useful code makes you a good programmer.
I don’t program in Java. I don’t work with Xpages (yet). When I got my first full-time position as a Notes developer in Boston, my boss-to-be called one of my references and askedif I knew Lotusscript, and how good. My reference, a friend where I had mainly been helping himwith development for the web using HTML and @Formula language,answered back something like this: "I don’t know how well he knows Lotusscript, but if he does not he will learn it in no time".
To me, that was one of the greatests comments I been getting. I think that is a sign of being a good/real programmer, to be able to learn new tools as they are needed. I am sure that as soon as we get Notes 8.5.1 here at work, I will start working with Xpages. Butuntil then I havevery little extra time to play with that technology.
 
However, even if Iconsider myselfa good Notes/Domino developer, I don’t think I am in the same class as many of the "rockstar" developers in thecommunity. I am sure you know who I am talking about, people like Nathan T Freeman, Tim Tripcony, Matt White, Mikkel Heisterberg, Viktor Kranz, Julian Robicheux, et al.

 

I love being a Notes developer!

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

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.

 

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