I've just been running Lotus Notes on a iPod Touch, or rather, using Lotus Notes on an iPod Touch.
There's a free Citrix Receiver client app on the AppStore - search for Citrix. I installed Citrix Receiver 2.2.1 - and note that there appears to be two versions, on for the iPhone/iTouch, and one for the iPad which may be the same thing, may be different. The config for connections to Citrix servers is simple: five things to enter. Connect up, sign on, and start the Notes client.
It worked well, with the performance that you'd expect with Notes running on Citrix - I was using Notes 8.5.1. The Citrix App has gestures for zooming, panning and scrolling, so wandering around the screen is pretty easy, zooming and panning as relevant. Entering data is more of a challenge; what takes a little more effort and care is to hit the screen accurately. I found I could take several attempts to get the cursor into a field, or to click a control such as a button, field helper, OK button on a dialog, and not then accidentally fill fields up with carriage returns. I found myself zooming in and out a lot, to be sure that I was hitting what I wanted to hit, but then be able to see enough of the Notes screen to be able to do what I wanted. So actually entering data was a bit of a chore - not something you'd want to do a lot of. It does portrait to landscape switches well, and that also helped.
Given that the Notes app I played with was one that's a data entry app, with pulldowns, validations and so on, which meant that I was moving around the screen a lot to deal with dialog/picklist windows, I'd say that the usability was reasonable - say 3 out of 5. With a Notes application that's more sensitive to the screen size, and one that is more oriented to reading than data entry, I'd say that it's perfectly usable.
Mick Moignard May 25th, 2010 09:43:12 AM
In an application I'm working on now, from a given document - a Claim, I need to look up a value on a connected document, a Partner. In this application there is a function to do just that, fetch a Partner document based on a value in Claim; The code snippet looks like this:
'is the partner tax exempt?
Dim ClientInsurer As NotesDocument
Set ClientInsurer = GetPartnerDoc(claim.ID_ClientInsurer(0))
If ClientInsurer Is Nothing then
And when this is run, ClientInsurer is invariably Nothing.
GetPartnerDoc looks like this:
Function GetPartnerDoc(IPCode As String) As NotesDocument
Dim pDB As NotesDatabase, insurers As NotesView
Set pDB=GetPartnersDB
Set Insurers=pDB.GetView("LookUpIPCode")
Set GetPartnerDoc=Insurers.GetDocumentByKey(IPCode,True)
End Function
When I look at this with the debugger, I can see that the last line of getPartnerDoc populates getPartnerDoc with a NotesDocument data type, and it is indeed the partner document that I want - getPartnerDoc seems to work OK. Yet that value, that I can see ready to go when it's executed the last line of GetPartnerDoc doesn't get back in to ClientInsurer in the invoking code. How strange is that?
I've bypassed it by replacing the call to GetPartnerDoc with a direct lookup to the same view, and that works just fine.
Btw: this is with Designer 8.5.1 FP1, Notes 851FP1 client and a Donino 851FP1 server. However when the code runs on a 7.0.something server, it also generates the same erroneous result.
Mick Moignard March 11th, 2010 09:42:02 AM
All the indicators discussed so far point to May 6. Here's another one: local school around here that are used as polling stations are now being booked out for that date.
Mick Moignard February 26th, 2010 01:22:12 AM
Each year when I get back from the 'Sphere I've downloaded the slide decks from LSOnline and then uploaded them to Ben Langhinrich's venerable sessions database. Then you have the slides in context of the session abstract, speakers, etc, which makes them actually useful.
It occurred to me that you might like to do this too, or even that Ben might care to add the functionality himself. Here's how to do it:
1. Download the slides (and other materials).
For this year, if you've not done it already, you're a bit late to do it now. However, if you have downloaded some or all of them, or found them at the speakers blogs, you can still do this. Make sure that all filenames start with the session number (such as AD122.pdf, or AD112Files.zip).
Put all the files in the same directory on your harddrive/thumbdrive/whereever.
2. Open the database in Designer, and go to the Forms.
You'll find two copies of the form aliased JournalEntry, one Notes client, one web. Edit these, and find the field called Resources. Go to the HideWhen for this field, and remove the checks on Hide Paragraph from NotesR4.6 or later and also from Web Browsers.
3. Create a new Actions Menu/Run Once agent.
I called mine Load Session Slides, you can call yours anything you like. The code is in an attachment on my downloads page.
Change the marked literal for the location of your downloaded material.
Save the agent
4. Run it.
Once it's run, you'll see that the database views (try the SessionID view) will show an arrow next to the speaker name. That indicates that there are attached resouces for that session.
If they aren't there, check the document properties. Is there anything in field Resources? Is the field HasResourceLink got the value "Yes"?
Run the agent with the debugger. See anything I've missed?
As ever, it works for me. YMMV, and of course it's always possible that in next year's session database, Ben has changed something that prevents the agent from working.
Mick Moignard February 25th, 2010 09:04:23 AM
So far today, the package hasn't arrived: we watched the postman drive away without delivering anything a bit after 9:00, so clearly the complaints department aren't linked to the Aylesbury delivery office very well.
Called them again, and they really didn't seem to have any idea what was going on. Said that they'd get on to the delivery office in Aylesbury. So far, no package.
Update: the called me mid-morning yesterday to say that it would be delivered between 3 and 3:30. It arrived at 3:15. Contrary to the card, I didn't have to sign for it. Come on guys, you really need to be able to do better than this.
Mick Moignard February 23rd, 2010 05:41:19 AM
Just like last time, the UK Post Office excels at customer service. Another package from the US, with customs duty to pay, so they leave a card in the door Saturday. No item number on it, by the way, but directions to a web site (www.royalmail.com/fee2pay) to pay the charge.
This website is pretty casual; it allows you to pay for the item without quoting a reference number for it - which I didn't have. You fill in all the details based on your postcode, and what the card says you have to pay - nothing, apart from the card, to correlate item to payment. The card also tells you that you can use this website to request re-delivery as you pay the charge. Well, you can't, directly. You have to go back to the homepage and start all over again, identifying yourself, postcode, and so on with information from the card, again.
Anyway, I specifically requested that the package be delivered on Tuesday, because someone would be at home. Not Monday, Tuesday. Yes, they tried today, Monday. Another card through the door - this time, with a package number, sorry you were out, that sort of thing. However, the package number didn't work - their website requires 13 characters, but the number on the card was only 12. And even then, the website required me to complete checkboxes from those marked on the card, but would not actually accept those that were checked on the card! How much of a FAIL is that?
This time when I rang the number on the card (0845 6112980), one of the choices was complaints. I went for that, and it was answered on the first ring. So I explained the issue, and he said he'd sort it,and arrange delivery tomorrow. I can't check that, of course, because I don't have a tracking number that works. I also reminded him of the last time this went wrong - and to my surprise, he seemed to be aware of it!
It might be funny, but for the fact that it isn't. Someone needs to bang some heads together, fast, before the whole thing implodes completely - as it certainly appears to be doing.
Mick Moignard February 22nd, 2010 10:41:03 AM
Contrary to the Watford Finescale show organisers web site, Camp 93 will not be appearing.
We were approached by them verbally to show the layout, but even after several phone calls (where the word No didn't seem to be understood), we didn't get a formal invite, nor did we ever get any paperwork to complete the loop. On top of that, it's the same day as our own club's show in Princes Risborough, which is where we will be, but not with Camp 93.
I hope that this error doesn't affect anyone's enjoyment of the Watford show, but we want you to be sure that the resons for the layout not being there are not ours. For those of you who'd like to see Camp 93 again, we're next out at Sparsholt on 10 April (even though the posting there doesn't include us!) and Crawley on 17/18 April.
Mick Moignard February 15th, 2010 02:54:03 AM
I'm not a big fan of stand-alone WP programs, as you can see from this Dominopower Article from 2005, but even I'll admit that there are times when you do need such an animal. So I've kept up with what Lotus are doing with Symphony, and downloaded the beta of Symphony 3 a few days ago.
Just now I had cause to use it - a simple task, copy the rich text of a document from Lotus Notes, where I'd authored it, to make a separate tidy document to email to a customer. The usual set of tasks here is Copy from Notes/Paste into Word/Swear at how badly it comes out/Reformat completely in Word/add header/add footer/Save/Email. Actually, more often than not these days I've used the Symphony 1.3 documents as included in Notes 8.5.1, but that's noit an enormous improvement.
This time I used Symphony 3; takes a little longer to start, but after that, I was pleasantly surprised. Copy/Paste/Header/Footer/Done. No drama, no swearing Now, I wasn't stressing it in any shape or form here, this is by no means an extended test, but it was a nice experience. I'm looking forward to Symphony 3 going gold, and being able to update the embedded versions in Notes and not have to have two copies installed.
Mick Moignard February 11th, 2010 03:55:23 AM
Chris Miller raised the issue of session evals over on his blog. This is something that I also feel quite strongly about, even though I've never presented at Lotusphere (I have done presentations for my hobby, and I too look for feedback about how I did, how the subject and material went, and so on).
I also remember from my old IBM Mainframe days going to G.U.I.D.E conferences around Europe. Here they had a session evaluation system that seemed to work well. What they did, if my mind serves me right, was:
- give out small slips of paper to every person who entered the room.
- Requested answers to about three questions: Session number/speaker effectiveness/content rating and comments.
- Collected them at the end of the session
- And, here's the clincher: they were collated pretty much there and then. Results were available at the end of the conference, because in the closing session they gave away a decent prize to each of the best IBM and non-IBM speakers.
Maybe that could be extended to Lotusphere:
- Give out slips at each session. In that way, nobody could complain that the wireless sucked/run out of eval sheets in the conference pad/can't be bothered to log on/whatever.
- Reduce them to the barest essentials: session title, speaker effectiveness (rate 1-5), content value (1-5), your conference number (in a moment) and space for comments.
- Calculate a best IBM, and non-IBM speaker, by averaging the ratings per session (in that way, a sparsely attended session can still get a good overall rating), and do it during the conference.
- In the closing session, give away a decent prize: say iPad, or a Thinkpad, to each of the best speakers. In that way, you generate a little more enthusiasm on the part of each speaker to give of her best, because of the element of competition.
- And, to encourage the attendees to fill the evals in, give away a prize to an attendee too - say the iPad/Thinkpad, or even a free ticket to next year's 'Sphere. That's why you add your conference number to the session eval slips.
Update: see another post from Chris, and check the comments, too. Maybe there's some movement here? Comments (0)
Mick Moignard February 8th, 2010 03:05:10 PM
Has anyone seen a comparison of email/calendar/ToDo/Contacts functionality between Blackberry and Lotus Traveler?
I'm trying to do a simple comparison for a customer, expecting to be able to find some comparison data, but I can't seem to find any. Anyone come across anything on this one?
Thanks in advance!
Mick Moignard February 8th, 2010 06:01:33 AM