It's about time you update the NotesDatabase.Search documentation, IBM!

A colleague of mine was working on NotesDocumentCollections resulting from a NotesDatabase.Search. He discovered that whatever you put into the last parameter (maxDocs), all documents were returned.

Here's the documentation on the Search method:

Syntax:

Set notesDocumentCollection = notesDatabase.Search( formula$, notesDateTime, maxDocs% )

Parameters:

formula$

String. A Notes @function formula that defines the selection criteria.

notesDateTime

A cutoff date. The method searches only documents created or modified since the cutoff date. Specify Nothing to indicate no cutoff date.

maxDocs%

Integer. The maximum number of documents you want returned. Specify 0 to receive all matching documents.

The documentation on maxDocs is wrong, and IBM has been aware of the issue since Notes 4.5.

Do Quality control much?

Thoughts on XPages hijacking the id-attribute

I don't think I'm alone in thinking that the XPages hijacking of the id-attribute on fields/etc is a bad design choice. Matt White is amongst the people that have struggled with/found a way to work around the problem.

I don't think there has been much public debate around the problem. Hopefully enough people will read this post, to get a debate started, and maybe get IBM to change it's implementation in the nearby future.

With Dojo as the base framework, there is no reason for IBM to use the ID-attribute to reference elements. There is a speedy CSS selector engine available to them that enables them to use any attribute they want to, to get a pointer to an element. There is also a CSS selector API in the works, which when implemented (soon, in FF 3.1, others will follow) will allow even faster lookups.

In the still not finished HTML 5 specification by W3C/WHATWG, a data-attribute is proposed to use for storing custom values in. Since XPages is something that will last for a good while, and IBM want to play with the cool kids and follow web standards. Why not use data-attributes to add pointers for the XPages engine, and leave the id-attribute to us developers?

Rant about the apparent lack of "serious" Notes/Domino programmers

Started of as a comment on "The reason the Domino Development Platform Isn't Taken Seriously", where Craig asks if it's time for the DominoDevs to grow up. My rant is also influenced by the comments posted on Nathan's "Sanity Check" that OO is the way to go/most N/D developers are lazy.

Start rant:
This is just a wild guess, but don't think that the majority of N/D developers are willing/able to make the effort to write "serious" code.

Then again, how many applications need the complexity that is Java/OO/Inheritance/MVC/etc?

The recent discussions on the future of N/D remind me a lot about discussions about JavaScript, which also has had the toy stigma for most of it's life.

It's not until the Ajax-term is coined by a well respected person in the community, Jesse James Garrett, that suddenly JavaScript is THE language to learn. Then Douglas Crockford steps in and show the "serious programmers" all the amazing stuff you can do in JS, and all of a sudden, all platforms must have JavaScript.

Now the "serious programmers" want to tighten JS (with EcmaScript 4), and make it more serious (or more precisely, make it fit their world..?).

JavaScript is a forgiving language, just as LS. There is a lot of awful code being written in JS, making sites/applications brittle/insecure. If you force strong typing/classical inheritance/etc. on all JavaScript-developers (as some feel that EcmaScript 4 will), how many are you going to have left? Will the tightening of the language be worth the loss? Is the proposed tightening of the N/D-platform going to be worth the loss of less advanced programmers?

I believe that what we as a community (and Notes/Domino as a platform) need, are people who love and understand what is great about the platform, and also are able to sell the concept to developers -and- IBM. Until I see the next designer, I'm firmly convinced that the decision makers of Lotus/IBM doesn't understand what is great about the platform. From looking the latest releases (6/7/8), they see it as a collaboration/mailing platform. N/D isn't great because IBM has made a great mail/calendar application with it, but maybe the mail application is so great because of the (mysterious/genious) concept that is Notes/Domino..?

Regarding lazy/untrained developers:
Great code != Great application from the users perspective, just as Horrible code != Horrible application. Great code will probably lead to a more stable/secure/maintainable/expensive application.

If you want N/D developers to write serious code, and you believe you know how to teach them, why not go together with other great minds and write a book to enlighten them? There must be publishers willing to still publish N/D books..?

With all the Agile development books coming out recently, where is "Agile application development with Notes/Domino" (horrible title, I know).

Other titles I'd like to see:
"Web 2.0 with Domino" (although I hate the term web 2.0, it sells)
"Rich Internet Applications with Domino"
"Enterprise applications with Domino 8"
"Object Orientated programming in LS for dummies"
"Taking advantage of DB2 with Domino 8"
etc. etc.

/rant

Rant about Notes 8, Lotus/IBM

Nathan writes "Where is the love".

More and more, I think, "Where is the hate?" :)

I was on the point of starting a rant in the comment section on the post, but after half an hour of writing/rewriting my frustrations with (my perceived) impression of IBM/Lotus directions, I decided to keep the rant on my blog.

Every week 5+ blogposts enter my RSS-reader about how great Notes 8 is. Almost nothing about the bugs/bad integration between the new client and Domino Designer (maybe I am the only one having problems), or how, once again, the majority (the non-java) of developers were screwed over in a release.

What mostly irritates me is that the scripting tools in Domino Designer has less functionality your average notepad-clone. You (Lotus/IBM) want me to learn Java? Then give the Designer team the resources to make tools that doesn't stink of the 1990s.

It doesn't make me happy when I think about how much resources they probably put into making 100+ different-looking icons look more or less like one (orange-ish) icon.

From my point of view, it looks like the marketing-department in Lotus/IBM has a LOT more power/resources than the developers of Notes/Domino.

Most of what's great in Notes/Domino has been there since pre version 7. Of all of the things the developer-community has asked for (in partner-/public forums), what has been implemented?

Domino Designer in Eclipse? Great!! When did you say it's going to be released?

If you want to rant about how wrong I am, please do.. I don't deny that I could be. :)