We got a question regarding an XML spreadsheet from a customer using Mac today. The macros didn't work in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, which they were upgrading to.
Asked my friend Google, and this is what he found for me: Visual Basic macros do not work in Office 2008 for Mac.
I don't know if Lotus Symphony supports Mac/VBA Macros, but if it did, it would be somewhat amusing.. :D
Friday, February 13, 2009
Trigger onChange immediately for checkboxes, radiobuttons and comboboxes in the Client
This was a new discovery for me. I mostly work on web applications, but the last week, I've been working in the Client exclusively.
When changing a setting on a combobox, I caught sight of the above setting, "Run Exiting/OnChange events after value change". This little gem changes the behavior of comboboxes, checkboxes and radiobuttons, so that the OnChange/Exiting events fires immediately after the user has changed the value, instead of having to wait until the field loses focus.
The setting is a per field setting, so you can mix and match according to your needs.
When changing a setting on a combobox, I caught sight of the above setting, "Run Exiting/OnChange events after value change". This little gem changes the behavior of comboboxes, checkboxes and radiobuttons, so that the OnChange/Exiting events fires immediately after the user has changed the value, instead of having to wait until the field loses focus.
The setting is a per field setting, so you can mix and match according to your needs.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Tip: Edit files as UTF-8 in DDE
Most of my CSS/HTML files are UTF-8, due to working with them in Aptana, which is set to UTF-8 by default. When working with the same files in the new editor in Domino Designer 8.5, the default format is Cp1252, which messes up my mystical Norwegian characters, æ, ø and å.
To change this, open Preferences for the designer. Goto General -> Workspace. Set Text file encoding to UTF-8 (or UTF-16 if need be).
To change this, open Preferences for the designer. Goto General -> Workspace. Set Text file encoding to UTF-8 (or UTF-16 if need be).
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Serious bug in N/D 8.5 standard configuration - NotesUIWorkspace.CurrentDocument returns Nothing
Update: I got a question by mail if this bug is in the Gold release. It is. I'm running Revision 20081211.1925 (Release 8.5).
When debugging code that fetches the active NotesUIDocument from NotesUIWorkspace, NotesUIWorkspace.CurrentDocument randomly (?) returns Nothing. Sometimes the client also crashes when running code that does the above.
A couple of colleagues that work exclusively on the Client have gone back to Notes 8.0.2 because of the problem. Code that's affected by the above problem in the standard client seems to work when running the basic client.
I use this method to run the Basic Client.
A thread about the problem in the Notes 8.5 forum
If you have the same problem, please join in the discussion.
When debugging code that fetches the active NotesUIDocument from NotesUIWorkspace, NotesUIWorkspace.CurrentDocument randomly (?) returns Nothing. Sometimes the client also crashes when running code that does the above.
A couple of colleagues that work exclusively on the Client have gone back to Notes 8.0.2 because of the problem. Code that's affected by the above problem in the standard client seems to work when running the basic client.
I use this method to run the Basic Client.
A thread about the problem in the Notes 8.5 forum
If you have the same problem, please join in the discussion.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
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?
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?
If it wasn't for Douglas Adams, I might not be here - Wrapping up LS09
So I learned a couple of new things during these last days. Apart from the class browser in the new LS designer, you will also get type-ahead from your own code, which I think is kind of neat. This is something you get in most of the IDEs based on Eclipse, but since I've worked in the clunky "old" designer for over three years, I'm surprised/excited by news like this.
I also heard a rumour from a former IBM employee that NSFDB2 is more or less dead. Having played around with it a little, I may understand the (not confirmed) decision. NSFDB2 doesn't seem to bring much functionality to the table. There is still the 64GB limit on Notes databases, the structure isn't easy to work with and with XPages, as Nathan proved, you are now able to do speedy semi-relational lookups with the new View Control.
On to Douglas Adams.
I was at a great dinner on tuesday, hosted by Symfoni Software. Met a lot of nice people. Amongst them, there was a guy from the Linde Group. He was from Gilford in the UK. As Gilford is the place Arthur Dent believed Ford Prefect to come from, this reminded me of Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, which reminded me of my blog, which is more or less the reason I got to go to Lotusphere 2009, and also the reason I got invited to the Symfoni dinner (thanks, Trond Are). If it wasn't for Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker's "trilogy", my blog would at least have a different name, or even worse, I might not have had a blog at all, resulting in not being at Lotusphere 2009..
On to wrapping up..
LS has been a nice experience. I learned what XPages is all about, got insight into what is planned for future versions of Domino Designer/XPages will bring,got to experience the warm weather in Florida, got a cold for walking around Epcot in too few layers of clothing, got to meet a lot of great people, got to taste the american cuisine (not to fond of the bagel), and a lot more.
This last day, I think I'll mostly stay at my room to keep the cold at bay. I'm leaving the sunny state tomorrow (just when it's starting to warm up), and I don't want to be a sneezing feverish monster. :)
I also heard a rumour from a former IBM employee that NSFDB2 is more or less dead. Having played around with it a little, I may understand the (not confirmed) decision. NSFDB2 doesn't seem to bring much functionality to the table. There is still the 64GB limit on Notes databases, the structure isn't easy to work with and with XPages, as Nathan proved, you are now able to do speedy semi-relational lookups with the new View Control.
On to Douglas Adams.
I was at a great dinner on tuesday, hosted by Symfoni Software. Met a lot of nice people. Amongst them, there was a guy from the Linde Group. He was from Gilford in the UK. As Gilford is the place Arthur Dent believed Ford Prefect to come from, this reminded me of Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, which reminded me of my blog, which is more or less the reason I got to go to Lotusphere 2009, and also the reason I got invited to the Symfoni dinner (thanks, Trond Are). If it wasn't for Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker's "trilogy", my blog would at least have a different name, or even worse, I might not have had a blog at all, resulting in not being at Lotusphere 2009..
On to wrapping up..
LS has been a nice experience. I learned what XPages is all about, got insight into what is planned for future versions of Domino Designer/XPages will bring,
This last day, I think I'll mostly stay at my room to keep the cold at bay. I'm leaving the sunny state tomorrow (just when it's starting to warm up), and I don't want to be a sneezing feverish monster. :)