IdeaJam(tm) feed for Robert Ibsen Voith

Notes Client / Core/Frameworks (Incl. sidebar, rich text editor): In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:03:12 +0000

Author: Robert Ibsen Voith
Tags: automatically kill notes tasks
Idea:

Not often, but sometimes, the Notes client crash! When this happen often some Notes-related tasks like ntaskldr.exe doesn't crash with it. When you try to restart the Notes client, the existance of these tasks in memory hinder a successful restart. So, for ages there has been tools like ZapNotes around to get rid of any surviving Notes-tasks, and kill them. Why not imbed this functionallity right into the Notes client, so an unknowledgeable end-user doesn't have reboot his machine in order to bring up Notes again? So my wish, zap the need for zappers!

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:28:22 +0000

Author: Chris Whisonant
Comment: I agree with The Turtle. When Notes is launched it should be able to check to see if the currently running tasks are orphaned. If so, it should kill them. Well, it should at least just ask you if Notes is *really* running. If you choose no, then kill all the tasks.

ntmulti.exe is the one that I've found usually runs and causes the most pain since it's a service and the zapper programs usually don't kill.

@Bill - if you get the admins to rt-click notes2w.exe and choose "End Process Tree", then this should kill everything, including the proper eclipse.exe (except for soffice). You'll get the lovely grey eclipse screen that you'll have to click on and press Enter (if the OK button is way down at the bottom - lovely ui!). hth

Domino Designer / : Keep the C++ API alive

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:06:33 +0000

Author: Robert Ibsen Voith
Tags: C++ API
Idea:

During Lotusphere 2008 I heard that IBM "discourages new users from using the C++ API" according to George L, probably meaning that the C++ API will die not so far from now. If you feel that the C++ API has been a valuable API alongside the C API, please promote!

re: Keep the C++ API alive

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:22:24 +0000

Author: Axel Janssen
Comment: I think open sourcing would be a good idea. I don't see this as a Java replacing C++ thing. Both serve very different purposes.

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:11:14 +0000

Author: The Turtle
Comment: Ideally, this would be incorporated in the notes.exe or nlnotes.exe as one of the first tasks. It would figure out the difference between "these processes are there because Notes is already running" and "these processes are left over from a crash."

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:16:50 +0000

Author: Bruce Stapley
Comment: This is one of the many things that the Eclipse client took away -- the loss of which was, IMO, a grievous error on the client development team's part. I agree beyond whole-heartedly that this self-management of child processes should return, but I fear that if it could be coded into the eclipse-based client, it would have been from the start.

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:03:46 +0000

Author: Brian Green
Comment: No need for something like ZapNotes these days. Add a shortcut to:
C:\lotus\notes\nsd.exe -kill

Notes Client / Other: Ability to quick-select all documents in a category

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:35:05 +0000

Author: Robert Ibsen Voith
Tags: Select category
Idea:

I wish I could quick-select all documents within a category. By this I mean like holding the CTRL-button while clicking on a category row, I would automatically select all documents within that category. Another click, and I deselect it. This could of course be configurable or programmable, If the category contains sub-categories, the selection include those. This would make it much easier to select documents for further manipulation.

re: Ability to quick-select all documents in a category

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:46:03 +0000

Author: chris boote
Comment: CTRL-* is the obvious combination

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:43:12 +0000

Author: Bruce Elgort
Comment: Brian I think you are missing the point here. It should all be invisible to the end-user.

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:12:33 +0000

Author: Nathan T. Freeman
Comment: A client crash in 8.0.1 shuts down all processes in an orderly fashion. You simply have to wait for the crash manager to complete.

So, this request has already be fulfilled in the current release of the product.

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:59:15 +0000

Author: Bill Malchisky
Comment: Worse, is now with the ND8 client, you have non-Notes processes that need to be managed. I train my admins on always grabbing, "eclipse.exe", "soffice.exe", and all the n*.exe processes. If any of these are open, Notes will cease to start.

Also interesting is that you will have multiple eclipse.exe files when you are launching a separate ST8 Connect client...so be careful as to which eclipse.exe you choose to kill.

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:43:18 +0000

Author: John Head
Comment: 801 seems to do this, as long as you let it finish like Nathan says. You can't cancel the NSD / eclipse bug thingy. Let is happen and it will close the processes.

Of course, the need for it means there is a bug. So can we have an idea entitled "no bugs in Notes please" ... LOL

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:37:49 +0000

Author: Bruce Elgort
Comment: If somebody can truly verify this feature in 8.0.1 then we can close this idea. Any takers?

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:38:41 +0000

Author: Bruce Elgort
Comment: What I meant to say is Nathan is there any documentation on this?

re: In case of client crash - zap the need to use zappers!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:54:21 +0000

Author: Rob Goudvis
Comment: I am using 8.5 designer and I must disappoint you all, there are situations that Notes crashes and that there are still notes-task hanging around. What makes it worse, is that restarting Eclipse just hangs and in the beginning you have no clue what the reason is. So you abort Eclipse and do it over again. This results in even more notes-tasks.

I understand that 8.5 is still in Beta, but I doubt if they will be able to fix this.

Domino Server / Other: Allow Notes addins (API programs) to be certified

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:04:52 +0000

Author: Robert Ibsen Voith
Tags: Notes addin api certification
Idea:

Today any Notes addins (API programs) may trigger a separate password dialog box, if the user hasn't selected the "Don't prompt for a password from other Notes-based programs (reduces security)" - which is kind of ON or OFF regarding securty for addons.

What if we could "certify" applications somehow within the Domino Directory? For example could we create a certificate based upon the MD5 signature of the EXE- or DLL file, and certify that. Different rules could apply, where you remotely could control what kind of access such an certified application should have on the users workstation, including whether it is required to enter a password or not.

re: Allow Notes addins (API programs) to be certified

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:49:40 +0000

Author: Richard Schwartz
Comment: In general, code-signing is only secure when the signature verification is done by the component that actually loads the code file into memory. The JVM or the LotusScript interpreter in the Notes/Domino environment, both of which IBM controls and trusts, do this. But EXEs and DLLs are loaded by the OS.

Malware routinely hides or falsifies the identify of the .EXE or .DLL file that is running, so I see no reliable way for the Notes core code to validate an MD5 on the code file. I believe that trusting the OS to validate code signatures and vouch for them to authenticate with Notes/Domino would be an open invitation to major security holes.

Domino Designer / : Special field remember old data. Configurable!

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:53:35 +0000

Author: Robert Ibsen Voith
Tags: Field remember data
Idea:

Imagine that the field properties contains "Remember old data" checkboxes with several options;

With date, ident and data
With date and data
With data

Since this is a field property, Notes will create a special field behind the scenes, for example on the format;

$History<original field name>

The content in this field is controlled from the options above, but will for example contain data on the format;

...like;

20080129T07:00|Bob Voith|This was the original data in the field

20080129T08:30|Roger Johannessen|This was the second edit in the field

This feature must of course be configurable, and by default OFF. Perhaps there should be some limitation parameters in the config too.

Lotusphere / Other: Make "focus days" on for ex. Composite Applications

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 04:43:13 +0000

Author: Robert Ibsen Voith
Tags: Focus
Idea:

We have tracks, we have BoFs, all to focus on the main direction. What if we could create a "super focus" on special important techology, and donate a complete day for that? For example, I would like to learn *a lot* more of Composite Applications, and would love to see a "Composite Applications Acedemy" like this;

08:00 - 10:00 - Introduction to Composite Applications (typical speakers, could be project managers, but preferably technical folks)
10:30 - 12:15 - Intermediate Composite Applications - How to design and plan for CA! (tech. speaker)
13:30 - 15:00 - Build your own CA! (tech speaker)
15:30 - 17:30 - Advanced Composite Applications - Wire it up! (super tech. speaker)

If such an academy was held in one spot, such as Y&B, we could really focus on such a technology!