Domino Interface

In our previous articles, we discussed the advantages of using JSON in applications and the importance of being able to effectively process JSON. This leads to the interesting question: what exactly is an application, and the answer to that question may differ depending on who you ask. Most people today would assume you are referring to a phone app, and even then there are wide range of options. A college student might think of apps like Tiktok or WhatsApp, and a person looking for a significant other might automatically think of Hinge or Tinder. All of these people would be able to provide you with multiple examples of apps, and they might be able to list some of the common features of an app, even if they do not understand any of the technical details. In general, a web app today consists of the following four modules, even if the technical details may differ tremendously from app to app: User interface (UI) Database Business Logic Security Now, let's consider what an app is in t...

As often said by Dr. McCoy in the original Star Trek series, he is a doctor, not a ____________ .  However, just like Dr. McCoy, you may sometimes need to work on things that seem very alien to your experience.  One of those things, might be JSON. LotusScript, which was derived from Visual Basic, was written long before JSON existed, and therefore, LotusScript had no built-in capabilities for handling JSON objects. As we mentioned in Part 4, JSON plays a critical role in iPhora.  All data are stored as JSON, and JSON serves as the primary data and communication format between modules, functions and services.  All core components operate using JSON-based configurations.  Therefore, it was extremely important that we are able to fluidity create, read and process JSON.   Creating a JSON string is relatively easy in any programming language. You can create it even using Commodore 64 Basic, and if built sequentially, one line at a time, it is possible to...

  The iPhora Journey - Part 1 - Reimagining Domino The iPhora Journey - Part 2 - Domino, the Little Engine that Could The iPhora Journey - Part 3 - Creating an Integrated UI Framework The iPhora Journey - Part 4 - JSON is King - The Why The iPhora Journey - Part 4 - JSON is King - The How As we mentioned yesterday, in reimagining Domino, we wanted Domino to be a modern web application server, one that utilized a JSON-based NoSQL database and be more secure compared to other JSON-based NoSQL platforms. A Domino document existing within a Domino database is the foundational data record used in iPhora, just as it is with traditional Domino applications. But instead of just storing data into individual fields, we wanted to store and process the JSON in a Domino document.  However, text fields (AKA summary fields) in Domino documents are limited to only 64 KBytes, and that is a serious limitation. 64 KBytes of JSON data does not even touch what the real world typically transfe...

The iPhora Journey - Part 1 - Reimagining Domino The iPhora Journey - Part 2 - Domino, the Little Engine that Could The iPhora Journey - Part 3 - Creating an Integrated UI Framework The iPhora Journey - Part 4 - JSON is King - The Why JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) was defined by Douglas Crockford in early 2000s as a data exchange format that grew out of JavaScript. JavaScript code can in fact be structured as JSON data, and even the HTML DOM can be represented as JSON data (more about that in a future blog). JSON has now become the dominant data exchange format, superseding XML. It provides data exchange between the server and JavaScript-based clients, including web browsers, and it is also used in web services and web hooks. It is not only readable by humans but it is also lightweight. Databases such as MongoDB and RavenDB use JSON as the data storage format, and there are a number of derivatives, such as BJSON, a binary version of JSON used in MongoDB. More and more companies are...

The iPhora Journey - Part 1 - Reimagining Domino The iPhora Journey - Part 2 - Domino, the Little Engine that Could The iPhora Journey - Part 3 - Creating an Integrated UI Framework There are many ways to create the user interface (UI) for a web application. The HTML page could be created on the server and then pushed out. It could be static with the data generated on the page by the server with JavaScript, providing a more dynamic experience, or the server could generate new HTML content to update portions of the web page. XPages or PHP are good examples of this. Another method is to have the web page partially generated by the server and have JavaScript build the rest of the HTML by pulling data from the server via an API. This is the approach used in the Single Page Application (SPA) model. In all cases, it is still dependent on the web server technology being using.  As mentioned previously in this blog, XPages is dependent on complete integration between form and document, whi...

  I am please to announce that CollabSphere 2022 will be held October 19-20, 2022. Registration, sponsorship and abstract submission will start the week after next. New for this year is the addition of the CollabSphere Discord channel where the conversation and learning starts before and after the conference. All attendees are invited to join us. We will have online activities on Discord so make sure you join. The conference is about you and your story and we want to hear your story. More about this in the near future. The cost for CollabSphere 2022 will be $150 USD with a discount of $150 USD for the total cost of $ 0 USD. Thanks again to the folks at Prominic.net for hosting our web site. https://collabsphere.org

As an application platform, Domino has always been unique and has had the flexibility and capabilities that other platforms can only dream about.  Bundled into one single application server, you have all the components that you need for building and running applications, both in the client-server and web/mobile environment.  On one platform you have: User and Data Security NoSQL database platform Ability to Create Integration Points Flexible Data Structure Scalable Infrastructure Enterprise level application environment All of this can fit into and run in this tiny box that is less than the size of an external hard drive.  Try this with any of the other platforms.  Maybe scale it by a factor of 100? Notes power users were doing low-code decades before it became a buzz word.  In fact Notes users were creating applications, even before most of the companies and software that we use everyday even existed. Unfortunately, Domino has fallen behind....

Each year we try to get everyone to submit three months before the conference, but it seems we were unsuccessful again. Many request because of vacation, work or the Factory Tour has delayed some of you from submitting. So we will be extending the abstract submission CollabSphere until August 18, 2019 at midnight. So submit your abstract.

The new buzz word that has become more and more important is SECURITY. But, why is that? Security should always have been up and front and center. The Domino platform has always been at the forefront in terms of security from its inception. The new HCL Nomad (Domino Mobile App) platform brings this security to your mobile device. But let's face it, Notes apps are ugly compared to modern mobile apps. In June 2019, HCL launched the HCL Design Project called "Template Experience" to transform and modernize select Notes templates. To encourage the Notes/Domino community to unleash the potential of Notes and Domino V10, CollabSphere has joined forces with OpenNTF and launched the CollabSphere Beauty Contest. This global contest encourages you the developer to show your potential in transforming an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan. So get your thinking caps on, design skills ready and transform the ToDo template into a beautiful but secure app. Go to https://tinyu...

With IBM Domino v10 coming this fall, it brings one critical new feature to Domino, the integration of Node with Domino. IBM Domino v10 brings the most popular application development environment to the most secure application platform. Some are asking why does this matter. There are literally 10 tens of thousands of applications and NPM modules that have been developed  from of all sources, some professional and well trained developers and some home grown self taught developers. How many of these modules have been vetted by security experts is an important question to ask. What IBM Domino brings to the table is 30 years of security design and approaches. This is why it is important that IBM with HCL has carefully chosen the right modules to use.  Yes, they were behind on the TLS implementations, but the basic Domino architecture has capabilities still to this day have never been surpassed by others. DominoDB (as some now call it) with Node now brings Domino to a leve...

As members of the IBM Collaboration Solutions community, we tend to focus on the IBM solutions like Domino and Connections portfolios.  Many of us have been working and supporting Domino applications and mail, workflows, IBM Connections and etc. However, collaboration is more than just mail, chat, workflow, and sharing information.  Collaboration is everything that connects us.  This includes not only people but devices and processes.  Anything that touch us directly and indirectly. Originally, I was not planning to attend IBM Think this year, but as we have been moving forward with our iPhora technology during the past year it made sense since we are going beyond human collaboration. I will be attending numerous ICS sessions especially on Domino, but I will be also attending many sessions outside of what we as a community call collaboration including IoT, security, compliance and more.  If you have not registered, and would like to get a discount ping me....

IBM Domino is nearing its 30th anniversary and yet it is still one of the most innovative software products on the market with features still not found in other solutions. Want to discuss with IBM your thoughts on how we can continue to make Domino one of the most relevant product for the next 30 years? We are please to announce that MWLUG 2017 will be hosting two Domino Application Development Roundtables on Wednesday August 9, 2017.  Each roundtable session will be 45 minutes. There is one for IBM customers and one for IBM Business Partners. Share your thoughts regarding the future directions of IBM Domino with Gary Kearney and Barry Rosen and their IBM Domino team at these interactive sessions. Registration for MWLUG 2017 is open. With all the new innovations that IBM and IBM Business Partners are creating with our favorite technologies, our theme for MWLUG 2017 is "Moving Collaboration Forward." MWLUG 2017 Registration Meet Ytria, our Gold Sponsor for MWLUG 2...

If you have developed with XPages, this might have been your first experience with the Dojo framework.  However, for many the experience have been frustrating and negative. Unfortunately, IBM's implementation of Dojo into XPages was limited and really restricted the potential of Dojo. It never implemented the newer AMD design approach nor the many of the capabilities of Dojo. Many developers who went towards the JavaScript Framework/REST approach with Domino implemented Angular, React, and even Vue for interfacing to the Domino server and bypassed frameworks like Dojo.  One of the big buzzwords for these newer frameworks is react and single/two-way data binding. As a designer and developer who uses Dojo to create UIs  that work with RESTful APIs /Domino, it is frustrating to see all this attention to Angular and React when all the cool things they are known for has been in Dojo for years and in many ways before these frameworks. Recently, I presented a session calle...

Many in the ICS community have made the statement that Notes and Domino are dead. Many in the ICS community have been questioning the future of Domino and they have ever right to do so considering the lack of and inconsistent communication from IBM and lack of improvements to the platform for the past 4 years.  Yes we have had improvements regarding SSL security fixes but that was driven by the discovery of serious vulnerabilities in SSL. Like many customers and IBM partners, we built many many Notes applications internally and for clients. Some of these applications are still running on many of our clients and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. They do not have the coolest interfaces since those capabilities weren't around even from other vendors at the time they were developed. They are clunky looking, but they are secure which is very important since the beginning of Notes and more so these days.  IBM announced yesterday that they are extending support...

Today I was able to spend an hour writing up my thoughts about IBM Connect 2016.  I have had no time in the past few months to blog and continue my current series, but made a special effort to write this article. Like many, I had low expectations this year for IBM Connect given the venue from last year.  For me the greatest asset of IBM Connect for many years has been networking with the ICS community whether they are IBMers, IBM Business Partners, or IBM Customers. Most sessions in the past became just IBM marketing sessions. This year, I was glad to see less of that and more sessions that I can learn and benefit from. Moving IBM Connect to the Hilton was a big plus not just in the layout, but also for us who always stayed outside the main hotel. It was much easier to get to.  The Dolphin and Swan was getting very old and arrangement for attendees who stayed outside was a pain.  I hope they do it again at the Hilton Orlando. I know some did not like the newspape...

For the first time ever I was selected as an IBM Champion for 2015.  I honored to be selected.  I would like to thank everyone who nominated me and selected me.  I have been given this honor but it is the ICS community that should accept the honor.  Without our wonderful ICS community events like MWLUG can not happen.  When Gregg Eldred and I started the MWLUG conferences, neither of us thought  it would last this long.  But it has been the wonderful community that includes not only IBM Business Partners like myself, but IBM Customers, and IBMers that make everything possible. It is this community that motivates me to spend a significant amount time to help organize this event.  I have been involved with many different communities, but nothing compares with what I have experienced in the ICS community.  The passion and the willingness to help each other is unprecedented compare to any other technology community. As members of the ...

Over the past few weeks there has been a significant number of discussions about Domino and the lack of SHA-2 support.  Jesse Gallagher had an entire MWLUG 2014 session on this very topic.  When I ask Jesse to present on this topic, unbeknownst to me what a hot topic this would become and so timely.  First, IBM should have fixed these problems years ago.  For us this is a critical issue that if not addressed will kill the market for Domino. Thanks to Jess efforts and contributions, there is a workaround that he presented and published recently in a series of blog articles on this very topic.  His solution is to configure nginx as a reverse proxy for Domino so that SHA-2 certificates can be used with Domino. nginx is not just a Linux solution but can also be a Windows solution since it is available for the Windows platform. Jesse's article focused on setting up nginx reverse proxy on a Ubuntu server.  My comments here are about the di...