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...because you are reading this post.  But you know who I mean.  The developer who found some code that did a generic dblookup for a combo box with easily configured messages--and then pasted that code everywhere, without knowing what it did.  

Hey, code re-use is a good thing.  But he didn't see the part where it was checking to see if the database is on an OS2 server! Then there's the guy who continues to modify the code in that $$WebQueryOpen field, rather than moving the code to the more appropriate event handler.

This is the same developer that doesn't know about

 PlanetLotus.Org.  Or

  OpenNTF.org.  Or

   LotusUserGroup.org.  


He might know about the forums. He might even keep the handouts from his "Introduction to Notes" development course.  Every once in a while I run into one of these caveman developers - they stay in their caves and don't take advantage of the vast resources available in the Lotus community.  So what I do is tell them I know about some fantastic tip--I just don't remember the details... But look on PlanetLotus (or OpenNTF or wherever) and you'll find it.  

What do you do when you run into one of these developers?



Category : Application Development Best Practices Code Reuse Coding Practices

Posted by John Kingsley At 4:49 PM | Location Beverly, MA | Permalink | Comments (0) |   | |   |   |  

Success...on Sunday the 31st January 2010 I officially became a Tough Guy and boy did I have to earn it!

As a rule, Tough Guy is never cancelled due to poor weather. The snow continued to fall as I ran majority of the course with no feeling from the waist down.

The hardest challenge for me personally was having to cope with the ice cold water obstacles. As you would expect for January, the lakes and trenches had frozen over. The thick sheets of ice were broken, with the remains left to float. The water was cold enough to shock my body, but once my head became submerged mental shock came into play.

With most assault courses you have one wall to climb or one tunnel to crawl, with Tough Guy, each obstacle was repeated roughly ten times over, this was most definitely tough enough!



Despite this, the atmosphere was amazing - it felt to me like a battle field with everyone wondering what they had signed up for...but the unknown is exciting and I was eager to get started. Some arrived in mankinis and kilts! They soon found out that this wasn’t such a good idea.



I would say in order to complete the course, you need to be mentally prepared as well as physically fit. It’s definitely a challenge for the mind and body! Once crossing the finish line, I promised myself never to do this again. But one week later…I’m already considering next year!

Click here to read a  Newspaper Article about the event.





Category : Personal

Posted by Michael Wenn At 1:43 PM | Location Beverly, MA | Permalink | Comments (0) |   | |   |   |  

This is an old story, from back before they invented GPS or even radar! My favorite version goes like this:

Some big shot goes to Seattle and hires a helicopter to take him to his meeting.  As happens in Seattle, it was a foggy day.  After a while, the pilot says to his passenger, "I don't know where we are.  I am going to go lower to ask for directions."  (Must have been a female pilot, because a guy would never ask for directions).  As they come out of the fog bank, the pilot sees a man in the window of an office building.  The pilot yells out to the man, "Where am I?"  The man in the office yells back, "You're in a helicopter!"  The pilot thanks him and takes off.  The big shot asks,"How did that help you know where we are?"  And the pilot says, "His answer was technically correct and totally useless, so I know that is the Microsoft Tech Support Center, and our destination is just to the left of this building."

But, back to the Notes world.  How about this one: "Object variable not set!"  Okay, you know which variable is not set, and you even know what line of code has the problem.  So why don't you just tell me?  Why do I have to fire up the debugger?  And remember - a developer came up with this error message for other developers.  Is there some limit to the length of error tweets?  

This message is not new, so what drove me to this post?  I got this message the other day: "dojoUsage is deprecated and no longer supported."    Number one, I didn't put this line of code in my custom control.  So why is someone putting deprecated code in my control?  Number two, if you know this is deprecated, you must know what the modern replacement is.  Again, some developer came up with this error message for other developers.  

So, as professional developers, can we all agree to provide meaningful error messages?   Maybe even include some options for resolution?  And none of this "see your administrator for more information."  I am the administrator, and I only know what you tell me.


Category : Best Practices

Posted by John Kingsley At 5:06 PM | Location | Permalink | Comments (0) |   | |   |   |  

Can you feel it? Spring is coming! For those of us in the northeast, green grass and warm weather still seem a long way off, but change is in the air. And we've got some exciting news!

For the past couple of years, Teamstudio has hosted three separate blogs, each one with a different focus. As much as we've loved hosting and posting on them, it's time to simplify things a bit. So, we've decided to consolidate the blogs into a single, super-duper, extra-strength site, which provides all wit and wisdom of our blogs in one convenient package.

Sure, this helps keep things simple for us, but it also simplifies things for you! Now you only have one blog to visit instead of three--and you'll still get all the information you've come to expect.

As always, you can join us as we chat about industry news, happenings and events, and we'll give you the scoop on what's new at Teamstudio. Of course, we'll continue to provide tool tips and ideas on how to bring order to your Notes environment (not that your environment is in any way disorderly, mind you). We'll keep you posted on the athletic and adventurous endeavors of the braver members of our team, and, from time to time, we'll even wax philosophical about vampires vs. werewolves (well, maybe not--but you get the idea!).

As always, we want to hear what you think, and your comments and questions are most welcome.


Category : General

Posted by John Coolidge At 12:52 PM | Location | Permalink | Comments (0) |   | |   |   |  

It’s been a long winter when it comes to training for the fast approaching Triathlon season. With a few months to go until the racing begins, I thought it would be nice to try something different…a personal challenge on a different level – Tough Guy Race.

I’m sure that for the majority Tough Guy would sound like torture but following my ex army days it appealed to me, I always like a new challenge! It claims to be the world’s most demanding one day survival ordeal.

Taking place at the end of January, the race consists of a cross country run followed by an assault course. The unique blend of mud, freezing lakes, acrophobia, claustrophobia, barbed wire, fire and electric shocks, over an 8 mile stretch must be the ultimate test for the human body!

Last years race started out with 6000 people, 2800 made it to the finish line, 100 of which were hypothermia patients. On top of that there were numerous broken bones.

Wish me luck, I just might need it…!

For more information, see the link below: http://www.toughguy.co.uk/


Category : Voices

Posted by Michael Wenn At 9:09 AM | Location Huntingdon, UK | Permalink | Comments (0) |   | |   |   |