IBM Domino Collaboration: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Get Domino, Sametime and Notes Going
It is far easier building solutions today with Microsoft products than with Lotus Domino suite, even with the different suites and technologies that Microsoft offers. The IBM suite proved to be extremely difficult to configure. Despite the Armonk, N.Y.-based software giant's immense work at simplifying the install process for the Domino and Sametime server products, the Test Center had several problems getting the two servers to work on the same box. Solution providers interested in starting a Domino practice should be aware of the degree of handholding necessary to install the package. Our results showed that Lotus Domino suite still requires considerable expertise.

When installing Domino and Sametime, testers encountered a problem switching between default ports. Apparently, Sametime detects Domino installed on a server, so it automatically switches a Web port for Domino. At least, that's according to the message that we received. There is an option for Sametime integration during the Domino Server installation. The integration provides access to the Domino Web Access client.

However, Sametime changed its Web port access to 8088 instead. The servers were installed on Windows 2003.

With the port switch, we were not able to access the Sametime server. In fact, the Sametime service had problems starting. We received the limited-use server software. At the client side, the Test Center encountered problems installing the Domino Administrator, Designer and the Notes client on Vista. Reviewers ended up shutting off Vista's UAC. Installing Notes also was a bit confusing. The messages during the Notes installation were not clear enough to identify if another Notes client was already installed. In addition, the Notes client failed to initialize and ran slower than expected.

Reinstalling the Domino server and its clients also presented a problem. When uninstalling the server, the IBM directory needed to be deleted so that previous IDs could be deleted. We found a problem connecting the Administrator to the Domino Server if this is not done. Unfortunately, reviewers were not able to connect to the Sametime server.

The new Notes client comes with a highly customizable interface, allowing users to choose from a variety of layout templates. The templates open up many possibilities for solution providers that are interested in using Notes as the main client interface.

The default templates, for instance, combine messaging features and applications into a single user interface. Since Domino development is based on an open-ended SOA architecture, developers can use a variety of tools to develop applications.

Step 2: Working with Domino Development Tools
Domino server comes with various development options and tools. Designer, for instance, allows developers to build Notes as well as Eclipse components, including composite applications to the native environment. The development process is straightforward in Designer if developers stay inside the environment. Like the old Notes application development architecture, the new Designer also has a facility to generate forms-based applications.

Designer arrives with a list of application templates to speed up development of some of its features. Some of the templates also can connect to external resources and even generate code to process Office files. Within the Designer environment, developers have a couple of languages they can use but most of the applications can only be written in LotusScript or Java.

While the Java code is far more extensive than LotusScript, scripting uses far less code and it is more structured. Most of the classes are broken into properties, methods and events.

Designer may be useful for development composite XML-based code, including some Web Services, but the environment is not the best IDE for developing Web applications. HTML was cumbersome to write and debug. The documentation suggests that development should be done in Eclipse or other third-party products. After building components, developers can connect them through XML. Designer also supports its own tags called Domino XML to simplify LotusScript development.

Next: Step 3: Administer The Domino Server