I'm currently wrapping up a series of articles on the LC LSX for the Lotus Advisor.  The last article discusses a few odds-and-ends, inconsistancies with the LC LSX help documentation, and differences between the connectors.  At one point I make a passing reference to the old DB2 Connector 2.0, which I believe was discontinued when ND 6 was released.  For those of you who may never have used it, you loaded it with a different Use statement:

Use "*lsxdb2"

I included some statements about this old version of the DB2 LSX, but want to verify my statements before I send the article to my editor.  I looked everywhere, but I could not find the two help databases associated with this version of the DB2 connector.  These databases were mentioned in the R5.0.9 Readme database:

DB2 LSX Classes (LSXDB2.DLL) -- DB2 LSX Classes (LSXDB2.DLL) are included with the Notes client, Domino server and Domino Designer on Windows 95, 98, and NT platforms. DB2DAHLP.NSF is a documentation database that describes the DB2 specific features of the DB2 LSX. DB2SAMP.NSF contains a series of agents that demonstrates the use of the DB2 specific features in the DB2 LSX. The DB2 LSX is closely related to the LotusScript Data Object (LS:DO). You can also refer to LS:DO documentation for more general guidelines on the use of DB2 LSX. Note: DB2 LSX  AutoCommit defaults to False. Some of the DB2 ODBC script might not work if the user forgets to set AutoCommit to True.

Does anyone out there still have a copy of the DB2DAHLP.NSF and DB2SAMP.NSF databases?  If you do, please post a comment and I'll send you my e-mail address.  I can also mention your name in my article if you like.

(2)

As most of you have probably noticed, I haven't blogged much over the past five months.  In fact, I've been averaging about one blog per month--which is quite a decline in blogging activity for me.  So, what have I been doing with myself the past four months?

Back on June 25th, I mentioned how I would be starting a series of articles on the LC LSX for the Lotus Advisor.  As of last week, I had completed the first four articles in the series, three of which have been published:

• Extend Your IBM Lotus Notes/Domino Applications with the Lotus Connector LotusScript Extensions
• Use LC LSX to Select Records from a Relational Database
• Use the IBM Lotus Notes LC LSX to Insert and Delete Records from a Relational Database

The fourth article I've written, "Use the LC LSX to Update Records in a Relational Database", has completed the final tech edit and should appear in the January 2007 issue.

Now that I've covered the fundamentals of the LC LSX objects, the next articles in the series will show how to synchronize data between a Notes database and a relational database, and vice versa.  I actually have the code developed for the next two articles, but have not had the time this week to write the text that describes the code.  Since I'll be on vacation all of next week, I may miss the submission deadline for the February 2007 issue.  This means that article #5 in the series probably won't appear until the March 2007 issue.  So, if you have read the above articles and are interested in reading the about how to use the LC LSX to perform enterprise integration, rest assured that more articles are definitely on the way!

(2)

I originally contacted Teamstudio about my idea for a review of Delta back on December 10, 2004. Since my work schedule has been essentially controlled chaos for several years now, I'm very grateful to Karen Frasca for helping me to secure a non-expiring version of the product. I received a full license of the product on January 7, 2005 and begain giving it a thorough run-through. Karen left Teamstudio to pursue her dream of a writing career on January 31, 2005. She has since been ably replaced by Amanda Marguerite, a Marketing Specialist. Two revisions of the product have been released in the meantime, 20a and 21. The only thing that has remained constant over the past four months is my needing to finish this review. And now I have. Thanks to Dana Hooker for responding to my more picyune questions. All I need to do now is to send my review over to David Gewirtz of DominoPower for his approval. Hopefully, I didn't expound too much. Not that I would ever be accused of doing that...

(0)

This was posted on the e-pro magazine website a few days ago:

To Our e-Pro Readers: Effective April 7, 2005, Penton Media has ceased publication of the e-Pro Web site, including the Lotus Informer Blog and related e-mail newsletters. Clippings, our joint project with IBM/Lotus, is currently not affected by this decision. From Domino Pro to Group Computing to e-Pro Magazine, we have been a part of the Lotus/Domino community for more than six years and have shared your passion for the technology. We wish you much success! We will keep this site up and the archives open for your use through April 30, 2005.

Having written six articles for e-pro and its earlier incarnation as Group Computing, I'm sad that this day has arrived. I was concerned when the magazine went to a web-only format. I couldn't see how it would last, given how much good content there is out there that is completely free. I guess I was hoping that the printed version would resurface at some point. Now, all that's left is a website that will be shut down in a few weeks. I wonder if Penton wants to retain the copyright on the articles? I can't see why they would, as it would benefit no one. Maybe someone out there could host the content for free?

(0)

My contact at Teamstudio checked in on my yesterday to see where I was at with my review of Teamstudio Delta for DominoPower. I had to tell her that I wasn't able to look at it last week due to my son coming down with an illness last Wednesday that took him the rest of the week to recover from. An if that wasn't enough, he came down with the stomach flu yesterday (Tuesday) while he was at school. So, I had to tell my contact that I probably won't be able to look at my review this week until my son recovers from his latest illness. I feel bad because I promised to deliver this review by 2/28/2005, but just haven't been able to do so. I know, family needs take precedence, and I know most people understand this, but I hate not keeping up with my professional commitments. Thankfully, I was able to convince Teamstudio to give me a license that didn't expire in 30 days. If I had stuck with that, I would have needed to ask for two extensions by now.

(0)

DominoPower just published my review of TLCC's Servlet and JSP Programming using WebSphere Studio 5 course. You can read my review here. As with my article on adding search functionality to a Domino application published last month, this one turned out great. I dropped Howard Greenberg at TLCC a line asking him what he throught of the review, and he said it turned out great. I'm glad, as I asked Howard if I could review his course back at the end of April(!). Hopefully, Howard will give me the chance to review any upcoming Lotus Workplace courses TLCC may have coming down the pipe.

(0)

The article I wrote on adding search functionality to Domino applications is now available on the DominoPower website. For those of you who don't read this site faithfully (and I'm sure there's more than a few), this is the article I wrote over a weekend, from 8/20 - 8/23.

(2)

In this article, I discuss how to develop a Sametime Bot that queries purchase order information in a local DB2 database. Curious? Do you want to know more? Click here

A special thanks goes out to Managing Editor Elizabeth Olsen and the technical editors at Lotus Advisor for helping me see this article through to publication. They all did an excellent job!

(1)

I woke up early this morning so that I would have an hour or two to spend editing my Adding Search functionality to Domino applications article one last time. I finally sent the article off at 7:19 AM. Whew! What a stretch. I think I'll take a little time off before I get back to my review of the TLCC WebSphere course.

(0)

Spent three hours working on my Adding Search functionality to Domino applications article today. I was able to spend an hour or so on it in the morning before my family woke up, then another couple hours in the evening before dinner. Its definitely coming along. Of course, it has to.

(0)

Spent a lot of time working on my Adding Search functionality to Domino applicationsarticle today. I'm about 4/5 of the way through what I planned on writing. The only part I have left involves creating a $$SearchTemplate (or $$SearchTemplateDefault). Hopefully, tomorrow will be the home stretch!

(0)

OK. I got the introduction and the first section done. So far, so good. Again, none of this will end up being earth-shattering stuff for you experienced Domino developers out there. But as is often the case in technical writing, you don't have to be first to be relavent. At the very least, my article will be the most recent one on this topic.

(0)

David said that either of the topics I'd proposed would be fine, so I went with adding search functionality to Domino applications. I needed to do this for one Domino application earlier this year for a customer, so the techniques are still fresh in my memory. Also, I've been putting off adding searching functionality it to the DNP website databases for over a year now, and figure I could use the DNP Discussion db for the screenshots I come up with. I've never written an article in four days before, but there's nothing telling me that I can't. (Besides deciding to enjoy the weekend, that is!)

I spent about an hour coming up with a brief outline (or strawman) of what I intend to write. There will be five sections. I'll start out with the "simple method" of full-text indexing a database and adding a "Seach" shared action that executes @Command([ViewShowSearchBar]), and end with $$SeachTemplate forms. As always, once I get the introduction out of the way, it'll be easy to do the rest.

(0)

I decided that keeping my commitment to David was important, so I thought up two topics that I'm very familiar with and (hopefully) wouldn't take me long to write. Here's what I came up with:

1. Lotusscript troubleshooting techniques
2. Implement searching in Domino applications

I realize that both topics will be very familiar to seasoned Notes/Domino developers, and may have been covered in other publications already. However, neither have been written about in DominoPower, and I figure I could put my own particular slant on either so that the article won't read like a retread. I e-mailed both to David and asked him to pick whichever one he liked. I let him know that I wouldn't have it until Monday morning at the earliest, however.

(0)

David Gerwitz had e-mailed all of the authors with articles due for the September issue that he had to have the articles this Friday. As of now, I'd just made it through Module 6, Lesson 2. I'd finished Module 8 previously, and am roughly 80% of the way through the course. Since I felt there was little chance of my getting through the rest of this module and writing the actual review by Friday, I e-mailed David and let him know that I needed to push back the delivery date of my review once more. He said that he was counting on having my review for the September issue, and asked me if I could write a shorter piece to help round out the issue. I'm not sure how to respond just yet. Do I commit to writing yet another article? I did make a commitment to David to deliver something for publication for the September issue, and I don't like to be known as someone who can't keep his commitments.

(0)

When I went to the Lotus Advisor website today, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my first article on Sametime Bots was officially published today. If you're not a paying subscriber, all you can read is the abstract and see a small picture of myself. When I notified the NuTechs brass that my article had been published, Brian O'Curran, our main Groupware Account Manager, responded that he thought he was the "whitest man in the world". Little does Brian know that I've spent hours under moonlight perfecting my "lighter shade of pale" tan. (If you haven't seen the Addams Family TV show, you probably don't have a clue as to what I'm referring to here.)

(0)