Over the past two weeks, I modified an ActiveX control to include calls to two web services. I used the MSXML.HTTP object to invoke the web services, then used the MSXML.DOMParser object to retrieve the data from the XML document returned. While none of this was particularly extraordinary in terms of the code I developed, it was for me personally on two levels:

1. I had never used Microsoft's XML objects before. I had heard that the Microsoft XML objects could be invoked within LotusScript code back in the R5 days, but opted to use Java for all of my XML processing needs. Back then, I still had dreams of becoming an expert Java/J2EE developer, but I never progressed beyond using Java within Notes/Domino and in stand-alone Java client applications. (Sametime Bots, anyone?) Notes 6 (finally) made it possible (and easy) to process XML documents within LotusScript, so there was even less of a need to use Java for XML processing. Now that I know how to create Microsoft XML objects within LotusScript, I wonder why I never heard about this approach to XML processing within the Notes community before.
2. I hadn't done anything involving XML or web services for two years while at my previous employer. That was quite a change from when I was working as a consulting at NuTechs. Back then, I had several projects that involved XML processing, and had also developed some Sametime Bots that invoked web services (using the Apache Axis API for Java). I had forgotten how much fun it is to integrate applications using XML and web services!

Boy, my first month at my new job has really flown by. I'm being challenged to develop complex solutions using all of my skillsets, which is definitely a good thing. I hadn't done any VB programming since 2000, and now I feel like I've done more in a month than in my entire career.

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