SDMS Version 4.5.10 for Lotus Notes released (03 August 2010)

The very popular free Lotus Notes application SDMS (a Simple Document Management System) was released today (3rd August 2010).

SDMS has been upgraded to incorporate NotesTracker Version 5.2 which itself was released only yesterday.

There’s also a fix for the Category and Sub-Category fields (the drop-down list was being blanked in edit mode).

It was one of those simple bugs that was “staring me in the face” and for some unknown reason I only just twigged to it a few days ago. … Duh!

Go get your free copy of SDMS Version 4.5.10 either here (Dallas server) or here (Sydney server), and ENJOY.

Technorati Tags: SDMS,Simple Document Management System,IBM Lotus Notes,IBM Lotus Domino,Freeware,NotesTracker

NotesTracker Version 5.2 released (02 August 2010)

NotesTracker gets even better with the release of Version 5.2 and you can find out where to download the evaluation edition and the NotesTracker Guide Version 5.2 from the companion blog:

NotesTracker news and tips

One of the new features is the ability to track attachment changes (filenames and sizes), for example:

This example shows that one attachment was removed (circled in red) from the Notes document, and one was attached (circled in green).

So read all about it at NotesTracker news and tips

Technorati Tags: NotesTracker,IBM Lotus Notes,IBM Lotus Domino,Usage Tracking,Usage Metrics,KM. Knowledge Management,Compliance,Auditing,Privacy

I’m an old Old Spice man! ... And Oh Yes: NotesTracker version 5.2 is imminent

One of the few things I have in common with Old Spice man is that I happen to use Old Spice deodorant. But I don’t have a horse or a yacht.

As an old codger I can attest that my Old Spice stick does keep that “old man’s smell” at bay! It keeps me fresh -- and even perhaps pleasant to be near -- as I struggle and sweat to keep abreast with what’s happening in the IT world, while trying to maintain a mastery over a tiny little portion of it, in this my 41st year in the game.

This includes further refining and tweaking NotesTracker (see links at right) including combing through the NotesTracker Guide and making changes here and there with a view to improving NotesTracker’s ease of use even further.

Also, I’ve finished functional and regression testing of the next release, and am happy to tell you that NotesTracker Version 5.2 is now ready for final packaging and imminent release (in just a matter of days, I expect).

The major new function in NotesTracker v5.2 is the option to log the names (and sizes) of document attachments as they are changed. The attachments themselves are not logged, since this would add vastly to the log repository disk space usage.

I’ve also tested and highly recommend the excellent Notes Reconn freeware (from OpenNTF.org) -- and have expanded the final section of the NotesTracker Guide, describing how simple it is to use Notes Reconn to produce very nice-looking and informative charts.

These give you even more ways to comprehend and visualize the usage of your Notes applications. Here’s an example:

The single-character legends on the right correspond with the NotesTracker action types, which are: C = Create a document, D = Delete a document, F = Failed document deletion attempt, G = Generic NotesTracker action (these can be any activities that you designate, such as pressing the Send button), P = Paste a document, R = Read a document, U = Update a document, X = Create a document via a Web browser, W = Web Read, Y = Web Update. (There are other loggable application actions that don’t appear in this example: V = a View is opened, O = Opening of a database, E = a document deletion attempt was indeterminate, and M = Mail-in of a document.)

Watch this space for the NotesTracker v5.2 software release announcement.

Meanwhile, you can download the NotesTracker Version 5.2 Guide from here or here.

Technorati Tags: NotesTracker,Asia/Pacific Computer Services,IBM Lotus Notes,IBM Lotus Domino,OpenNTF,OpenNTF.org,Notes Reconn,Applications Usage,Database Usage,Metrics,Old Spice,Old Spice Man

Lotus Knows? … Not all the time!

I’ve been using IBM Lotus Domino Designer a lot recently, after quite a few months of irregular use.

I often wonder what IBM’s usability specialists are doing with their time when they allow certain things to go feral and linger on to cause us continuing pain.

Perhaps a lot of the IBM/Lotus people who, over the decades, have developed Notes don’t actually use it much in the manner that we practitioners out in the field do. They do it in spades for Notes Mail and the like, but seem to have forgotten to do so for the Domino Designer product.

I’m got a toothache today, and am not happy about having to visit the dentist again! I had hoped that last month’s visit was the last time I’d have to see the insides of a dental surgery for a good while. So maybe that’s the reason behind my rant today, I’m usually much more affable!

Anyhow, I’ve been using the application “Refresh Design” function quite a lot of late, perhaps dozens of times per day, and I’m getting totally annoyed by the following dialog and extremely tired of having to click on the Yes button time after time:

What is patently missing is the “Don’t show this again” or “I know what I’m doing” option that I’ve suggested, highlighted in yellow. This option is a common feature of similar dialogs in all sorts of software, even in other parts of Lotus Notes, so I’m not asking for too much am I?

And of course I’m asking the Notes design team to make this available in Domino Designer as soon as possible, and to systematically review other dialogs that we weary end users are presented with many times per day, and ensure that the same option is present in them.

IBM continues to invest in Lotus Notes, they assure us, so why not divert a very modest amount of time and people resource to do this streamlining? I’m pretty sure it will generate a big payback and a ton of appreciation from us!

Please add your own similar requests below, for IBM’s consideration …

Technorati Tags: IBM Lotus Notes,Domino Designer 8.5,Usability,Efficiency,Payback

TIP – Another way to recover from Lotus Notes 8.5.1 replicator failure (“Unable to invoke program”)

I was just cruising along, using Lotus Notes 8.5.1 for development, and wanted to replicate a database with a client’s server.

Rather than business-as-usual replication, out spurted the error “Unable to invoke program” …

A bit of searching around the IBM support knowledgebase, various Lotus-related forums and community web sites led me nowhere.

Thee were some pretty drastic solutions, including uninstalling and re-installing Notes client, which I didn’t want to have to do. Others like this that talked about disabling the Multi-user Cleanup service (in Windows) but this didn’t apply in my case because I’m running a single-user Notes installation.

The folks at Badkey Corner had the following post: Unable to invoke program and Lotus Notes which included the advice: “Re-running client setup to generate a new names.nsf, desktop6.ndk, and bookmark.nsf resolved the issue.”

Rather than doing this (it’s a pain to delete the desktop8.ndk file because then you have to spend ages setting up your Notes Workspace again, which has lots and lots of database icons for all the applications that I work on).

It was my birthday yesterday -- and let me tell you that I’m two or three times older than many of you – but there must be a few parts of my burnt-out grey matter still working, because I got the inspiration to delete the Cache.NDK file and to my pleasure this solved the problem, as I had guessed that it might. Replication was back to normal again.

The beauty of this solution is that (a) it’s quick, and (b) you don’t lose as much as you would if you followed other suggestions. I hope that this tip works as well for you some day and saves you some sweat and tears!

Technorati Tags: IBM Lotus Notes,Replication,Replicator,Unable,Invoke,Cache,Cache.NDK

How to get Notes/FX working in IBM Lotus Notes 8.x - UPDATED

Here’s an easy way to update your Windows registry so that Notes/FX (field exchange) will work under Lotus Notes 8.

I’ve written previously about how a client of mine who’s long-time user of Lotus Notes was held back from upgrading to Lotus Notes 8.5 (from 6.5) when he discovered that Notes/FX no longer worked. This meant that automatic generation of  Lotus WordPro documents,  used pervasively throughout his Notes apps, could no longer be generated from Notes data.

Refer to my older postings for background on this issue. IBM Support didn’t ever come up with a solution to this bug. Apparently no IBMer could be located who knows about Notes/FX, or was willing to admit it!

Luckily I eventually stumbled upon the solution back in February this year. What I didn’t do then was pass on to you a tip that enables you easily to roll out the fix to across all of your Lotus Notes desktops.

So here’s that simple fix, better late than never!

• STEP 1 - Using a text editor such as Notepad, enter the following (without the green line numbers). Please note that line 2 was updated to remove the spurious string “_catch22” at the end, which I used during testing and forgot to delete in this example: 
  
  01 REGEDIT4
  
  02 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Notes.link\Shell\open\command]
  
  03 @="C:\\Lotus\\Notes\\notes.exe -defini %1"
  
  
• STEP 2 – Save this text file with a name such as NotesLink_command_adjust.reg or NotesFX_fix.reg (the important part being the .reg file extension)
  
  
• STEP 3 – Mail this tiny text file out as an attachment to all your Lotus Notes users, telling them to double-click on it and allow it to execute.

In my case, Notes 8.5.1 is installed on the G: drive in the Notes851 folder, so that line 2 becomes:

@="G:\\Notes851\\notes.exe -defini %1"

After this, Notes/FX should start working again under Notes 8, that’s all there is to it.

DISCLAIMER:
The above tip is provided on an “as is” basis. I don’t claim to know all that much about registry files. If you don’t either, it’s probably wise for you to take a look here or here or here or here (or elsewhere) to find out a bit more about using them and the implications of altering the Windows registry.

Technorati Tags: IBM Lotus Notes,Notes/FX,Lotus WordPro,OLE,Windows,Registry Editor

Feeling blue and brotherly in Chicago, 30 years later

For some months now I’ve been receiving the Chicago Tribune daily newsletter, out of interest to compare how the goings-on in that windy city compare with what’s happening on the opposite side of the globe here down under in Melbourne, Australia.

The similarities and differences are quite intriguing. Similar problems with public transport, traffic congestion, rates and taxes, parking fees, speed cameras, waste management, and all that sort of thing. (If any one thing stands out, sadly it would be that we don’t have anything like as many shootings here.)

But an article today caught my intention and I’d like to point it out to you for your appreciation. Go read:

Remembering 'Blues Brothers' 30 years later - 30 years ago [on 16 June 1980] 'The Blues Brothers' hit the big screen, crashing their way through Chicago. In the process, they cleared a path between Hollywood and the city.

The story has some fascinating insights, for movie buffs and Chicago citizens alike.

Technorati Tags: Blues Brothers,Chicago,Melbourne,Movies

Notes turns 50, platonically-speaking

Read this.

Enough said! … I do remember reading about Plato during its earlier days in the 1970s (my first decade with IBM), but wasn’t too sure what it all signified -- certainly very novel way back then.

Technorati Tags: Plato,Notes,Lotus Notes,Collaboration,Education

Health study ignores wild, wild women!

Crikey, four common bad habits combined — smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet — can age you by 12 years, sobering new research suggests.

So reports this story in the Chicago Tribune -- which I’ve been following for some months, just to see what similarities and differences there are in the daily news from Chicago and my home town of Melbourne, Australia (another “windy city”).

But the British researchers obviously decided not to study the effects of “wild, wild women” … Perhaps they don’t have any such ladies in Britain upon which to base their research (?)

Pointless research, this was! It’s been well known for decades, centuries even. I learned about it as a young lad, way back in the middle of the twentieth century. “How come?” you might ask. Well, it was through the educational impact of a popular song.

And which song was that? None other than “Cigareets and Whuskey and Wild, Wild Women” (a.k.a. “Cigarettes and Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women” if you insist on use of the less colourful pronunciation).

What? You aren’t familiar with this memorable tune? Then let me remedy that.

Firstly, take a look at the lyrics here or here or here.

As for the tune itself, there are various renditions. Over at YouTube.com you can listen to the Big Three Trio’s classic version (Delta Records) with its measured tempo, and this somewhat similar rendition by the Cross Town Cowboys. And then there’s the Red Ingle and The Natural Seven’s 78 rpm interpretation. … And many more versions on YouTube are listed here.

My favorite version was performed by The Muppets with Peter Sellers, and here it is:

But let British supercentenarian Henry William Allingham (6 June 1896 – 18 July 2009) have the final word, doubtless with a twinkle in his eye:

Allingham credited "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women – and a good sense of humour" for his longevity.

So phooey to the new study, it hasn’t taught us much at all … has it?

Technorati Tags: Humour,Humor,Health,Cigarettes,Whiskey,Wild Wild Women,Tongue in cheek

LCTY came to Australia – IBM Lotus Collective Intelligence 2010 presentations now online

Why IBM ANZ decided to call it “Collective Intelligence 2010” I don’t know, it made me shudder a bit thinking of derogatory terms like “design by committee” and flocks of sheep, but that’s just how my twisted mind works!

I was already pretty familiar with the globally well-recognized name “Lotusphere Comes To You (LCTY)” and for a short while wasn’t quite sure if I was attending the correct event, if you get my drift.

Anyway, the Lotus product and directions sessions and the various case studies were quite interesting, and now they’re available for all to enjoy and learn from.

You can download the session presentations and watch recorded webcasts at https://www-07.ibm.com/events/au/collectiveintelligence/resource.html (or just click the above image).

Technorati Tags: IBM Lotus,Collective Intelligence 2010 (ANZ),LCTY,Lotusphere,webcasts,presentations,downloads