Improving Domino Designer

BP205: Improving Your  
IBM® Domino® Designer  
Experience
Julian Robichaux, panagenda
Kathy Brown, PSC Group

© 2014 IBM Corporation

Who We Are
▪ Julian Robichaux

• panagenda
• nsftools.com
• @jrobichaux

▪ Kathy Brown

• PSC Group LLC
• runningnotes.net
• @runningkathy

The Goals of this Session
▪ Understand how Eclipse™ and IBM® Domino® Designer work together
– especially by using helpful things that “come for free” with Eclipse
▪ Avoid breaking things
– and learn how to fix them when they break
▪ Work more efficiently
▪ Some information will be old hat, some (hopefully)  
will be brand new

Domino Designer in Eclipse
▪ “DDE” to you and me
▪ Is it in, on, with, or next to Eclipse?
– perhaps we should say “wrapped inside of”
▪ But I thought Eclipse was just an IDE!  
How can it do all this “wrapping” stuff?

An Informal History of Eclipse
▪ Began life as an IBM project to replace the VisualAge® IDE
– VisualAge had compilers for C, C++, Smalltalk, Java, Cobol, and several
other languages
▪ Eclipse developed as a platform (written in Java) that could:
– run on multiple operating systems
– allow development for many different languages & content types
– provide (but not require) a GUI
– use plugins for extensibility

“The Eclipse platform itself is a sort
of universal tool platform - it is an
IDE for anything and nothing in
particular.”
http://www.eclipse.org/platform/overview.php

A Very Abbreviated Timeline
▪ 1999: Development of Eclipse begins at IBM
▪ 2001: Eclipse 1.0 released, eclipse.org created
▪ 2002: Eclipse 2.0 released
▪ 2004: Eclipse Foundation formed, Eclipse 3.0 released under the new Eclipse
Public License
▪ 2004-2013: New Eclipse “simultaneous release” every year; 3.x through 2011; 4.x
starting in 2012

Why Are You Telling Me This?
▪ Things to understand:
– Eclipse has a long, rich history completely outside of Domino
– Many (most?) of the “new” DDE things are actually “old” Eclipse things
– Name overlaps (view, navigator, workspace, etc.)
– Two completely separate JVMs
– When you mix two very different (and established) technologies  
like this, things are bound to be confusing or... difficult

Installing (and Reinstalling)
measure twice, cut once

10

Considerations: Fresh Install
▪ A well defragged hard drive
▪ Disable virus scan on entire Notes directory if possible,  
NSF and JAR files in Notes directory at minimum
▪ Disable the Windows Search/Index service
▪ Don’t use an encrypted portion of your disc
▪ Disable Aero on Windows 7

Considerations: VMWare
▪ Fixed size page file, 1.5 to 2 times your RAM
– Defrag first, then restart and fix the page size
▪ Turn off things that poll
– CD auto-play, Bluetooth, shared or mapped drives
▪ Defrag+compact regularly (or use a fixed size VM)
▪ Keep your VMWare Tools (drivers) updated

Install Tips
▪ If you’re using VMWare, take a snapshot
▪ Install EVERYTHING (check all the boxes, even if you don’t think you’ll use
Sametime, Connections, etc.)
▪ Don’t get clever with your install paths
▪ Reboot when you’re done, then delete the temp folder
▪ If you’re using VMWare, take another snapshot

Upgrade Tips
▪ Install over the old copy, or nuke it and start over?
– Always better to nuke (uninstall first, then reboot and delete -- don’t just
delete) and start fresh *
– If you can’t, at least consider deleting or renaming the framework and the
dataworkspace.config folders first (gets rid of old JAR files)
▪ Resist the urge to do the trick where you rename the old directory so you can have
multiple versions of the client on your workstation

*Spin your chair 3 times clockwise while throwing salt over your LEFT shoulder

Upgrade Tips
▪ “Install Interrupted” and other errors
• Often caused by incomplete or  
improper uninstall of previous  
client version (registry entries  
pointing to files that no longer  
exist, etc.) 
 
 
 
 
 

▪ Use the IBM “NICE” tool

• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21459714

Reinstalling
▪ Best bet is to uninstall, use the NICE tool, then reinstall 
 
 
▪ Also reinstall/repair options if  
you re-run the installer 
 
▪ Command line option:

• setup.exe /v"REINSTALLMODE=vamus REINSTALL=ALL"

JVM Memory Settings
• make sure Xms is smaller than
Xmx, for garbage collection
purposes
• you might have issues with Xmx
larger than 1024
• NOTE: these settings can get
reset after a FixPack install 
• http://nsftools.com/blog/
blog-08-2013.htm  

• DDE 9.0.1 GETS MORE
MEMORY BY DEFAULT!

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21617708

Understanding Eclipse
Configuration

19

Perspectives and Views
▪ What are they?
▪ Perspectives are layouts of Views
– Think of a painter’s palette
▪ Views are panels or tabs with the tools you need
– Think of the colors on the palette

Perspectives and Views

Perspective
View

Perspectives
▪ Default perspectives:
– Debug, Domino Designer, Forms/Views, Java, Java Browsing, Javascript, and
XPages

More Perspectives
▪ Each perspective has Views, menu items, and toolbars needed for that focus

• For example: the navigator in the Domino Designer perspective has Frameset and
Pages, the one in the XPages perspective does not

Customizing Perspectives
▪ Menu option “Customize Perspective...”
– Add or remove Eclipse views
– Add or remove Menu and Toolbar items

Customizing Perspectives
▪ “Manual” customization
– Move view panes all to the left or right for more screen real estate
– Drag up Outline
– Add Package Explorer
• (Window - Show Eclipse Views)

Saving Perspectives
▪ Save Perspective As...
– Always a good idea to do this BEFORE customizing
▪ You CAN make changes in a copy, however  
if you make them in the default perspective,  
then your changes will be there whenever  
you open DDE
– i.e. changing IDs opens the default  
perspective
▪ Unfortunately, you cannot make DDE  
open to your custom perspective

My Favorite View: Progress

Window Show Eclipse Views Other... General Progress

Tips on Views & Perspectives
▪ Make the tab full screen
– Double-click the tab title, and double-click again to reset it
– Or click the small “maximize” icon on the tab bar
– Or use Ctrl-M 
 
 
 
▪ Use Window - Reset Perspective when you’ve totally borked it

Working Sets
▪ It’s an Eclipse thing for organizing your projects (Notes DB == Eclipse project)
▪ All applications for a client, or all applications  
for a project, or only templates, or only  
production applications, etc.
▪ Switching working sets does NOT release  
the open applications from memory (!)

Working with ... Working Sets
▪ Select one or more working sets, or no working sets (shows all applications ever
opened in the history of time)
▪ Edit Current Working Set
▪ Manage Working Sets

More Working Sets
▪ New in Notes 9, select Applications Not in a Working Set
▪ Working Set preferences
– “Ask me” is good if you often (ever) open the wrong app

Preferences and Settings
▪ Notes client and DDE shared storage of settings
▪ Eclipse is a cornucopia of plugins

• Every plugin has its own folder in [notesdata]workspace.metadata
• There is also a central Eclipse preference store (a tiny bit like Windows registry, but
much better behaved)

▪ OSGi handles plugin lifecycle and caching

The Workspace Folders
▪ Main subfolders under the [notesdata]workspace folder are:
– .config -- OSGi cache, JVM cache, Eclipse startup config
– .metadata -- plugin folders, preference files
– applications -- third-party plugins you’ve installed
– logs -- Eclipse logs, Java core dumps and heap dumps
– UDM -- spellcheck files
– also a folder for each server you access from DDE 
(including “Local”), with subfolder for each database

Deleting the Workspace
▪ Removes caches, configurations, preferences, settings
• including Notes/DDE UI customizations

▪ Deletes [most] third-party plugins you’ve installed
▪ Deletes extra settings in rcpinstall.properties
▪ Everything will be rebuilt with default settings

The -clean Option
▪ -clean is a less nuclear option
▪ Rebuilds the plugin caches and some  
of the Eclipse/OSGi config files
• but you don’t lose your preferences

▪ Make a COPY of your Notes shortcut,  
change target to:
• notes.exe -RPARAMS –clean

▪ Delete the copy of your shortcut when  
you’re done so you don’t accidentally  
do this every time you open Notes

Cleaning a Broken DDE
▪ Files you could delete (or rename) manually
– Special workspace folders for each server+db you access 
– workspace.metadata.plugins
•
•
•
•

org.eclipse.core.resources (additional DDE project cache)
com.ibm.rcp.personality.framework (perspective info)
org.eclipse.ui.workbenchworkingsets.xml
com.ibm.designer.domino.ide.resourceswsInfo.xml

Back Up Your Settings
▪ Can’t I just back up my whole workspace folder?

• You could, but not always portable between installations/versions

▪ What about my workspace.metadata folder?
• Still too much

▪ What about this specific list of folders... ?
• There is an easier way if you will just  
stop asking questions

▪ Hat tip to Paul Withers

• http://www.intec.co.uk/quick-setup-restore-of-domino-designer

▪ Switch to a non-Domino perspective in DDE (like “Java”)
▪ File - Export - General - Preferences

• Saves as a .epf file (text file, you can look to see what’s there)

▪ To import: File - Import - General - Preferences


Bonus: also backs up your SAVED custom Perspectives

General Settings

aka: boxes you can check

40

File - Preferences
▪ There are so many settings in DDE, you might not have seen them all – here are a
few useful ones
• Please don’t be insulted if you’ve seen some of these before
• Not everyone is as smart as you
• Newer versions of DDE sometimes have new settings

▪ Almost all of the DDE specific preferences (from File - Preferences) map to Eclipse
preferences

Spellcheck (you shud prolly turn this off)

Colors and Fonts

Basic - Text Font is the default editor font,
you can override for Java and JavaScript here,
LotusScript has its own settings under Domino Designer.

Hotkeys
▪ Help - Key Assist 
 
or...
▪ Control - Shift - L 
 
or...
▪ File - Preferences - General - Keys

Hotkeys Shortlist
▪ Ctrl + / -- toggle single-line comments
▪ Ctrl + Shift + / -- toggle block comments
▪ Ctrl + i -- auto-format
▪ Ctrl + F6 -- switch between editor tabs
▪ Ctrl + M -- maximize or restore a tab
▪ Ctrl + Space -- all sorts of code-completion things

Other People’s Preferences
▪ http://www.slideshare.net/SocialBizManager/ibm-domino
▪ http://notesin9.com/index.php/2012/02/12/notesin9-043-domino-designer-tipsand-tweaks
▪ http://xpagetips.blogspot.com/search/label/Designer%20Tip
▪ http://nathantfreeman.wordpress.com/taming-ibm-domino-designer
▪ http://www.slant.co/topics/67/~what-are-the-best-programming-fonts

Working With Code

and doing things more easily

50

Search Tips
▪ Old skool: File - Application - Design Synopsis...
– It still exists!

Search Tips
▪ Single code element: Control + F

• make sure you use “wrap search”
• regular expressions!

Search Tips
▪ Full design search: Search - File... (or Ctrl + H)

Search Tips
▪ Full design search: Search - File... (or Ctrl + H)
– Search:
•
•
•
•

entire workspace (open databases)
all databases in a working set
all design elements in a database (project)
selected design elements

– File patterns allow you to specify certain design elements (use the “Choose”
button for a list), or use * for all design elements
– Non-code elements (forms, views, etc.) have their DXL searched
– Regular expressions
– Results listed in a Search view (tab) you can leave open

LotusScript Tips
▪ Code and Comment Templates

LotusScript Tips
▪ Determining the correct error line number

• Navigate - Go to erl line...
• Needed in DDE 8.5.x, seems to be less necessary in 9.0

XPages Tips
▪ Changing the local web server port (8.5.3+)

• not just XPages, any DDE local web preview
• great if you’re running a local web server (on purpose or unknowingly (Skype!))

XPages Tips
▪ Troubleshooting local web server port conflicts

• TCPView from sysinternals.com (now Microsoft Sysinternals)

XPages Tips
▪ Where do all the print statements go for local debugging?

• log.nsf -or- dataIBM_TECHNICAL_SUPPORTconsole.log

▪ Extra logging info

• config file at: datadominoworkspace.configrcpinstall.properties
- see the commented log levels at the bottom of the file 
• logs at: datadominoworkspacelogstrace-log-0.xml
- might have to shut down local web preview for logs to flush
- notice the “domino” in that path...

XPages Tips
▪ The dreaded “Error 500” on local XPages preview
– Turn on runtime error notification (Application Properties, XPages tab)
– Test a very basic XPage (is it all XPages, or just that one?)
– Add error handling (JavaScript and Java)
– Check the logs (see previous slide)
– Check for duplicate (previous version) JAR files in notesosgi:
- Troubleshooting tips in Julian’s April 2012 Clippings Newsletter
- http://www.socialbizug.org/communities/community/clippings

XPages Tips
▪ Problems Tab, “configure contents...”
– Show only errors “On any element in same project”

XPages Tips
▪ To Build Automatically or Not To Build Automatically

Working Local?
Yes
Sure, Build Automatically

No
No, Just No

Java Tips
▪ Get stack trace line numbers from Java agents and script libraries
• No performance penalty

Java Tips
▪ Save the whole agent when you save a class in the agent

Java Tips
▪ Code templates

• Java - Editor - Templates
• Ctrl + Space (FTW!)
• Default shortcuts to start with:
- for, while, try, new, final, toarray
• Make your own for fun and profit!

https://www.socialbizug.org/blogs/2ec5d0ed-d04e-4b18-9610-9819fcebca79/entry/using_code_templates_in_dde?lang=en_us

Java Tips
▪ TODO and FIXME

• Eclipse view: Other - General - Tasks

Java Tips
▪ Adding Domino API Javadocs for hover help

• Domino Javadoc Generator: http://domino-javadoc.sourceforge.net

https://www.socialbizug.org/blogs/2ec5d0ed-d04e-4b18-9610-9819fcebca79/entry/adding_hover_help_to_domino_designer

Java Tips
▪ Code Snippets

• Built-in Eclipse functionality
• Right-click code and choose “Add to snippets”
• Drag and drop to paste into editors

Java Tips
▪ Scrapbook pages

• from Package Explorer:
• Right-Click - New - Other
- Java - Java RunDebug
- Scrapbook Page

▪ Use a Console view for output

• Highlight code, right-click, execute
• System.out.println() goes to console  
(Other - General - Console)

Java Tips
▪ Scrapbook Pages

• Evaluate String commands,  
regular expressions,  
XML parsing, etc.

http://www.socialbizug.org/blogs/2ec5d0ed-d04e-4b18-9610-9819fcebca79/entry/java_scrapbook_pages

Java Tips
▪ Debugging

• you CAN debug Java from DDE
- server or client, although debugging a server is a pretty bad idea

!

• see Julian and Mark Myers’ presentation from Lotusphere 2012:
• http://londondevelopercoop.com/ldc.nsf/pages/goodies

Java Tips
▪ Eclipse Tips and Tricks page

• http://help.eclipse.org/indigo/topic/org.eclipse.jdt.doc.user/tips/jdt_tips.html

Plugins

soup up your ride

74

Source Control
▪ Even if you aren’t working with a team
– Easily roll back specific changes
– Track changes (what/when/who)
– Simple system for having a backup, while working locally
▪ OpenNTF project for 8.5.2, native in 8.5.3
▪ SVN, CVS, Git, Mercurial

Source Control - Setting
▪ Sometimes DDE hangs (GASP!) 
 
– Turning off On Disk Project syncing can help 
 
 
 
 
 
▪ Tip!
– You have to remember to then manually sync

Source Control - Resources
▪ https://www.socialbizug.org/blogs/articles/entry/setting_up_source_control
▪ https://www.socialbizug.org/blogs/articles/entry/using_source_control
▪ https://www.socialbizug.org/blogs/articles/entry/
5_tips_for_source_control_in_domino
▪ http://xpagetips.blogspot.com/2013/04/source-control-good-stuff.html
▪ From Lotusphere 2012: AD102 – Source Control For The IBM Lotus Domino
Developer, by Declan Lynch

Extension Library
▪ Depending on version of Domino, no install required
– 8.5.3 UP1 or 9
▪ For latest and greatest, go to OpenNTF.org
▪ Install via an Update Site
– http://bit.ly/UpdateSite Wiki entry on installing an update site

Extension Library Install Tips
▪ Do NOT install multiple versions
– If you’ve got 8.5.3 UP1 and you go get the latest from OpenNTF.org, REMOVE
the library that came with 8.5.3 UP1
▪ Install the Extension Library on DDE AND your server
▪ Get the sample database
▪ Don’t mix and match versions (Server/DDE)

Third Party Plugins
▪ Finding third-party plugins

• Looks for plugins compatible with  
Eclipse 3.2 - 3.4 (they might work)

▪ Before you install

• Completely restart the Notes client
• Take a snapshot if you’re using VMWare

Third Party Plugins
▪ File - Application - Install

• You might have to be in a DDE (non-custom) perspective to get the Application Install menu option
• There is a DDE Preference  
to allow plugin installs 
 
 
 
 

▪ After you install

• Manually shut down and restart the Notes client again  
(don’t use the “Restart now” option)

FreeMem
▪ http://www.junginger.biz/eclipse/freemem.html

QuickREx
▪ http://www.bastian-bergerhoff.com/eclipse/features

MultiClipboard

XPath-Developer

Writing Your Own Plugins
▪ What you need:

• DDE 8.5.1+
• Eclipse 3.4.2 (Ganymede for RCP/Plugin Developers)
- http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/ganymede/sr2
- You should use EXACTLY this version (not 3.2, not 3.5, not 4.2...)
• Lotus Expeditor Toolkit 6.2.x
- http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/downloads/toolkits.html

▪ Hints, tips, and instructions

• http://bit.ly/pluginredwiki
• http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lewiki.nsf
• Tim Tripcony and Maureen Leland’s Lotusphere 2011 presentation
- “AD102: Hacking IBM Lotus Designer (Gently)”

▪ Access Connect Online to complete your session surveys using any:
– Web or mobile browser
– Connect Online kiosk onsite

Kathy Brown 

PSC Group LLC 
kathy@runningnotes.com 
Twitter: @runningkathy
!

87

Julian Robichaux 

panagenda 
jrobichaux@panagenda.com 
Twitter: @jrobichaux

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers
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!

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