I chatted, at great length, with one of my closest friends last night - one who (like most of my friends) I only get to see in person at Lotus-related events - and have barely slept since. That conversation crystallized for me just how excited I am that Lotusphere is almost here. Up until now, I've been so focused on code that it's distracted me from my own anticipatory squee, but now that squee is in full effect.
GBS, of course, has several reasons for which we are rightly collectively excited about the conference. Quite a few of us are speaking in various capacities - breakout sessions, a couple BOFs, SpeedGeeking, and even Lotusphere Idol. We get to demonstrate in person how some of our products have changed over the past year, as well as introduce some that are completely new... and even share some exciting plans we have for the future that are still in the proof of technology phase. Perhaps we'll even win another Lotus award. We're the biggest sponsor of the conference this year; over 50 of our employees will be in attendance and, thanks to our management's initiative and IBM's support, several hundred college students will be attending the first day, allowing them to see firsthand the state of the Lotus platform and the energy of those of us who are already passionate about it.
Which leads me to why I, personally, am so excited. Sure, I'm exceedingly proud of what my employer has accomplished over the last year and the role I played in some of those accomplishments. I'm excited to co-present a session about Domino Designer alongside that product's lead designer. I'm excited to see potentially around 10% of the OGS attendees sporting our logo, most of whom will be young, fresh minds, not yet jaded by the slings and arrows of poor management decisions, unrealistic customer expectations, and hostile market forces. And obviously I'm excited about attending many sessions that promise to be rich in both content and wisdom. That's all nifty and cool and super and fabulous. But even if I had none of that to look forward to, I would still be giddy at the prospect of boarding a plane to Orlando 142 hours from now.
In short, the single facet of Lotusphere about which I am most excited is the opportunity to see (and, in some instances, meet for the first time) many of you.
This is fully selfish on my part, and I feel no shame in admitting it: Yellowbleeders are the group of people in whose company I feel most comfortable, have the most fun, and absorb the most creative energy. This is not because the platform is already perfect in every regard, but because the type of people it has always attracted are the type of people I want to be around. I don't feel awkward when I'm with people who are passionate about collaboration. I don't have to agree on every point all year long with everyone I'll get to see in order to have a blast hanging out with them at Kimonos, because the core personality traits and values we seem to have in common are enough for me to know I can be myself around them. Most of all, no matter how stressed or even burnt out I have felt prior to arriving at Lotusphere in years past, I have always left infused by those I've encountered with so many ideas, so much inspiration, so much excitement that I'm ready to dive headlong back into whatever awaits me back home. I've had the good fortune of attending two outstanding LUG conferences this past August... but LUGs are my methodone; Lotusphere is the heroin.*
So if, like me, you are preparing to head to Orlando in a few days (or, for a few of you, have already arrived), I thank you in advance for the knowledge, joy, and exuberance you will be sharing with me. You are the reason I want to be there, and I only hope I am able to, in some small way, reciprocate your gift.
* DISCLAIMER: I do not use, or condone the use of, illegal drugs. I am merely making what I have inferred from watching the movie Trainspotting to be a somewhat accurate analogy.
locating XPage components with XspQuery
Sun, Apr 14th 2013 12:00a Tim Tripcony Several years ago, I wrote a utility Java class designed to make it easy to search for components within the current XPage instance based on various criteria. I've found it enormously useful, and, apparently, so has Keith Strickland, because he added it to org.openntf.xsp.extlib, complete with a few refinements. As an example of how you might use this, examine the following line of code:
List requiredFields = new XspQuery()
.addInstanceOf(UIInput.class)
.addEquals("required", true)
.loc [read] Keywords: ldd
lotus
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your how is not your what
Wed, Apr 3rd 2013 11:36a Tim Tripcony I've noticed a pattern emerging when I'm asked for help with XPages. Here's a representative conversation:
"I'm trying to do [X] and it's not working. How can I do that?"
"What are you trying to accomplish?"
"I already told you. I'm trying to do [X]."
"No, that's how you're trying to do it. What are you trying to do?"
For example, replace "[X]" with "reach into a repeat control from outside it" (since this has become the most frequent topic I'm asked about [read] Keywords: xpages application
my new favorite quote
Sat, Mar 23rd 2013 5:20p Tim Tripcony "We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of the world. We give little thought to the machinery that generates the sunlight that makes life possible, to the gravity that glues us to an earth that would otherwise send us spinning off into space, or the atoms of which we are made and on whose stability we fundamentally depend. Except for children (who don’t know enough not to ask the important questions), few of us spend much time wondering why nature is the way it is; where the [read] Keywords: wiki
Taking the scary out of Java in XPages: Prologue
Tue, Feb 26th 2013 9:50p Tim Tripcony The discussion following my last post made stark the need for greater availability of information that makes the nature of Java more accessible to Domino developers. Credit for the title of this post goes to Declan, who is considering writing a series of blog posts on this topic. I will be doing the same; hopefully there will be a fair amount of duplication. As David Leedy is fond of stating, it's a good thing when several people share the same information, because that makes it easier for the [read] Keywords: domino
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SSJS is a crutch
Fri, Feb 22nd 2013 10:50p Tim Tripcony I've been debating for quite a while whether I should write this post. It obviously makes a potentially controversial statement. A fellow developer who knew I was drafting it put my hesitance into perspective: "you really want to be that guy?" This was my response:
I want to be the guy who saves people pain. But sometimes to do that, you have to tell your friend if she wants to stop being punched in the face, she needs to leave the guy who keeps punching her in the face.
This post is ju [read] Keywords: agent
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Passthru vs. component - my perspective
Sat, Feb 16th 2013 9:40p Tim Tripcony Paul Withers posted a thorough article explaining the differences between namespaced XPage components (e.g. ) and their corresponding passthru elements (e.g. ), providing numerous examples of what actually happens when these objects are constructed. I've always heard (and often repeated) that passthru elements are more efficiently processed than their namespaced equivalents, so Paul's post inspired me to offer my own perspective.
Simply put, there's practically no difference... but there a [read] Keywords: acl
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org.openntf.xsp.extlib
Mon, Jan 21st 2013 5:20a Tim Tripcony About 18 months ago, I created an OpenNTF project called Community Control Library. The fundamental reason for creating the project was my belief that the single factor keeping the Domino community from realizing the true potential of the platform is the assumption that the XPages Extension Library is the extension library, not an extension library. Let's briefly revisit its history:
IBM starts an internal project, code named "Porus" (in reference to the Greek / Roman god of plenty), inte [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
notes
policies
xpages application
applications
best practice
community
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