Stuff I'm looking forward to at Connect 2013

I'm attending the IBM-Connect-o-Lotusphere 2013 event for my first time this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

Here are just a few of the things I'm looking forward to learning / doing / experiencing while I'm there.

• Meeting like-minded Domino and Messaging Administrators and IBM customers.
• Finding fixes for some of the more frustrating features of Lotus Notes and Domino.
• Learning more about Portal / Connections.
• Learning more about Tivoli Directory Integator, and having a play with it.
• Understanding how other administrators or infrastructure experts would re-design my server topology if they got the chance. There are so many ways to skin that cat! :)
• Learning more about automated client deployments or upgrades.
• Having a play with ND9.
• Meeting the guys from Panagenda, understanding more about the Eclipse manager plugin for Marvelclient and the product roadmap. (I'm a big fan of Marvelclient, but the last release had its limitations for ND8 users).
• Meeting third party suppliers, the vendors of the tools which I could not manage without, and those who have products I'm interested in.
• Attending the general introduction meeting. I watched it online last year and laughed at how everyone applauded the demo's when they worked! :)
• Buying Ed Brill's book.
• Meeting the many Domino bloggers that I've learnt so much from personally.
• Contributing in my small way to making Connect 2013 a social business event.

See you there if you're going!

More Webex Productivity Tools Goodness

Hello again!

Following on from my last post, I have completed a more thorough inventory of the design elements which need to be unprotected or deleted in order to fully uninstall the Webex Productivity Tools from a Lotus Notes mailbox.

Here's the list:

Forms
_Calendar Entry

Shared Elements\Subforms
Wbx_subform

Code\Script Libraries
CSCalendarEntry
CSEventClass
CSEventNotes
CSUIViewClass

Further to this list, it is important to delete the "Database Script" from the mailbox.
To do this, expand the "Code" section, then right-click the Database Script entry and click delete.

Once you have completed the above tasks, you should be able to re-install the Productivity Tools successfully into the mailbox. Alternatively, if you delete the above design elements, you can then re-apply your mailbox's design (I prefer to use the "load convert -u" console command) and restore your mailbox back to your favourite template. You might even be able to create meetings! :)

Some other points to note:

1. If it all goes horribly wrong, you might experience one of the following error messages on trying to create an email or a meeting in your mailbox. If you experience either of these errors, check that the above list of design elements are either unprotected or deleted.
   
   "Cannot find external name: SIGNENCRYPTPOLICY"
   
   "Error: Type mismatch on external name: CSEVENTNOTES"
    
2. Cisco offer a tool called the LNI Admin Tool, which can be used to apply the Webex Productivity Tools design elements to multiple mailboxes. It seems to use a modified version of the "nconvert" Domino task to do this.
   
   I have no experience with using this tool, and would love to hear form anyone who has. 

Today's Little Victory - WebEx Productivity Tools for Lotus Notes

Over the past few months I have been battling with the Webex Productivity Tools plugin for Lotus Notes. This tool adds the functionality to add a Webex online meeting when creating a meeting in their Notes calendars. Nifty stuff, when it works...

For some users, however, the tool would not install. Error messages varied, if they ever occurred. Like many third-party tool providers, Webex were keen to ensure that we were running the correct version of Notes to match the version of our Webex site, but we were able to recreate our issues regardless of the Notes version that was being used.

The cause was elsewhere...

So, here are the Notes-related issues that I have found to stop the Webex Productivity Tools from installing into a Notes client.

• User must have Designer or Manager access to his mailbox.
  
• The mailbox must not contain any protected design elements in Forms, Views or Outlines.
  
• The "UserToolbar" design element in the Outlines section of bookmark.nsf must not be protected. (This can be the case with users whose clients started life running early releases of Notes 6).
  
• Other protected design elements in the user's mailbox. Check the database's Forms, Sub-Forms, and Views and un-protect any protected elements.

To un-protect a design element, simply highlight the element in your Designer client, open the properties dialog, design tab, and un-check the "Prohibit Design Refresh or Replace to Modify" box.

In addition - For Windows 7 users, the Webex One-Click tool must be run "As Administrator". (You can do this from the right-click menu of the shortcut to the application.) 

My Turn to Join the Blogosphere!

Greetings Everyone!

I've been reading and contributing to many Domino blogs over recent years, and I thought it was about time I shared some of my experiences with the world.

On this blog I'll share tips and tricks that I have discovered about Notes, Domino and other tech stuff. I plan to share experiences with Quickr, Sametime, and some third party utilities that I work with extensively, including Panagenda Marvelclient, Webex, Helpsoft, GSX and others.

I'll ask questions in case you can help me, and I'm sure I'll also share a few surprises and personal bits and pieces along the way.

So, here goes...!