Teamstudio Unplugged - First Impressions

05/05/2010 12:49 PM by Chris Toohey

Yesterday the team at Teamstudio was kind enough to give me a demo of their latest product, Teamstudio Unplugged. I'll be totally honest here: when I first found out about this product, I thought Teamstudio had simply added custom Themes, Stylesheets, and Custom Controls that allows an IBM Lotus Notes Domino Developer to create BlackBerry mobile device browser-accessible XPage-based Domino Applications. ... and I couldn't have been further from the truth!

Teamstudio Unplugged allows IBM Lotus Notes Domino Application Developers to create their application User Interfaces via XPages, and then creates a native BlackBerry mobile device application.

Overview

Teamstudio Unplugged is really two solutions in one: it consists of a NotesDatabase "Utility" Application residing on the IBM Lotus Notes Domino Server and the Teamstudio Unplugged BlackBerry Mobile Device App. The server utility pushes the native app to the defined recipient's BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and is in turn delivered to the recipient's BlackBerry mobile device, which is accessible on the device via the Teamstudio Unplugged app.

The Teamstudio Unplugged app additionally duplicates NotesData (and design) Replication, which allows the user to access and maintain their on-device apps and synchronize any changes over the air.

Each deployed app is given it's own tile/chicklet icon on the Teamstudio Unplugged Workspace (a design choice I was told intended to mirror the Notes Client Workspace). I get it, and think this will actually help the typical user understand that they're accessing one of their Lotus Notes applications on their BlackBerry mobile device.

It was an impressive demo, and left me wanting to abandon my Tuesday schedule to play around with the product.

I want to give this version 1.0 product a proper review, so expect to see a complete review here post-developer2010.

A few items/questions that I'm looking to address in the complete review:

• Comparing the XPage Control rendering on the BlackBerry - what works/doesn't work.
• How does Teamstudio Unplugged handle Java and SSJS Script Libraries (or referenced JARs, additions to the Build Path, etc.)
• What about Custom Controls?

Demo Video

First Impression

Taking your IBM Lotus Notes Domino Applications to your BlackBerry looks to be even easier with Teamstudio Unplugged. Build in XPages, and Teamstudio Unplugged generates native BlackBerry device apps!

After seeing it in action, I'm definitely impressed, and will be putting this IBM Lotus/RIM BlackBerry RAD utility thru the paces for an complete review most likely hitting this site at the end of May. If you're interested in learning more about Teamstudio Unplugged, check out the product microsite at www.freeyourapps.com.