The Controller API Utility allows you to completely maintain application and business logic separate from user interface design, allowing you to evolve the application as needed with minimal code and design maintenance.

The Controller API Utility -- or Controller -- consists of Control Documents that you define, which can conditionally set values of fields (NotesItems) on a document (NotesDocument), or launch an agent from the active Lotus Notes application.

This document will first walk you thru the setup of Controller, and then it's use in your own Lotus Notes apps.

(Click thru for the complete document & find out how you can get the Controller API Utility for only $5 USD...)

I've been going on and on lately about taking your frustrations and doing something with them far-beyond complaining on Twitter. Yesterday, however, after spending a good length of time trying to call a Windows Batch file via the LotusScript Shell() Function, I was a little more than frustrated when I tweeted the following:

Why do the code samples in the Designer Help suck? FYI: Shell("command.com /c " + batchfile, 1). Who runs CALC.EXE via Lotuscript?!

This was posted to my Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn.

Dale Cole and Andre Guirard, thankfully, reminded me via comments on the Facebook version of this status update that there are better uses of my energies and my knowledge. Specifically, they reminded me about the Help Feedback link (and subsequent processing engine) that IBM has written into the footer of every Domino Designer Help document.

This link takes you to the IBM Help Feedback Online Form, which gives you the opportunity to submit feedback which is reviewed by the the specific product/platform documentation team.

So if you find yourself frustrated with the Code Sample Examples in IBM Lotus Notes Domino Designer Help, be a better community member than a frustrated me and submit your suggestions!

The other day I had a simple requirement: in a mixed Microsoft Windows environment (2000 and XP), I needed to get a handle on the active Windows User Account. Simple once you know how... but that's the point of this post. I'll show you 2 techniques to accomplish this relatively simple task: the first in LotusScript and second as an ActiveX Control for Web Browser Clients or as passthru markup in XPages.

(Click thru for more...)

While presenting last night at the New England Lotus User Group on XPages development (specifically on using Custom Controls), I was asked if there's a future to the Lotus Notes platform.

The question -- the first of the night -- got a few laughs... but I could tell that there was a true need to know that the Lotus Notes platform was still viable and had a future.

I don't know if my on-the-spot answer addressed concerns or added to them, but I'll do my best to retell it here...

(Click thru for more...)

Today I updated Showtime, my BlackBerry Enterprise Server MDS Push Utility for the IBM Lotus Notes Client, to use the X-RIM-Push_NotifyURL HTTP Header to create a confirmation logger for any Showtime job submission...

Well, that's an over-simplification of what's happening.

When Showtime initiates an HTTP Request (via the POST Method) to the target BlackBerry Enterprise Server MDS Push API, it generates a simple log NotesDocument tracking who initiated the request, the Destination, etc. -- pretty simple stuff there.

What it could not do, however, was confirm that the request was accepted by the MDS Push API and -- more importantly -- that the MDS Push actually pushed the Browser, Message, Channel, or Channel-Delete job to the Destination.

When working with an enterprise-level solution, "I dunno, it should'a worked!" just don't cut it!

(Click thru for more - including LotusScript and Java versions of the MDS Push Engine HTTP Request Consumer...)