New Article On Domino XML-RPC
Notice anything different? I doubt it. You've probably stopped checking for newly published articles by now. Well, there's a new one today. I got so excited yesterday about this whole XML-RPC thing that I just had to share it with you all. This article is meant as a quick primer and a quick code reference. The best bits are still yet to come. I've known about XMl-RPC for some time now but I am just started to realise how significant it really is.
In response to yesterday's blog, Declan Lynch proposed that being able to blog from the Blogger API would open Domino blogging to a wider community. I would love to agree, but I can't see it myself. Domino-based blogs will always be a minority. If there are ever more than 200 I will be pleasantly surprised. The big boys like MovableType have a lot more to offer and hosting is a hell of a lot cheaper.
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Totally agree with you Jake - Why would a notes user use a Notes based blog rather than another (ie MT)? - generally:
1) because they are a developer and want to play using their skills
2) because they like to use their Notes Client and take advantage of Replication etc and work locally.
3) They like using Rich Text and dont want to use HTML.
So therefore to a non-notes person - no point is there? The only way Domino can be used outside of the Notes Client user base is by building server side blog utilities - which are then utilised via a browser.
To do something like that would be pointless unless you had a 'commercial' reason to do so. But generally that commercial reason could be done cheaper using an alternative technology.
Not even going to go into 3) !!
Can you explain me the difference between XML-RPC and web services ?
XML-RPC is a web service. You can read how it differs from SOAP here
{Link}
As for the others - I don't really know. I'm anything but an expert on the matter. This time two days ago I knew next to nothing about RPC, not to mention SOAP...
Steve, I think quite a few people would blog using Domino if a) they knew it could be done, b) their IT department lets them.
I was visiting my client last week and proposed as idea to using blogging for their international project. When he learned that it's possible via Domino and Web, he was very interested. But then the corporate problems start - IT departments, firewalls, etc. The project is multi-company, multi-country. Several use Domino, several don't. Obviously an non Domino blog suites all, but the Domino clients want to be able to keep using Notes Client. So with web clients on to a Domino blogger, things could be easier for all.
Other Domino related problems are e.g. the signing of databases, replicating them on corporate servers.
Any blogging software can be dounting (sp?) for a novice. An easy to use Domino blogging template is easier to use since they continue working in an environment they are used to.
I'm actually surprised by your comments here Jake...
The pure power of the environment lends itself very easily to robust web applications. It's up to the developer/designer to come up with an application that not only works as well as a fat-client, but that can also out-perform what's out there today.
Now I'm not one that is married to Domino for any solution, but I *do* see where this product could lead the pack in web-based applications. The framework of the product lends itself to blogging and other web-based solutions too well.
One product I'm working on is not geared towards the Notes users, but rather the exact opposite. I don't want to get into it here, as this is not the place and I don't want to 'blog-jack ya, but when you give a typical end-user the ability to design content-rich and fully customizable (not to mention fast) web-applications with a "click-click-boom!" approach, you're truly showing the power of Domino.
See, I feel that the Dominoids picking of the reins and blogging is only the tip of the iceburg here - we haven't seen the true potential of this product... yet!
Take a look at applications written 2-3 years ago in Domino. Look at them today. Now imagine what they *could* be 1-3 years from now.
As for the cost, Domino web-hosting is still a new frontier and certainly not geared towards the normal consumer. I'd say in the next several months you're going to see a huge change in that. I know that my company (and I'm not the only one) is now offering a cheap Domino 'blogging solution for the end-user community - this isn't a sales pitch, but rather showing that there are changes coming.
Lastly, Jake, can you please resize this comments window? I'm practically squinting :-D
-Chris
This may be of interest. You will need a username and password for developer works.
https://www6.software.ibm.com/developerworks/education/ls/lsdom6ws/index.html
This tutorial uses a java client (command line) to search a Domino database using SOAP. It was easy to configure and gives some insight in to Web Services with Domino.
Regards,
Jon
Thanks for that Jon. You would think SOAP would be a cleaner method but that looks like a whole lot more work than using the RPC server to do all the parsing and brunt work.
Chris - didn't mean to upset anybody I was just being realistic.
Grrrrr...
Lol, not upset at all - I was just caught off guard.
My thoughts are simply stemming from my belief that all fat-clients are going to be ousted for web-based applications. It's starting to look that way (I think) anyways. This, of course, seems to happen every 10 yrs or so, so I ALSO expect the fat-client to come back as thin-clients are ousted.
Man, all this talk of ousting is making me hungry - time for lunch!
I think there's confusion when talking about Notes/Domino. Personally, when I say Notes I mean the client and when I say Domino I mean the web interface to the server.
So, when I talk about Domino blogging it doesn't even enter my mind that I would blog from the Notes client. Who in their right would want to?!
Take a look at the DomBlog template of mine and you'll see I'm not keen on the client at all.
Well there are cheap blogging options for Domino. Of course I am one of them :-) peek at {Link} and I released a full blog hosting agreement and have poeple already signing.
As for using Domino, well of course they are Domino admins/developers. Some that cant use an internal server, others are ones that have an identity outside their corporation. But being able to use the client or web interface would be nice, mainly when travelin.g But Steve did make it possible to time delay entries. As well as replication.
How many blog sites allow you to compose while on the airplane/on the deck/at the beach and then sync to their web tool? None that I have seen. Just a silly little point of one ting I like abou the Notes interface and rich text ability.
call my nutty as usual :-)
Ok "nutty",
I can agree with Jake to this affect; "Who would want to use the Notes client to 'blog" ... if it's Domino-generated HTML. If the template doesn't use RT but rather an HTML builder that's W3C compatible then I'm ALL for it - without that you're simply adding to the garbage code out there already, and I can use M$ frontpage for that!
No one ever said it was going to be easy, but with the right developers on the job, we'll be able to do it!
Chris,
problem is that blogging has not yet reached corporate mainstream (yet). Corporatations still need to discover the tool. I've been preaching it to several of my customers in Europe, and they are starting to see the light.
Since my customers are Domino users, the choice of a Notes client is elementary. Their mail comes in the client, therefore they are 90% inside the Notes client. So if they have the possibility to use their existing client, Notes, to also produce a blog, they'll be happy.
Steve's template does the work ! If you're not savy in HTML, you can work in RT. The rendering on the web is more than fine. The end users aren't developers, and only want to blog about a project, a customer, etc. Look at Ed Brill's blog.... that's what should be happening in the corporations.
I totally agree with you Mike... but it should be a matter (a little more upfront work I'm sure, but still do-able) the developer making the product do the work - not the user.
The user shouldn't have to know HTML in order to make something look good, the tool should generate the HTML needed to mirror what was done in RT.
Like I said, doable, but it will require some work.
-Chris
I agree that the HTML code could always be cleaner and better. But heck, look at NetObjects Fusion and Front Page like you say. Garbase extra HTML code. But as long as compliancy is met, extra code doesn't really matter in today's world of speed and connections to render the pages.
Plus as long as the RSS feeds are valid, which is personally where I see us heading in keeping up, the look and feel of the actual site won't be an issue.
I think over 200 Domino bloggers is going to happen in the very near future, if we arent there already and dont know about it.
I'm sorry I missed out on this today but I'll throw my two cent (Euro).
When I said that being able to use the blogger API to blog to Domino blogs opening up the community what I was trying to say was that by using a tool unrelated to the Notes Client a lot more people would be able to write blogs and not even have to care about what was sitting at the back end.
Imagine that Chris Miller's Domino blog hosting idea was pushed not at domino people but the general public. With the right tools ( blogger api based ) those people would not need to know that it's domino in the backend, they just see a great cheap hosting solution.
The average user just doesn't care what technology underpins their site/blog - we are now in an age where the technology is becoming less relevant. I had a small rant about it here: {Link} We are moving into a commodity age and will compete more on price.
On web services:
I think SOAP is better than XML-RPC beacuse the SOAP format (eg XML package) is consistent. With XML-RPC the server side has to know exactly how to interpret that chunk of XML. The bad thing about SOAP is that it is VERY complex (essentially .NET is a SOAP enabled everything). SOAP is still very much in its infancy and the industry leaders are still squabbling about standards and royalties. I think it will be a few years before the whole web services thiing really takes off.
Brendon
{Link}
Hey Jake, looks like your link parsing code needs a revisit ;-)
Declan - sorry. I guess you're right in a way. I'll still can't see Domino blog hosting taking off in the way MT and blogger have though. ACLs and replication aren't a big winner when it's one person posting to one website on one server.
Brendon - Thanks for that. It's good to have guys like yourself and Stand Rogers. When you speak we all stand up and listen. I trust you not to make this stuff up....
PS: The code is Mike Golding's not mine!
My blog ({Link} is pretty simple but rather than creating documents via the browser, I use my Notes Client to send mail to it. There is a simple agent which parses the rich text to format links and line breaks etc. I have the bext of both worlds then as it means I can create a post from any location (as I have access to the iNotes client as well).
Matt