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Tip Five: Creating your own Toolbars in Designer

As you probably know already, I don't use the Notes client at all. If ever I do it's merely to find a database in the Workspace and avoid using the Database Open dialog. Sometimes I may even use the Workspace to replicate a stacked icon but even that I try and avoid. If only I could find out how I did this I would be a happy chappy.

My toolbar screenshotTo make my time spent in Designer a little easier I've been using a custom toolbar. On it there's some common functions I constantly use: Database Properties, Access Control, Replicate Current Database, Insert Subform etc. Today I was hoping to share it with you, so you could either use it as is or further tailor it to your own needs. In R5 this was a simple case of sharing SmartIcon (.SMI) files. In Domino 6 it's not quite as easy. You can still import SMI files but you can't export sets anymore. Toolbars are now stored as Outlines entries as a part of the Outline called DesignerToolbar in bookmark.nsf.

Designer Toolbar Outline

So the only way for me to share this toolbar is to share this Outline. If only there were a way to share design elements with my peers without the hassle of zipping/uploading a whole database! What's that? Oh yeah, PeerWire! The trial should be available today and you should then be able to share design elements, code snippets and articles with the whole world.

Update: I will be at booths 709 & 710 of the LotuSphere exhibitor's area for at least four hours of each day. The rest of the time I will be mulling around like a lost sheep. Feel free to collar me. Just don't expect me to know you all be name. It's nothing personal if I don't recognise your name without some kind of "I mailed you that link to the...." reminder!

Comments

    • avatar
    • Jono
    • Fri 16 Jan 2004 06:33

    The download button on the peerwire website has not yet been activated by the looks of it...

    • avatar
    • Jake
    • Fri 16 Jan 2004 06:38

    It's due for release today. It's still quite early over "state-side" though...

  1. Jake,

    I haven't looked at that tool, but from R6 there's another way to share a design element. Simply select it in designer and export it to DXL. The other side can then import it again, not perfect, but better then sending complete nsfs me think.

    • avatar
    • Jake
    • Fri 16 Jan 2004 06:48

    Does that *actually* work Ferdy? I was still under the impression it didn't. I don't see an "Import" option in the DXL menu.

  2. I think you can email someone your whole databse design as an XML file in R6.

    It's been a while since I had a nose round in that client though.

    What company are you going to Lotusphere with?

    • avatar
    • Jake
    • Fri 16 Jan 2004 07:59

    Is it not obvious Ian?

    • avatar
    • Steve
    • Fri 16 Jan 2004 08:56

    The download for PeerWire will be live later today. It may be late however on the UK side.

  3. Now that it's certain, I'll make a point of saying hello in Orlando!

    In fact, if you're there by Saturday night I'll buy you a beer in the ESPN. Maybe this year we can get even more Brits to annoy the Turtle!

  4. Two observations Jake might kick me for:

    1. (maybe I'm just out of the loop) It kind of seems like P2P has died off a lot since the RIAA started beating the snot out of anyone sharing anything remotely music like in nature. I know it was all the rage a half year ago, but I havn't heard a lot of noise about it, except with things like bit torrent.

    2. Most of the people who would use something like peerwire are already a part of the domino blog scene and have online libraries of things sitting available for anyone to download.

    Having said that, I think it's a really cool idea and would use it if I weren't such a pennypincher. It's with saddness that I note peerwire appears to be late to the party.

    Who knows, this may be the future of how we all communicate... less blogging, more chatting and p2p file sharing.

    Jerry

  5. Peerwire, from what I can tell, is charging for the service, not the content. So it'll be up to the people who join and the content that they produce and share as far as the success and impact of Peerwire. If people simply join, download everything that's staring them in the face and never return the favor by contributing their own good content, it's gonna fail.

    Hopefully that won't be the case, but (sadly) I think it will be.

    That is, unless, the people that are already running these great sites start pushing a lot of content that way. They could, say... get a discount or free passage to help initiate the first-run of content. Just an idea really...

    I know that I will look over a lot of the content and pull down some of the gems... but I honestly think that I'll be posting more than not posting, and it's hard to pass that PO by the wife: "Honey, I'm paying a service fee to push out some great new dangfangled agent." (Of course, using the word "dangfangled" in my case has usually killed the posibility of it seeing daylight again...)

    I personally look forward to any initiative to get good content into the hands of people that need it... I just don't know if I'm willing to pay for it.

    -Chris "too damned cheap" Toohey

  6. Further disingratiating myself to PeerWire, what Chris said is true. The pay to play thing is counter culture to the peer to peer world($P2P != P2P).

    Personally, I think the services billing model is brilliant... especially if the software is free.

    But, people have to get something out of the service, to want to pay, other than an ego stroke.

  7. From my prespective having been working with OpenNTF for over 2 years is that Notes/Domino developers don't like to share code! The jury is still out on PeerWire but, I will download and give it a test drive.

    Bruce

  8. I wonder about the legal issue's of sharing code of Lotus Domino databases, most which are owned and reside in business enterprises..

    Surely this will lead to corporates sharing their IP through developers who post company owned code, something they will not be happy about?

  9. In a perfect world the company would understand the benefits of it's developers not having to reinvent 80% of the development they do.

    I would've thought things would be relatively open in the domino world - given that the community is very active in providing tips, code snips and assistance through blogs like this and through the notes.net forums.

  10. Jake,

    Yes it does work. The import you have to write yourself in an agent for example. I remember I wrote a DXL manager class about a year ago. I'll look into it tonight.

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Written by Jake Howlett on Fri 16 Jan 2004

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