Dannotes presentation 28.11.2013

1. XPages Developer
Be more efficient and write better code

2. Jakob Majkilde
 Education: Data Engineer
 Lotus Notes Developer since 1992 (release 2.1)
 Certified administrator and instructor (early releases) and 8.5 Developer
 Certified Scrum Master, Certified Java Developer
 Founder of notesnet.dk
 Blogs
 XPages.dk
 Lotusscript.dk
 Majkilde.com
 Book reader, because programming is a lot more than syntax …
 Refactoring, Domain Driven Design, Clean Code, The Art of Unit Testing, Extreme Programming, Design
Patterns, Working with Legacy Code, Psychology of Computer Programming, The Pragmatic Programmer,
The Mythical Man Month, Effective Java, Mastering XPages, Portable command Guide, XPages Ext Lib,
and more …

3. Basic setup
 As a developer you need to be ‘in flow’. An interruption and you will have to start all over
 Use the fastest PC possible – a SSD disk is required
 Work in a silent office (no phones). Disable email and skype popups
 Max. 5 seconds from code to test = instant deployment
 Build and run
 Not: build, replicate, refresh design, sign …
 You need at least Notes 8.5.3 to run XPages (but 9.0.1 is a lot better)
 Do yourself a favor: use 2 (or 3) monitors
 No matter what the admin says: You do need access and permission to install your own tools and
software on your PC
 The Programmer’s Bill of Rights

4. Learn the DDE
 Tweak it: http://xpages.dk/?p=1075
 Memory settings in lotusnotesframeworkrcpdeployjvm.properties
 vmarg.Xmx=-Xmx1024m
 vmarg.Xms=-Xms512m
 Use shortcuts
 Open Type: Ctrl+Shift+T
 Open Resource: Ctrl+Shift+R
 Open Declaration: F3 (or Ctrl+Click)
 Last Edit Location: Ctrl+Q
 Rename: Shift+Alt+R
 And of course:
 Ctrl+D, Ctrl+M, Ctrl+F8, Ctrl+Shift+7, …
 Use code templates!

5. Use a local server
 Local server
 Build times will be too slow on a central Domino server (Notes uses a lot of network bandwidth)
 XPages only works for one developer at a time
 If you have a compiler error – then nobody else can build
 SessionAsSigner requires one signer only
 Only one debugger session at a time
 You need access to the log files
 You must be able to restart the http task at will
 You need access (java.policy, ext folder, etc)
 Don’t ever use a production server
 Disable all tasks but HTTP
 Update,Replica,Router,AMgr,AdminP,CalConn,Sched,RnRMgr,Catalog,Design,UpdAll,Statlog
 Also recommended by Paul Withers and Nathan Freeman
 The blagger’s guide to XPages Domino Administraion

6. Source control is a must
 If you are the only developer – then you could just replicate, but
 Source control gives you
 Full tracking and version control
 When your boss asks: when, why, who made the change? You have the answer!
 Shared code (across domains) / several developers
 Branching
 Make a hotfix to the current version and work on the new version on the same time
 Backup
 Delete or refactor code. No problem – you can always go back
 With two developers, both having there own local server
 How do you think Notes handles replication conflicts?
 Answer: newest change will win – the older is lost.
 Solution: Source Control (e.g. git)

7. Source control
 We use git, SourceTree and Bitbucket
 It’s all free, but other options are available too
 But, keep making manual backups of your files in the beginning – there is a learning curve!
 Tips
 Use a .gitignore file
 Handle line breaks with ‘Autocrlf = true’ – we had problems in a mixed Windows/Mac environment
 See David Leedys video, Per Henrik Laustens presentation or
my blog entry: http://xpages.dk/?p=690. Best practice here (pending)

8. Source Control Settings
 Preferences, General, Workspace:
 Refresh Automatically: Yes
 Build Automatically: Yes
 Auto build no longer changes the signatures
 Encoding: Default (Cp1252)
 Because that’s what others do
 Preferences, Domino Designer, Source Control
 Automatic Import/Export: No
 Auto build is required
 Use Binary DXL: Yes
 important that everybody does the same
 Notice:
 The auto refresh doesn’t work on network drives. Do a manual refresh (F9) from Package Explorer
Think ‘Auto Refresh’ is required when using ‘Auto
import/export’, otherwise strange things might
happen if the ODP is not in sync with the disk.
Yes to ‘Auto refresh’ – but not with the ‘Auto
import/export’ as this will start an indefinite
refresh/rebuild loop

9. Source Control Tips
 On-Disc-Project
 Prefix the project name with ODP or GIT
 Makes it easier to distinguish them from your nsf files
 Make a folder for the project
 And one (or more) sub folders for the nsf file(s)
 Use Git Flow
 http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/
 New project
 Enable Git flow
 Make a initial commit
 Then start coding

10. Unit testing
 In the book “Working Effectively with legacy code”, Michael Feathers wrote:
 “Legacy code is simply code without tests”
 Pros
 Better Design / better structure
 You can change your code without breaking it (refactoring)
 10 more reasons here
 Bottom line: better code with fewer bugs in less time !
 Links
 Unit testing in XPages with JUnit: http://xpages.dk/?p=1162
 The Art of Unit Testning
 Unit testning: Why bother?

11. Reuse
 Lots of great open source code on the internet
 OpenNTF.org
 XSnippets
 XPages Designer Import Tool: http://xpages.dk/?p=1098
 ExtLib
 Domino API
 Apache.org
 The FREE Java toolbox you didn’t know you had
 File handling, String handling, Validators, Office Integration (POI), PDF generation (FOP)
 Beware of the security settings: http://xpages.dk/?p=1373
 Code everything in Java using Design Patterns and MVC (more on frostillic and Pipalia)

12. Tools from OpenNTF
 Debug
 Debug Toolbar
 Log File Reader 2.0
 Log
 XPages OpenLog Logger
 Profiling
 XPages toolbox
 XPages Masterclass (video series)

13. Keypoints
 Local development server
 Source Control
 Unit Testning
 OpenNTF & Apache

14. Need help?
 Contact the ‘Gang of four’
 Jakob Majkilde: majkilde.dk
 Per Henrik Lausten: phl-consult.dk
 John Dalsgaard: dalsgaard-data.dk
 John Foldager: izone.dk