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While flexibility and freedom-of-choice are key strengths of Lotus Notes, the inherently unstructured development environment provided by Lotus has resulted in what some call “application anarchy” or “Popcorn Notes.”
These two terms refer to problems such as:
- Similar applications that do not share common design.
- Application code, which is not documented and is difficult to reuse.
- Applications that should be “manually” upgraded.
Hard-code references to backend databases that must be manually updated when necessary.
Considering that many Lotus Notes enterprises typically have hundreds or even thousands of application databases, the inefficiencies resulting from the anarchy potentially amount to a significant loss in overall enterprise productivity.
The ITF Development Center is based upon the principal of developing applications from reusable Lotus Notes functionality. Objects are collections of design elements and Setup Documents found in repositories. Objects are typically used by multiple databases, which implies that they can be quickly applied to the databases that require them.
All this is achieved using reusable objects and the ability to create an installable product from the definitions in the ITF Development Center.
Objects and styles
The following types of reusable objects are available in the ITF Development Center:
Object Definitions
These are collections of design elements and Setup Documents. They are sourced from a database referred to as a ‘repository’. The Object Definition - and thus elements - can be “pushed” into databases where they are needed. The Object Definition can be modified, and the modifications can be quickly applied to all the databases concerned. -
Styles
These allow on-the-fly modification of the look-and-feel of a database. Forms and views may be modified in appearance and even the database ACL and actions can be redefined. Styles are applied to a database via a push operation similar to that seen with Object Definitions.
Object Definitions and Styles allow for managing the design of hundreds, if not thousands, of databases. This is simply by pushing modifications into databases as necessary. The relationships between elements and destination databases are mapped in these objects.
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Database Definitions
A Database Definition may be used for each database. It is the inverse of an Object Definition as it reflects the objects that are included in a database’s design. Thus, depending upon the level of objects included, the database can be recreated from this definition.
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Building Blocks
These are reusable “chunks” of code or design elements. They are “picked” when developing the design of an application. They include graphics, parts of forms, code elements and variables.
Installation Wizard
The ITF Development Center also includes an Installation Wizard. By using the Database Definitions, it is possible to create customer-ready installations consisting of one or more
application(s). The customer installs these using the ITF Installation and Upgrade Wizard used with all IT FACTORY products.
Self-documenting system
As all database-element relationships are managed in the objects and Database Definitions, and because the results of all push operations are comprehensively recorded in an accessible ITF Development Center log, the ITF Development Center is a self-documenting system.
These techniques offer immense time saving when compared to other Lotus Notes application development tools.
Simply put, IT FACTORY’s software development tools provide structure to the Lotus Notes development environment and Lotus Notes applications. This structure simplifies and speeds-up the development, deployment and maintenance of Lotus Notes applications. The result is greater end-user productivity and a greater return on Lotus Notes investments. |
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