Lotus Notes to Android without Traveller

I recently was working with a Sony Experia Z2 handset that was installed with Lotus Traveller software.

However, the user wanted a universal in box so that the Notes email came up along with other email accounts.

The Android in question supported ActiveSync servers and since Lotus Traveller is actually ActiveSync, we set up the Notes mail using that option in the normal Mail client.

So then we needed to remove Notes Traveller software

For some reason the "Uninstall" option was greyed out.

The reason for this is that Notes Traveller is actually set up as a Device Adminstrator.  So you have to deactiveate "Notes Traveller" as a Device Administrator first.

Got to Settings > Security > Device administrators and remove the Check box next to "IBM Notes Traveler Security"

With that setting disabled then go to
Settings > Apps > Downloaded.  Select "IBM Notes Traveler"  and now the "Force Close" and "Uninstall" options will be active

Voila!

Are we on the verge of a societal breakdown?

I have been doing a lot of reading about our modern 21st Century dependence on energy for the continuation of society as we know it.  Of course the primary energy source of our world is oil which is often referred to as ancient concentrated sunlight and this is or is very soon going to "peak" in production.  With ever increasing demand on a finite and dwindling resource then trouble is knocking - and much sooner than we are all led to believe.

Chris Martenson has a very articulate and well presented overview of our collective dilemma which he has published in a series of downloadable movies.  He calls this "The Crash Course" and explains very lucidly how we (mankind) face the “perfect storm” of crises.  Our debt based fiat money system; our complete dependence on oil as the primary cheap energy source and the rapid deterioration of the ecology around us all add up to some serious problems.  Funnily enough, whilst these issues are no doubt know to the major governments of the world, there is very little, if anything, done about it.

As a result, it seems like the majority of us are sleep walking into a crisis.

Take a look here at http://http://www.peakprosperity.com.  But BE WARNED!  Go through the Crash Course during the day or with the lights on...

Assigning license to VMWare ESXi 5

This was a little frustrating.  The ESXi host keeps nagging me to enter a license key - even though the hypervisor was free.
After some messing around I found it was actually quite easy:
1) Get your free license key from VMWare (you are given this duirng the download process)
2) Download the vSphere Client from the IP address of your host
3) Open your host in the left window
4) Select the "Configuration" tab
5) On the left hand side there is a "Hardware" section and a "Software" section.  Look in the "Software" section and select "Licensed Features"
6) On the right hand side of the screen look for and click the "Edit" button.  A pop up window will be displayed. The screen is divided into two sections and each is selectable with a radio button.  Select the "Assign a new license key to this host" radio button
7) Now, click the "Enter Key..." button and you can enter the license key provided by VMWare that you got in step 1.  Click "OK"
8) Click "OK" again to close the pop up.
Thats it, finished.

Getting a Blackberry Z10 working with IBM Notes

For everyone who wants to get a Blackberry Z10 working against IBM Lotus Notes/Domino.  

Firstly, you DO NOT need to have a BES 10 server for this to work - The BES 10 server is only for managing the devices.  If you manage your handset via BES10, then BES10 will take over all your Traveler policies overriding any Domino traveler policies (so beware).

What we did:

A - Infrastructure stuff

1. Install Domino 9.0 Social Edition (beta)

2. Install Traveler version 9 

(Some others have also had success on Lotus Traveler 8.5.3 on Domino 8.5.3)

B - Handset stuff

1. Open the "Setup" application on your blackberry z10

2. Under the "Get Connected" section there is an icon labelled "Accounts".  Tap this.

3. A menu at the bottom of the screen is shown.  Select the "Add Account" option

4. The "Add Account" screen is shown.  On the menu at the bottom of the screen tap the "Advanced" option

5. The "Advanced Setup" screen is shown.  Tap the option "Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync"

6. The "Add Account" form is displayed.  Enter the following:

• Description.  Whatever you type here will be seen on your Blackberry Hub
• Leave the "Domain" field BLANK
• In "Username" - enter your iNotes user name 
• For "Email Address" enter you notes SMTP email address
• For "Password" enter your iNotes password
• In "Server Address" enter the public URL of your traveler server
• In "Port", enter the port that traveler will use.  We configured "443" in our system
• If using SSL then turn on the SSL option
• If using a VPN then turn on the "Use VPN" option
• Ensure that you turn on "Push"
• Leave “Sync Timeframe set to 30 days”
• At the top of the screen click the “Next" button
• The handset will attempt to synchronise with your traveler server and you will get a message saying “Checking for support services and policy information.  Behind the scenes traveler will create a profile for you.
• You may get some messages about https certificates.  If you do click “Continue” past those
• At the next screen entitiled “Add Account” specify what things you want to syncrhonise (Sync Emai, Sync Contacts, Sync Calendar, Sync Tasks, Sync Memos) then on the top of the screen click the “Done” button
• You will get the message “Saving and verifying your settings”.  Again you may get a Provider Identity Not Verifiable” message if there is an issue with https certificate again, click “Continue” 

You can now go to the Blackberry “Hub” and you will have an entry for your Lotus Notes mail.

WCM multi-lingual solutions

IBM have a set of supported multi-lingual extensions for WCM7 and WCM8

You can read about them here:

For WCM 7.0

For WCM 8.0

JavaDocs for WCM API

I am forever looking for the IBM WCM API Javadocs so I thought I'd put this post up so I can quickly get to them when the need arises:

Javdocs for WCM API 5.1.0.3

Javdocs for WCM API 5.1.0.5

Javdocs for WCM API 6.0.1.3

Javdocs for WCM API 6.1.0.2


Not sure where the 7.x or 8.x Javadocs are located on the Internet....

Essential Sharepoint tools

These are some great FREE tools that every SharePoint developer should have at their disposal:

1. Sharepoint Manager developd by Carsten Keutmann from here.  It gives you a visual perspective to the object model of Sharepoint allowing you to explore what properties are avaialble, hwo a site is structured and load of other stuff too.  There are three versions available depending on your installation 2007, 2010 and 2013.
2. .NET Reflextor from here.  This tool allows you to see the source code of .NET code (i.e. SharePoint itself).  You load up Windows.Sharepoint.dll and you can see all sorts of stuff inside that file.
3. WSPBuilder and Visual Studio Extensions for WSPBuilder from here.  This tool allows you to build your SharePoint solution as a feature and takes out loads of otherwise painful manual work in achieving this goal.

Enjoy