We have a mix-match of Notes clients and mail templates. Some of the people recently upgraded to 8.5 are still using older mail templates. It’s a little hard to identify exactly which ones they are, so I’m wondering if it would be safe to update all mail templates to 8.5 even though many users still have client versions of 6 and 6.5.
I did a search but got no hits. This topic has probably been discussed but I don’t know the best search terms to use to find them.
Thank you.
Subject: Agree w/ Dan & Sebastian
Sebastian wrote: “Keep in mind the template uses several calls to code the client might not have.”
Russ, your users may get ‘OK’ dialog boxes indicating a script error. They can click through them, but, even as an understanding developer/user, I would find this annoying. Normal users might call the Help Desk.
I would recommend avoiding this.
Subject: Won’t use 8.5.x template for 6.5.x client, but what about identifying the 8.5.x users by using system means
You may analyze the clntbld field in the person document to identify 8.5.x users.You may clean this field to reset the status.
You may pay attention to the fact that some notes.ini parameters prohibit the proper update of this field, so be sure your clients are not using them.
Another way is to use log_sessions=1 on the server and analyse the opened session for … (Release …) log entries. (OK your console may be flodded with opened/closed session for)
In both cases you may create an agent to extract the necessary info and only convert the 8.5.x client users to 8.5.x mail file desing
Subject: Thanks, all. Maybe I’ll write an agent …
I think I’ve seen that our Client Build field value in the Domino Directory does not always have the correct value. Is there a way to “clean” it (update it)?
Before I code something from scratch, does anyone already have a process to identify Notes 8.5 clients that do not use the 8.5 mail template?
Thanks again for all the responses. Much appreciated.
Subject: Well, you are talking about two different issues
FIELD ClntBld:=@Deletefield;
FIELD ClntPltfrm:=@Deletefield;
FIELD ClntMachine:=@Deletefield;
FIELD ClntDate:=@Deletefield;
To clean the appropriate fields in the person documents.
As long as DCC and AdminP are working correctly, a AdminP request “Update Client Information in Person record” will be created by the client and processed by the admin server of the domain address book.
This will give you the information which user is using which version of the Notes CLIENT.
Every client will create a request, so if a user is using Notes 8.5.1 on one machine, there will be a Release 8.5.1 entry and if the same user is using Notes 6.5.5 on another machine, there will be a Release 6.5.5 entry, too.
First of all, the template version is complete independent from the version of the Notes client.
So, you can’t tell which version of mail file design is used by analysing the Notes client version.
As written before, you may use the Admin client to get the mail file version.
Using script, AFAIK there is no property or method exposed by the Notes LS classes to get the template version.
You have to check the design notes for the $TemplateBuild field or check the DB icon note (NotesID FFFF0010).
You have to start with the person documents to get the necessary information about users and mailfiles, because any other mapping may be wrong.
So, parse all your person documents, get the user name, check if “Release 8.5.1” is listed in the ClntBld field and then open the mail file referenced in the person document. Check the template version as described in 2.
If there is a version match, you got your information.
You need apropriate access rights to the mail files, of cause.
Subject: Thanks. I think I can use DesignTemplateName
I like your suggestions and thoughts.
I think I can use LS to navigate to a person’s mail file, then use the DesignTemplateName property to see if it is the 8.5 template.
I’ll give that a try tomorrow.
Subject: DesignTemplateName is not granular enough (if Template is not renamed) and might be empty
A 8.5.1 mail template will return StdR85Mail and in general the db property DesignTemplateName might be empty if erased (for/by whatever reason).
Subject: It worked (well enough for my task).
I wrote some LS code that looked at Person Documents flagged as having Notes 8.5 in the Client Build field, then looked at their mail file template.
Below is the code. It was quick and dirty, so don’t expect high quality.
We have about a dozen servers, so I looked at one at a time to break it up into smaller pieces.
Thanks again for the help here.
Russ
PS. This code is in a button on a simple form. The form has just a few fields for selecting the server and displaying the results.
Sub Click(Source As Button)
'Navigate through Person Docs identified as Notes 8.5 users.
'Locate mail file
'Determine mail file's DesignTemplateName
'If not StdR85Mail, document person as needing update.
Dim uiw As New NotesUIWorkspace
Dim uidoc As NotesUIDocument
Set uidoc = uiw.Currentdocument
Call uidoc.Refresh
Dim servername As String
servername = uidoc.FieldGetText("MailServerCanon")
servernamecn = uidoc.FieldGetText("MailServerCN")
Dim session As New notessession
Dim thisdb As NotesDatabase
Set thisdb = session.currentdatabase
Dim NABdb As NotesDatabase
Set NABdb = session.getdatabase("AtlApps","names.nsf")
Dim R85usersview As NotesView
Set R85usersview = NABdb.GetView("R85usersview")
Call uidoc.FieldSetText("PersonsNeedingUpdate",servernamecn & ":")
'Navigate through the view until you get first person in mailserver.
Dim pdoc As NotesDocument
Set pdoc = R85usersview.GetFirstDocument
Do While Not pdoc Is Nothing
If pdoc.MailServer(0) = servername Then Exit Do
Set pdoc = R85usersview.GetNextDocument(pdoc)
Loop
'Process all person docs for the selected mailserver
Do While Not pdoc Is Nothing
If Not pdoc.MailServer(0) = servername Then Exit Do
'Get mailfile info
mf = pdoc.MailFile(0)
Dim maildb As New NotesDatabase( "", "" )
On Error Resume Next
If Not maildb.Open( servername, mf ) Then
'access did not allow open
Call uidoc.FieldAppendText("PersonsNeedingUpdate",", " & pdoc.FirstName(0) & " " & pdoc.LastName(0))
Call uidoc.FieldAppendText("PersonsNeedingUpdate"," - (template info unavailable - access denied)")
Else
'Get mailfiletemplate info
tname = maildb.DesignTemplateName
If Not tname = "StdR85Mail" Then
Call uidoc.FieldAppendText("PersonsNeedingUpdate",", " & pdoc.FirstName(0) & " " & pdoc.LastName(0))
Call uidoc.FieldAppendText("PersonsNeedingUpdate"," - " & tname)
End If
End If
Set pdoc = R85usersview.GetNextDocument(pdoc)
Loop
Call uidoc.Refresh
End Sub
Subject: Follow up Q: Now we know who needs 8.5 template, an easy way to do it?
We’ve identified about 300 users who have Notes 8.5 client but not the 8.5 mail template. Is there an easy way to update their template without doing it one at a time (via “load convert -u mail\filename.nsf * mail85.ntf” from the admin console)?
Thanks.
Russ
Subject: Too bad DesignTemplateName is Read-only. 
Subject: It is read/write, but not in LS
See http://www.lotusguru.com/lotusguru/LGBlog.nsf/d6plinks/KPET-6MPFML
Subject: Fantastic! What’s the diff between Convert and Design Refresh?
Thanks for that link. I like the idea of being able to update the Icon document via LotuScript. I’ve never heard of that special document before. Good to know.
If I update using that method, I will probably just wait until the nightly design task runs and let the update happen in the middle of the night.
I’m not an Administrator. Can you help me understand why a “conversion” might be preferable over a design refresh? I think the mail databases were all updated a few months ago when the servers were upgraded to 8.5.
Thanks again for all the great help.
Subject: Icon note, Refresh vs. Replace, Reference links
Thanks for that link. I like the idea of being able to update the Icon document via LotuScript. I’ve > never heard of that special document before. Good to know.For details about the icon notes, you should reference the C API documentation (stdnames.h).
If I update using that method, I will probably just wait until the nightly design task runs and let the
update happen in the middle of the night.
The main difference is that a refresh does not reset the database properties.
I’m not an Administrator. Can you help me understand why a “conversion” might be preferable
over a design refresh? I think the mail databases were all updated a few months ago when the
servers were upgraded to 8.5.
For the difference between a Design refresh and a replace, reference
Subject: I would prefer a convert rather than changing the designtemplatename directly
As you’ve already an agent that is able to identify non 8.5 mail template users, you may further extend this agent to create a input file for convert and the fire a lo convert -f <inputfile.txt> … to upgrade the design of the mail files.
Subject: Which template?
In the Domino Administrator, a column the Files tab shows the template used by each database.
Subject: StdR85Mail
I was wondering if Notes 6 and 6.5 clients could use the StdR85Mail template.
I ran a desktop PC like that for many months and did not notice any problems. However, that was a back up PC that I did not use too often.
I see Dan’s response noting that signatures (and perhaps many other things) might not work as expected.
Subject: Not good idea
I am with Dan. Its not a very good idea. You will have more problems than solutions. Keep in mind the template uses several calls to code the client might not have.
I suggest looking at the Administrator client to see the number of clients. See who is using the Notes 8.5.1 client.
Its not very accurate since if you logged once you’ll appear there even if you dont use R8 anymore, but its worth it.
Open the names.nsf and check People - By client version (You wont see it in the People and Groups tab)
Subject: client and template
Generally it’s a bad idea to have a newer mail template than your client version.
One thing I know won’t work is signatures - if you’re using the inbuilt signatures the new mail template works a different way and you will have problems with them.
There’s lots of other stuff that won’t work of course, but aren’t necessarily problems (new calendar views, anything java based like mail threads etc.)
Subject: only basic mail functionality is supported
The 6.x user would be able to do the most basic mail functions, such as creating and reading mail. Mail preferences, out of office, Calendaring & Scheduling would not be supported.