I have a system built using R5 that’s been online for eight years and numerous Domino migrations. Today I had to change that system, and it won’t build.
First it bitched that v1.6 can’t use the for(type var: elt) sytnax, which is ludicrous.
So I set to build using v1.5 to work around this and it gets a warning that my code is built using v1.5 while some lib requires v1.6.
So I change to for(int var; var<cutoff; v++) and set the compiler to v1.6. I see no obvious issues on build.
YET it “runs” the Agent AND DOES NOTHING. The log shows it ran. No work is done. This Agent can’t even load without putting an entry in a log database, yet no such entry appears.
When I open the Agent code, it takes fifteen seconds and dumps 73 previously hidden warnings about compiling v1.2 when the libs are looking for v1.5. ONE POINT TWO??? Where does that come from??? There are no project-specific settings, yet a full clean and build continually bitches about using v1.2???
So I finally ditch DDE entirely, the buggy POS, and try to build it using R6. That gets an NSD.
This is supposed to be tested and deployed BY FRIDAY. Thanks, Lotus, for totally raping backwards compatibility this release. EVERY SINGLE legacy system I’ve touched with R8.5.1 IS BROKEN. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
You’re just like Microsoft, now, except your IDE is a heinous nightmarish travesty…
EDIT:
Apparently there is no way to ‘clean and build’ using R6. It WILL NOT DO ANYTHING with any code, because it bitches that the class file format is incompatible. WHAT?? DELETE the class file and rebuild it!!
REDIT:
EACH and EVERY Java Script Library is set enable project specific setting with to compliance level 1.5, .class compatibility 1.2, and Source compatibility 1.3. AND THEY CAN NOT BE CHANGED. I go through 17 clicks that it takes to change this and save, but when I load a Java library I’ve already saved, it is RIGHT back where it started.
I suppose this is “working as designed”???
RE-REDIT:
I just spent the last HOUR painstakingly forcing each library to use v1.6, which was a random affair at best. Some Java libs would allow me to remove “custom project settings” and some would only allow me to check “default compliance settings”, but I got them ALL to show v1.6, verified by opening them and checking Project settings over and over and over and over and over again.
Then I checked into CIAO! and refreshed design on the dev application.
ALL OF THEM ARE BACK TO CUSTOM SETTINGS USING V1.2 FOR CLASS FILE GENERATION. EVERY SINGLE LIBRARY IN THE ENTIRE APPLICATION.
The hardest thing is the inconsistency. If there is a 100% reproducible way to cause a problem, I’ll open a PMR faster than you can say “bug”. But the inconsistency makes it so hard.
Subject: I actually found 2 things to happen consistently!
I did find 2 consistent crashes… client and testing related however.
If I Ctrl-Break to stop a script I’m testing before it finishes, everything dies.
If I have the debugger on, stop and close and forget to turn it “off”, the next button I hit that contains script launches and crashes the debugger. Thus… kill everything and start over.
I agree too. I’ve hated the new DDE since it first came out. 8.5.1 at least made it a bit more usable, but it’s still so much more painful than the old version. I have been working with Notes since 1994 and this is the most disappointed I’ve ever been. Everything from help to properties is inconsistent and more difficult to use. I just want my old designer back!
While I love the attention Notes/Domino is getting with some great improvements, my daily frustrations with the 8.5.1 designer client are very disappointing. From little things like the time it takes to open design elements (sometimes) to sporadic Java prompts/errors.
And like many others, until we start using some of the new features (i.e. Widgits), I will not install the Eclipse client on my user’s machines. The basic client is still so rock solid stable and performs great.
I am a huge Lotus advocate (bleeding yellow since 1999) and really hope that this is just a short detour on the fantastic Notes/Domino road and will be resolved… soon.
David, I’m a big fan - you’re one of the few people pointing out the numerous small, but frustrating, problems still in DDE in 8.5.1. And you spell them out in great detail. I really hope somebody at IBM reads your posts.
But, um…
So I finally ditch DDE entirely, the buggy POS, and try to build it using R6. That gets an NSD.
This is supposed to be tested and deployed BY FRIDAY. Thanks, Lotus, for totally raping backwards compatibility this release. EVERY SINGLE legacy system I’ve touched with R8.5.1 IS BROKEN. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
You weren’t using 8.5.1’s designer to modify NSFs running on Domino 6 servers, were you?
Subject: No. I was attempting to use R6 to revert code on an R8.5.1 database…
As far as I’m concerned the utter inability to compile and run Java code is not a small but frustrating problem. It’s a total show-stopper, particularly in light of the fact I’ve been doing Java on Domino for a decade. Eclipse allows me to set a compatibility version, do a clean & build … bang … code is now version X. It is literally that simple.
DDE takes one of my all-time favorite IDEs and turns it into a heinous nightmare of inconsistency and utter flakiness. I’ve use Eclipse for years and years and years. I know it has foibles, what doesn’t, but I also know it’s rock-solid reliable. DDE has none of that. Period. That also is not a small but frustrating problem.
Have faith in Domino. It’s an amazing system. I have no faith in DDE, and get less faith every day, if that’s imaginable. And I had such high hopes…
I’ve been using Notes since 4.5, and have long appreciated the speed and stability of the designer client. Since 8.x it seems i spend more time trying to figure out why things are working intermittently, or the designer is flat out crashing that it counters any gains made by it being a rapid dev environment. I actually found myself researching MS sharepoint capabilities today because I’m so frustrated.
Ok, well I really just read an article, but that’s more than I would have done a year ago.
It’s actually refreshing to see that others are having issues, because I was beginning to think it was just that I was getting old and impatient.
I know the Lotus/IBM folks are working hard and I don’t mean any disrespect, but I’m sure I wasted over an hour today if you add up all the minutes of dealing with flakiness and felt the need to chime in.