MindPlan Blog News and facts about Visual Teamwork http://blog.mindplan.biz/mindplan/blog.nsf/ en-us Thu, 1 Dec 2011 09:16:06 +0200 MindPlan 3.3 released! Thu, 1 Dec 2011 09:16:06 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/01.12.2011091605KLEBQ7.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/01.12.2011091605KLEBQ7.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/01.12.2011091605KLEBQ7.htm German / English link)!

The release fixes a few issues of version 3.2 and introduces one major new feature in the MindPlan application itself (Portfolio maps) as well as other additional functionality added to the combination of MindPlan and the Haus Weilgut eOffice CRM system.

Portfolio maps

Portfolio is the name of a new root node type. It enables you to create a kind of "meta map" that pulls project relevant information from linked projects, project deliverables and even single activities with the click of a button. This project data is stored permanently into the MindPlan link nodes of a portfolio map. It's visible in both Map and Gantt view.

To work with Portfolio maps, you need to upgrade to version 3.3 and then run the agent "1. MindPlan update 3.2 -> 3.3 / Add portfolio nodes" in the MindPlan configuration database (should be done only once by your Administrator):
Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!


The new root node type becomes available in the "New MindPlan" dialog after a restart of the MindPlan application:

Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!


In your new Portfolio MindPlan you then create MindPlan links to project nodes, deliverables or activities in the same database or even in a completely different one:
Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!


The project data is transferred from the linked nodes into the MindPlan links by using the action "Refresh portfolio" of the "Your next steps" sidebar panel:

Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!


There it is, your "one click multi project overview" in Map and Gantt view:
Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!

Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!


The red icon that you can see next to the link node title is a so called "due-date warning indicator". It is displayed when the linked node has assigned activities that are overdue.

The properties dialog of the Portfolio root node contains a few settings to configure the exact behaviour of the Portfolio analysis process:

Image:MindPlan 3.3 released!

With the option "Update of calculated values: Update target-nodes as well" you can make the portfolio process also write the project data into the linked node. This can be handy if you would like to display this data using classic Lotus Notes views.

New features in MindPlan / eOffice CRM combination

The following list is a translation of the German MindPlan 3.3 announcement which also includes presentation slides. Unfortunately, the announcement is not yet available in English language.

  • additional information in the project form: risk analysis, stateholder, project participants
  • Status reports for different target audiences
  • Automatation of standard processes by using workflows
  • Integrated helpdesk system: assign support requests to projects, synchronize progress between the two
  • close integration into Weilgut Document Management System (DMS) and into the Weilgut group calendar
  • activity synchronization and management with Weilgut ToDo Manager without media discontinuity
  • direct assignment of time records to MindPlan project activities

What's next?

It's a bit early for screenshots or official announcements, but let's say we are working on a pretty huge Eclipse based development framework for application development for standalone, web based and mobile applications, with data storage in Lotus Notes/Domino or any other database system... :-)
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/01.12.2011091605KLEBQ7.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/01.12.2011091605KLEBQ7.htm?opendocument&comments MindPlan compatibility with Lotus Notes 8.5.2 Thu, 4 Nov 2010 10:05:36 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/04.11.2010100535KLECP4.htm News / Announcements Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/04.11.2010100535KLECP4.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/04.11.2010100535KLECP4.htm list of changes in MindPlan 3.2.2 that was posted last week, please also note that MindPlan 3.2.2 is the first release that is officially supported on Lotus Notes 8.5.2.
Earlier MindPlan releases might have stability issues with this new Lotus Notes version, which can lead to application crashes. The crashes were caused by some changes in Lotus Notes that caused code, that was running without errors in earlier Notes versions to crash in 8.5.2.

So if you are using Lotus Notes 8.5.2, please upgrade to MindPlan 3.2.2.
And if you are not using Lotus Notes 8.5.2, please also upgrade to MindPlan 3.2.2.

:-)
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/04.11.2010100535KLECP4.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/04.11.2010100535KLECP4.htm?opendocument&comments MindPlan 3.22 released! Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:19:20 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/30.10.2010114553KLECXN.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/30.10.2010114553KLECXN.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/30.10.2010114553KLECXN.htm That means, it does not contain many new features, we focused on customer feedback instead to fix some annoying issues of previous releases.

Here are some of the things that we were working on:
  • Windows version: loading of MindPlan maps is much faster now
    caused by new optimized C code that directly reads data from Lotus Notes (not via Java); Linux/Mac support for this not done yet, will be coming in a later release; complete performance gain requires updating the database template to the newest version
  • Resource selection box reimplemented
    names can now be sorted by lastname or firstname (configurable via File/Preferences); no more autocompletion while typing, replaced with a type-ahead box that supports fuzzy search queries
  • Performance in maps with many activity dependencies much better now
  • New memory diagnosis feature
    via "Help/Support request/Memory diagnosis" you can now analyze how much RAM MindPlan gets from your system and see what is already used/free; useful to track stability issues caused by out of memory errors e.g. in the Composite Application version, where the default heap size of 256 MB RAM is very low and should be increased for power users
  • MindPlan is now using the Standard Java runtime of Sun/Oracle
    improved stability and much faster startup performance than in previous releases; runtime is included in MindPlan program directory, can optionally be replaced by changing the config.ini file in the program directory; process mpui.exe is now integrated in the MindPlan.exe process (only one process in Windows Task Manager)
  • New standalone application installer
    caused by replacing the Java runtime environment (previous installer was part of the old Java runtime product); standards based MSI package for easier automatic deployment via software distribution; installation issues for Vista/Win7 fixed
  • Standalone version now also runs on Linux (still unsupported)
    as an alternative for the supported Composite Application build, the standalone MindPlan version can now also be used on Linux via the start script mp_start.sh
  • Dual display support
    application window handling now supports maximizing on the primary and secondary monitor and restores the window on the last used monitor
  • Fixed several other bugs and crashes
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/30.10.2010114553KLECXN.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/30.10.2010114553KLECXN.htm?opendocument&comments MindPlan 3.21 released! Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:25:50 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/11.04.2010232924KLET5Q.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/11.04.2010232924KLET5Q.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/11.04.2010232924KLET5Q.htm MindPlan 3.21 build 201004031431. It contains stability fixes and two new features.

The first new feature is already described in an earlier blog posting. It's a customizable welcome tab.

The second new feature is an enhancement to the access control system of MindPlan:There is a new option in the "Access rights" tab of root nodes.

Image:MindPlan 3.21 released!

The option "Resources automatically have edit rights on their activities" is only visible, when the database version that you use is 3.2.1 or higher. We did this because we had to modify the design of the database to add a new author field to the nodes, which is used in activity nodes to give edit rights to the activity resource.
This new option makes working with the access control system a lot easier. Until now, you had to manually give edit rights to a worker to let him document his activity progress in the MindPlan node. If the option is activated, this step is not required anymore, access rights are granted automatically.

Please note that activity resources are allowed to change all the activity properties, as long as the activity status is "In design". After it has left this phase, e.g. to "In Implementation", the user can only edit the lower part of the activity properties.

Image:MindPlan 3.21 released!

Hint: The access control system does only work properly if the users have author access in the database's ACL. If a user has editor rights or more, he is allowed to edit all MindPlan data and the access control system is deactivated.


]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/11.04.2010232924KLET5Q.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/11.04.2010232924KLET5Q.htm?opendocument&comments MindPlan is sexy Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:30:52 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/18.03.2010163228KLEL7V.htm Features Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/18.03.2010163228KLEL7V.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/18.03.2010163228KLEL7V.htm
One requirement is already my favorite one: customizable welcome tab images.

The customer did not really like the default MindPlan welcome screen. Maybe the smart MindPlan user was a bit too relaxed:

Image:MindPlan is sexy

The requirement was to have the welcome tab images configurable.

Well, and of course we tested our new feature...

Image:MindPlan is sexy

So, after more than five years of MindPlan development, the product has actually become sexy. :-)

How you can customize your welcome screen
Well, first of all, you need to have a MindPlan 3.2 build version that is equal or greater than 201003172155. That means the download that is officially available today will not work. Now that's a good reason to update when it is available. :-)

After upgrading to the new 3.2 build, you can define a few Notes.ini variables to set your own tab layout.
Here is the format:

$wMPCustomHomeTab_ < nr > =
     < ORIENTATION > , < STRETCHING > , < Z-INDEX > , < IMAGEURL >

For < ORIENTATION > you have the choice between CENTER, EAST, NORTH, NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST, SOUTH, SOUTHEAST, SOUTHWEST, WEST and TILE.

< STRETCHING > tells MindPlan how the image should be scaled: NO_STRETCH, STRETCH, STRETCH_KEEP_RATIO, STRETCH_X and STRETCH_Y.

The < Z-INDEX > is the paint order, which is starting with 0 and the < IMAGEURL > can either be a relative URL (e.g. to use our internal standard images) or an absolute one, both file:// and http:// protocol do work.
< nr > is an index starting with 1.

So here is an example that just displays the standard tab images:

$wMPCustomHomeTab_1=
     NORTHWEST,STRETCH,0,images/systemimages/home/Skyline_33pcnt.png
$wMPCustomHomeTab_2=
     NORTHEAST,NO_STRETCH,3,images/systemimages/home/Logo_60pcnt.png
$wMPCustomHomeTab_3=
     SOUTHEAST,NO_STRETCH,1,images/systemimages/home/Typ_40pcnt.png
$wMPCustomHomeTab_4=
     SOUTHWEST,NO_STRETCH,2,images/systemimages/home/freeyourmind_60pcnt.png

The concept is more powerful/geeky than you might think, because we also added @formula support:

$wMPCustomHomeTab_3=
     formula://_rnd:=@Round(@Random*1);"SOUTHEAST,NO_STRETCH,1,"+
     @If(_rnd=0; "file:///c:/angelina.png";
     "images/systemimages/home/Typ_40pcnt.png")

A calculated image line is ignored if the formula just returns "-".

So by using formulas, you can even calculate the images dynamically and have a surprise each time you start MindPlan. :-)

It's a bit difficult to test the tab image definitions right now. The easiest way to recreate the welcome tab is to go into "File/Preferences", deselect the "show welcome-tab" option, hit "Apply" and then select it again.
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/18.03.2010163228KLEL7V.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/18.03.2010163228KLEL7V.htm?opendocument&comments Mac version of MindPlan 3.2 officially released and supported Sat, 6 Mar 2010 19:06:22 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2010190659KLEP93.htm Mac Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2010190659KLEP93.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2010190659KLEP93.htm
Please note that you need at least a Lotus Notes 8.5 client, Leopard operating system and preinstalled MindPlan databases to use this version.

You can use the installation database that is available in the Windows section to install the required databases. Just select the sample databases, online help and design templates from the list of installation components (and deselect the MindPlan windows application).

Image:Mac version of MindPlan 3.2 officially released and supported
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/06.03.2010190659KLEP93.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2010190659KLEP93.htm?opendocument&comments MindPlan 3.2 released! Fri, 5 Mar 2010 17:10:29 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/05.03.2010171101KLELYM.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/05.03.2010171101KLELYM.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/05.03.2010171101KLELYM.htm
The Mac standalone version and the MindPlan version that does not require an installed Lotus Notes client (technical name "MindPlan DOLS") will follow in the next 7-10 days. ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/05.03.2010171101KLELYM.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/05.03.2010171101KLELYM.htm?opendocument&comments I can smell a MindPlan 3.2 release :-) Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:25:18 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010102513KLED3D.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010102513KLED3D.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010102513KLED3D.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/26.02.2010102513KLED3D.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010102513KLED3D.htm?opendocument&comments Critical Path analysis in MindPlan 3.2 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:06:00 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010100555KLECPB.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010100555KLECPB.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010100555KLECPB.htm critical path method (CPM) analysis in the Gantt view!

We have added a new toolbar, right below the Map/Gantt tabs, for this purpose that you can use to activate Map and Gantt specific features. There can you find the button to activate the CPM visualization.
In our sample project, it looks pretty colorful ;-).

Image:Critical Path analysis in MindPlan 3.2

In red, the critical path is highlighted. Those are activities that are critical for the final deadline of the project (as final deadline we take the latest milestone or activity). The green and yellow bars indicate the earliest and latest possible date for an activity, based on their predecessor/successor position in the project to not extend the final deadline.

That sample MindPlan is actually more complex than it might look like. It's more obvious when you take a look at the map view :-)

Image:Critical Path analysis in MindPlan 3.2


This feature is brought to you by "Mr. Critical Path" Tammo Riedinger. :-) ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/26.02.2010100555KLECPB.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/26.02.2010100555KLECPB.htm?opendocument&comments New kid in town: MindPlan version for users *without* Lotus Notes coming in January 2010! Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:53:22 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.11.2009160406KLEKGE.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.11.2009160406KLEKGE.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.11.2009160406KLEKGE.htm elsewhere on the web, something was going on in MindPlan land this summer.

Yesterday, at the Notesusertage conference in Karlsruhe, Germany, we officially announced the upcoming release of a brand new MindPlan version.

In the past years, there were two questions that customers kept asking us over and over again:

1. My company is not using Lotus Notes. Do you have a version that runs without a Lotus Notes client?

2. How can we include external project co-workers in our MindPlan team that don't have Lotus Notes?

Today we're proud to announce that a new MindPlan version will be the answer to both questions.

The DOLS edition
Our internal technical name for this development project was "DOLS version".
For those who are not familiar with the word "DOLS": it's the short form for "Domino Off-Line Services", a technology that was originally built by IBM to take Lotus Notes web applications offline and provide replication features comparable to a normal Lotus Notes client.

Well, with a little bit of magic, this is not the only use case for DOLS any more. DOLS now is the perfect runtime environment for the MindPlan application.

So, MindPlan is still NSF-based, which means that we continue to store data in secure and reliable Lotus Notes databases, but as a user of this "MindPlan DOLS edition", you don't see anything of it! It's a complete background technology.

Easy setup
This new MindPlan edition will ship as a standard Windows installer package (MSI file), that does not require the existence of an installed Lotus Notes client.
Three easy steps are required to work with this edition:
  • install it
  • start it
  • enter your name
Then you're done and MindPlan is ready to use.

It also does not interfere with an installed normal MindPlan application or Lotus Notes client. All the data is kept in separate directories.

Real team work
Although you don't see the Lotus Notes user interface, we still provide nearly the full range of features of the normal MindPlan edition:
  • full support for data replication with Notes/Domino to work in a team with others
  • the replication can be initiated directly from within the MindPlan application
  • work online on a Domino server or offline in a local replica
  • You can offer hosting of MindPlan databases for your customers
  • as an alternative to team work with others, MindPlan can also be used in a single user scenario
    (in this case, MindPlan automatically generates the necessary Lotus Notes ID file and databases for local use)
One caveat - richtext is read-only
For this very first release of the MindPlan DOLS edition, we had to limit one feature, which is caused by the lack of a graphical Lotus Notes user interface:
We can only offer the richtext of a MindPlan node in read-only mode, because we do not have a proper editor in Java that produces round-trippable Notes richtext (to be able to heavily exchange Richtext contents between DOLS and Standard users without data loss).
But you have full support for file attachments and you can of course use the title/description of a MindPlan node to enter your text.

In a future MindPlan version, we will provide our own graphical text editor that can be used as an alternative to Notes richtext and that stores its data in parallel to the Richtext in the node (e.g. in HTML or RTF format).

Interested in a beta version?
The first MindPlan partners received an alpha code drop of this new MindPlan edition in August 2009. We have already reached the beta stage by now. So if you don't want to wait until January 2010 (hmm... I think there is an IBM conference in January; might be a coincidence ;-) ), just send us an email at

support @ mindplan.de

with a subject like "I want that MindPlan DOLS version now!" to participate in the beta program. :-)
Please also add some information about your system (this is Windows only, so tell us about the Windows version you use and the basic hardware setup).

P.S.: The normal MindPlan 3.2 editions and the first officially available MindPlan Mac version will also be released at the end of January 2010.

P.P.S: Well, now it's finally clear why we added the richtext preview panel and the replication support. :-)





]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/06.11.2009160406KLEKGE.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.11.2009160406KLEKGE.htm?opendocument&comments New beta build available: MindPlan 3.1 for the Mac (Standalone Edition) with Snow Leopard fixes Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:30:46 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/29.10.2009144051KLEHUS.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/29.10.2009144051KLEHUS.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/29.10.2009144051KLEHUS.htm You can now find an updated beta version of MindPlan 3.1 in the Mac section of the MindPlan beta forum.

We are heavily working on version 3.2, but we release this new Mac build of MindPlan 3.1 because of the increasing customer demand for the Snow Leopard fixes.

Please keep in mind that Snow Leopard is not yet a supported platform for Lotus Notes 8.5/8.5.1 itself and there are indeed some visual and functional issues in the Notes client (like missing icons on the legacy C-Client part of Notes).

MindPlan 3.2 is not really far away. Yesterday, an updated internal test build went to our test team.

More on this in a later posting. ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/29.10.2009144051KLEHUS.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/29.10.2009144051KLEHUS.htm?opendocument&comments MindPlan Mac beta in Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard): Issues under investigation Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:37:16 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/31.08.2009003716KLEUJC.htm Mac Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/31.08.2009003716KLEUJC.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/31.08.2009003716KLEUJC.htm In short, Snow Leopard is not currently supported by the MindPlan 3.1 Standalone beta for the Mac, because there are a few issues that we need to fix first.

The issues that we have discovered so far:
Issues in JFileChooser:
The "Open MindPlan" dialog is not working due to changes in the internal structure of the Java Virtual Machine. We were using JVM version 1.5 so far, but Snow Leopard forces applications to use 1.6. It does not contain 1.5 at all, just links from "1.5" directories to the "1.6" directories. Our code referenced classes from 1.5 that have changed in 1.6, which is breaking the dialog functionality.

NullPointerException in license manager dialog:
The license manager throws an exception when you click on a license row entry with the left mouse button.

Issues with Application window in Expose:
Sometimes the application window is not displayed in the OS X Expose view. Instead, there is a hidden window "mindmap.notes.MindplanControlFrame". This window is only used in the Windows OS (the Mac version uses the same code) and did not show up in Mac OS X Leopard.

Current status:
There may be other issues. Tests have just begun yesterday right after the OS upgrade.
The first two issues are already fixed, the Expose issue is being worked on. It looks like it will not take long until the beta version is working properly again.

I will publish a new MindPlan 3.1 Mac beta build in the MindPlan forum as soon as it is available. I will also start an internal discussion to officially release and support the standalone Mac version. That´s really overdue, but we were working on a different code stream in the last months. More on this in a later posting in the MindPlan blog.

Regarding the MindPlan Composite Application version for the Mac:
IBM development has notified us that issues that we had with the MindPlan CA version in Notes 8.5 (keyboard shortcuts not working) have been addressed in the latest Design Partner Code Drop of Lotus Notes 8.5.1.
We still need to verify this.
Those issues were a showstopper for a MindPlan CA release on Notes 8.5, so hopefully we can release the CA version as soon as 8.5.1 is out. ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/31.08.2009003716KLEUJC.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/31.08.2009003716KLEUJC.htm?opendocument&comments From the MindPlan labs: Support for data replication in the MindPlan application Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:09:09 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009130909KLEF4A.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009130909KLEF4A.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009130909KLEF4A.htm There is a new "Replicate and refresh" function in the "Extras" menu:

Image:From the MindPlan labs: Support for data replication in the MindPlan application

When you click on that new menu entry, you will see a server selection dialog. The dialog contains all the servers that you used in previous replications (it gets them from the database's replication history). The last replication server is preselected:

Image:From the MindPlan labs: Support for data replication in the MindPlan application

We then replicate the database with the selected Domino server. The replication can be aborted and you can see a replication progress bar.
Support for abortion and the progress bar is something that you cannot achieve using the normal Notes Java API. But with a little help from the C API, it works like a charm. :-)

]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/25.06.2009130909KLEF4A.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009130909KLEF4A.htm?opendocument&comments From the MindPlan labs: Support for node richtext in the MindPlan application Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:29:39 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009122930KLEEBH.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009122930KLEEBH.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009122930KLEEBH.htm Our latest MindPlan developer build contains a function to retrieve the formatted richtext of MindPlan nodes, including picture and table support. My developer colleague "Mr. C and JNI" Tammo Riedinger made that possible by leveraging functions from the Lotus Notes C API. They convert the Notes richtext to HTML (like the Domino webserver does) that we can display in the application:

Image:From the MindPlan labs: Support for node richtext in the MindPlan application

We're still searching for the right place for such a panel. An alternative location might be a new property dialog tab.

Please note, that this is a read-only panel. It's still necessary to switch to Lotus Notes to edit the richtext.
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/25.06.2009122930KLEEBH.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/25.06.2009122930KLEEBH.htm?opendocument&comments New analysis feature in next MindPlan version: AND/OR support in filter Thu, 7 May 2009 13:46:15 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/07.05.2009134627KLEFTF.htm MindPlan Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/07.05.2009134627KLEFTF.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/07.05.2009134627KLEFTF.htm The most relevant thing is support for AND/OR in the filter selection of an analysis view:

Image:New analysis feature in next MindPlan version: AND/OR support in filter

In previous versions, all the filters in the list were automatically concatenated with an AND operation.
Now you have the choice between AND, OR, NOT AND and NOT OR. To build all possible expressions, the filter list is a tree from now on. If you only add one filter to the list, you won't see the difference. But after adding another filter, both appear indented below an AND node.
(For hardcore users: AND/OR can also be nested, there's no limit in depth)

There are also four new filters in the current developer build:
  • resource (company)
  • resource (department)
  • resource (role)
  • resource (group)

With them, you can filter out activities for parts of your organizational structure (defined in the MindPlan configuration database).

On the categorization page, the list of categories has become quiet large and confusing over the years. Many customers asked for some kind of sorting in the list.
So this is how the new list looks like:

Image:New analysis feature in next MindPlan version: AND/OR support in filter

In addition to those dialog changes, we also added a refresh functionality to the analysis views. They now check for new data when you press F9, like it's done for normal maps. No need to close/reopen them any more.
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/07.05.2009134627KLEFTF.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/07.05.2009134627KLEFTF.htm?opendocument&comments Slow MindPlan execution on Windows XP SP1 Fri, 6 Mar 2009 19:25:25 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2009192525KLEPLY.htm Tips / How To’s Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2009192525KLEPLY.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2009192525KLEPLY.htm
We had an interesting support call today. It was about a slowly running MindPlan application. *Very* slow startup time and map handling.
The cause was an old Windows XP installation (SP1 instead of SP2 oder SP3). Upgrading to a more recent SP solved it...

...and it also reduced the risk that your PC might get hacked :-)

In this case, the machine was a virtual machine inside VMWare on Mac OS X, but maybe it's a general issue. ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/06.03.2009192525KLEPLY.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/06.03.2009192525KLEPLY.htm?opendocument&comments Slides of our Lotusphere presentation with sample code Mon, 9 Feb 2009 15:27:46 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/09.02.2009152746KLEJYF.htm Lotusphere2009 Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/09.02.2009152746KLEJYF.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/09.02.2009152746KLEJYF.htm Here you can download the presentation itself (our part of the presentation), a document with links to further information as well as the Eclipse (3.4) workspace with the sample sources.

The samples show different levels of integration of a legacy Swing application into the Lotus Notes 8 Standard client.
Image:Slides of our Lotusphere presentation with sample code
Standalone legacy Swing application: Multiple views with menubar and toolbar


Image:Slides of our Lotusphere presentation with sample code
Basic integration:
One tab containing the complete legacy application with Swing menubar and toolbar


Image:Slides of our Lotusphere presentation with sample code
Advanced integration:
One tab containing the content pane of the legacy application.
Menubars and toolbars dynamic contributions to the Lotus Notes Standard client UI

]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/09.02.2009152746KLEJYF.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/09.02.2009152746KLEJYF.htm?opendocument&comments How to automatically download all the Lotusphere slides Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:54:10 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/24.01.2009185410KLENZE.htm Lotusphere Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/24.01.2009185410KLENZE.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/24.01.2009185410KLENZE.htm
Image:How to automatically download all the Lotusphere slides

Here are instructions, how you can also do that.
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/24.01.2009185410KLENZE.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/24.01.2009185410KLENZE.htm?opendocument&comments Our Lotusphere session Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:10:46 +0200 http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/20.01.2009151139KLEJMR.htm Lotusphere Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/20.01.2009151139KLEJMR.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/20.01.2009151139KLEJMR.htm
AD303: Leveraging 3rd Party Components in IBM Lotus Notes Composite Applications


The demos and list of web resources will be here in the blog in about a week. We still need to do some polishing and documentation.

Just watch this blog by subscribing to the RSS feed.
]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/20.01.2009151139KLEJMR.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/20.01.2009151139KLEJMR.htm?opendocument&comments Update for the Composite Application issues in 8.5 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:33:37 +0200 last blog posting, with NotesUIWorkspace.IsInCompositeApp and NotesUIWorkspace.GetComponentViewPreference seem to be fixed. You just have to define the property "com.ibm.notes.enable.preferences = true" at page level in the Composite Application. Then Lotusscript "knows" that it's running inside a CA component. It was more a documentation issue, because it's not mentioned in the Designer's online help. However, it's here in the wiki: http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/compappwiki.nsf/revisions/AA7A9FFD70CA64F985257456005401D8?OpenDocument The wiki is the new online help ;-) Maybe a MindPlan wiki would be good as well... ... ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/15.01.2009003337KLEVMK.htm Lotus Notes 8.5 Karsten Lehmann http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/15.01.2009003337KLEVMK.htm?opendocument&comments http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/15.01.2009003337KLEVMK.htm last blog posting, with

NotesUIWorkspace.IsInCompositeApp
and
NotesUIWorkspace.GetComponentViewPreference(...)

seem to be fixed. You just have to define the property

"com.ibm.notes.enable.preferences = true"

at page level in the Composite Application. Then Lotusscript "knows" that it's running inside a CA component.

It was more a documentation issue, because it's not mentioned in the Designer's online help.
However, it's here in the wiki:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/compappwiki.nsf/revisions/AA7A9FFD70CA64F985257456005401D8?OpenDocument

The wiki is the new online help ;-)

Maybe a MindPlan wiki would be good as well... ]]> http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dxcomments/15.01.2009003337KLEVMK.htm http://blog.mindplan.com/mindplan/blog.nsf/dx/15.01.2009003337KLEVMK.htm?opendocument&comments