inbox in mail database suddenly no longer there 2

[blom0344]

Suddenly one of my users no longer has his inbox available when he opens his mail file.
The error message in the notes client is:

'Unable to load frame's content: Invalid or nonexisting document'

What could be the cause here?

T. Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[pmonett]

What client version is being used ?
What is the design version ?
Have you tried refreshing the design ?
If version 5 or 6 is being used, maybe the user created a personal desktop and deleted it by mistake.

 

[blom0344]

Whe are talking version 5 here, but I am just backing up our Notes administrator who is on vacation. The client version is 5.1.10. I think we are talking about a custom template for our company. How do I refresh the design? I know the admin module reasonably well ,but never worked with designer.
Please advice

T. Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[pmonett]

Design refresh is rather straightforeward. Select the database and use File/Database/Refresh Design.
Choose the server and validate.
If Inbox still not there, try the same but with Replace Design instead of refresh.

 

[blom0344]

I'll give it a try in the morning. Sounds pretty straightforward, indeed. (For a relational database guy, Notes is just too fuzzy to pick the obvious path )

T. Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[lespaul]

As a relational database gal, I have to agree with you! But once you get used to it, it's not that bad!!

leslie

 

[blom0344]

Thanks Leslie and Pmonett,

While we are on the subject of relational databases (I am using DB2/ORACLE/SQL server). Did one of you dable with ODBC to get data out of notes databases.
I'm looking into getting data out of both Notes and Interbase (?) through ODBC to show in a reporting tool.
I recently downloaded something that is called NotesSQL from the official notes site.

Pmonett, as a senior developer you may have used ODBC at a certain stage?

(P.s. Being myself a real FPS fanatic too, eagerly awaiting games like Half-life2, Far cry and S.T.A.L.K.E.R)

Cheers and thanks for the support..


T. Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[pmonett]

Well, Mr. Blom, given that we have similar priorities it seems we can only get along well together ;-)
As for ODBC, yes I have dabbled with it (and quacked too). There are several ways of getting ODBC access to a Notes db. NotesSQL will get you there, albeit less conveniently than some other products. I'm talking about InfoServ IS Pump (infoserv), or ReplicAction (casahl). But, when you find out the price of these packages, you'll probably be prompted to think that NotesSQL is quite good in the price/quality result.
Personally, I participated a few years ago in a study to find out which of three products was best. ReplicAction was under study, as was NotesPump (as it was called at the time) and one other. The end result was that ReplicAction won the prize of best product by a fair margin.
Time has passed and Lotus/IBM has done a lot on ODBC and live access. Yet, I cannot forget that I did several ReplicAction installs following that study, and it never took me more than two hours to get the result the customer wanted, install time included. And I'm talking real-time access to DB2 databases on mainframe in a Notes frontend designed in 15 minutes (for example). So, if you do decide to go for the best, go casahl.
I know this could sound like product placement, but I have no interest in casahl, I work for an agricultural association that does use Domino but not any SQL/realtime products (and probably won't in any foreseeable future).
It would be interesting to do the study again, on all existing, up-to-date products. I'd be curious to see how much the industry has advanced in functionality.

On the other hand, Access is perfectly capable of accessing Notes databases via the specific Lotus Notes ODBC driver it includes (or included, at one time, in a previous version). I tried that for another customer and demonstrated quite easily that it worked. I have not tried with Office 2000 though.

So, in conclusion and to stop my reminiscing (old age getting to me already ?), I'll just wrap up by saying that I do not think you'll have any real trouble getting ODBC access to your Domino dbs via NotesSQL. Though you're probably in for a few headaches on understanding the quirks of it.

Have fun !

Pascal.

 

[blom0344]

I tried database --> Refresh design. This does not work.
I can try replace design, but since this is a custom template I risk causing even greater mayhem.
How can I find out which template is used for our standard mail files?

T. Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[pmonett]

The template is listed in the Database Properties panel, on the fourth tab.
Check the "Inherit from master template" field. That will give you the TEMPLATE NAME that the db refreshes from.
If the template name is "StdR5Mail", then you can go and replace the design without any problem. That name is assigned to the default Notes mail template (number changes per version).
If the replace does not work, we will have to check the design directly.

 

[blom0344]

Hello Pascal,

Agricultural you say, remarkable, I have worked in similar field for a number of years before moving to Shimano. (Health service for cattle; largest lab in europe)

I just got word from my user, seems the refresh did bring back the inbox in his client, but there is no mail in it at all. I just tried to replicate this mail database with the server, but no dice.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the ODBC info.........

Ties

 

[pmonett]

No mail does not mean he did not get any, it just means that when he did, there was no inbox to put it in, so Notes is showing it in the All Documents view.
If he goes to that view, he can check the unread docs and he will find his missing mail.
Now you just need to watch over the next incoming mails, or better yet, send him a test mail and go see if it shows up in the inbox correctly.

We decidedly have a few common points. It would be fun to meet on a HL2 server some time. Who knows ?

All the best,

Pascal.