Lotus Notes Developer - a good choice? 1

[lambic]

Hi All,

I was wondering whether anybody had an opinion on choosing Lotus Notes as a development tool.

We have version 6.0 where I work, but just really use it as an email system. We currently use MS Access and SQL server to develop database applications.

Are we missing out by not developing in Notes? It seems like a good choice to me, as most of our clients have Notes loaded anyway.

I've never really looked into using Notes for development (mainly due to lack of time!) so don't really know how difficult it is to learn or how good it is for creating database apps.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks

Mark

 

[camelot2]

I was curious about this too. Somebody help!!

Don’t sweat it! Just do it!

 

[lespaul]

First of all, you need to realize that Notes isn't a standard database. You don't create tables, you create documents. Each document has fields, so when you are looking for something in Notes you are looking for a matching document.

Just for an example, I developed a Notes application for use at the Jail. Every person who gets arrested is interviewed to see if they qualify to be Released on their own recognizance (ROR) or perhaps only post 10% of the bond. So, we have an interview form that is filled out for each person interviewed. I can also copy a previous interview (for those who don't learn quickly!) so that only new information needs to be entered rather than the entire interview. But each interview is it's own document, it's not a record added to a table.

It's also a very different development tool than any of the MS based products.

There is a Lotus:NotesDesigner (Forum245) that you may want to browse through to get more details.

Leslie

 

[benlinkknilneb]

The positive side:
Notes handles document tracking very well. If it's a system that requires people to sign off on a document before releasing it or something like that, Notes would be a good way to go.

The negative side:
Notes isn't really relational. If you're searching for something, it's a lot more complicated than a SELECT query. If you're dealing with a lot of numbers and calculations, Notes probably isn't the way to go.

I guess my opinion is probably biased away from Notes... ever since I learned SQL, I've really liked it because of its simplicity.

Ben
A programmer was drowning. Lots of people watched but did nothing. They couldn't understand why he yelled "F1!"

 

[Stella740pl]

I created a few applications in Lotus Notes a few years ago, and loved it, even though I usually work with relational databases. I was even thinking about switching my career to it, so I took couple of classes, passed couple of certification exams, but then life made it's corrections to my plans.

Well, the main thing is to differentiate between applications that are appropriate for Notes, and those that would be much better off with Access, SQL or something else. The learning was not that difficult, but if you can get some training, don't pass on it.

In the company I worked for at that time Lotus Notes was widely used for inter-office communication applications of all kinds, as it tracks documents very well, has mail-in databases, etc, and this was a very large company with branches in different countries. There were collections of policies and rules, classified ads for employees, vacation request tracking system which mailed the requests to the managers for the decision as well as kept in the system, and then mailed the status of the request or manager's signed decision back to the employee, requests for hardware change/purchase, forums for professionals, and plenty of other things.

Stella.

 

[pmonett]

I have been working with Notes for nine years now. I really like what you can do with it.
Unfortunately, most people do not know either how to use it or what to ask from it, and that includes managers. Which means either :
1) you are asked to design and implement a project that nobody uses or nobody uses well

or

2) you are asked to design a project following specifications that would work fine for an Access or other RDBM system.

Notes is not relational AT ALL. Notes is based on Documents, meaning that it is a great engine to deal with administrative, procedural hassles.
Notes can "simulate" relational functioning, but it is an illusion and one should not depend on that.

Notes is great. If only users and managers could get over their blinding attachment to Access and Outlook, it would be paradise.

Pascal.

 

[SouthWizard]

I've been working with Lotus Notes from version 4.0 up to now( 6.x), actually i am a Principal CLP in Lotus Notes. I also work with relational databases and program in Visual Basic or Java.
Lotus Notes in an application server who brings a document model database, a workflow development platform, an
e-bussiness server and a RAD (Rapid Aid Development) environment for data warehousing and show relational database information and legacy information.
The documental world is different from the relational world; you have to think different. For example: LN handles collections of documents instead of tables, you don't have rules and rollback....
To handle document processes is a very powerful tool.

Hope you understand my english as is not my mother tongue.

Cesar

 

[Onyxpurr]

Never seen it but apparently you can be a big time web developer for a nationally syndicated radio talk show with it. (inside joke for those of you that know)