My Portal Project

So after two weeks of learning Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and converting basic RPC methods to real SOAP web services, I got a chance to load up Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2003 and create some basic web apps, and I have only one thing to say: holy shit is it easy!!

It came at a good time too, since I have become tired of how little IBM has done to make Domino a better web platform. Let’s face it, with all the work needed to get around its limitiations, we might as well be using tools that create apps from scratch. I know Domino has its place in IBM’s eyes, but I cannot help but wonder where it would be if any other company had the product. I have held back the criticisms over the years since I left ISSL, but I am glad that I have found another rapid development tool that reminds me of how much fun it used to be.

If you cannot get a license for .Net Studio, you can download a lighter version called Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition that will let you see how easy it is to create web apps. It comes with a developer version of IIS (called Cassini) so you do not need to install IIS.

Using .Net Studio I was able to create a web form that used my three Domino based web services (names lookup, group lookup, and mail send). It took a total of 168 lines of code with 80 of them default lines generated by .Net Studio. Once I get a better grasp on creating arrays from other .Net web controls I will be able to knock off a good 20-30 more lines. With object drag and drop, and grid positioning, your apps can be up and running in a ridiculous amount of time.

With my example, it took me 4 hours to create the form, and this is with validation and security. Now I am familiar with Java and Visual Basic, but I have not touched VB in 3 years and my Java use is pretty infrequent, so the learning curve was short but still there.

Of course everyone’s criticism will be “it locks you into Windows and IIS”, but so what! Domino locks you into a datastore and a web server also. Just because it can run on multiple OS’s makes it better?! I am not a convert by any stretch, since I am working for a Microsoft shop and have a very controlled environment to roll out apps, things are easy. The grid layout that Studio defaults to uses CSS positioning optimized for Internet Explorer, so things do not look nearly as nice in Firefox.

After the personal disappointment that was called Domino R7, I can only hope that IBM will kick some major ass with the next version of Domino because I am not sure there will be another chance to do so if they can not get it right.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 28th, 2005 at 10:01 am and is filed under Microsoft, Web Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.