HTTP 404 errors when previewing new XPages

I'm going through a tutorial on XPages. After creating a new XPage and when I save the document, a message prompt me that Automatic Build is not selected. I ignore the message and proceed. I tried to preview the Xpage but got a 404 error.

It seems that after saving the XPage, it have to be build. It can be done through enabling automatically build or right click on the XPage and click build.

Previous experience developing Lotus application, I do not need to compile or build any forms, scripts, etc. The Lotus designer will handle all of those. Now it seems that the designer is moving something similar to Java Eclipse base IDE. I feel that this is a step backwards. The designer should be keep simple and straightforward as the previous version.

Internet Explorer 8 - IE8

Internet Explorer 8 is officially released. Would be downloading it and test all the web application on it. Wonder how many application will be broken?

WebSphere Portlet Factory Fixpack 6.1.2.1 for Portlet Factory v6.1.2

WebSphere Portlet Factory Fixpack 6.1.2.1 for Portlet Factory v6.1.2 is out. Get the update at IBM update site here.

Learning XPages By Declan Lynch

Head over to Learning XPages By Declan Lynch site. Looks like a great place to pick up XPages in Lotus Domino 8.5.

Adding portlet into People Palette or Content Palette page in WebSphere Portal 6.1

I want to add the Sametime Contact List portlet into the People Palette page in WebSphere Portal 6.1. First thing you will notice is that the page design is lock so you cannot add in any extra portlet. So unlock the portlet area to put additional portlet.

After putting in the Sametime Contact List portlet, I tried to view the People Palette but it is not showing. On IBM support page - Theme does not allow the addition of portlets to flyouts. This is a solution for Portal 6.0. The people finder portlet in the page is automatically maximise thus any additional portlet is hidden. If you restore the people finder portlet, you can see the portlet that is added.

In WPS 6.1, you cannot use the fix from the list. The fix can be done at the theme page, flyout.jspf. On the line

<portal-navigation:urlGeneration contentNode='ibm.portal.People Palette' layoutNode='ibm.portal.People Palette Control' newWindow='true' portletWindowState='Maximized'>

You can remove the portletWindowState='Maximized'. This will show the portlets in default state. Thus when open the people palette page it can show multiple portlets immediately.

This also applies to the Content Palette page.

<portal-navigation:urlGeneration contentNode='ibm.portal.Content Palette' layoutNode='ibm.portal.Content Palette Control' newWindow='true' portletWindowState='Maximized'>

The 5 Most Under-Used HTML Tags

Sitepoint highlighted 5 most underused HTML Tags, <label>, <fieldset> <legend>, <optgroup>, <dl> <dt> <dd> and <q> <cite>.
Personally, I do use <fieldset> <legend> and <optgroup>. Click here to view the full article.

Portlet Factory update design shortcut tips - copy model directly

When developing in Portlet Factory, I do the testing on my local server because it is faster than deploying onto the development websphere portal server. But somethings we have to develop and test directly in a portal server. What you have to do is to deploy the project onto the portal server. As you know the deployment will take some time. So a faster way is to copy the model directly from your Portlet Factory Eclipse workspace into the Portal deployment path.

From
<workspace path>\<project>\WebContent\WEB-INF\models\helloworld.model

To
<portal wp_profile path>\installedApps\<cell>\<app.ear>\<app.war>\WEB-INF\models\helloworld.model

Once you copy from your workspace to the server. Log out of the portal and log back in. Presto, the model update is there. This is only recommended for development and testing purposes only. For production environment it is better to package the project and update the application deployment.