Version control guidelines for Lotus Notes / Domino development

Question

Tell us how you perform version control for Lotus Notes / Domino development.

I want to add all scripts, views, user forms, script libraries, etc. to our SVN repository.

Semi-automatic methods are also accepted (i.e. if I find a way to get all the event scripts for the form in one file and be able to put it back into Notes Designer as a whole).

Answer 1

The openntf project management directory can be used for version control. It uses the dxl method mentioned by kerr. www.openntf.org/projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/DesignCatalog

In lotusphere, lotus911 mentioned that they used the Design Catalog in conjunction with Trigger Happy. www.openntf.org/projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/Trigger%20Happy

Answer 2

The short answer is that you cannot do it reliably in an automatic or semi-automatic way. If DXL had full accuracy and full round-trip capability, you could keep exporting design elements to SVN, but there are places where DXL is not good enough.

The only real control over the versions that you use is the simplest third-party providers, such as TeamStudio CIAO .

Update:

Some people have reported success in exporting elements in a binary encoded format that retains full accuracy upon import. This allows for round trips for version control purposes.

Answer 3

I think I could share how we control the versions - we tried CIAO, but the constant checkin / out became cumbersome when we had to "recompile all LotusScript" several times a day.

Our current solution uses three patterns: Dev , Test, and Prod . There is also a small internal designed utility database that ...

• You can take “snapshots” (full copies) of the Dev template and track them.
• Replace the Test and Prod design with the selected snapshot.

A recent addition to this utility database was the ability to remove the inheritance of a design element when creating a snapshot. This gives us the opportunity to use the inheritance of the design level in the Dev environment, but do not delay the Test and Prod templates without unpleasant surprises (except for those built into the client ...).

We also perform some health checks - checking for "Copy" and "Another copy" of elements - perhaps a lot more functionality is added here.

I think one could develop a similar solution using SVN as storage for snapshot files.

Edit

Snapshots are created simply by NotesDatabase.CreateCopy . In the new copy we will do the following:

• Set the default privileged ACL.
• Clear design inheritance .
• Disable all agents
• Set the generated template name (using Davide Varottos DatabaseProperties )
• Compact and sign.

Answer 4

According to Kerr, the only complete version control system for Domino (and it's worth it) is Teamstudio CIAO!

With Domino Designer in Eclipse ("DDE"), which is part of the Domino toolkit from version 8.5, there is talk of adding additional version control features. This partly depends on the ability of version control systems to handle the elements of virtual file systems in the Notes database, all of which are discrete components in the NSF file (Notes database), and not just flat files on disk (which obviously work well with Subversion, CVS, etc.).

Answer 5

It was received by Team Studio CIAO, and it is not shareware and it is not cheap, but if you add to the configurator to search for objects and code (and find and replace if necessary) and Delta to compare templates or a database with templates and it pays for itself many times.

I take design snapshots on a regular basis, and the verification process is not checked if you are serious about good version control. I list this as a must-have tool for my clients if they have built-in developers.

You only need this in the development environment, since you should not make any code changes in the UAT or live! I also store code snippets and useful / reusable functions in the Lotus Notes database, then you can just cut and paste it to other places if you want to reuse it.

I understand that when talking with the guys from the studio team, version 8.5 will be more fully integrated with the client of the designer and, therefore, will be even easier to use, although they have not yet seen it in action.

Answer 6

I came across this question. Everything has changed, (openntf) GIT can be used now. And / Or Source code to enable SVN / CVS . 8.5.3 is supposed to include source code fixes.

Answer 7

Teamstudio are the best products on the market. I used them and I have no problems. They are not cheap, but if you are doing something that requires several developers, or a controlled release is required for the change process, you need to get CIAO.

http://www.teamstudio.com

NOTE. I don’t get paid for sponsorship.