The Lotus® Expeditor Client for Desktop 6.2.1 provides new application development functions over the previous release, Lotus Expeditor Client for Desktop 6.2.

Here are the highlights of these new application development functions:

General

The base installation of the Expeditor Desktop Client now uses the IBM JavaSE 6 Java Runtime Envirnment (JRE). DesktopEE is no longer provided with Expeditor 6.2.1. The desktop client now defaults to the JavaSE 6 IBM JRE, but continues to support external Java 5 and Java 6 JREs in the same manner as Expeditor 6.2.0.

The client has been upgraded to provide Eclipse RCP and supporting components at the 3.4.2 level.

Supported platforms added in this release include SELinux, App Armor, and Windows Server 2008.

Install

An Addon Installer provides a way to add new features to the currently installed Expeditor product. A customization tool is provided to easily build and customize the addon installer.

A feature panel has been added to the installation of Expeditor for the ability to select optional features during the install. The installer can be executed again to modify the installation of Expeditor, as well as the adding or removing optional features.

A global install handler action has been added that allows an admin installed feature to add entries to the plugin_customization.ini.

A validation tool has been added to catch common errors that occur when modifying the install kit. For example, invalid syntax, version mismatches, and missing resources. The tool tests three main areas to ensure that the install manifest and update site are valid for install.

Currently, when a new provisioning manifest is processed, the features are gathered and the install features are ignored. Instead of ignoring the install features, provisioning now creates or reuses an existing install feature with the existing provisioning manifest, retaining the install features definitions. This helps with future product updates to an application that could be installed by a Widget/Catalog, for example. The widget can later be upgraded using a product installer.

User Interface (UI)

The position of each launcher item is determined by the menu path of the item. If you contribute the item through the LauncherSet extension point, set the path attribute in the appropriate element (urlLauncherItem, perspectiveLauncherItem, nativeProgramLauncherItem, or launcherItem). If you contribute the item programmatically, set the item's path value after creating the launcher item by calling the setPath() method of com.ibm.rcp.ui.launcher.LauncherContributionItem.

To learn more please see the /ldd/lewikitest.nsf/dx/dqx1clauncher.htm#dqx1controllingthepositionoflauncheritems section in the 6.2.1 documentation on the Wiki.

Security

Expeditor now reads the timestamp signatures of signed plugins. Timestamping a signed plugin validates that at the time a plugin is signed, the signing certificate was valid. This provides the user or administrator with the option to trust timestamped signed plugins with an expired signature.

Expeditor now provides support for Windows SPNEGO authentication (Integrated Windows Authentication). Expeditor can now authenticate with servers in the same Active Directory domain without requiring any credentials from the user.

Browser

In Expeditor 6.2.1, the Xulrunner-based embedded browser now integrates with the Account Framework, while the IE-based embedded browser was done in Expeditor . When navigating to a URL, the embedded browser checks if any account entry(s) for the given server in the Expeditor Account framework. If any exist, the browser leverages the login function in the Account framework to perform an auto-login.

Before Expeditor 6.2.1, the IE-based embedded browser mapped all URLs to the intranet zone and only regarded the security settings in the IE stand-alone intranet zone. Now, in Expeditor 6.2.1, IE-based embedded browsers behave the same as stand-alone IE when mapping URLs to a security zone. It also regards the various zone security settings in IE stand-alone. In addition, application developers can override some security settings using APIs.

Internet Explorer versions 8, 7, and 6 are supported for use with the embedded browser in the Expeditor Desktop Client.

Other

The Windows Restricted Workbench environment was brought back this release, after being dropped from the Expeditor 6.2.0 release. There are no functional changes from previous releases, and Windows XP is the only supported Windows operating system for the Restricted Workbench environment.

A developer edition of the desktop client is now available for application developers. This version of the client is available for download from www.IBM.com. The developer edition cannot be used in a production environment and is only supported using the Expeditor forum.

A new API allows reloading user dictionaries on demand. User dictionaries are stored in the user workspace in XML format. The data is loaded into memory at start up. The API was introduced to update the memory copy on demand to make use of any updates to the persisted version of the dictionaries if they are updated independently from the User dictionary APIs. This new API is intended for user dictionaries existing only in Notes. For any other scenario, updating user dictionaries outside the Text analyzer framework is not encouraged. The User Dictionary APIs should be used to create, delete, or modify user dictionaries.

Deprecated Components

• Web Services Remote Portlet (WS-RP) support has been removed from the desktop client. Please contact IBM support for additional information.
• MQ Everyplace - Lotus Expeditor micro broker is the recommended messaging provider for use with Lotus Expeditor, and for connecting applications to the enterprise. This replaces MQ Everyplace (MQe). Usage of MQ Everyplace should be discontinued and applications should be changed to the use the Lotus Expeditor micro broker. The MQ Everyplace features are no longer part of the default client installation, but can be optionally installed from the product update site. MQ Everyplace will be completely removed in a future release.
• Configuration Admin - Lotus Expeditor recommends the use of Eclipse preferences rather than the Configuration Admin service. Eclipse preferences can be managed through the Expeditor Server or the Portal Server policy. Usage of the Configuration Admin service should be discontinued and applications should be changed to use Eclipse preferences. The Configuration Admin service will be removed in a future release.
• Common Inventory Technology (CIT) scanners used by the Enterprise Management Agent have been removed from the desktop client.