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- I do in fact mean the property panels. It's where Events, Properties, and Problems are currently in my DDE. I've detached everything else because they all behave nicely when detached. These three do not, so I keep them at the bottom and keep that whole panel minimized, only opening it when I have a need to, which is increasingly rarely as I learn what to do in the Source editor.
I did an "upgrade" install of 8.5.1 from 8.5FP1 and did not change any settings. In fact, I didn't change any settings (that I recall) in 8.5 ... like Eclipse does and should do, it remembered the state of that panel when it was closed, and when launching it applies that saved state. I know this because 8.5 actually paints it open, during that long wait for launch, but by the time 8.5 DDE is fully initialized it's closed again. That's fine with me, long as when I put finger to keyboard it's where I left it.
8.5.1 does the same thing; initially paints it open, then it reverts to my saved state. Just as it paints the main content (to replace that silly "Home" thing), it reverts back to open even though it was just closed.
I should point out this has nothing to do with "classic" elements. It's an IDE-wide behaviour that I enjoy editing XPages or anything in DDE. Well I did enjoy. Now it's gone I don't enjoy it. (grin)
- I figured it didn't open 'the first database' for performance reasons, but it saves nothing when 'that first database' is the only database open in DDE. All it's done is make the developer do one more useless click before starting to work. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I very rarely have more than one database open in DDE at a time unless I'm copying elements from another location, in which case I close the extra the moment I'm done. I always remove the current database from DDE before opening another. I personally would rather have multiple instances of DDE, like R4 Designer used to support, instead of having tons of clutter crammed into the navigator. (shrug) It's not a huge deal, but when one works on four completely unrelated projects all day long, every day, those useless clicks add up.
I can tell you that 8.5.1 *instantly* opens 'that first database' after load, at least when it's the only one in the list. I'm not seeing how this degrades performance to have DDE open it for me.
Thanks for the clarification!
- I figured this weirdo intermediate page was primarily to duplicate the old "Edit Project" button, and didn't realize that each class created a separate .java file in the list now. That makes sense. The old behaviour, however, used to be to open the .java file with the same name as the Agent, which always used to be the first one, but may not be now. Then others would be editable from that point. What's wrong with that behaviour all of a sudden?
As for the project/other files/etc, I still believe this information is better suited to the Application panel. Make the Agent itself "expandable", just like the Agent list, and put this exact same tree of information under the Agent name. If one wants to edit the file with the same name, double-clicking on the Agent name will open it, perhaps opening the tree to display project-related information, perhaps with a preference setting to let the developer control that behaviour. If one wants to edit an alternate file, double-click it on the project tree. It would be even nicer to have the standard Eclipse behaviour of displaying methods and data elements, as an expansion under each .java file. I currently see that nowhere in the DDE incarnation.
- I found the Java editor under R6 to be acceptable. Just checked it out ... it takes about seven seconds to load a Java Agent, and it doesn't require more clicks and waiting to do so, which saves even more time. R8.5FP1 loads a Java Agent nearly instantly. Just launched that fresh, and opened an Agent, it was stunningly quick. I should point out that I am opening the same Agent from the same database on the same remote server for all of these comparisons.
- On a side note, I still see no way to run an Agent from the right-click context menu *for* the Agent. When I see a list of Agents in the Application panel, I should be able to run one right from there, not load the list of Agents (that I can already see) in the main content, right click, and run there. Same with sign, view log, enable, disable ... that should all be doable right from the Applications panel's Agent list. Maybe cascaded menu so it doesn't clutter stuff up so much, there already being quite a bit of Eclipse-default stuff there.
- BTW, I like how the the "are you sure" dialog when removing a database from 8.5.1 DDE now defaults to "yes", so I can click-ENTER and everything is gone. Definite improvement.
- More digression. (grin) We use CIAO! for template control, and it's more than little annoying that DDE forces me to check out build.xml and plug-in.xml, just to load the database. I realize they are likely managed by the automagic in Eclipse, but something has to be done about that. As it stands it is utterly and completely impossible for two developers to edit the same template, because the first will "grab" these two files, and the second will be unable to open DDE without them. We have a recent release of CIAO! as well, which is supposed to be "compatible" with 8.5. This implies Lotus didn't work with them to ensure product usability. Not a pleasant thought.
- I am not and never have, since I first loaded 8.5, suggesting that the properties box always do one thing or another. If you go back and look, what I've been pining for is that the DesignNoInitialInfobox setting in notes.ini be honored just like it used to be for R-prior. It wouldn't bother me if I didn't used to be able to turn it off. That's it.
- I am first in line to agree there are a ton of very nice things in DDE 8.5.1, and I whole-heartedly support the move to Eclipse as the base IDE. The down side is that even 8.5.1 DDE quite seriously comes across as a "work in progress", which makes it considerably less desirable for enterprise-level application development. Does that mean it can't be done? No in the slightest! It just means it's more of a PITA to do it, because DDE doesn't appear to have the developer focus that normal Eclipse does. The up side is that with Eclipse as the base IDE I feel this lack of developer focus is significantly easier to resolve.
Thank you very much for your time...
Feedback response number DGIE7X9RXF created by ~Holly Zekhipisonnivu on 10/28/2009
Hi Maureen. I'll attempt to clarify...
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. . . . Hi Maureen. I'll attempt to clarif... (~James Brewever... 28.Oct.09) 
