Low code is a software development platform that gives non-coders and coders alike the chance to develop applications through visual interfaces instead of traditional hand-coded programming.   In plain English, it’s the power to create processes without the technical experience or hand coding background application development once needed.  (It’s like suddenly being able to sing, dance, and generally dominate like Beyoncé without having to undergo 25+ years of endless practice and constant performing.)    Comparing application development to pop stardom may not be the most common way to highlight the potential benefits of low code. But by not requiring a background in coding expertise, low code allows a wider audience to create applications, making for a faster and potentially more innovative environment that companies can benefit from. (It’s like turning lemonade into even better lemonade. Ok that’s the final reference to Queen B, promise). But we’re just getting started diving into the upside of low code. Develop Business Software at Incredible Speeds Low code development should be fast.    Unlike the laborious line-by-line hand coding process that is traditionally associated with software programming, low code can go from concept to reality in a flash.  Low code allows developers to execute apps up to 60-70% faster than handwritten code, bypassing the time-consuming steps of repeatedly writing, testing and debugging code until it works correctly.  Low-code development can give designers drag-and-drop features through a visual user interface, making it easy to build intuitively while cutting down on complicated obstacles that only expert coders can spot and fix.  By making the process more visual and less repetitive, low code brings a newfound velocity to a typically slow undertaking.   Increase Enterprise Productivity  When you increase the speed of app building, and you save designers and developers time, you open new space up for productivity throughout the entire enterprise. But it’s not only the efficiencies that companies benefit from.  Those closest to a problem can fix it without a drawn-out drama that drains weeks of time and energy from the IT department. Solving...

Last week, we hosted our new Domino Volt July release webinar covering the latest features and enhancements. We had several demos on how to directly access your Domino data, workflow enhancements, service catalogs, PDF integrations and more. For IBM z and IBM i customers, we covered the latest integration with Z and I Emulator (ZIE) to turn green screen apps into REST endpoints that Domino Volt can use to build new workflows and apps.  We received a lot of great questions. You can find those questions — and the answers — below. Or catch all the excitement in this replay here:   Want more Domino Volt?  Try v1.0.1 in the updated Domino Volt sandbox. Register for a free sandbox account. For those who already have a sandbox account, new sample apps have been uploaded here.  We recently launched a Domino Volt roundtable series, where we introduce different important topics and host open discussions with our customers and partners. Join us for the following sessions: Domino Volt App Integration Strategies: Learn about integration techniques and options within Domino Volt. August 12, 2 pm ET. Register now.     Domino Volt Deployment Topologies: Learn about different deployment options to fit your needs. August 27, 2 pm ET. Register now. DOMINO VOLT FEATURES  Q: What additional resources are needed on a Domino server to handle Domino Volt?  A: Domino Volt requires Domino V11.0.1 or greater. That’s is all!  Q: If an app is built in Domino Volt, can it be modified in Domino Designer?  A: You could add additional views, agents, or other elements as long as you do not change or delete things that Domino Volt created.  Q: Where do you upload the PDF for fill-in?  A: In settings, there is a File section where you can load PDFs as well as images, CSS, JS, etc. as needed in the app  Q: Can a signature from a Domino Volt form be printed in PDF? Or even pictures from your smartphone?  A: The PDF fill capability in Domino Volt does not support adding an image or picture to a PDF.  Q: Can you deploy your...

Since July 2019, it has been HCL Digital Solutions’ mission to help our customers and business partners by introducing contemporary licensing and making license management easier for all our products. Today, we are taking the next step towards consolidating all of our Domino licensing on a "per user" license model – the HCL Domino Complete Collaboration offering a.k.a “CCB.” Effectively immediately, customers with HCL Domino Servers deployed under CCB Authorized User entitlements can be accessed by a Licensee’s entitled CCB Authorized Users and Guest Users. A “Guest User” can be an anonymous web user (no authentication), or an authenticated web user with a predefined maximum level of Domino application access (ACL) as “Depositor.” In addition, HCL Domino servers under CCB may participate in mail routing (SMTP), directory lookup and authentication (LDAP) for non-HCL Domino programs and permit access to free/busy time calendar information. HCL made these changes to the CCB license based on customer requests to facilitate: • A read-only external or internal web site for Guest Users • Data collection using surveys generated by Domino Volt 1.0.1 and its anonymous user support available today. • Removing the need for a separate Utility Server license for Guest Users with complex PVU reporting requirements. • Clarifying licensing for mail and calendar interoperability in multi-vendor scenarios involving our partner’s solutions. In August, HCL plans to update the formal License Information found here. In the meantime, you may refer to this blog or you can request a formal Product Notice for compliance. If you have any questions about this announcement or have any licensing questions, please contact your HCL product specialist or Business Partner. Uffe Sorensen & the Domino Product Team Disclaimer – HCL’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at HCL’s sole discretion. Information regarding...

Back in April, we launched Domino Volt, a new low-code capability powered by Domino that makes it easy to develop powerful workflow-based apps. If you need an introduction, check out our latest video:  As promised during the launch, Domino Volt is committed to a quarterly release cycle and the latest release is now here. Domino Volt customers can download v1.0.1 on Flexnet today!   We’ve been hard at work implementing feedback and requests gathered from our beta participants and customers and we’re excited to announce that we have more than 10 new features and enhancements. Keep giving us your input and ideas — we build our roadmaps with you.   This latest release continues to empower users across the organization to build apps without needing technical skills while providing more value to your Domino investment. Highlights include:  Unleashing Your Domino Data: With point-and-click integration, users can surface Domino data in their apps without writing any code.  Extend Your Application’s Reach: Increase engagement beyond your logged-in users with anonymous access to apps.   Empower Citizen Developers with Enterprise Data: Easily look up enterprise data, sales or directory information without needing technical knowledge.  Building apps is now faster with easier workflow creation and access to data and you get more value from your apps by extending app usage outside your organization! Join us on July 30th for the global launch webinar as we walk you through all the new features in this release. We will be including several demos.  Full Feature Set: What’s New in v1.0.1  Anonymous Access: Extend the value of Domino Volt to those outside of your organization by building apps which can be used without having to authenticate against your directory. Direct Access to Domino Data: Domino Volt designers now have a simplified way to integrate data from Domino views and documents into their apps.   Out-of-the Box Directory Services: Easily look up information about people in your directory, such as determining an employee’s manager, email address, location, or any other data contained in the directory. Dynamic Role Assignments: Dynamically assign users to roles. For example, you can assign an employee’s manager...

I have spent many years working deep within the Notes Indexing Facility (NIF). I’m not done, because there is more to be done and harvested from the rich functionality well-bundled from day one by the earliest Domino developers. It can be a challenging area because so much variety of data flows through the code and onto the glass. If one is not careful, you will make one user story a delight while another becomes quite less so.  One of the most problematic operations in NIF is its handling of updates. Someone could say “Well, what is the problem? Other database products have no issue updating their indexes, why is Domino any different?” The answer lies in the ease with which views and folders are created in Designer. It is a very common story that views constantly grow in number and complexity.  So, I often reply to the question of the difference this way: “If you went to your MySQL or Oracle or DB2 or MongoDB administrator and asked for 200-1000 indexes on your database, what would they say?” Of course, they would laugh you out of the room, as they should. Yet, that number of indexes is quite normal on a Domino database and it is why they are updated lazily, on a scheduled or as triggered or forced. There are a variety of update/refresh rules and I will not go into them here.  Some of the costliest issues with NIF are due to excessive queueing for updates. Most of the APIs and documentation call it “refreshing” when a user opens a view and wants to see the latest updates, which is completely reasonable. The trouble what when a large number of users (well, threads) do that at once, they each compete for the right to update the view in...

We recently hosted our first HCL Domino Volt roundtable session, a series where we introduce HCL Domino Volt topics and host open discussions with our customers and partners. In this session, we covered several use cases for Domino Volt apps. We focused on visually enhancing out-of-the-box components with pure CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) and JavaScript. If you missed the live session, you can catch the replay here or read the recap below. Domino today is used by over 15,000 customers globally to develop applications that run their business. With the introduction of Domino Volt, our mission was not only to protect the investment of our Domino customers but also accelerate their ability to deliver business solutions faster and increase the value of Domino. By providing our customers and partner with new application development capabilities that extend throughout the organization, we empower everyone to build solutions while still taking advantage of Domino’s security, reliability and low TCO.  In just 3 months since our launch, over 80 new customers have taken advantage of Domino Volt to accelerate their delivery of applications to the business. Here at HCL, we believe in drinking our own Champagne (or "dogfooding" as the software industry calls it.) We recently launched an internal hackathon to see if our team could build apps to solve our business challenges as well as other real-world challenges facing our customers or community. More than 20 teams with more than 50 members across the globe participated, and none had prior Domino Volt experience! Some of the submissions were from sales team members who had no development experience at all. They were only given two weeks to design, develop, test, and deliver their apps — on top of their day jobs! We were thoroughly impressed with the apps submitted. Using CSS, the teams got...