• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • IBM Buoys Workplace Development with New IDE

    August 30, 2005 Alex Woodie

    IBM filled out its Workplace portal strategy last week when it released Workplace Designer version 2.5, a new script development environment for creating composite applications that run on the recently released Workplace Collaboration Services and Workplace Services Express portals. With support for iSeries and other platforms, Workplace Designer is a key component of IBM’s Workplace strategy to combat Microsoft‘s Exchange juggernaut, while providing a Java-centric roadmap for Domino programmers.

    You can take your pick of studies that show IBM losing market share to Microsoft in the e-mail server and collaboration marketplace–IDC and Gartner have recently come out with them. While the two rivals have historically had similar sized install bases that number in the tens of millions, Microsoft has begun to put distance between it and Big Blue in the last several years. Workplace is central to IBM’s key to competing in this market, which is increasingly focused on portals that offer an integrated assortment of features like e-mail, instant messaging, Web logs, RSS feeds, file sharing, calendaring, and “presence awareness.”

    IBM throttled down on its Workplace development effort earlier this year with the release of Workplace Collaboration Services version 2.5, its enterprise-strength Workplace offering, and Workplace Services Express version 2.5, a scaled-down version aimed at small- and medium-size businesses. Both of these Workplace portals run on OS/400, although Workplace Collaboration Services requires the latest i5/OS release (see “IBM’s Workplace Collaboration Suite Is Almost Ready” for more on the portals).

    With the release of Workplace Designer 2.5, organizations now have the tooling to start building applications that will run in these portals. While Workplace Designer is based on the Java-based Eclipse IDE, it does not require a Java genius to use. In fact, while IBM’s collaboration strategy appears to be headed toward Workplace and Java, IBM has done its best to make Workplace attractive to Domino Designer users by supporting Domino scripts and Notes constructs within the Workplace Designer IDE.

    Workplace Designer development is handled through a variety of editors, including a JavaScript editor, a forms editor, and an XML schema editor. In addition to people familiar with JavaScript and Domino development, it can be used by people with Visual Basic and VBScript skills, IBM says. (This Visual Basic support could provide a lifeline for Visual Basic programmers, particularly considering Microsoft’s stated intention to drop support for Visual Basic 6 move those developers to the Visual Studio .NET product.) Even people with a relatively modest skill set can get started by dragging and dropping items in the forms editor.


    The product is primarily used to build role-based, document-oriented applications, such as expense report, change request, or project management applications. In any event, Workplace applications, which are deployed through a Web browser or the “smart client” Workplace interface, feature an array of collaboration capabilities. Applications and portlets built with Workplace Designer are deployed as loosely coupled “composite applications,” in-line with today’s service oriented architecture (SOA) development trend.

    While the current release is based on JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and XML, a future release of Workplace Designer in the works for 2006 will reportedly contain AJAX functionality. AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, refers to the popular stack of tools used to build interactive Web applications. AJAX applications typically make better use of XML for forms processing and can result in a more responsive application, according to the Wikipedia entry.

    Workplace Designer requires a Pentium-class workstation running either Windows or Linux. Licenses start at $649 per developer. For more information, see www.lotus.com/products/product5.nsf/wdocs/workplacedesigner.

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    ARCAD Software

    Embrace VS Code for IBM i Development

    The IBM i development landscape is evolving with modern tools that enhance efficiency and collaboration. Ready to make the move to VS Code for IBM i?

    Join us for this webinar where we’ll showcase how VS Code can serve as a powerful editor for native IBM i code and explore the essential extensions that make it possible.

    In this session, you’ll discover:

    • How ARCAD’s integration with VS Code provides deep metadata insights, allowing developers to assess the impact of their changes upfront.
    • The role of Git in enabling seamless collaboration between developers using tools like SEU, RDi, and VS Code.
    • Powerful extensions for code quality, security, impact analysis, smart build, and automated RPG conversion to Free Form.
    • How non-IBM i developers can now contribute to IBM i projects without prior knowledge of its specifics, while ensuring full control over their changes.

    The future of IBM i development is here. Let ARCAD be your guide!

    Watch Now

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Admin Alert: Common Things to Do When Installing Third Party Products Let’s See Those Command Parameters

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 5, Number 34 -- August 30, 2005
THIS ISSUE
SPONSORED BY:

Aldon
Centerfield Technology & IBM
TeamQuest
Bytware
Twin Data

Table of Contents

  • Trustgenix and IdentityForge Put iSeries, zSeries at Center of SSO
  • IBM Buoys Workplace Development with New IDE
  • CabledSoft Delivers Graphical Cross Reference Tool for OS/400
  • DataMystic Provides iSeries Data Transformation Services

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
  • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
  • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
  • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25
  • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i
  • Looks Like IBM Is Building A Linux-Like PASE For IBM i After All
  • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?
  • Now, IBM Is Jacking Up Hardware Maintenance Prices
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 24

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle