DB2
I wasn't able to play with the DB2 back-end store, but what I did was gather some information on how it is going to work. The client will use the Notes database as the front end user interface to access the data in a DB2 database.

This is supposed to be seamless, much like a current .nsf database will access data in a second .nsf database. As far as the user can see, he or she will view the Notes forms, views, and navigators the same way regardless of whether the data is in .nsf or .db2 format. We, as developers, will need to know how DB2 works, as well as the terminology in order to access the tables and data in the DB2 relational database.

Remote Java debugging
I thought the Java debugger would be easy to turn on, like LotusScript debugging, but I was quite wrong. Lotus has decided to utilize remote debuggers instead of creating its own, and there are quite a few steps to go through before the Java debugger is up and running.

I needed to consult some documentation on the Lotus Web site to get this thing going (found in the release notes). I have a feeling some of the steps necessary to turn on the debugging in the beta release will disappear in the final release of 7.0, but it will still be quite detailed.

The good news is that you can use your favorite Java debugger. The bad news is:

• The debugger must be run through your server instead of the Notes client, and Lotus is strongly recommending that you do not debug your agents on a production server, for obvious reasons. Some of us developers are lucky enough to have a test server, but some of us are not.

• Java debugging is not secure, so make sure your server is, and...

• You must import the Java source files to the Java debugging program in order for the debugger to find them. Every time you make a change to your Java agent or script library, you have to remember to sync that change in both the Notes copy and the Java debugger file.

The main steps required to turn on the debugging are:

1. Set up the server to allow debugging to occur on the server.
2. Install and connect a Java debugger to the JVM.
3. Set the "allow Java debugging" option on the agent to debug.
4. Export the agent to a source file and then import the source file into the Java debugger.

To see the full list of how to follow these steps for turning the debugging feature on, follow the Domino Designer 7 Release Notes link found at the end of this article.

A list of other features
Here is a partial list of some other new features that I noticed and thought were worth mentioning. IBM plans on adding more features before their final release in the first half of 2005. Also, to see the full list of changes, visit the links I include at the end of the article.

Domino 7 will support Sun Java 2 Platform v.1.4.1, which still is not the latest and greatest version, but at least IBM is getting closer. The newest release of the Java 2 Platform is 1.4.2.