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PRODUCT REVIEW
Teamstudio Script Browser
By Mick Moignard
Every Lotusphere, the question of a class browser for LotusScript comes up at the Meet the Developer session, applause for the question. And every year, someone from the development team at Lotus says they've heard the request and that it's somewhere in the pile of things to be done, but not anywhere near the top of the list yet. Meanwhile, those of us who create our own class libraries in LotusScript carry on muttering vile things under our breath.
Now, Teamstudio (of Ciao! fame) has stepped into the breach with their LotusScript browser. It doesn't quite do all the work you might want a Script browser to do, but it comes pretty close. And, thanks guys, it's free. You do need to register in order to be able to download it, which I suspect means that as they get your phone and email address, you might get the odd call or email. But I think you'll find it's a fair exchange.
The downloads include a PDF file describing what it will do, and a zipped Notes database containing the installer. You actually install it from inside Notes. They also tell you that while it works with Notes 5, you need Designer 6 or above to get the most from it. For this article I used Notes 7 beta 3 and had just one issue, as you will see.
The install was easy; just open the Notes database and follow the prompts. I got a couple of Cross-Certification requests to /Teamstudio and to /Teamstudio Inc, then a veritable flurry of ECL (Execution Control List) violations for both Teamstudio Template Development and Craig Shulmann/Teamstudio. Figure A shows what you give away by accepting these.
FIGURE A
 
Shown here are the ECL violations I encountered. Roll over picture for a larger image.
I guess you could instead sign the database before you start. You then need to restart Notes to get access to the Toolbar icon that starts the Script Browser. When I started to shut Notes down to restart it, I got a Redbox error. Now, I know that my Notes is a beta, and that beta stands for broken, so that RedBox may not be the installers fault. But be warned and play it safe; don't do the install without saving everything you need to save.
On starting up Notes, I found the Smarticon as a floating window with an icon-less icon on my workspace, see figure B.
FIGURE B
 
The icon-less Teamstudio Script Browser icon. Roll over picture for a larger image.
I moved the floater back to the toolbar area, and it snapped into place, still without a Toolbar icon. As the Toolbar seems to be slightly challenged in Notes 7 beta 3, I didn't fiddle with it too much. I did do a bit of digging in the Installer database to see if I could find it; I found a bitmap version of the icon, but not the GIF that Notes 6 and 7 require for a toolbar icon. By the way, the Teamstudio installer database isn't design-protected and is worth digging around a little to see how they've done stuff with the Notes API and so on.
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