We are happy to announce a new initiative - the Social Business Toolkit webinars.

We've planned to host one or two webinars per month on various IBM Social Business Toolkit app dev related topics. Our intent is to deliver high quality content which is presented by various experts from the IBM development teams and potentially from people from the community. In the first 30 - 45 minutes the speakers do the actual presentations and the last 15 minutes are for open discussions.

The webinars will usually be hosted live on the second and fourth Wednesday each month at 10:00 AM EST (US east cost). Additionally the sessions will be recorded and published on the IBM Social Business Toolkit YouTube channel.

Attendance is free and no registration is required. You can attend the webinars by simply joining the following IBM SmartCloud meeting. The e-meeting supports audio broadcasting. In order to speak you need to dial in the conference separately.

E-Meeting
https://apps.na.collabserv.com/meetings/join?id=065-675
Meeting password: ICSAppDev

Conference Numbers
https://www.teleconference.att.com/servlet/glbAccess?process=1&accessCode=71387162&accessNumber=06924432290#C2
Passcode: 71387162

Below is a list of scheduled webinars.

We look forward to seeing you on our webinars!


06/12/13 - 10:00 AM EST: How to use the IBM Social Business Toolkit in HTML/JavaScript Applications

Add to your calendar.

Speaker: Mark Wallace, IBM, Social Business Toolkit Architect, @mewallace




06/26/13 - 10:00 AM EST: How to use the IBM Social Business Toolkit in XPages

Add to your calendar.

Speaker: Martin Donnelly - IBM, XPages Architect, @TweeterDonnelly



Speaker: Padraic Edwards, IBM, XPages Developer, @paidi_ed




07/10/13 - 10:00 AM EST: How to use the IBM Social Business Toolkit in Java Applications

Add to your calendar.

Speaker: Bhavesh Shah, IBM, Social Business Toolkit Developer, @bhavesh_23

There has been a lot of XPages blogging recently (again). As other people already noted, there seems to be a new trend of doing full series of blog entries about certain topics. Below is a list of some of these series.

Amazing content. Great community. Thank you.


Source Control: The Good Stuff (9 entries)

Read the introduction and overview.

Author: Russell Maher / @RussellMaher




"Today I am launching a series of posts and videos to guide Domino Developers through using Mercurial Source Control in Domino Designer 9 starting with installation and ending with using source control across multiple databases and server environments. My goal is to get you to where I've gotten to with source control...but faster."


EXTJS in XPages (9 entries so far)

Read the overview and the list of entries.

Author: Mark Roden / @MarkyRoden




"For ever and a day it has been the dream of Lotus Notes developers to be able to modernize their notes client applications and provide their clients an interactive user interface which is similar enough to the notes view interface to seem “familiar” but it different and “cool” enough to help them make the decision to modernize. I believe EXTJS used correctly, provides that user experience and compelling business demands to upgrade."


Dojo Data Grid (17 entries so far)

Read the overview and the list of entries.

Author: Brad Balassaitis / @Balassaitis




"The Dojo Data Grid control is another option we have for displaying data in XPages. It provides a more modern look and the potential for much more functionality than a view panel, yet it functions in a way that’s a little more familiar to Notes client users in that it uses a scroll bar, rather than paging."


Java for Selections (6 entries so far)

Read the overview and the last of entry.

Author: Paul Withers / @PaulSWithers




"It’s no surprise that, despite coming from a background of minimal Java in the days before XPages, I now use Java as my main language in XPages back-end coding. There are a few areas where I’ve had to put my thinking cap on to work out how to use Java correctly when mapping between components and Domino, not least in number handling and Collections."


XPages Masterclass (4 entries)

Read the introduction and overview.

Author: Tony McGuckin / @tonymcguckin




"Follow the XPages Masterclass Video Series throughout 2013 where four series will be published covering various topic areas vital to building robust, performant XPages applications."


Taking the scary out of Java in XPages (3 entries)

Read the overview and the last of entry.

Author: Tim Tripcony / @timtripcony




"The discussion following my last post made stark the need for greater availability of information that makes the nature of Java more accessible to Domino developers. Credit for the title of this post goes to Declan, who is considering writing a series of blog posts on this topic. I will be doing the same; hopefully there will be a fair amount of duplication."


Getting To The Java Roots of XPages (14 entries so far)

Read the overview and the last of entry.

Author: Declan Sciolla-Lynch / @qtzar




"Now, Tim Tripcony is doing a series on taking the scary out of Java for XPages ( he stole my original title but that’s ok ) but Tim already knows Java where as I’m just starting down the road to Java. I have basic ( not the language ) knowledge of how some bits fit together and how to reference it from XPage applications but right now I’m like the majority of XPage developers and I use SSJS a lot so in this series I’m going to take you  with me as I discover Java and Xpages and how it all fits together."


Getting Started With Twitter Bootstrap (3 entries so far)

Read the overview and the list of entries.

Author: Kathy Brown / @RunningKathy




"First off, what IS Twitter Bootstrap? Well, right on their front page they say it is a “Sleek, intuitive, and powerful front-end framework for faster and easier Web development.” Okay, so what is it really? It’s a thing that provides stuff to make your XPages prettier. Too simplified? Okay.  If you’ve been using OneUI in conjunction with the Application Layout control, it’s sort of like that. A tool that provides the bits and pieces to quickly and easily style your Web application with a modern look and feel."


Creating Twitter Bootstrap Widgets (1 entry so far)

Read the first entry.

Author: Richard Moy / @richardmoy




"In this five part series, I will walk you through the process of creating a Bootstrap widget by first understanding how Bootstrap widgets are structured, how to layout a widget, tie it together using Dojo, turn it into a responsive widget, and how to create it as a XPages custom control for you XPagers out there. There are three prerequisites to continue, you need to have a good understanding of CSS especially CSS3, you need to know Dojo, and have created Dojo classes using dojo.declare."

We've updated the developerWorks/social page. This landing page contains links to key resources for social business application developers, including several community resources like StackOverflow, GitHub and Collaboration Today. There is also getting started information explaining different types of developers how to start using the IBM Social Business Toolkit.

The page can be reached via the short URL developer.ibm.com/social.

We have updated and restructured the content, but haven't touched the style. Stay tuned for more improvements in this area.



Thanks to my colleagues Michael Stewart and Craig Lordan for making this happen.

Thanks to Paul Bastide and the IBM Collaboration Solutions app dev team there is a new version of the IBM Collaboration QuickStart image available in the IBM SmartCloud.

The image can be used by developers to quickly build social apps. It comes with the following pre-installed and pre-configured products and some test user accounts:
- IBM Connections 4.0 CR2
- IBM Domino 8.5.3 FP3
- IBM Sametime community server 8.5.2 IFR1
- IBM Sametime Proxy Server 8.5.2 IFR1

Watch this movie (13 mins) to see how to set up your own development environment in less than one hour.



In the video I used the default configuration with 8 GB Ram which costs $0.48 per hour. You can find out more about costs using the estimator.

The documentation is available in the app dev wiki. Paul also talked about the image at IBM Connect 2013 (video, audio, slides).

In order to start using the image and other images on the IBM SmartCloud Enterprise you need to register to activate your IBM ID to get access.

The image can also be used for the Connections App Dev contest where developers can win 5 x $1000.

IBM has posted video and audio recordings of some of the sessions from IBM Connect 2013 on socialbiz User Group. The videos can be watched without registration, audio tracks and slides can be downloaded by authenticated users.

Below is a list of sessions about the IBM Social Business Toolkit and IBM Connections app dev topics.

INV110 - AppDev Strategy: Coding Social Business Applications --- video, audio, slides

AD101 - Social Applications Made Easy with the New Social Business Toolkit SDK --- video, audio, slides

AD102 - Using IBM Collaboration Quickstart for Social Business --- video, audio, slides

AD206 - IBM Lotus Domino XPages: Embrace, Extend, Integrate --- audio, slides

JMP102 - Extending Your App Arsenal With OpenSocial --- video, slides

JMP202 - Extending IBM Connections to Build an Exceptional Social Learning Platform --- video, audio, slides

ID301 - What's New and Coming in IBM Connections --- video, audio, slides

App Dev Throwdown --- video

IBM has posted video and audio recordings of some of the sessions from IBM Connect 2013 on socialbiz User Group. The videos can be watched without registration, audio tracks and slides can be downloaded by authenticated users.

Below is a list of sessions about XPages and other IBM Domino related app dev topics.

AD203 - IBM Domino Designer: Tips and Tricks for Maximum Productivity --- video, audio

AD206 - IBM Lotus Domino XPages: Embrace, Extend, Integrate  --- audio, slides

AD207 - IBM Lotus Domino XPages: Beyond Domino Documents and Views --- video, audio

AD208 - IBM Lotus Domino XPages Performance in a Nutshell --- video, audio, slides

AD210 - It's Here! Calendar APIs And REST Services --- video, audio

AD211 - What's New In The IBM Domino Objects? --- video, audio, slides

AD214 - What's Next? Application Modernization Roadmap For Socializing IBM Notes and Domino --- audio, slides

AD404 - NSF2IPA: Delivering Your Existing IBM Domino Application as a Mobile App --- video, audio, slides

ID100 - What's New in IBM Notes 9.0 Social Edition --- video, audio, slides

ID102 - What's New in IBM Domino 9.0 Social Edition --- audio, slides

ID111 - All You Wanted to Know About IBM Notes Browser Plug-in & More --- audio, slides

BP206 - It's Not Herculean: Twelve Tasks Made Easier With IBM Lotus Domino XPages --- video, audio, slides

BP208 - XPages Blast --- video, audio, slides

JMP101 - XPages Jumpstart --- video, audio, slides

JMP103 - Get the 'Jump' on Mobilizing Your IBM Notes and Domino Applications Today! --- video, audio, slides

JMP401 - Master Class: XPages Performance - Inside Out --- video, slides

JMP402 - Master Class: Managed Beans and XPages: Your Time Is Now --- video, slides

JMP403 - Master Class: Reverse Engineering Notes Applications: Separating Truth from Fiction --- video, slides

Below is an overview of the new IBM Social Business Toolkit and a list of resources.


IBM Social Business Toolkit - Overview

The IBM Social Business Toolkit is your single source for developing integrations and leveraging IBM Connections and IBM SmartCloud for Social Business. The toolkit provides a set of extensible tools and resources for developers who want to incorporate social capabilities into their applications and business processes. Watch this video for an overview of the SDK.

Social Business Toolkit SDK
The Social Business Toolkit SDK lets Web, Java and XPages developers easily access IBM Connections and IBM SmartCloud for Social Business. It can be run on several Java application servers like WebSphere Application Server, Tomcat, WebSphere Portal, and Domino. The SDK provides easy to use JavaScript and Java APIs that encapsulate authentication mechanisms like OAuth, avoid JSON and Atom parsing, and abstract the specific target environments.

Social Business Toolkit Playground and API Explorer
The SBT Playground is a web-based live demonstration of the JavaScript APIs that are exposed by the SDK. The Playground contains a large set of code snippets and examples that you can customize and use in your own applications. The Playground also comes with an integrated API explorer and API documentation. Try the Playground on IBM Greenhouse.

API Documentation
The IBM Social Business Development Wiki contains the documentation of the SDK, for example the Java API documentation and the JavaScript API documentation.

News
Collaboration Today is a news aggregator for IBM Collaboration Solutions professionals covering news about various IBM products like IBM Connections, IBM SmartCloud and IBM Domino. Read news about IBM Connections app dev and news about XPages.


IBM Social Business Toolkit - Get Started

Get Started
Watch this video for a short overview of the SDK or watch this longer video to learn about the IBM Collaboration Solutions app dev strategy. Then try out the Playground to see simple JavaScript samples running live against IBM Connections on IBM Greenhouse or watch the samples that come with the SDK in another video. There is also a quick start image in the IBM SmartCloud available for developers which comes with IBM Connections, IBM Domino, test user accounts, the SDK and other components preinstalled and preconfigured.

Get Started as HTML Developer
The SDK can be used to develop client side HTML and JavaScript code to access IBM Collaboration Solutions services without having to write any server side logic. As a JavaScript developer you can write and test your code via the Playground. Read the JavaScript API documentation to learn about the available functionality and check out the IBM Social Business Development Wiki for more details.

Get Started as Java Developer
The SDK can be used from Java code running on various Java application servers. Read the Java API documentation to learn about the available functionality and check out the IBM Social Business Development Wiki for more details. Watch this video to see how to set up the Java development environment. There is also a simple tutorial describing how to build your first J2EE app using the SDK and there is material available from workshops which guides developers in detail through the capabilities of the SDK.

Get Started as XPages Developer
The SDK can also be used from XPages applications to access IBM Collaboration Solutions services. Check out this deck for a description how to set up and use the SDK. Read the Java API documentation to learn about the available functionality and check out the IBM Social Business Development Wiki for more details. Watch this video to see a real life example. The source code of this sample can be downloaded.


IBM Social Business Toolkit - Community

Ask and answer Questions
StackOverflow is a programming Q and A site that is free. Free to ask questions, free to answer questions, free to read and free to index. Ask your questions and please use the tag ibmsbt so that other developers can easily find your questions. StackOverflow can be used for practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. For XPages related questions please also use the tag xpages.

Get latest Updates via Twitter
Follow the latest Social Business Toolkit related updates on Twitter via ibmsbt , collab2day and ibmsocialbizux. Additionally you can also search for the hashtags #ibmsbt, #xpages and #ibmconnections.

Download and contribute Open Source
OpenNTF.org is an open source community for IBM Collaboration Solutions with more than 800 projects. You can search, download and reuse full projects or code snippets. Additionally you can contribute your own projects and collaborate with other developers. OpenNTF also hosts regularly development contests and has a YouTube channel.

Contribute to the Social Business SDK via GitHub
While the actual releases of the SDK can be downloaded from OpenNTF, GitHub is used as source control repository. In order to get daily updates from the SDK, you can download the latest code directly from GitHub. The IBM development team is looking for more contributors for the SDK project. If you are interested to collaborate and contribute, please contact us.

Read Documentation and help improving it
Share your experiences and best practices with the IBM Social Business Toolkit in our wikis and help IBM create scenarios for successful deployments. The IBM Social Business Development Wiki contains the documentation of the SDK. More information can be found in the IBM Notes and Domino Application Development Wiki, the IBM Connections Wiki and the IBM SmartCloud for Social Business Wiki.

Read Blogs and write Blogs and Comments
The IBM Social Business Toolkit team has an official blog where we announce news and ask people to provide feedback. Additionally some developers have their own blogs, for example Ryan Baxter and Niklas Heidloff. On the OpenNTF blog you can find announcements of new open source projects for IBM Collaboration Solutions.

Attend Events
There are various types of events that you can attend, for example local user groups, webinars, Connect Comes To You events, etc. Check Collaboration Today, IBM developerWorks and SocialBiz User Group for a list of available events.

Here are the slides from the session BP212 - Apps, Apps and more Apps: Meet the Very Best Open Source Apps from OpenNTF.

Abstract:
Come to this session to learn about the open source apps, plugins, custom controls and other assets developed by the community developers, business partners, and IBM that are available on OpenNTF. We'll demo a plethora of fully-featured apps, custom controls, code snippets and much more. We'll also review the OpenNTF app and code contribution process to show you how easy it is to get your apps published as open source on OpenNTF.

Here is another must watch video for developers from Connect 2013. It's the session "App Dev Strategy - Coding Social Business Applications" from Phil Riand, with whom I've had the pleasure to work closely together for many years, and my new manager Mikael Orn. Great people, great content.

Abstract:
The IBM Platform for Social Business enables developer's to enhance business applications by leveraging the people and related information from social networks. Learn about the various ways to add social capabilities into your business processes and applications using the IBM Social Business Toolkit SDK. This session will lay out the strategy and then show you different ways to implement it. Come and see the new toolset in action whether you are a web, a Java, a Domino, or a Mobile developer.

Here is the video of the app dev throwdown session. Very impressive solutions built using the IBM Social Business Toolkit. A must see for developers.

There are also several other videos of keynote sessions on Livestream.

Abstract:
On Day 3, a high-spirited competition designed to spotlight IBM Business Partners who have developed innovative and cutting-edge social applications that showcase the IBM Platform for Social Business will take place. The applications will span a variety of disciplines and illuminate the value of socially enabling business processes to transform your business.