ESCAPE VELOCITY

1 - I understand your frustration (really, I do).

However, until this is officially documented I'm not going to use it. We have no way of knowing how stable (or unstable) this method is.

I'll stick with my "old-school" hack:

Set col = ndb.GetProfileDocCollection("INVALID_KEY")

(with appropriate checks for collection.count > 0)

2 - I'm tired of the mail template being the "Fedora" of Notes... not implying it's a hat, rather that it's long (if not always) been the playground for IBM to experiment with language features they either don't think we'd use or, possibly, don't trust us with. Or even worse, are just too lazy to document or support. Look for just about any known undocumented function (in either formula or script), and it's a safe bet you'll find it used in the mail template. Yet, even though @ExpandNameList has been in constant use in the mail template since R5, we still can't use it without making some people nervous because it's "undocumented". Come on, IBM, if you're going to use features of a language in the one database most users have open all day long, DOCUMENT THEM.

3 - There are a couple more N8 undocumented LS methods, NotesView.CreateViewEntryCollection (empty VEC), and NotesView.GetColumnValues (@DbColumn in LS).

Did a simple test, and they seem to work: { Link }

(I discovered them in a LS'08 slide)

4 - I mentioned this on Tim's blog a while back, and as I read this in my RSS reader I was going to bring up Tommy's list. I'm glad he beat me to it.

I wonder what the threshold is for getting stuff into the help. For example, SendKeys is in the Domino Designer help even though it doesn't work in Notes or Domino. It's an artifact from some other LotusScript implementation. However, things such as the new 8.x methods or R6's ModifiedSinceSaved or R5's @ExpandNameList, which are all either desperately needed or widely used, aren't mentioned at all.

5 - Nathan, I posted my response to the empty NotesDocumentCollection idea on the Jam as soon as I saw it - I just didn't see it 'til 3 months later.

6 - @5 - Oh, I understood that to be the case Scott. My point was since the idea was no longer a hot topic, your response was basically invisible. Once people had voted on the matter, why would they go back and visit it? Unless it turned out to be incredibly controversial like my Extended Syntax disabling idea (which still stuns me!)

7 - Heavily agree with 1 and 2.
Am all for clearer rules here.
I consider the oficial documentation as a contract of Lotus with us using Lotus Domino in projects.
If its not in, I have doubt if possible corner cases will be fixed or if it will still be supported in future version.
Developers should be commited to write the most maintainable and eficient code they can. They are not happy using a hack like
Set col = ndb.GetProfileDocCollection("INVALID_KEY")
The same, when using methods or function to which Lotus hasn't commited itself by putting them in the oficial documentation.
Having a set of well respected rules isn't funny, but it adds credibility to the platform.

8 - Rules or not, once its in the mail template, the likelihood of it not staying there forever is extremely small. Show me a mail template that no longer works with a future Domino version before I'll believe it.

These kind of on the fly collections will be more important on xpages with repeat controls.