Debugging LotusScript agents in Notes 8.5.1

I've been working with Notes & Domino since R4.6, and did serious development in R5 through R6.5. Something that was brought to my attention recently really bothers me about Notes development. The debugger. It is essentially unchanged since R5. It interferes with the ability to use the Notes client if it's enabled (this is a  problem with the way the Design and Admin clients are built - lock up any one of them and your Notes client goes too), it has no support for watches or conditional breakpoints (aside from coded if yada then break blocks), and is just generally outdated.

IBM has done a wonderful job of updating the Notes design client. auto-complete for custom classes, sensible code navigation, etc., but they've left the debugger essentially unchanged. Are the other Notes developers out there happy with this? I'm not. I actually enjoy using Notes to build applications where it's suited, and through blogs like Codestore.net and others, I've expanded my definition of "where it's suited." What it definitely isn't well suited to though, is debugging.

I only wish it were my place to ask "What new features would you like in the LS debugger?"

MSI and Wix

I've spent a lot of time of the last few months building an installation package (MSI) for the programs we've been developing. Since we're using Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2008, automating that process has mean learning as much as I can about Wix - the Windows Installer Xml toolset. Wix can be a bit intimidating, but Alex Shevchuk has a wonderful series that I found quite useful.