Some best practice Java libraries like org.apache.commons.lang, client, beanutils etc are available as part of the server and client install in the rcp/eclipse/plugins folder.
But because they're not in the shared/eclipse/plugins folder, they cannot be used out-of-the-box with XPages. You need to either set them up as a plugin, move them to the relevant folder on all servers and developers' PCs, or manually copy the JAR files into each NSF and add to the build path.
None of these steps is unique because:
- Plugin jar files get copied to the server's temp folder each time HTTP starts and only cleaned when the server is recycled.
- NSF jar files get copied to the server's temp folder for each NSF (so the same jar file in 2 NSFs appears twice on server's temp folder)
- Manually copied JAR files needs to be done for each server and each developer and, for XPiNC, for each user. Changes run the risk of being overwritten by upgrades.
It would be better to have more of these best practice JAR files in the shared/ecipse/plugin folder. Having the latest versions would be even better. It would be great too to have additional best practice JAR files there for common functionality like Apache POI for exporting to Excel etc, iText for PDF generation, possible Apache Jersey for better standard REST service integration.
The folders of plugins for DOTS pick up from a separate area, so it would be best to review what's there as well to ensure it best supports DOTS users.
This would benefit not only XPage and DOTS developers, but also generic Java developers.
Moving idea to product : Domino Designer
Good idea, we're going to look into it but it will very likely not be implemented anytime soon.