Desktop revisited and other questions

Professor INI starts this month's column by clarifying and expanding upon information published earlier this year. We'll then dip into the ever-active mailbag to answer a few of your questions.

But first, let's talk a bit about shop safety. Exercising caution when modifying your Notes.ini file is more crucial than ever, especially with the proliferation of Notes.ini information now available on the Web. Some of this appears to be reliable and useful, while other sources look downright scary. Professor INI still cringes when recalling the time we discovered an unauthorized site that somehow had gotten hold of draft internal specification documentation we had written which was never intended for public consumption—it still contained comments such as "Does this really work like this?" and "I'm guessing here." We quickly prevailed upon the site to remove this material, but the lesson learned is that, as with any information you find on the Web, authenticity can't always be ensured in every case. That's why we hope you heed our monthly warning that you should only work with documented, supported Notes.ini variables, ideally under the guidance of Lotus Support.

Desktop or not?
In a recent installment of Professor INI, we discussed the Desktop variable. In response, a reader wrote in stating this variable does not exist; the correct variable name is Desktop5. As proof, the customer cited the fact that he had changed his Notes.ini file to include the Desktop5 variable, and it corrected a problem with Notes not finding the desktop5.dsk file. We did some quick rechecking, talking to members of Notes/Domino development, and referencing the product documentation, as well as several internal and external technical sources, and decided the article was accurate as written—the variable name was indeed Desktop.

We guessed that the customer confused the Desktop variable with the actual desktop5.dsk file, which the documentation initially referred to erroneously as desktop.dsk. Also, the fact that changing Desktop to Desktop5 in Notes.ini fixed the customer's problem didn't necessarily mean Desktop was wrong and Desktop5 was correct. Remember, Notes.ini accepts any input without returning an error message (which may explain some of the stranger entries we've seen in customers' Notes.ini files over the years). It was easy to imagine the original Desktop variable was set improperly. Changing this to Desktop5 or some other nonexistent variable would have the same effect as removing the Desktop variable altogether, in which case Notes reverts to the default behavior of looking for the desktop file in the Notes data directory. If this was in fact the location of desktop5.dsk, then Notes would now work properly, regardless of whether Desktop5 was a valid variable or not. (We can only guess how often something like this has happened over the years, where a bogus variable seemingly fixed a problem. It's the Notes.ini equivalent of the placebo effect.)

However, in a follow-up correspondence the customer was both persistent and persuasive in stating Desktop5 was a legitimate Notes.ini variable. So we did some further investigation and discovered that in this regard he was right! As it turns out, there are now three desktop-related variables: Desktop, Desktop5, and Desktop6. As you can probably guess by their names, these are version-specific. For example, in Notes/Domino 6, the code checks first for Desktop6. If this variable isn't included in the Notes.ini file, the code checks for Desktop5, then Desktop. (In R5, Desktop5 is checked first, then Desktop.) Thus, all three are valid in Notes/Domino 6, while both Desktop5 and Desktop are valid in R5.

Currently, the Notes/Domino documentation only mentions Desktop. Professor INI will check with the Notes/Domino documentation team to determine if Desktop6 and Desktop5 information (if appropriate) will be included in an upcoming release.

More on BCC
In last month's column a reader asked:

I can't seem to view the BCC field on messages I have sent. Is there a server or client Notes.ini setting controlling this?

Professor INI had to confess to being stumped by this question. However, an alert reader has sent in the following:

It reads as if your BCC correspondent hasn't double-clicked the message body to put it into "re-edit" mode. This causes the original BCC to be displayed—but only if you're authorized to read it!

We hope this will be helpful to our original questioner, even though strictly speaking this is no longer a Notes.ini issue!

A little more light on HTTPDisableMethods
Also in the June column, a reader asked about the variable HTTPDisableMethods, which had Professor INI totally baffled. Another helpful reader sent along the following information, which we've edited somewhat:

Domino 6 users can add the variable HTTPDisableMethods=TRACE to the server's Notes.ini file if the Web server is using the Web Configuration view. If the Web server is using the Internet Sites view for configuration, edit each Web site document and uncheck the TRACE method so the method is disallowed.

We (and the reader who sent this in) acknowledge this doesn't provide a great deal of detail. Can someone out there send us more? In the interim, Professor INI will remain on the case and keep you appraised of any progress.

Other questions
And now for a few question you sent in this past month:

Q. Do you know what Temp_Collection_Threshold is?
This variable was added to R5.0.12 to allow you to set the size (in MB) of the NIF temporary collection threshold. For example, Temp_Collection_Threshold=500 sets the NIF temporary collection threshold to 500 MB. Allowable values are 200 through 5000. Note that the higher the threshold, the more memory will likely be required.

Q. I tried commenting Debug_AMGR=* using a semicolon in front, but it didn't work! Any ideas why?
Please provide more information about what you mean by this not working (in other words, what exactly is your server doing). This may be a case where default behavior is unknowingly taking over, or you may even have duplicate entries in your Notes.ini file.

Q. What is the maximum setting for Default_Index_Lifetime_Days?
This variable (which defines the default lifetime for view indexes if none is specified in View Properties) appears to have a maximum setting of 245 days.

Q. What is the function of the parameter NamedStyle? and NamedStyle?_Face in the Notes.ini?
Professor INI is seriously considering making "Mystery variable of the month" a regular feature of each column. Today's candidates are the unusually named (even for Notes.ini) NamedStyle? and NamedStyle?_Face. Initially, we could find no indication whatsoever that these variables are real because they're not mentioned in any documentation, internal or external. However, a contact in development informs us that these variables are related to paragraph styles, a feature of the Notes editer. On the last tab of the Text Properties infobox (displayed by choosing Text - Text Properties while in edit mode) you can define paragraph styles. These variables store the paragraph styles data. (NamedStyle?_Face contains the font name for styles that include font in the style; NamedStyle? includes all other information about the paragraph style.) We do not recommend ever changing these variables, just use the Notes interface to set paragraph styles.


Do you have a Notes.ini question? Send it in to Professor INI. We'll answer as many questions as we can in future "Ask Professor INI" columns. Keep in mind, however, that we may not be able to answer every question, nor can we quickly respond to requests that require immediate attention. If you need an immediate response to a question, we recommend you post it in the Notes/Domino 6 Forum or Notes/Domino 4 and 5 Forum where someone from the general Notes community might be able to help, or contact Lotus Support Services.