The document discusses the development of the POI4XPages plugin, which allows exporting and importing data between XPages applications and Excel/Word documents. It began from a developer's request to more easily handle recurring tasks of exporting data to office formats. The creator designed the plugin to make these tasks simpler through an extensible plugin model. The document provides advice on open sourcing projects, leveraging existing code, understanding audiences, and making money through reducing complexity and production costs for customers.

1. DEVELOP 4
DEVELOPERS
The power of extensibility – The Art of plugin development

2. CHRISTIAN GÜDEMANN
CTO @ WebGate Consulting AG
OpenNTF Chairman
The Architect
@guedeWebgate

3. THE STORY OF POI4XPAGES
 Customer 1 is asking for an export to Excel
 TSS Africa wants an import of Excel sheets
 Customer 2 has to generate contracts as Word
documents
 And all these requests are in the pipeline for one
developer

4. THE STORY BEHIND POI4XPAGES
Long times ago, during a coffee break:
 Peter (Development Leader) asks….
 We are doing always the same. Exporting
datas to Excel and Word.
 It's so unhandy, I don't want to give this task
to other people than Developer M
 Christian (somewhere spaced off)
 Designing a plugin like the extension library
would be cool.

5. THE STORY BEHIND POI4XPAGES
.. continued
 Peter:
 You think a plugin can handle the export of
views and documents to excel and word?
 Christian (back in reality)
 Oh plugins can do all you can imagine!
 Peter:
 Oh cool, I need this fixed until end of month!
Thanks for taking care!

6. OUCH.....
Thanks for this request …!
… time for another coffee break :)

7. WHEN YOU START...
 Be aware of your target audience
 What would you except
 How should the developer use your plugin
 What will you provide
 Keep it simple and stupid
 The adoption will be better
 A good example database is much more
worth than a documentation

8. … CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS?
•Demo
•or a short example to show what I mean :)

9. HEY PETER I HAVE A PLUGIN 4 YOU

10. TO OPENSOURCE OR NOT?
 Some Questions help to make a good decision
 What can you sell and how?
 Who is your target customer?
 Why should your target customer buy it?
 OpenSource → YES! Because....
 We will make money with it (later about this)
 It empowers other developers and customers
 It makes XPages and the XWork Server a
stronger platform

11. DON'T REINVENT THE WHEEL!
 Google is your best friend. The most common
problems are solved
 License, License, License, License → Try to find a
Apache License Project. It's easier to make money
and to bring it to the developers
 Take your real-world problem as your first test case

12. POI4XPAGES UNDER THE HOOD
Demo
A short round trip in the plugin project

13. MAKE MONEY
 Your customer does not care about the effort – the
customer cares about the functionality
 Do the same thing in a easier way results in less error
and mistakes
 Reduced complexity makes it available to more
internal resources
→ Production cost are lower!

14. GET INVOLVED!
 Give POI4XPages a try
 Bring your feedback to the community
 Talk about the success you have
 Ask for features
 Use OpenNTF Essentials and stay tuned for the
next Version

15. TIME FOR ….
Question & Answers....