I just thought I would update the regular readers of this blog that I was NOT selected to present at OpenForce in Las Vegas this November.  Last year was a great opportunity to present even though presenting an incredibly shortened session.  I was looking forward to the potential honor of presenting this year but none of my 9 session topics were selected for the conference.

Congrats to all individual that were selected to present, I'm sure that OpenForce 08 will be a huge success.  I would also like to thank everyone here that provided me recommendations on topics for sessions and I hope that other speaker selections will meet the requested needs.

As always your support has been appreciated!

Back in January I made a post here about creating semi-automatic module packages on the fly from within Visual Studio.  The method I showed at that time was a little bit primitive but it worked perfectly.  Recently I have had some time to refine the batch script itself as well as the integration point to the DNN project inside Visual Studio.  My recent changes now allow me to make 2 small changes for each project and builds work as I expect, it also creates a conditional system that can handle file deletions as well as dynamic loading of debug or release .dll files to the package.  This posting will cover this new process in detail..

Recently I have worked with multiple clients that have had "minimum version" issues with DotNetNuke modules.  They have a new module, or a new version of an already installed module and they install it on their site.  Just after installation they find out that the module doesn't work with their version of DNN.  Sometimes this isn't a major issue as long as it is only the module that doesn't work and it was a new module.  However most of the time it isn't the case, usually it happens to existing modules that include lots of data.  Since DotNetNuke doesn't offer a rollback function these types of issues can be critical to users of DNN.  Now the first argument that I always hear on this topic is that "people should be backing up their site before an install/update to anything".  I agree with this to a certain extent, but on the other hand these people expect that we as developers will make using our product a pain free situation.  This is where this article come into play, I'll discuss a few methods where developers, including myself need to step up and provide better quality services to the general DotNetNuke public.  I'll even include a step by step guide that will show developers how to accomplish what needs to be done.

My last article on DotNetNuke administration topics was very popular "DotNetNuke Host Settings Explained", this article is the promised follow up that will provide detailed information on the Performance/Compression settings section of DotNetNuke Host Settings.  I will explain what the values do, and also my personal experience with the settings, please keep in mind that all DNN sites are different and your needs may differ from those listed in the article, if you are unsure of the proper settings for you environment, please don't hesitate to ask for assistance in my forum.

Today I have released an updated version of my Blank C# Module Without DAL.  There were a few bugs with template token replacements with previous versions that were causing errors on build and exectuion.  These errors have been resolved and have been fully tested.  If you have the current version installed, you can simply install this new version and Visual Studio will ask you if you want to overwrite it, simply select yes and you will be set to go.

I have also released a new development template "Blank C# Module With DAL Classes", this is another blank module but all classes for DAL are there, you simply need to implement your methods, and start working on your module.  This should be a welcomed addition to all regular module developers out there.

Please share any comments or suggestions for future templates in my Templates forum discussion.

This is my seventh revision DNN Upgrade guide.  This version of the guide includes important updates for working with DNN 4.8.2 and customized SqlDataProvider configurations.  Many portions of this upgrade guide are the same as previous versions, however, there are some new items and many minor changes/clarifications.  This is simply due to the LIMITED changes that have truly occured in the area of DotNetNuke upgrades.  If a newer version of DNN has been released and I do not have a new version of this document, please use this version as there are most likely no breaking changes!

In previous articles on this site I have provided tutorials for installing DotNetNuke to a local machine, however, I typically avoid the topic of installing DotNetNuke to a remote web hosting provider.  I have been asked many times why and the answer is simple; installations to remote hosts are not standardized, depending on the hosting providers environments the steps to install can differ greatly.  However, due to popular demand I have created this tutorial which will provide you the basic overview of how to perform a clean installation of DotNetNuke on a remote web hosting provider.  In the article I will try to point out the most common differences between different hosting providers, I will also be providing specific examples regarding the use of the Plesk control panel which is what my hosting provider (3Essentials) uses.  This article is my third revision updated to add some more clarifying points, be sure to share any feedback in the comments section at the bottom of the article!

Installing DotNetNuke can be somewhat difficult at times, therefore I am writing this article to give you a full step by step guide to installing DotNetNuke on a Windows XP Pro system. The instructions are similar for Windows 2000 but might vary slightly, I have tried to note as many differences as possible. Windows Vista installation is similar but requires a few different steps relating to IIS. for Vista information please view my video tutorial.  This guide is my sixth revision and includes additional steps and information based on feedback from previous users.  Additionally a few new instructions and notes have been provided for users installing on Windows 2003 Server to address a few common "stumbling blocks" that have prevented successful installations.

Finding out how many modules you have installed on a site, and additionally how many times those modules are used is something that you would think is very simple within DotNetNuke.  However, it is a bit more complex than one would hope.  By default DNN does not provide a mechanism for you to perform this kind of research, however, I have a very simple SQL Script that will allow you to see ALL modules and from there the total number of instances (in all portals) and the total number of instances that are deleted (in the recycle bin).  From an administrative perspective this is a key piece of information to know.

Following the high popularity of my previous article about the DNN Scheduler I thought I would follow up with this article explaining DotNetNuke Host settings.  This article will give an overview of each section of the host settings.  Some areas might be highlighted in future articles to provide more detail regarding specific configuration options that are of high importance to site administrators.

I have just released versio 01.00.00 of the Categorized Documents module.  This is a full featured module that allows you to display documents in a unique manner and DOESN"T require that users have edit permissions to specific directories to allow uploads. 

For more information please check out the product page.  If you have any questions or comments please share them below or use the forum to discuss specific troubleshooting/configuration issues.

I thought I would make this post to announce the next new free module that will be provided by MitchelSellers.com and IowaComputerGurus Inc.  Categorized Documents will be a basic document management module that will allow you to quickly and easily display documents listings to your users.  This module will include the following features.

• Fully template driven display
• Ability to have file icons based on file extension
• All files displayed at once, category by category
• Anyone can be given edit permissons, no messing with DNN folder permissions to get it working
• Administration interface to add additional file icons
• Ability to track download counts (external to DNN Link Click, to allow for future reporting)
• Ability to publish a document on a future date

Future versions of this module will allow for advanced permissons and other settings  The inital public version of this module is scheduled to be released 4/15/2008.  If you have any comments or suggestions on this module please feel free to share them below!

Many of you might have noticed that DotNetNuke Corporation has released version 4.8.1 to the general public as of this morning.  In the first hours of release I have found a forum post that references an issue that I would deem somewhat critical.  You can see this post DNN 4.8.1 Script Error.

As soon as I am able to validate that this version is "stable" I will work on updating all installation/upgrade guides to work with DNN 4.8.1.

If anyone is aware of any other issues with the most recent version of DNN please let me know.  Be sure to check my blog here on a regular basis for the most current information as I have it!

The topic of choosing a hosting provider for DotNetNuke is something that I see appear on a regular basis on the DotNetNuke forums and here on my forums as well.  The way I see it the selection of a hosting provider isn't just about the price, it is something that requires a much more detailed look at what services you get and what services you really need.  You can then balance those to find the right hosting provider for your needs.  As many people are aware I typically direct people towards 3Essentials or PowerDNN. In this article I will walk you through my decision process on the items that I look for in a hosting provider, and why I might choose over the other.  Consider this my approach towards Shared Hosting solutions.  These statements in no way are considered offical, and you MUST take the time to do your own research to form your own conclusions before making a decision.  Moving hosting providers is not all that complicated, but it is a somewhat complex and time consuming actiivity and something that you don't want to do unless you have to.