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.

As many people may have noticed yesterday this site, and all other sites of mine that are hosted by this DNN installation were down for a little over 1 hour.  The sites were displaying .NET error messages regarding a configuration issue.  I had installed a new module and a configuration setting issue was identified, this has been resolved and I greatly apologize for the issues.

In other news I am now running the Snapsis PageBlaster 3.1.7 module which is providng better caching for content and after an inital review with NO custom configurations I have noticed average site load time reductions of over 65%.   Look for a detailed review of the PageBlaster system here in the blog within the next few weeks.

Also, if you notice anything funny with this site, please let me know ASAP either with comments below, or via the contact form!

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.

I will be on vacation from 3/15/2008 - 3/23/2008 with very limited access to e-mail. (Typically only for DNN Support SLA customers).  Upon my return I will be back to getting new content out here, below is a listing of things that are on my plate to create/deliver in the upcoming weeks.  If you have any suggestions/additions please share them in the comments below.

Module Updates

• DNN Expandable Text/HTML
  • Option for "Expand All On Print"
  • Option to supply "header" text
• DNN Categorized Documents
  • Implementation of ISearchable to allow titles/descriptions to be searchable
  • File Icon administration
  • Delete all files option
  • Summarized download reports

Visual Studio Templates

The following is a listing of the Visual Studio Templates that I plan to create and release in the near future.

• C# Blank Module With DAL
• C# Authentication Provider
• C# Skin Object 

Blogs/Articles

The following is a listing of all currently planned blog topics.

• DNN Performance Settings: What, How and Why?
• DNN Event Log: Preventing Log Bloat By Disabling UnNeeded Logging
• DNN Friendly URLs: Creating a basic landing page

As I mentioned before please share any comments, suggestions, requests below. I will resume working on the above as soon as I return!

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!