Here's the deal.  I have been looking for a blog engine that I could finally make my own.  I have explored many of the blogs out there and found that all of them lacked something.  I needed to have a variety of features.  I needed tagging, categories, MetablogAPI, additional pages, tracking, mulitple users, themes, and the ability to add additional modules if necessary.  I finally found BlogEngine.Net on CodePlex.  There are many reasons for the choice, one is that it meets all of my needs.  From a developers point of view it has a temendous potential.

I have been wanting to use DotNetNuke for the longest time since I host it and advocate it.  However, I could not use third party tools to blog.  Many blog applications do not allow you create additional pages, eg. dasBlog, but BlogEngine.Net does. 

I am going to be doing software tutorials that deal with CSLA.Net and the implementation of them.  The additional pages will allow for a psudeo article type functionality.  I may even find time to contribute to it.

I have been wanting to give back to the open source community that has given me many of the tools that I need to succeed in bussiness.  I cannot give to them all but I can give to some.

I look forward to publishing more now that I finally found a blog home. 

You have to bless all the people in the world who have contributed all of this time and energy into this fantastic project DNN.  I have installed over a hundred DNN sites and have gotten all kinds of errors.  Almost all of them were my fault.  But this latest one really kicked me in @#$.  I had to go to the DNN Forums to get the fix.  I had to add an appkey to the web.config:

<!-- I added this key to fix the redirect issue-->
<add key="UsePortNumber" value="True" />

Hope it helps.

This is an interesting challenge.  We are still in the process of namespacing and adapting our first DNN agenda items to our web services.  After reviewing much of the DNN code you find that there is little in the way of notifications.  You create the controller tell it to create the portal and you are done.  You do not get any error codes that the function succeed or failed.  The assumption is that it worked, otherwise an exception would be thrown.  In the Portal Controller class there are no Try..Catch blocks.  We are trying to develop a series of error codes to go along with the web services.  Since the applications using the web services do not have a state in the matter we need to let them know if they succeed or failed.  We will look at using Datasets and Begin/End Trans for the remote calls. 

I just finished a new module for a client that allows them to list multiple homes on their website.  It allows for the Admin to add a listing, photos, property description, list up to thirty features, upload a "printable" brochure.  Users can request a showing and send the link to a friend.  Overall, it turned out nice.  When the site is complete I will post the link.  If you are interested in the module email me at inspirit@romanclarkson.com.

I searched a while for this one.  I never found specific documentation for this feature.  The link below helped a lot.  But then again, I have been using DNN for quite a while.  You have to:

1. Copy the admin/portal directory to DesktopModules
2. Rename it to PortalSignup
3. Add a Module Definition
   1. Module Name: Portal Demo Signup
   2. Folder Name: PortalSignUp
   3. Friendly Name: Portal Demo Sign Up
   4. Description:  Allow users to sign up for a demo portal
   5. Version: 04.03.05
   6. Controller Class: [blank]
   7. Premium: Yes, assign the portals that you want to have users sign up from. (Most likely your main website.)
   8. Click Update
   9. New Definition:  Portal_Demo_Signup_Default
   10. Click Add Definition
   11. Add Control
       1. Key: [blank]
       2. Title: [blank]
       3. Source: DesktopModules/PortalSignUp/signup.ascx
       4. Type: View
       5. Click Update
4. Under Host settings set up the payment options and check the allow user to sign up for demo portal.
5. Create the page, drop in the Module "Portal Demo Signup"

Watch the revenue come in.

Check out the forum thread at DotNetNuke

If you creating an Atlas enabled website is easy, you are right, depending....  READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BELOW.  THERE ARE DETAILS THAT YOU SHOULD BE AWARE.

There are several things you will need to do.  Below I have outlined changes that you will need to make to your basic DNN 4.x.x site.  Do the required actions listed below.  Afterwards, you can add all the AtlasToolKit controls that you want within your modules.  Modules will only work if the site is prepped for Atlas.  I do not recommend making a module with the Script Manager in it because it will inevitably bomb.  Have fun, leave me comments if it helps.

(Required) Download the Atlas and AtlasToolKit Files

You can get them from http://atlas.asp.net

(Required) Web.Config File

First you need to make the sections in your web.config look like the examples below.  I put the changes you need to make in red.

(omitted to condense space)
<section name="profiles" requirePermission="false" type="DotNetNuke.Framework.Providers.ProviderConfigurationHandler, DotNetNuke"/>
</sectionGroup>
<sectionGroup name="microsoft.web" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.MicrosoftWebSectionGroup">
<section name="converters" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.ConvertersSection"/>
</sectionGroup>
</configSections>
<microsoft.web>
<converters>
<add type="Microsoft.Web.Script.Serialization.Converters.DataSetConverter"/>
<add type="Microsoft.Web.Script.Serialization.Converters.DataRowConverter"/>
<add type="Microsoft.Web.Script.Serialization.Converters.DataTableConverter"/>
</converters>
</microsoft.web>
<connectionStrings>
(omitted to condense space)
<httpHandlers>
<!-- This is for FTB 3.0 support -->
<add verb="GET" path="FtbWebResource.axd" type="FreeTextBoxControls.AssemblyResourceHandler, FreeTextBox"/>
<!-- This is for CAPTCHA support -->
<add verb="*" path="*.captcha.aspx" type="DotNetNuke.UI.WebControls.CaptchaHandler, DotNetNuke"/>
<!-- This is for Serving files, secure, insecure, from database -->
<add verb="*" path="LinkClick.aspx" type="DotNetNuke.Services.FileSystem.FileServerHandler, DotNetNuke"/>
<add verb="*" path="*.asmx" type="Microsoft.Web.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory" validate="false"/>
</httpHandlers>
(omitted to condense space)
<add namespace="DotNetNuke.Entities.Tabs"/>
</namespaces>
<controls>
<add namespace="Microsoft.Web.UI" assembly="Microsoft.Web.Atlas" tagPrefix="Atlas"/>
<add namespace="Microsoft.Web.UI.Controls" assembly="Microsoft.Web.Atlas" tagPrefix="Atlas"/>
<add namespace="AtlasControlToolkit" assembly="AtlasControlToolkit" tagPrefix="Atlas"/>
</controls>
</pages>
<xhtmlConformance mode="Transitional"/>
(omitted to condense space)

(Required) Skin File

This next bit of code is an example of the DNN Blue skin.  You need to make sure you have a copy without Atlas and one WITHOUT Atlas.  DO NOT APPLY ATLAS ENABLED SKINS AND MODULES TO YOUR PORTAL OR HOST TABS.  Note:  Go ahead and set your Portal and Host Skins and Containers to a known safe skin.  This way if you run into problems you can fix them.  Otherwise, your pages will bomb.  You have been warned.

(omitted to condense space)
<%@ Register TagPrefix="dnn" TagName="DOTNETNUKE" src="~/Admin/Skins/DotNetNuke.ascx" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="dnn" TagName="LANGUAGE" src="~/Admin/Skins/Language.ascx" %>
<Atlas:ScriptManager ID="scriptManager" EnablePartialRendering="true" runat="server" />
<TABLE class="pagemaster" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<TR>
<TD valign="top">
<TABLE class="skinmaster" width="770" border="0" align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
(omitted to condense space)

(Optional) Container File - Only if using the Update Panel

The old conatiner file.
(omitted to condense space)
<TD valign="middle" nowrap><dnn:VISIBILITY runat="server" id="dnnVISIBILITY" /><dnn:ACTIONBUTTON5 runat="server" id="dnnACTIONBUTTON5" CommandName="ModuleHelp.Action" DisplayIcon="True" DisplayLink="False" /></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD id="ContentPane" runat="server" align="center"></TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<HR class="containermaster_blue">
(omitted to condense space)

The new conatiner file.
(omitted to condense space)
<TD valign="middle" nowrap><dnn:VISIBILITY runat="server" id="dnnVISIBILITY" /><dnn:ACTIONBUTTON5 runat="server" id="dnnACTIONBUTTON5" CommandName="ModuleHelp.Action" DisplayIcon="True" DisplayLink="False" /></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-bottom: 5px;margin-top: 20px;" width="100%">
<tr>
<td id="oldContentPane" class="content" runat="server">
<Atlas:UpdatePanel ID="ContentPane" runat="server" Mode="Always">
<ContentTemplate>
</ContentTemplate>
</Atlas:UpdatePanel>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD>
<HR class="containermaster_blue">
(omitted to condense space)

Before the role out of a beta site, using the DotNetNuke framework, I am testing Atlas and Atlas Control Toolkit with it.  I have had quite a bit of success.  No real issues except that set up is tedious.  You have to modify the Web.Config, Skin and Container.  It is recommended that you create a copy of each skin and container control.  One with Atlas and one with out. 

The only real problems I have are with the ModalPopupExtender rendering off the screen.  I have to modify the Atlas Toolkit Control source code* to make it work right.  Fun right?

*See this link. http://www.codeplex.com/WorkItem/View.aspx?Project...

The issue I had with DNN is really crappy and I have not been able to determine the cause.  I do know now that I am doing backups every 12 hours, once at noon and at midnight.  This way I only lose half a days work. 

Right now on the problem DNN site I have 30 portals.  Since we cannot backup one portal at a time, viola, all portals are going to pay the price.

Have fun and happy DNNing

DotNetNuke

Sometimes in the DotNetNuke (DNN) world I find it hard to get good answers and support for modules. This person from Seamless.Album was on the ball and got back right away. Their website has NO support so I had to use the contact us page. It is a nice photo gallery. We have four sights using it.  Check out the demo at http://www.seamlessmodules.com.

-----Original Message-----

From: Roman D. Clarkson
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 8:30 AM
To: uri.nizan@seamlessmodules.com
Subject: RE: Seamless Modules New User Registration

Thank you for the response. Yes it is. Something happened in the database table "Folders". For a portal It would show a directory structure like this:

Skins/
Containers/
Docs/
templates /
Seamless.Album/
Seamless.Album/1287
Seamless.Album/1298

It looks fine but it was missing six (6) album directories. The effect was that when you tried to upload an image in a gallery that had a real folder on the hard drive but not the database you would get a security error. The error would state that you need to make sure permissions are set properly on the computer. They are set correctly. I had to manually correct the folder structure to the root folders only of the portal, like this:

Skins/
Containers/
Docs/
templates /
Seamless.Album/

Then I did a synch and it worked fine after that.

Roman D. Clarkson

-----Original Message-----

From: Uri Nizan
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 7:53 AM
To: 'Roman D. Clarkson' Subject:
RE: Seamless Modules New User Registration

Hi, No problem :-) So, is everything OK with the Seamless Album module now? Thanks, Uri Seamless Modules

-----Original Message-----

From: Roman D. Clarkson
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 2:41 PM
To: admin@seamlessmodules.com
Subject: RE: Seamless Modules New User Registration

Sorry to bother you. Shortly after upgrading to 4.3.5 the database table "Folder" became unsynchronized. I had to manually fix the affected records. Sorry for the bother.

Roman D. Clarkson

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