I've still got a few more things I need to do before I can call this a beta but this release is really shaping up nicely. I am now using it on all my major sites and have done quite a lot of testing. But it will be a few more days before we get to code-freeze and the beta. Here's alpha 3 for those that can't wait.

If you get an error about an "Ambiguous" class definition when you install this, you need to delete the EfficionConsulting.Articles.dll from your bin directory. When I release the beta version, I'll be compiling the module into a DLL again or making both styles available.

Please report any bugs you find in the module to the right.

One thing I think it's important to do is to protect my clients from spam. Clients like to be able to put their email address on their sites. But, putting an unprotected email address on a site can soon result in a lot of spam as spambots search sites looking for email addresses to add to their lists. There are multiple ways to prevent this...

I spent a lot of time on the module this weekend. I've add the ability to link to (and upload) files for the Detail Type and fixed a variety of issues. There's still several more bugs and maybe another feature I need to knock out before we go to beta but I do hope to go to better this week. I'm now running the module on several of my live portals.

There are many thousands of skins out there in the DNN universe. Many companies specialize in producing skins for DNN and other CMS systems. I haven't spent a lot of time looking, but most of what I've seen, just isn't what I'm looking for.

As a developer with very strong HTML and CSS skins, and solid but limited image manipulation skills, what I really need is a good starting point so that I can quickly build out a custom skin that speaks to the personality of my client organizations.

Over the years, I've spent quite a bit of time producing and refining a skin that has exactly what I need to get started, and nothing extra. I have focused on creating truly clean, proper, HTML  that works on all (within reason) browsers. And the few nice clean images it does use make it easy to manipulate the skin into any color in the known universe.

You can see an image of this skin now. Soon, I'll be sharing the source of it with everyone. Many people simply won't get it, "Not enough pop", "where's the stock photos", "too generic", and that's fine, but I'd love to see the skin that ships with DNN be a lot more like this.

One of the biggest drains on our time has been the menu system. As a result, for the last year and on into the future, we now only build our skins using Telerik's Rad Menu. To be continued...

A new early alpha version of the Articles module, version 4.0, is now available. DO NOT USE THIS ON LIVE SITES, it needs lots of testing. I'll put together a summary of new features and fixes soon.

Efficion Consulting, in partnership with Lieneke Group and ITArchitechs, recently completed Watercop.com, an e-commerce web site for an automatic water shut-off system. Built on top of DotNetNuke, the site features: a custom design built to appeal to WaterCop's target audience; a clean, easy to use online store with 3 separate interfaces geared towards the different levels of users; interactive flash animations that describe the product's appeal and functionality; a powerful administrative interface that makes it easy for Watercop staff to administer and update the store, process orders, and track detailed sales information. In addition, the site includes many customizations to tailor it to the exact needs of the client. Some of the customizations include:

• Configuration Wizard - Walks new users through the process of buying the WaterCop System
• Reseller Capture - A module that integrates with the E-Commerce system for capturing information on potential Dealers and Installers in order to grow the WaterCop reseller network
• Dealer Locator - Enables users to quickly find local resellers. The module integrates with the Google Maps API to present information in a clean easy to use format.
• Rapid Order Entry - Streamlines the order process for Dealers and Customer Service personnel
• Custom Reports - Provides advanced analysis capabilities through tracking sales and statistics data relating to purchases, site statistics, and user information.

Sometimes, you need (or want) to know what modules are and are not actually being used on your DotNetNuke site. This can be useful if you want to uninstall unused modules for performance improvements or if you're planning on upgrading your site and you need to know what modules you'll need to test or upgrade. Here's some sql that will help you answer these questions...

eTailer from Emerald Solutions is a fairly new entry in the DNN e-commerce world. While there is a great deal of promise in the product, my brief attempt at using it seems to indicate it's not ready yet...

Purchasing, downloading, and installing it went smoothly. eTailer adds a reasonable 5 modules to your DNN install (much better than the 23+ modules Catalook adds). Initially getting things setup and going seemed quite intuitive.  I created a new page and added the "eTailer Store Front module". It had a nice obvious link that allowed me to Add/Modify Products. And so I was off and running, or so I thought...

We've been doing a lot of DotNetNuke based E-Commerce projects lately. The projects we've done have really spanned a variety of store types (wine, audio files, church stuff, an automated shutoff system, resistors, printing products, and more), client types (wineries, churches, incentive programs, manufactures, master distributors) and feature requirements. So far, for all the DotNetNuke based E-Commerce sites we've built, we've used Catalook.

Catalook has a huge number of features, an immense number of configuration options, and is probably the worst implemented piece of software I've ever used. But it works. At times, though, I think it would be faster if I had just built the E-Commerce pieces of each of the sites from scratch.

Here's a compilation of tips and tricks for getting at more than just <%= SkinPath %> in your DNN skin.

To show the name of the Portal:
<%= PortalSettings.PortalName %>

To get the current portal's home directory (i.e. /portals/0 ) you would use:
<%= PortalSettings.HomeDirectory %>

You may have noticed that when you edit text in DotNetNuke, what you see in the editor window may not look like what you see when you save your changes. This is because the fckEditor applies a different stylesheet in the editor window instead of any of the actual site css files. To change this, all you need to do is edit the web.config file for the site and set the proper value for the StaticCSSFile variable in the FckHtmlEditorProvider section.

So search your web.config for StaticCSSFile. And update it to point to your desired css file (e.g.  StaticCSSFile="~/Portals/0/Skins/MySkin/skin.css"). Save your changes and you should now see the proper styles when you edit content.

I initially tried making changes to the EditorAreaCSS variable in the fckconfig.js file as this is the standard place to make fckeditor changes but that proved to be a dead end. Not sure why the DNN folks implemented this in the web.config instead.

DotNetNuke has a nice way to require unique passwords for all users. You can't simply go into the web.config, search for RequireUniqueEmail="False" and set it to RequireUniqueEmail="True". The problem is if there are already users with duplicate email addresses, bad things happen (It's been awhile since I've tried it and I don't remember specifically what happens but I know it wasn't handled well).

So, you need a way to remove the duplicate email addresses before you make the web.config change. This SQL will take care of it.

This is something I've learned and forgotten at least 4 times. Writing these types of things here helps me remember and seem to help quite a few other people as well. So...

Usually in DotNetNuke, if you want to associate a resource file with your control, you just create a resource file with the same name as the ascx file plus the .resx extension and place it in your App_LocalResources directory. DotNetNuke and/or ASP.NET auto-magically associates the file with your code and it just works.

However, every time that I create a control that dynamically loads other controls, I spend 30 minutes looking at names and file placement and... trying to figure out why the resource file doesn't seem to be loading. Eventually, it comes to me, for dynamically loaded files, you must explicitly set the LocalResource file.

To do this add the following line to your PageLoad function in your dynamically loaded control:

 LocalResourceFile = DotNetNuke.Services.Localization.Localization.GetResourceFile(this, "controlfilename.ascx");

To learn more about DNN Module Localization, check out the DotNetNuke Module Localization Guide.

DotNetNuke makes it easy to determine if the currently logged in user is an administrator (aka admin) or any other role for that matter. All you need to do is call the following: PortalSecurity.IsInRole("Administrators") or PortalSecurity.IsInRole("MyRoleName"). This function should return the boolean value very quickly as everything it needs is already in memory. You can call this from either the code behind or the ascx file (e.g. Visible='<%#PortalSecurity.IsInRole("Administrators")%>').

This can be very useful for determining whether or not to show a control or content meant only for the right groups eyes.

Efficion partnered with IT Architechs in creating a new website for the Small Patent Law Group, a law firm that's serves as an intellectual property boutique. The site was built using DotNetNuke to make it easy for SPLG's staff to make updates to the site. In addition, SPLG will be able to use secured sections to share private information with their clients.

Is your DotNetNuke site running ridiculously slowly and consuming massive amounts of your processor? It might be stuck in a bit of a catch 22... The scheduler is trying to clear the ScheduleHistory table, but it can't because the ScheduleHistory table is too full.

This page will describe options for playing and/or allowing downloading of audio from a website. Ultimately, I think the best answer is a specific combination of the options below: -use flash for streaming, provide a link for downloading, if a feed, provide a link to the rss feed (aka Podcast).

For several months now, Efficion has been turning down most new projects as our existing clients have been keeping us plenty busy. In hopes of better serving existing and new customers as well as spending more time with our families, we've been looking for the right person for awhile now and Eric seems to be the perfect fit.

Eric has spent the last 12 years working in IT and Management roles in the St. Louis area.  His skills range from troubleshooting and website development to graphics and accounting with some culinary arts and photography on the side.

This site, built on top of DotNetNuke, provides a great deal of information for users interested in making their home safer. Efficion created a custom design incorporating the existing logo and based on the owner's ideas and desires to create a custom look that truly reflected the mood and imagery the owner desired. We incorporated a range of modules, along with custom enhancements to existing modules to present information cleanly, clearly, and efficiently while still making it easy for the owner to make site updates on his own.