Version 4.2.0 of Efficion's Articles Module for DotNetNuke is now available. This release adds lots of features and fixes and sets the ground work for new improvements.

Key amoung the features are the new Comment Moderation features that let selected roles moderate comments before they go live. Another key change was reworking the architecture so that list templates can use Repeaters instead of just DataLists which will enable us to better make use of jQuery effects and much more. Look for new templates coming soon to show off our new capabilities.   Read More...

Version 4.1.2 of Efficion's Articles module is now available. This release includes a variety of fixes, improvements, and new features.

View the complete list of changes   

One of the under-utilized features in the DotNetNuke module development API is the ability to utilize DotNetNuke's built in Permissions architecture within your own custom modules.

Rather than having to write your own code to display a grid of available roles and special permissions, it's fairly easy to add your permissions to the existing permissions grid that usually just displays "View" and "Edit".

I found a nice article that gives a very good overview on how to do this
Extending DotNetNuke Module Permissions for Custom Modules   

As I build out the settings for DotNetNuke modules, I only like to display settings that are relevant to the other selections the user has made. The best way to do this is with Javascript so users don't have to wait for a postback everytime they change a relevant control.

In trying to put these things in place, I often find the code often doesn't work quite the way I expect (or at least used to expect) it to. The issue usually has to do with the way asp.net renders controls. I usually find I have to dig into the source view a bit to see exactly how asp.net rendered something and then fiddle a bit to get everything working right.

Here, I'll describe, one particular case where I had two checkboxes linked. The 2nd checkbox should only be displayed when the first checkbox is checked...   Read More...

A question that I see a lot of is, "Can DotNetNuke run on top of MySQL?" The short answer: while It is possible, it is a terrible idea. The same answer is also true for Oracle. But that doesn't mean you can't write DotNetNuke modules that consume data from MySQL, Oracle, or any external data source.

The Long Answer

While DNN does provide a data abstraction layer so that it can, in theory, be run on top of any modern DBMS, the reality is DNN is a very large and complicated system that relies heavily on SQL Server specific Stored Procedures. The SQL used for DotNetNuke is chock full of Stored Procedures. The Stored Procedures improve the performance and security of the system.

A few intrepid souls have attempted to create and maintain MySQL providers but, with the availability of cheap hosting and free versions of SQL Server, there simply isn't enough need for that in order to make it worthwhile and those providers are long out of date.

Even if someone does manage get the latest version of DNN's core running against MySQL, it's still a bad idea because you would lose the key thing that makes DNN special, Modules. You would need to ensure that every module you ever want to use has a MySQL provider and that that provider would continue to be updated throughout the life of the module. Or, you would have to create a MySQL provider for every module that you want to use. The cost of doing this would far exceed the cost of using a hosting company that would provide you a shared SQL Server on which you can run DNN.