Archive for October, 2008

A Second Look: Enabling ASP.NET 2.0 Localization in a DotNetNuke Application

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

Some time ago, I wrote about an approach for enabling ASP.NET 2.0 localization within a DotNetNuke application.  This approach not only required a core modification, but the change introduced a potential breaking change with third party modules.  This was clearly unsatisfactory, and the fact that I was unable to fully solve the problem has been vexing me for some time.

As my research on the recently-released Linq to Sql Adapter (currently hosted on CodePlex) wound down, I decided to investigate a new approach to solving the problem.  In my opinion, an optimal solution would fulfill the following requirements:

  1. Require no core changes
  2. Be side-by-side compatible with the existing DotNetNuke localization services
  3. Require little configuration by a hosting user
  4. Allow strongly-typed per-portal and per-culture access to existing global DotNetNuke resources
  5. Minimal additional in-memory footprint and reasonable performance
  6. Enable use of the meta:resourcekey attribute in DotNetNuke modules
  7. Be fully compatibility with third-party modules

I am pleased to announce a preview release of a custom BuildProvider that, to my knowledge, accomplishes all of these goals.

(more…)

Tags:, ,
Posted in DotNetNuke (DNN) Content Management System, Technology | 5 Comments »

Using the Linq to Sql Adapter in a DotNetNuke Module

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

In a previous entry, I discussed a potential solution to a longstanding problem.  The DotNetNuke CMS framework allows declaration of an object qualifier and database owner on a per-installation basis.  This effectively varies the fully-qualified database entity names at runtime.  Because the Linq to Sql system by default utilizes a class attribution approach, it does not lend itself well to such runtime adaptation.

Here I describe the steps necessary to use Linq to Sql within a DotNetNuke module in a reliable, distributable manner.

(more…)

Tags:, ,
Posted in DotNetNuke (DNN) Content Management System, Technology | 5 Comments »

Adapting the Linq to Sql Attributed Meta-Model for Use in DotNetNuke

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

The .NET-supplied DataContext allows Linq to Sql development using the attributed model automatically generated by a Visual Studio designer. However, when deployed within DotNetNuke, these attributes do not pick up the database owner and object qualfier required by DotNetNuke.  Because of this, large-scale deployment of modules using Linq to Sql is infesable, and modules using the technology are unfortunately limited to internal applications.

To rememdy this issue, I have developed an adapter that converts the attributed meta model generated by the designer into a DotNetNuke-compatable model that uses both the object qualifier and database owner specified by an end-installation. 

(more…)

Tags:, , ,
Posted in DotNetNuke (DNN) Content Management System, Technology | 1 Comment »

Improving DotNetNuke 5.0 Administrator Menu Organization

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

DotNetNuke Admin Menu (Original)One of my (few) cavils about the DotNetNuke Content Management System is the organization of the administrator menu.  Presenting an administrator with thirteen options (including somewhat inscrutable choices like “Extensions” and “Solutions”), is easily overwhelming for an often-technically unsophisticated administrator.  Indeed, both feedback from users and log analysis have indicated that several of these options are rarely utilized and thereby serve only to clutter the interface and increase the learning curve.

In pre-5.0 versions, despite being persisted to the database like any other page, the admin menu is restricted to one level.  This was a hardcoded limitation; though one could change the verbiage, order, or visibility of the items in the menu, one could not introduce additional levels of organization (without several changes to the core framework).

With DotNetNuke 5.0, however, because administrator pages are treated on-par with any other page on a site, an improvement in organization becomes possible.  Herein I discuss the changes necessary to, in my opinion, improve the overall organization of the DotNetNuke administrator menu.

(more…)

Tags:,
Posted in DotNetNuke (DNN) Content Management System, Technology | 2 Comments »