Module :: Announcements

Announcements Module: version 04.00.01 has been released

erik@apollo-software.nl — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:00:00 GMT

A new version of the Announcements module, version 04.00.01 was released yesteday. The new version can be downloaded from the project page (read full post to see what bugs where fixed and what enhancements where added)

More...

Announcement module: call for new team members

erik@apollo-software.nl — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:16:49 GMT

Now that version 04.00.00 has been released, and 04.00.01 underway (in the release tracker now), I decided the time is right to expand the team.

More...

Announcements module: version 4 is here!

erik@apollo-software.nl — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:11:14 GMT

After so much inspiration from the OpenForce conferences, where Charles Nurse and Vicenç Masanas created advanced versions of the Announcements module, it really felt good creating a new version of the module. Although the number of new features are small, under the hood, a lot has changed.More...

Announcements module: pre-announcing next version

erik@apollo-software.nl — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:48:42 GMT

Status update for the announcements module projectMore...

Announcements 03.04.00 released

erik@apollo-software.nl — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:31:12 GMT

This blog post contains info about the 03.04.00 version of the annoucnements module. It is not a new release!More...

Version 03.04.00 of Announcements

erik@apollo-software.nl — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 14:55:00 GMT

Yesterday i finished work on the new version of the Announcements module. After some internal testing, I will submit the module to the module release tracker this Friday, and i hope it will be ready for release early January.

This module will be the last DNN 3.3.x / ASP.NET 1.1. version (the module will not run in DNN 3.0.x, 3.1.x, 3.2.x or 4.0.x). Besides a couple of new features, this module also finaly completes the reintroduction of the expire date field (i think that was the single most requested thing). Let me walk you through the major changes:

rename sprocs in order to group all announcements sprocs together. This was done to make it easier to see what stored procedures actually belong the announcement module
finish reintroduction of the expire date, and enhance display features for the expire date (ie. give module editors a way to see expired and future)
fixes to ISearchable. Allow for admin to decide how many characters should be used in search "description", this is done through a setting in module settings
fixes to Iportable. All fields are now correctly exported and imported.
Add separate image field. A new field was added to allow for the display of an image with an announcement.
convert item text to nText, to allow for unlimited text in the module.
option to display future (not published) items only for module editors. This is done through a dropdown list that allows you to select current, past, future or all announcement, only when you have edit permissions to the module

Call for suggestions

erik@apollo-software.nl — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:34:00 GMT

Now that version 03.03.05 is released, and will be included in DNN 3.3.6 / 4.3.6, I've begun planning of the next version of the Announcement Module, which will be version 03.04.00.

Right now, i've decided to include the following fixes and features:

finish reintroduction of the expire date, and enhance display features for the expire date (ie. give module editors a way to see expired items, and possibly, include the expired items in an archived view
display future (not published) items only for module editors
convert item text to nText, to allow for unlimited text in the module
add a second text field, to allow for summary and detail info. This will result in module editors no longer having to create a new page to point to detail information
fixes to ISearchable and IPortable

I'm opening the floor for the next 2 weeks (so thats untill November 22), for any suggestions you might have. I am planning to have a new version ready before christmas....

ps: the formal roadmap for the Announcement module is available on the DotNetNuke Gemini site: http://support.dotnetnuke.com/Default.aspx?ANN=RoadMap

Announcements 03.03.05 released to Platinum Benefactors

erik@apollo-software.nl — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:55:00 GMT

A few hours ago the "new" version of the announcements module has been released to platinum benefactors for testing purposes. This is one of the final stages in the module release process, as the module passed all previous stages. I expect this version to be release to the public fairly soon as well.

The new process release tracker is a great tool to allow for all parties to clearly see and communicate what tests are being conducted, what tests passed and what tests failed. Cudo's should go to Scott Willhite for putting so much effort behind this, and to Steve Fabian for creating a great tracker module

Where are the module source files?

erik@apollo-software.nl — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 12:53:00 GMT

I get quite a bit of questions about the source version of the announcement module. Due to the way DNN Modules are packaged automatically, the sources are all contained in a zip file. This would not have caused any problems if the zipfile would be named logically, however, in the case of DNN core modules (or rather.. the ones that are packaged the way they should be), the zipfile is named: "DNN_[modulename].resources", no doubt the reason why many people are not able to locate the source files.

This packaging method however, will ensure that the sourcecode is unpacked upon module installation. So yes: the source packages are in fact installable source packages.

Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that most DNN core modules are still being developed under dnn 3.x / asp.net 1.1. This is necessary for the modules to work in DNN 3.x versions (some modules need at least DNN 3.3.0 though). The result of this is that you cannot just start developing the core modules under DNN 4.x / asp.net 2.0. Should you want/need to do that, you could of course try the Module Upgrade Wizard, available from the download page.

The why behind the removal of the Announcements Expiry Date

erik@apollo-software.nl — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 21:22:00 GMT

If you upgraded your dnn install from a pre DotNetNuke 3.3.0/4.3.0 site, you will have noticed that the expiry date was removed from the announcement module, which might have lead to old announcements to be displayed again.

The ExpireDate column was removed in version 3.3.0 of the announcements module, which, quite frankly, should not have been done. At the same time, a new History (Days) setting was introduced in the module, offering a similar, but less granular control over display duration of announcements. Let me give you some insight of the reasoning behind all this, quoting Shaun Walker:

You could set an expiry date and once the item expired, it would no longer be displayed in the list. This concept, although granular, imposed a lot of extra administration in managing lists of announcements. And the biggest issue was that once the item was expired, not even an Administrator could view the item to change the expiry date or delete - it was effectively orphaned within the database and could only be accessed via manual SQL queries.
The new concept allows you to construct views where you can see subsets of announcements or all - simply by adding a module reference to another page and modifying the view settings. However this is still not very granular when you wish to expire a specific item. I would suggest an IsActive flag on items. However, the trick is that when an Admin is logged in, they need to be able see ALL items whether they are active or not - whereas regular users see just the active items. Personally, I believe that all modules should support a notion of IsActive - as hard deletes are far too permanent and destructive.
You may also think that adding some criteria to the Announcements.ascx to allow the user to choose view settings would be good as well. And it would certainly provide flexibility. But it would do so at the expense of performance, as the module would no longer be able to participate in the module caching framework (which is a huge deal in an active site like dotnetnuke.com )

The reasoning is sound, however, i think we need to offer a smoother upgrade path for existing modules.

I just finished a new version of the module which will undo the deletion of the ExpireDate field (which means it won't be deleted anymore from upgraded modules, and will be added to 3.3.0+ modules. This wil not help the upgrades that already went haywire, but will solve the problem for when the big masses will embark on the upgrade adventure.....

The new version is being tested now, and should be released fairly soon (early next week)