Néstor Sánchez

Gallery Module update

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:00:00 GMT

While attention is centered around OpenForce Connections in Las Vegas, I want to provide a breather from news about that important event. I will soon have the pleasure of announcing the first release of the Gallery Module in the .NET 2.0 platform.

While all details about bug fixes and changes will be disclosed once the module passes the Release process, I can tell you that I have been reviewing the issues in our Bug Tracker and Change Management tool and it is evident that the team has done an exhaustive revision to provide improved stability and performance to the module.

Once comments for the release notes for all issues included in the release have been entered, the module will be officially ready for the Release Tracker which signals other DotnetNuke team members to evaluate several areas. When the module passes this evaluations, it is released to the public. Although the process does not have a specific timetable, it is probable that the module will be available before year's end.

If you have any questions or comments, make sure you visit our public forums.

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Blogging from OneNote

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:41:38 GMT

I use Microsoft's OneNote heavily and have practically done away with notebooks. When Antonio Chagoury (the Blog Project Tean Lead) said in the Core Team chat today that it is possible to blog in DotNetNuke's Blog Module directly from this application there was no way I was going to wait, so this short entry is being posted as the chat continues. The truth is that any note you create in OneNote is sent first to Word and then from there you can publish to the Blog Module. Although you lose all the nice formatting that can be done in OneNote, this is yet another reason why DotNetNuke rules!!!

And, by the way, I've corrected this entry a few times already. WLW makes blogging such a simple and quick activity now, that you can't really miss using the Blog Module.

Blogging takes a twist with the DotNetNuke Blog Module

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:16:11 GMT

When new modules are released by DotNetNuke teams there's a learning curve for the new features offered. You may have already seen that the Blog module announced its imminent release and before it is available to the general public and as part of the release process, it is installed at www.dotnetnuke.com. This post is my first using a feature that other blogging platforms have enjoyed for quite a while, and it is also my first attempt at learning the MetaWeblog way of posting.

DotNetNuke websites can now use Word 2007 (as well as any MetaWeblog compliant writer) to publish posts for their blogs and I expect myself to make heavy use of this feature. If you ask me, this one alone makes it worth to move to DotNetNuke or if you already use it, upgrade the Blog Module to the latest version. Of course, there are more new features, fixes and changes and I expect a series of posts to come from Antonio Chagoury to cover the most important ones.

DNN Days of Yore, or how massive DotNetNuke is becoming

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:52:00 GMT

In a chat a few months ago, Shaun Walker -the original DotNetNuke creator and maintainer and current DotNetNuke Corp. President and Chief Architect- mentioned a few strategic goals the project had on its path. These days, the word "project" seems oddly used, when you think about

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When a solution is not a solution, the scalability and performance trap.

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:32:00 GMT

I was reading a blog post that suggested a solution to finding the page where a module is on (http://blog.dmbcllc.com/2008/09/15/dotnetnuke-modules-finding-the-page-a-module-is-on/) and while the method is sound, it is not appropriate to be used in all cases. Let's see why:

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DotNetNuke makes Hinchcliffe's Top Ten leading platforms for creating online communities

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:57:00 GMT

I want to share an interesting post I just read. Dion Hinchcliffe a ZDNet blogger elaborated a list of the Top Ten Platforms Used for Building Communities and, on "order of general industry popularity", DotNetNuke is seventh.

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Welcome to a talented graphic design professional

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:15:00 GMT

I am very pleased to announce that a talented professional has accepted an invitation to join the DNN project on two soon-to-be-visible fronts.

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Gallery 4.3.0 Beta 2 is out - Help us Test!

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:27:00 GMT

This is a brief note to let everyone know the Beta 2 fo the Gallery module is out. The team is doing an excellent job at killing bugs and taking notes of future areas for enhancements.

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Two features from .Net 3.5 SP1 that will benefit DotNetNuke module developers

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:27:00 GMT

It is hard enough to keep up with all the stuff coming out of Microsoft for developers. Although I don't think there will be rush to upgrade to the newly released SQL 2008, the case for .Net 3.5 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is different. ASP.NET Dynamic Data, Script Combining and AJAX History alone are features that make it almost irrestible to upgrade the .Net Framework and the tool used to program against it.

I expect the second feature to be a strong one among DNN developers. Since scripts can be injected at many stages in DNN, there are performance challenges for modules that use multiple scripts and also a typical request can only do a couple of them in parallel. The problem is compound when you think about the sequential nature of javascript. The ability to use AJAX and combine script requests will help solve a bottleneck that affects performance in all ASP.NET applications, including DNN.

Another common problem for those already leveraging AJAX is the management of history points. With the promise of better interactivity and UI feedback with reduced flickering, AJAX raised a problem of its own: complexity to restore navigation history and viewstate with the use of the back and forward buttons in the browser without. The latest Service Pack for the framework introduces AJAX Browser History, a feature that will help the developer control navigation within an application that uses AJAX. DNN's modularity will certainly benefit, by enabling module developers to encapsulate the history points logic into their modules. Although it is too early to be certain about architectural impact on the DNN Core (keep in mind the DNN Core is still using .net 2.0 libraries), I suspect an implementation of a core service that unifies access to this feature to avoid code duplication might be a nice addition.

The best place to start learning about all the features available in these Service Packs is of course the Asp.net site. Videos, forums and other materials are already available so jump now to the downloads page to find more about the .Net 3.5 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1

Happy Coding!

DNN Content: The growth of community content about Dotnetnuke

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:09:00 GMT

The steady growth in registered users (600.000+ and counting) and downloads for the platform produces not only a growing installed base of users. Lately, the wealth of resources related to Dotnetnuke is evident as well. Almost everyday I come accross blog posts and articles about DotNetNuke. Although most are code related, desining and user oriented content is found throughout the web.

It is not news that DotNetNuke brought the web to novice coders, non-developers and hobbyist from the very start. The health of the project in its fifth year is a sign for late adopters, something that might prove to be the tipping point for DNN.

Philip Beadle, Joe Brinkman, Antonio Chagoury, Chris Hammond, Charles Nurse, Mitchel Sellers, from the DNN Team frequently provide rich tips and articles here at the dotnetnuke.com Blogs and at their personal blogs.

Mitchel was an already prolific poster, both at DNN forums and his own personal blog, before becoming a DNN team member (he's on his way to become a published DNN book author as well). Other users do not post as frequently, but many do share their experiences and tips about DNN. I have been following some of them and I want to share a few that picked my interest:

Chris Hammond has created a site that is a very useful service for the community. http://www.dotnetnukeblogs.com/ is a by request service that aggregates DNN exclusive content from Blogs. He's been sahring knowledge in his own site Chrishammond.com for a number of years already.

Charles Nurse also posts (a lot) about DotNetnuke at www.charlesnurse.com.

Mitchel Sellers prolific posts are available at www.mitchelsellers.com

I particularly enjoy former DNN team member Nina Meiers written trials and tribulations. She's candid as well as savvy and her insight is enriching for anyone.

Aussie and former DNN team member blog with useful content is Ventrian's Scott McCullough. You might recall his Friendly URLs contribution to the framework. He's not posting as often as in previous years, but his blog still has information.

DNN Friday was a popular blog that has not been publishing content as frequently, but still a great resource, specially for SEO content

DNNSecrets, woaychee, dnchannel, .NetAnswers, DotNetNuke Fun have miscelaneous DNN content and tips.

Rafe Kemmis is a very articulate poster that I found to have entertaining and useful monthly posts.

Cuong Dang, an Engage colleague of Chris Hammond has very interesting content about skinning.

That's it for now, there are of course many more and I might post about other bloggers in the future. If you want me to see yours, send me an email to nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com with the address and a short description.