I think the hardest part of writing a book, is having to accept the negative reviews on Amazon. I expect my latest book, Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5,  to get about 2 stars due to the negative reviews I am expecting. Now, this book has a lot of things to offer. Ian Lackey wrote most of the book and it covers the latest version of DotNetNuke 5, inside and out. I wrote the module development chapters that cover:

• Creating modules using Silverlight
• Creating modules using Linq to SQL
• Creating modules in VB.NET and C#

That is where the problem is. I know from experience that anger is caused by an expectation not met. This book will be known more for what it does not have, than what it does.

What the book does not have is:

• This does not cover the DAL or the DAL+
• Uses the WSP Visual Studio project structure rather than the WAP structure

I’m not making this “controversy” up. Two out of the three technical editors flat out disagreed with what I wrote.

Here is my point, it’s been over four years. Hundreds of modules and tutorials. I have built large systems with millions of records, thousands of transactions and hour, that have stayed running for years using the exact methods I describe in the book.

As to the things I left out, I covered the DAL and DAL+ in the last book, because I felt that I “should” because people would expect me to. When I re-read the previous book, I actually got confused when reading the data access layer section. I’m the one who wrote it! This is NOT acceptable. Never again.

Here is the point, after making hundreds of modules and tutorials for over 4 years, I think I can finally relax and not be afraid to call it as I see it.

I put my heart into this latest book. No apologies.