Néstor Sánchez

Common DotNetNuke Errors –Tip 2

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:00:00 GMT

The caching trap
Dotnetnuke is able to improve performance by caching modules. Module caching can have a default value, set in the Settings applied to the Module Definition for the pertinent module.

The value can be overridden in each instance of the module by changing the number in the module settings section.

While developing modules, developers are confused when the module under development works but only when logged in as host or admin. This is another simple thing that falls under the gotcha category.

When using the StarterKit templates, it is usually missed that the manifest for the module contains a default value of 60 for module caching. When a value greater than 0 is set, the module will use caching and therefore you should expect it to perform in that way. Now, here’s the catch: Caching is not enforced for users in the Admin or Host roles.

It is possible to anticipate this behavior and simply have a value of 0 in the manifest, or removing the node altogether, before the module is installed into a testing /development site. If the module is already installed, the value in the individual instance can be changed to 0 as well.

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Some lessons learnt from trying out DotnetNuke 5.1

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:28:27 GMT

I found some time to start testing the next release of DotNetNuke. While the public has access to a Beta build (5.1.0.266), our team can benefit from the latest checked in bits (Currently 5.1.0.321). After grabbing it from our source control tool, I could not install DotNetNuke, and this was a good thing because I learnt, from the solving process and from my fellow members, that the next version automatically sets itself to use .NET 3.5 if available.

Currently, the install package includes the .net 2.0 version of the System.web.extensions library. This version is located inside the website bin folder and is necessary to start the installation process, which uses AJAX for some of its steps.

After the install is completed, and if the server has .NET 3.5 installed, the assembly is removed and your site automatically configured to use the latest framework.

An informative link about a new feature
In the same vein, Twitter is the source of some of the most useful information I am finding both about DNN and other topics I am interested in. I had resolved to post about latest development in the DNN world, but it is not something I always find time to do. Of course, I won’t microblog here to avoid boring the community in general. However this post is already long enough to deserve a bonus shout out to a post about a new feature in DNN 5.1.

There’s a new module targeted at making it easier to manage websites and installs. Although it is a work in progress, it is also an example of the path DotNetNuke is taking. The post is at Learn MS .Net, ~~but I could not find the author’s name~~. Written by Sam McDonald, it is a good read, with screens and some explanations.

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Common DotNetNuke Errors –Tip 1

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:29:19 GMT

This is meant to be a series. Without ANY ado, let me introduce the first one:

This one mostly happens to newcomers to DotNetNuke development that don’t read, or just do some fast skimming over the instructions for DotNetNuke installation. It doesn’t happen when using the Install package, just with the Source one and will manifest itself when calling the application for the first time from the browser.

The Parser Error Message is vague and specific at the same time, “Could not load type 'DotNetNuke.Common.Global'”. Of course, with some experience, it’s clear that the cause is a missing web.config file.

Look at the Website folder, make a copy of the development.config file and rename it web.config. Then go ahead and install DotNetNuke.

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Dynamics CRM Crmservice unavailable in Visual Studio 2008

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:29:11 GMT

I needed to create a report in a DNN website to obtain the Total billable hours for a single case in Dynamics CRM. All my previous DotNetNuke modules for CRM had been done in VS2005, which lead me to miss a detail.

My code kept complaining about missing the Crmservice type, which after instantiation is the very same web service needed to obtain information from Dynamics CRM. After going through MSDN documentation, posting at the CRM community and searching through the web I was almost giving up.

The cause was not apparent to me because the behavior in VS 2008 was so similar to its counterpart in VS2005. The reason I kept missing it was that I did not pay enough attention to the "Add Service Reference screen.

In all my DNN modules, the Add Web Reference item in the contextual project menu is always present, but notice there’s no “Add Service Reference” item.

However in a new Console project the menu is different. The menu displays two items. “Reference” and “Add Service Reference”. Of course I went automatically to the second one and kept adding the CRM URL there. After connecting and finding the webservice, the reference was added. I did this a few times, but the CrmService error remained.

After wasting a couple of cycles searching the web, I resolved to start from scratch following the Sdk documentation step by step.

In the end, it was very, very simple. I was not adding a Web Reference. And judging from the result there is and important difference. The steps to add a Web Reference are slightly different, but only the first time in a project.

The “Add Web Reference” screen only shows up after clicking on “Advanced…” button in the first Add Service Reference screen and then “Add Web Reference…” in the Service Reference Settings screen.

A third option “Add Web reference” will appear from now on in that project.

In summary, the problem was that I had been adding a Service Reference where a Web Reference was needed.

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Gallery 4.3 March update - Public Beta 2 preparation

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:32:32 GMT

Bill has checked in changes to Gallery and we are preparing a new public beta of the module. This beta includes security related changes, corrections to the Gallery menu styling, a new simpler theme and a few other minor changes.

Following the DNN move to Codeplex, this public beta will be made available for download from there. All other project resources will remain here at the DotnetNuke site. The release will be posted near the end of this month or beginning the next one and we expect that community members can provide feedback about specific fixes. If no showstoppers are found we will make the final version available shortly thereafter.

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DNN Round Up #1: archi-diagram, IContainer, localizable Chagoury, UDT’s death and resurrection and more.

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:27:01 GMT

I worked in broadcasting and journalism long before I got involved in technology and it is another passion of mine. While my love for DNN progressively increased, I would devour as much information as I could find. In the DNN 2.X days, most of the available information was at the asp.net forums where at first I was a lurker, then a question flooder and finally even became a moderator (I still am). I always wanted to get involved with DNN and my sources of information have been sprouting (and also dwindling) around. One of my favorites was Seablick’s DNN Friday, but it is lagging behind. The problem is that a set deadline for your publication will almost surely be missed when business endeavors that pay the bills get in the way.

Arguably, a huge number of community members are blogging about DNN and there’s no single comprehensive resource. Fortunately, that is bound to change and to start the path I am getting my DNN paws trained again to write read and write about DotNetNuke.

As a self-trained IT/Dev pro I have learnt that setting too high a goal will only doom my commitment. Therefore I’ve made a compromise with myself. I will only publish this round up when material is enough to make it worthwhile reading. Obviously, I have chosen the easiest and most informal way to publish it. It may transmogrify into a whole new animal in time, but I am satisfied to do it in this way, for now. Without any further ado, let’s start DNN Round Up #1.

- Ian Robinson updated the DotNetNuke Architecture Diagram (left) for a presentation of his own. A lot of the current documentation needs an overhaul and this will be tackled in the coming weeks, as soon as I get off some duties I have pending. You know, the kind of duty that pays the bills.

- Remco Ros wrote Castle Windsor as component container for DotNetNuke, a blog post about his implementation of DotNetNuke 5.X’s IContainer interface. He obtained comments from DNN’s Cathal, Charles and Antonio. Somehow Cathal finds all these posts before I do and even comments on them by the time I am reading them. I wonder if it has anything to do with his location. Going back to Remco, he had previously written about the MVP pattern in his blog.

- Antonio Chagoury (pictured left) answers 7 questions from Seablick’s Tom Kraak. Asides from the .net languages, he claims to be proficient in 5 other including my mother tongue (Spanish) ¡Bien hecho Antonio!

- Dotnetnuke Form and List, the new incarnation of the UDT module (lead by Stefan Cullman), has been released. UDT is no longer UDT and the project has been renamed to, what else, Form and List. You can read more about that release here.

- MyLifeBBS posted a nice tutorial for those who want to customize the Login Page. How to modify DotNetNuke Login Page? The Easy Way explains the steps necessary to change the Login Page of DNN portals to match their skins, but it seems to be an unfinished tutorial in the works.

- Core Team member Chris Hammond continues his podcast career with show # 3 of DNNVoice which, according to Chris’ post on his asp.net blog, includes “upcoming DNN events, a review of a DNN User Group meeting in Orlando, blogging on DNN, and all the DNN activity on Twitter lately”.

That’s it for now, send your news for DNN Roundup to nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com and/or follow me on twitter.

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Community post – Replacing password generation

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:07:46 GMT

Slodge has posted a a C# code sample to change DNN’s password generation -which uses the asp.net membership provider- to be less secure (of course he means just less complicated). To increase the length of my post I am including the VB version. *grin*

   1:      Public Class SlodgeDNNMembershipProvider

   2:          Inherits DotNetNuke.Security.Membership.AspNetMembershipProvider

3:

   4:          Shared PasswordBase As New List(Of String)() {"fishfinger", "rabbit","racing"}

5:

   6:          Public Overrides Function GeneratePassword(ByVal length As Integer) As String

   7:              '    length ignored - hope this does not hurt the SQL layer!

   8:              Return GeneratePassword()

   9:          End Function

10:

  11:          Public Overrides Function GeneratePassword() As String

  12:              Dim r As New Random()

  13:              Dim index As Integer = r.Next(PasswordBase.Count)

  14:              If index >= PasswordBase.Count Then

  15:                  'according to the intellisense help this should not happen

  16:                  index = PasswordBase.Count - 1

  17:              End If

  18:              Dim number As Integer = r.Next(100)

  19:              Return String.Format("{0}{1:00}", PasswordBase(index), number)

  20:          End Function

21:

  22:      End Class

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Gallery 2009 team lineup and progress update

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:01:22 GMT

A couple of weeks ago I announced changes happening in the Gallery team. This time around I want to publicly thank those who contributed in the past to the project. At the same time I want to officially announce the lineup of team members that will be in charge of developing the next version of Gallery.

There will be a page with the profiles of all developers. So I will limit this post to introducing them to the community. These members will be replying to your questions, gathering your suggestions and interacting with you in general in relation to all-things-Gallery.

Developers
Andrew Galbraith Ryer, Quinn Gil(*), Surjeet Gill, Jason Hamilton(*), Richard Howells(*), Wesley Tatters(*), Richard White(*), Hans Zassenhaus

Testers
Joe Davis(*), Paul DeSilets, Benjie Mangulabnan(*), Valerie Sosnow

The team will be coordinated by Bill Severance (Co-Lead), Matthias Schlomann (Testing Lead) and me of course.

Progress Update
On the development front, we have received a security report that found several issues and fixes are in progress. A new build for the 4.3 release will be tested next week.

Also, we have moved from Vault to Fortress as our source control tool. The integration with Visual Studio is very good and it is already very productive.

Finally we are starting to discuss the requirements for the future version. The process development of Gallery 5 will implement TDD, automated tests and will include a complete re-write of the code. Minimum compatible version will be DotNetNuke 5.X.

Use the Gallery forum if you have any comments, suggestions or just want to say hi.

(*) New contributors

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Independent review (sorta) of Professional DotNetNuke Module Programming

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:10:54 GMT

I received the book from Mitchell and went over the Table Of Contents and read a few chapters already. He’s done a great job! I briefly review at my asp.net weblog.

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"Software is everything. (It also sucks.)" - What does this have to do with DotNetNuke?

nestor.sanchez@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:00:00 GMT

I could not help it, I had to use that phrase as a title. On Saturday, I posted an off-topic blog entry about wireless power. Today, a comment to that post lead me to another article in FastCompany about software quality. I guess that the conclusion about it is that perfect software IS possible… if given the right resources: a few hundred people and a few million per year. Well, OK, more than a few million. The fact is that we know our profession is not like others. Bob Martin has been saying for years that we ought to be as professional and relentlessly quality-demanding craftsmen as any other.

I read the magazine article in 1996 and back then I wasn't in this business at all. I was working for a radio-broadcaster and radio was my passion. I remember learning about the impact automation was having in the US and set out to bring it into the operations of the stations that were part of the group. I had done a couple of courses of Basic back in the early 80's, but the automation experiment was what really started my path towards a career in technology.

More than a decade later, I find myself wondering - since software is everywhere-, why aren't developers famous? Why are programmers relegated to be unseen, always behind the scenes workers? Geeks have become important assets for many businesses as well as, ironically enough, exchangeable human parts in a the technosystem for a world where only ROI rules. Unfairly, suits are the ones making big bucks and often the product of burning your eyelashes through all-nighters is cashed-in by others. Like in all other careers, programmers my have a lucky break, and create a best seller. There isn't, however, an industry riding on best-selling software by solo coders. We do not have a codywood or softywood.

Even marketers in general are more prominent compared to code-smiths. And, yes, there are exceptions. There are always exceptions. We'd all like to be the exceptions and there ought to be a place where we can start.

I am from Bolivia, and my country was recently ranked first among the most entrepreneurial countries in the region. I somehow found a way to compare that to the DNN providers world. There seem to be infinite offerings around DNN: skinning, finished modules, consultants, information resources, news and aggregation, hosting development outsourcing... you name it. By internet standards, DotNetNuke has taken longer to reach a tipping point. But I think it has reached it. I don't have strong facts to back my claim, just events here and there. Of course, my sixth sense also has a role in it.

While the service and product providers around DotNetNuke increasingly become focused businesses that are high-quality suppliers, the Corporation behind DotNetNuke has began its path towards a simple and ambitious goal. I am not part of the Corporation and I do not speak for it, but I can tell you that - in a way-, DotNetNuke will be the number one rock star in the .Net development world. And you better be around it when it happens. You better be good at your craft by then. The potential is enormous for you. I envision a drastic transformation from the simple service and/or product suppliers we are starting to see into strategic partners for organizations or individuals that have a web presence.

Software will still be everything and I am pretty sure it will still suck and DotNetNuke will almost surely not get as much money as the NASA software program. So what will be different? It will be installed anywhere a web server can run asp.net. And who knows, FastCompany may write about one Shaun Walker and his idea. About a team of colleagues that followed him and maybe about a hugely successful provider of solutions based on DotNetNuke. Now I dare you to ask yourself: What am I doing to be that solution provider?

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