Ernst Peter Tamminga

DNN Events 05.02.02 Released

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:09:40 GMT

For this point release, we focused on stabilising by fixing a small number of bugs that popped up, sometimes as a result of new versions of DNN.

Tags: Events

Category: Development

A serious release update for DNN FAQ: 05.00.00

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:34:16 GMT

In March of this year I made some blog posts about my intentions with FAQ and I have (or I should say, we have, since Torsten Weggen joined the FAQ team) reached a serious new target: a complete conversion to C# and some major enhancements. The result: FAQ 05.00.00, which available for download on CodePlex.

Tags: FAQ

Category: Development

Events version 05.02.01 released

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:42:13 GMT

The Events team is proud to announce that Events 05.02.01 has been released. Events 05.02.01 will work for any DNN version 5.5.0 and up. The downloads can be found on the Events Project page on CodePlex.

Tags: Events

Category: Development

A release update for the DNN Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) module

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:04:19 GMT

A release update for FAQ: 04.05.01

A long time there was no DNN FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) module coordinator. The result: no new release since May 2007. At the start of March 2011, I decided to pick up FAQ and give it a boost. I made some blog posts about my intentions and quickly released an updated version (04.05.00). Based on feedback from users (thank you!), I fixed some small issues and brought some additional enhancements. The result: FAQ 04.05.01, which passed through the DNN Release tracker this weekend and is available for download.

Release notes DNN FAQs 04.05.01

FAQs 04.05.01 will work for any DNN version 5.6.1 and up. Full details on the changes can be found in detail at dnnfaqs.codeplex.com.

BUG FIXES

Corrected typo in text element in settings
Date/time of creation/update are saved in export/import

ENHANCEMENTS

The XML export is indented XML formatted for better readbility
.js file is minified in the PA install pack (not in the source pack)
All categories are included in the export, not only the categories used

CHANGES

Increased question to max text size of 400 chars.
Implemented new version of DNNtcMSBuild for automatic PA and Source packaging

Where can you download DNN FAQ 04.05.01?

The DNN FAQ module can be obtained via the DNN FAQ project's download page on CodePlex. I appreciate it if you want to give this release a review/rating while your are on CodePlex... Feel free to do so.

What is next?

I have created a blog with the steps that I have in mind for DNN FAQ. Have a look at: my blog and you will get an idea of the next steps: converting it to C# and improving the UI and UX with DNN wrapped Telerik controls.

More ...

Tags: FAQ

Category: Development

The Events module team is proud to announce the release of a new Events version: 5.2.0!

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:30:11 GMT

The Events team is proud to announce that Events 05.02.00 has been released.

For this version, more than 50 issues were covered. A detailed list of these issues involved can be found on CodePlex. The For the record, I will note a some major enhancements here.

Major enhancement: templated list view

A long term request: "Please enable the list view to be templateable". We finally did! This required the complete code for the Events list view to be rewritten. Roger has implemented a repeater control for which (of course), several templated elements are defined. Documentation for this enhancement can be found on CodePlex in the Wiki documentation pages of Events.

Major enhancement: SEO optimalisation

We have extended the options for the Events module for Search Engine Optimization. This includes:

The possibility to set page title, description and keywords on Event detail display. The complete layout for this is templated with tokens, so you can complete set the content for these elements yourself
Dynamic input to the search engine sitemap that is generated by a DNN site (sitemap.aspx). I think that Events is the first DNN core module to implement this feature. A new handler is created and added to the core sitemap setting in web.config to process the URL's of all Event detail pages for Event modules that you have enabled for this option. The result: your Events will be better indexed by search engines like Google or Bing (if you have enabled sitemasp.aspx to be your dynamic sitemap xml file generator in the search engine webmaster tools)

Major enhancement: extended iCal (Calendar export) support

The option to export iCal calendar has been improved and enhanced. Most important improvement is that the iCal connection can export a whole selection of Events, e.g. to import those automatically into a Facebook calendar.

But wait, there is more

The above list is far from complete. There are many more enhancements. There is also a change in the minimal required DNN version: the new enhancements will need at least DNN 5.5.0 if you want to run Events 5.2.0, but we assume that you might even want to step forward to DNN 5.6.1 or 5.6.2. Not a bad idea BTW, seeing the security bulletins related to issues fixed in DNN 5.6.1.

The complete release notes can be found in the posting in the DNN Events forum.

The downloads can be found on the Events Project page on CodePlex.

What is next?

We are working on an implementation of DNN Wrapped Telerik controls for a intensively enhanced User Experience and User Interface. This is a major task, which also might incorporate some breaking changes with regard to the visual design, but we are very confident that you will like the end result!

Thank you

The Events team would like to thank everyone who contributed to this release. It is nice to experience positive feedback on the work that we, DNN Event team volunteers, are carrying out.

More ...

Tags: Events

Category: Development

Category: Extension Forge

Category: Events

Make your DNN based website faster

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:28:26 GMT

In the last few weeks I have been busy trying to get the performance of our DNN based company website (www.xcess.nl) better. I was triggered by a tweet from Salaro with a reference to a blog on IIS settings to improve caching and performance in general. I was also triggered by the fact that there are issues in some cases with DNN 5.6.x, that will not allow to use http compression from the host setting.

As a reference, I used Google online PageSpeed (http://pagespeed.googlelabs.com) which can give you a figure on a 100 scale. Apart from the basic user experience about poor website speed, badly performing websites will get a penalty in the SEO ranking. I set the page speed of Umbraco.org as my target: this site has a 93 out of a 100. Really good.

The start

When I started, I measured a PageSpeed figure of 62 out of 100 for our website. So this was not very good (BTW I measured DNN to be 72 out of 100). I did a lot of reading about IIS7 settings, experimented with various settings in IIS and tried several tools for image optimization. During a week I spend some time on and off. The main things I finally changed were:

Enabling dynamic content compression (IIS Setting)
Set .NET framework 4 for the application pool (IIS setting)
HTTP response headers: Expire web content after 7 days (IIS setting)
Enable output caching for .css, .gif, .jpg, .js and .png files (IIS setting)
Use hosted jQuery (DNN Host setting)
Minimize the images used on the pages (the right compression level, exact sizing for display)

After al this, I achieved a PageSpeed of 90 out of 100. Our website is really more responsive, reacts quicker, loads faster.

Please note that these settings will generate more workload onto the webserver, and if you have a tight, small, low resource webserver, these changes might not give a result as good as mine, or might even make things worse…

There was more

PageSpeed can give you advise what to improve. I already covered the high priority things with the above changes. So I started with the lower priority stuff, which included minifying .js and .css files. Mostly, these files contain a lot of “air”: new lines, spaces, indents, tabs, comments that make the source more readable for the human eye, but also make them bigger in file size. And although .js and .css files are text and compress well with the IIS content compression set to ON, less is more in these cases.

I manually minified the most important (as to the advise of PageSpeed) .js and .css files, which included several DNN core files. I tried various tools to do this, both command line as well as on-line tools. If you want to do the same, just Google on “compressing JavaScript” or “compressing CSS” and you will find a lot of references. Most routines will give you .css and .js files that are about 30-75% of the original size. Less is more!

Back to Google PageSpeed: yep, I have done it, I reached a PageSpeed of 94 out of 100! I have beaten Umbraco.org (on PageSpeed that is).

Did upgrade to DNN 5.6.2 help or not?

Our site was still running with DNN 5.6.1, so I decided to upgrade it to DNN 5.6.2 to see if that would improve it a bit more. But oh oh oh, I forgot that I compressed several .js and .css files form the DNN core. Due to the upgrade to 5.6.2 I lost my manual compression work. Grr...

Well, people who do not think well enough, have to work harder. So I repeated all minifying and compression work on several core .js and .css files. And I am back at 94 out of 100. The upgrade to DNN 5.6.2. did not improve that, but also did not make it worse.

There is still things left: JavaScript deferred loading

I did not touch a medium priority advise: deferred loading of .js libraries. I did not have the time to analyse every .js library loaded to see if this can be changed into deferred loading. I also do not have access to every part of each module to influence this. My assumption is that using .js deferred loading will improve DNN site performance even more and that It can beat my current 94 out of 100 if this is covered as well. So DNN and module developers: please have a look at deferred loading of .js libraries…

Conclusion: DNN production sites can have a structural better performance

DNN sites can be made much quicker. A number of the improvements can come from IIS, since in my opinion the default settings for IIS for a site focus on limiting resource usage, and not on site performance. You can change these settings for the benefit of your production sites,. If you give a DNN site even more attention and focus on compressing and minifying things, performance can become even much better. And these one time improvements work for every page hit, your work multiplies itself to the benefit of the site visitor as well as search engines. It is a win-win.

More ...

Category: Development

Category: User Experience

Category: Health

Long time no see, ask me more frequently!

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:01:57 GMT

A long time (4 years!) there was no DNN FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) module coordinator. The result: no new release since March2007!

At the start of March 2011, I decided, for several reasons, to pick up FAQ and give it a boost. And the first results is visible: a new release of FAQ available for download on CodePlex.

My objective for this first FAQ release after 4 years was to:

migrate the solution to Visual Studio 2010,
harden the table structure,
restructure the solution,
reorder the various files in the solution in logically named folders,
fully automatic DNN5 manifest creation, PA and source pack builds using MS Build
improve the solution to work in DNN5 and
build warning free.

And so it happened!

Release notes DNN FAQs 04.05.00

FAQs 04.05.00 will work for any DNN version 5.6.1 and up. Full details on the changes can be found in great detail at DNNFaqs @ CodePlex.com.

NEW FEATURES

Enhanced sorting setting to display on FAQ creation date as well

BUG FIXES

Corrected the SQLProvider scripts for better {databaseOwner} and {obJectQualifier} support
Changed lay-out to comply to XHTML standards
Removed obsolete text elements from language files

ENHANCEMENTS

Added support for DNN 5.x
Standardized token names for display
Improved display defaults
Standardized the action links with standard DNN icons

CHANGES

Changed question to max text size of 200 chars. Please note: This might truncate very long questions.
Updated DNN Installation manifest to DNN 5 standard
Changed the source solution to Visual Studio 2010 with full MS Build support
Integrated coding. Module now has only 1 .dll
Removed the setting for AJAX On/Off, since DNN5 will handle it
Table structure is hardened, column types chosen more appropriately
Verify that text entered does not contain script
Merged the 2 sets of default display templates into 1 set located in settings

Where can you download DNN FAQ 04.05.00?

What is next?

The current released version of FAQ is not very advanced, but that was not my objective for the first round.

If you want a very advanced FAQ module you can visit SnowCovered and buy one of the many commercial FAQ modules that are available. But if you have time, just wait on more news about the DNN FAQ module.I have created a blog with the steps that I have in mind for DNN FAQ. Have a look at: my blog and you will get an idea of the next steps: converting it to C# and improving the UI and UX with DNN wrapped Telerik controls. BTW:

Tags van Technorati: DNNFAQ,FAQ

The conversion to C# is done already, I cleaned the resulting C# code with ReSharper and I am currently testing the end result of this conversion. More news on this later.

If you have some needs or ideas, please create one or more issues on the issue pages of DNN FAQ on CodePlex. If possible, I will incorporate this in a new release.

Stay tuned!

More ...

Category: Development

Category: Extension Forge

A new release of DNN FAQ in the release tracker

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:13:36 GMT

Last week I created a blog about my intention to pick up DNN FAQ and make that as an example for a session during http://www.web-connections.eu (Day of DotNetNuke Europe) on Jun 16-18 in Hamburg Germany. FAQ is a standard core module that did not get any attention in the last 4 years, by lack of a team. I want to illustrate how you can apply (DNN wrapped) Telerik controls in order to improve User eXperience (UX) of any DNN module.

What did I do?

Last week, I outlined several steps in my blog for this legacy module to get it up to date. And I am happy to say here that I have finished the first 4 steps in a week (I spend some spare time in evenings and weekend ) and created a new release of the FAQ module!

This new release is a VS2010 project, the solution is restructured and simplified, I implemented MS Build for PA and source packaging, created release notes, implemented file clean-up during upgrade, hardened the table structure, improved the SQLProviderscripts, added security checks by removal of html scripting in text entered, and I did quite some code clean-up. I also assumed that a question in FAQ does not contain pages of text, so I trimmed a question itself down to 200 chars max.

I revived the FAQ forum a bit by posting some answers, and took the chance to implement one new feature in this FAQ release, based upon a request which I found somewhere in the FAQ forum.

And since FAQ hasn’t got any attention in the last years, I set the minimum level for DNN to version 5.6.1 and .NET 3.5 for this module. Technically this FAQ version could set be lower than DNN 5.6.1, but since I will apply DNNWrapped Telerik controls in the next weeks and also want to encourage everyone to upgrade to the latest DNN version (in which some security issues are fixed), 5.6.1 is the minimum for this FAQ release.

Where can you find this new FAQ release?

The new release of the FAQ module is now in the DNN Release tracker. As part of this formal DNN release process, I created a test scrip as well. You can follow the progress in the release tracker here.

The new FAQ release can also be found as beta version on the CodePlex pages of DNN FAQ, click on this link. You can download the updated source pack and the release notes there as well. Please remember that this release is not yet a formal DNN release until it has passed the release tracker successfully. Try it in a test environment and provide feedback to me on any issues found.

Send in requests for FAQ

I use CodePlex as main source for issues, releases, source, etc.. It is well connected as TFS server to my VS2010 environment for this project. So, if you have any bugs, issues or feature requests for DNN FAQ, have a go at this link.

I do not promise that I will honour every request, but it is always nice to have a list of options to choose from.

What will I do next?

My next step will be to convert the module to C# with automatic conversion tools. Stay tuned!

More ...

Category: Extension Forge

Category: Development

Picking up the DNN FAQ module and planning to enhance it

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 05:17:58 GMT

In June 2011 there will be a Day Of DotNetNuke Europe in Hamburg, Germany. I have submitted several session proposals, one of them a session on how to apply the Telerik controls in order to improve User eXperience (UX) of any DNN module that you have created. For the DNN Events module (for which I am team lead), we are currently busy on a new version that has the first implementation of Telerik controls in place. I could have used Events as an example, but this is a complex module, which makes it difficult to illustrate the advantages and the how-to of Telerik controls.

So I looked around to see if there were DNN core modules lurking around that did not get any attention in the past year, modules that are not that complex and that could use a refresh.

And I found one: the DNN FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) module. After an online chat with Chris Paterra (DNN Corp Senior Developer/Project Manager and Team Lead of the Extensions Forge Team), he was more than happy to assign me as Team lead for the DNN FAQ’s module (you bet he was).

So here I am: a DNN core module that has got no real attention whatsoever over the last 2-3 years and a session to give on the DNN Europe conference mid June about my experiences with adding Telerik controls to the module and the lessons I have learned.

What am I planning to do with the DNN FAQs module?

I want FAQs to become active and live again. Therefore, I have the following actions in mind for the module:

Migrate the solution to Visual Studio 2010
Restructure the solution
I want to simplify the structure, reorder the various files in logically named folders
Use automatic DNN5 manifest creation, PA and source pack builds
I will use the MS Build for DotNetNuke extensions that we have created and made public on CodePlex. This will save a lot of time during development and packaging
Improve the solution to work in DNN5 and build warning free
In a first inspection, I found deprecated code in the module, there are warnings during the build, it is using the ‘old’ connection string, the HTML is not XHTML compliant and more. I will also use ReSharper to do basic code clean-up.
Convert the solution to C#
Yep, C# it will be, since that is the language of choice of my company (XCESS), as well the choice of the DNN future. I will use automatic conversion tools to do most of the plumbing for me.
Hardening the DNN FAQs table structure
A short look into the current table structure reviewed that it can be improved.
Implementing Telerik controls
Telerik controls can enhance the UX en UI of any DNN module. Using the DNN Wrappers, you can add the Telerik controls freely (in compliance with the Telerik license) to your module.
Reviewing and implementing requests for enhancements
If you have any wishes, bugs, feature enhancements, suggestions for DNN FAQs, add them in the issue tracker on CodePlex. Please keep in mind that I want to keep this module simple and straight forward. So any request to enhance it into a full fledge knowledge base system with bug tracking, workflow and scheduled e-mailing capabilities will not be honoured. Sorry.

A new release for DNN FAQs is already in the works

My plan is to create a release after step 4, so everyone can profit from the work done so far. I finished with steps 1 and 2 last weekend, so a release candidate should not be weeks away. Any changes I make to the solution and source are reflected in CodePlex, since I am using CodePlex-TFS for source control.

Feel free to follow the progress and comment on that.

Interference with DNN Events?

Does this work on DNN FAQs mean that the improvements of DNN Events will slow down? By no way. A new version of Events is in the works, and by no means the progress on Events will be hampered by my work on FAQs. I have interested one of my colleagues at XCESS (Maarten Kosse) to join me in the work of FAQs (he has some time after working hours left), so it will not be all my blood, sweat and tears, but his as well.

Stay tuned

I have made up my plans and expect to create a number of blog posts about my experience with the DNN FAQs module. Stay tuned!

More ...

Tags: FAQs

Category: Extension Forge

Category: Development

A Christmas present for the Events team : 100.000+ downloads reached

ernstpeter.tamminga@dotnetnuke.com — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:07:13 GMT

THANK YOU, Event downloaders and users!

The Events module on Codeplex reached the 100.000 download mark on Christmas night! That was a very nice Christmas present for all members of the team. Have a look at dnnevents.codeplex.com/stats and select the date range “Project lifetime”.

Thank you, Roger!

I want to give my special thanks to Roger Selwyn, who never failed during the last 3 years that I am the project lead for Events module. He gave answers in the forum, quicker than people can put them there, he did a lot of coding for new releases, has a lot of ideas to enhance the Events module and in addition is a nice guy to talk to. In other words: his role in achieving the 100.000 download count must not and cannot be underestimated. Thanks Roger, I am proud that you are on the team.

Thank you, for giving feedback

We, the Events team, are very proud that we have achieved this download count. It motivates us to work on new releases in 2011. I have recruited some new team members in the last 2 weeks and hope that with the effort of the current team we can excel our speed in creating exiting, new and better functionality in the Events module.

Stay tuned!

More ...

Category: Events

Category: Development