OnlyDNN - A Blog Dedicated for DotNetNuke (DNN) Community Edition

Host Header Issues When HumanFriendly Urls Applied

2011-06-22T18:54:00.002+03:00

Many hosting providers do not allow you to install your web application into your hosting account's root path. However, you can overcome this limitation by several ways. Specifying a host header in web.config and modifying Portal Alias table is one of the useful methods.

Although it can be a good workaround, using host header in DotNetNuke has its own limitation with SEO Friendly URLs. If you are in a rush, you can see the logged issue here >>

I had some time to test DotNetNuke 5.6.2 release against the goal of removing sub directory name from URL, i was able to do it. But, URL structure where Human Friendly (SEO Friendly URLs) used, gave 404 errors.

For instance, if you install your website in a folder called portal, your host header value should be following as demonstrated in DotNetNuke Wiki.

<add key="HostHeader" value="portal/" />

After using this and adding a naked portal alias into Portal Alias table for desired domain, you will be able to access your website. Partly!
Login, Registration and some of Host pages will work, while others won't!
So, the only way to overcome this problem is to remove urlFormat="humanfriendly" from following section in web.config.

<add name="DNNFriendlyUrl" type="DotNetNuke.Services.Url.FriendlyUrl.DNNFriendlyUrlProvider, DotNetNuke.HttpModules" includePageName="true" regexMatch="[^a-zA-Z0-9 _-]" urlFormat="humanfriendly" />

After using this workaround, you will be able to access the pages in your website with no subfoldername in urls. However, you will have no benefit of using SEO Friendly URLs.

Maybe it's by design, or a bug in core needs to get fixed. Issue is logged below:
Human Friendly URL's With Host Header in web.config

If interested in solution, you can click on Watch button at bottom left corner.

DotNetNuke 6 beta 1 released

2011-06-22T18:38:00.001+03:00

I was expecting to see the release of DotNetNuke 6 Beta 1 after WebConnections conference. I guess, I'm right since checking DotNetNuke library on Codeplex brings list up new items for DNN 6 Beta 1 (install, source, web platform installer, upgrade package etc...)

DotNetNuke 6 will be released very soon, so if you haven't done yet go ahead and test the BETA releases. Report issues you find under Support Tracker and help the team to improve it for community.

DotNetNuke 5.6.3 Will Be Released Next Week

2011-06-16T10:34:00.001+03:00

My resources (erikVB from Twitter) has just announced that DNN 5.6.3 will be released next week after Web Connections Conference. I guess, the new release will handle core permission provider issue and add some extra improvements to DotNetNuke Core....

Monitor Your Paypal Accounts Against New Vulnerability

2011-06-16T10:27:00.001+03:00

This morning, i was checking my Twitter account and noticed a tweet regarding a vulnerability in Paypal's system. The vulnerability in question allows an unauthorized people to access your account details. Once a password reminder request sent, system sends password reset tokens to a random email address instead of yours.

Since we use Paypal for purchasing stuff for our DotNetNuke installations or any other personal needs, i strongly suggest monitoring your accounts until we hear from Paypal Staff.

Web Connections Time

2011-06-15T13:25:00.000+03:00

Web Connections Conference time... Tomorrow will be great opportunity for DotNetNuke Community. Unfortunately, i will not be able to attend for several reasons.

Anyway, if you want to learn more, you could take a look at Will's latest post on DotNetNuke Blogs.
Are You Ready for Web Connections 2011? >>

Scheduling DNNScheduling ProcessGroup Run

2011-06-13T22:12:00.000+03:00

I'm using DNN for one of my clients at a hostel booking website. You can browse the hostel booking website by following this link >> While checking Log Viewer for error logs I've noticed the following error:

Method: DotNetNuke.Services.Scheduling.DNNScheduling.ProcessGroup.Run StackTrace: Message: System.Threading.ThreadAbortException: Thread was being aborted. at DotNetNuke.Services.Scheduling.DNNScheduling.ProcessGroup.Run(ScheduleHistoryItem objScheduleHistoryItem)

It seems DNN Scheduler has a problem with items in ScheduleHistory table. While searching this on DotNetNuke forums i only found old posts from 2007. Maybe a bug appears again after a long break.

HTTP Error 503 the service is unavailable

2011-06-02T22:22:00.000+03:00

In case you are getting the error
"HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable." Most likely there is a problem with server behind the web application.
You can troubleshoot this error, by checking Application Pool of your web application. For instance if you or any sysadmin accidentally pause application pool of your web app, then this error will welcome you while browsing your website.

DNN Localization Editor Helps You 2 Create Language Packs for DotNetNuke

2011-06-02T18:01:00.002+03:00

Peter Donker has announced the new release of Localization Editor for DotNetNuke. Localization Editor helps DotNetNuke Administrators to create language packs and modify them. If you have used localization features of DotNetNuke before, i believe you won't have any hardship while using Localization Editor.

You can read Peter's article about a brief history of static localization features in DotNetNuke and get the latest release of DotNetNuke Localization Editor from Codeplex repository. >>

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 Turkish Language Pack Released

2011-05-27T12:50:00.001+03:00

Today, I'm planning to update Turkish Community page of DotNetNuke with the latest version of Turkish Language Pack. DotNetNuke 5.6.2 Turkish Core Language Pack will be published today.

Module Development Video Series

2011-05-27T12:46:00.000+03:00

I strongly recommend checking DotNetNuke Video Library as it gets updated regularly. Chris Hammond's Video Series include following topics about DotNetNuke Module Development:

Introduction to Task Manager Series
How to Create Task Manager Project
Task Manager Solution Overview & Installation
How to Create a Project in DotNetNuke Forge
How to add Source Code at Codeplex Repository

Video series available at DNN Video Library. >>

Building a list of known issues

2011-05-25T10:19:00.000+03:00

Yesterday, i had a chance to work on DotNetNuke 5.6.2 release with Turkish Community Localization enabled. I have collected some useful information to build a list of known issues. So that, i can either report them as a bug, or try to create a temporary workaround.

With switching to new DNN 6, i believe those notes would help us to have a more useful DotNetNuke initial release.

Download DotNetNuke Design Challange 2011 Skins

2011-05-25T10:12:00.001+03:00

DotNetNuke Design Challange 2011 Winners has been announced. The great dotnetnuke skins & dnn themes can be viewed and downloaded via DotNetNuke Design Challange Gallery. >>

Our favourite one is Poker theme.

Do you have questions about the contest or DotNetNuke skinning in general? Please feel free to ask by posting in the comments section.

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 Core Permission Provider Major Security Issue Patch

2011-05-24T17:40:00.002+03:00

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 introduces a legacy security issue regarding Core Permission Provider via User Profile. An authenticated user could access admin level rights from user profile page and this issue could be one of the major security issues of DotNetNuke.

If you are using an earlier version of DotNetNuke i would suggest either upgrading to DotNetNuke 5.6.1 for now, or if you are using latest build then go ahead and apply the temporary workaround from a DotNetNuke Partner...

The issue is still being discussed under following topic >>
The temporary workaround can be applied by replacing a core permission provider dll of DNN.

DotNetNuke 6 CTP 3 Released

2011-05-10T10:05:00.001+03:00

Last week was an exciting moment for DotNetNuke Community. DotNetNuke 6 CTP 3 package has been released. Joe and his team listened the feedback from community and developed the application for better ui and performance.

I didn't get any chance to test DNN 6 CTP 3 yet, however I guess I'll have some room for it tomorrow. Well, I'm far away from the current phase so I better tidy up things before official release.

Read details by following DNN Blog post >>

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 Released

2011-03-24T08:39:00.001+02:00

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 is officially released. DotNetNuke 5.6.2 release resolves a number of outstanding issues with the DNN 5.6.0 and DNN 5.6.1 versions and adds a few new significant enhancements including:

User Management
DNN 5.6.2 now includes the ability to restore or remove soft-deleted users. (Just like Active Directory) For more information on this feature you can read the recent blog post >> by Ash Prasad and follow Joe Brinkman's video post. >>

Performance Improvements
DNN 5.6.2 release includes 20 different performance enhancements that continues focusing on providing a fast, scalable web platform for delivering your content and applications to your users. A summary of the major features for DNN 5.6.2 release can be read at official DNN blogs. >>

For more information about a specific issue please refer to the official change log. >>

DotNetNuke SSO (single sign on) Authentication Solution

2011-03-23T12:28:00.000+02:00

SSO (Single sign on) is neeed where multiple organizations would use each other's resources. Especially large organizations, schools and government systems using this method in order to provide rock solid authentication system across several locations.

With DotNetNuke you may also need to use such a solution. Then it comes to pick up correct single sign on authentication provider for DNN.

From Will's posts on DotNetNuke blogs:

Shibboleth, allowing you to have a standardized single sign on experience in DNN. While any 2 organizations or applications could use this standard, it has become a popular SSO technology in universities with schools like the University of Florida, UCLA, University of Arizona, Stanford University, University of Sussex, and many more. In fact, within a year of the initial Shibboleth release, over 150 organizations were using the standard. With this standard being so wildly popular within universities, it has been highly surprising to not see this project pop-up sooner. Factor in the amount of known DotNetNuke adoption in universities, this is that much more surprising. Enter in Nick Dunham and Cheryl Bearden of the University of Florida. Together, they built a provider for DNN sites to use the Shibboleth SSO standard for authentication. Shibboleth Authentication Provider for DotNetNuke This post was written for a couple of reasons… First, it was exciting to hear that this authentication provider existed. Second, I know that a lot of people will find value in using this provider, as there are many technologies and applications that use Shibboleth as their underlying SSO technology. Finally, I wanted to help the creators of this project get more eyes on it. I’d love to see this project get as popular as I know it could be! :) If you ever have SSO projects, check out this open source solution!

DotNetNuke 6 Hadron CTP Preview

2011-03-23T11:43:00.000+02:00

March 2011 probably marks another milestone in the upcoming release of DotNetNuke Community Edition. Although it has been offered via DotNetNuke Beta Program for earlier releases to make the release stable; for the first time ever, DotNetNuke is now offering a Community Technology Preview that will allow you to begin testing the latest version for a quite long time before all issues and new features checked-in under Gemini.

CTP targets feedback from DotNetNuke Community members in order to provide a release that can be used in a production environment without critical issues.

Since it will be long run, me and my friends from Turkey will also provide feedback after testing all aspects of the new DotNetNuke 6 Hadron CTP.

As many of you know, we are providing DotNetNuke Turkish Language Packs and DotNetNuke Training under DotNetNuke Turkish Users Community Blogs.

How to Integrate Facebook Comments into your DotNetNuke Pages and DNN Modules

2011-03-11T15:45:00.001+02:00

Last week, Chris Hammond posted an article that shows us how to implement Facebook Comments API into DotNetNuke contents. One of my clients had requested this feature a few years ago. They had a XMOD based news portal with missing comment addon. Unfortunately they didn't want to keep XMOD because of licensing costs. So they requested a transform. Instead of using a legacy release of XMOD i had to transform main structure to News Articles module from Ventrian Systems.

Although they were some Comments API out there in Snowcovered, I didn't want to deal with them because of static/dinamic display issue which has been covered by Chris Hammond as well.

However, Facebook Comments implementation is another story. Integrating facebook comments into DotNetNuke will power up your social integration and help you climb your ratings toward Facebook Users.

Sunblognuke, Ventrian News Articles or Default DotNetNuke Blog Module?

2011-03-08T08:30:00.001+02:00

If you are looking for a alternative blog module for your DotNetNuke website, then I can provide a few suggestions. So far I have used default core DotNetNuke blog module, Ventrian's News Articles as a blog and SunBlogNuke for a client.

AFAIK all of them are receiving updates periodically. So, it depends on requirements and budget to choose which one to use. Ventrian also provides extra modules which would be useful for other purposes. Property Agent is the strongest one. Subscription fees are reasonable and templated interface of News Articles module helps you organize your templates quickly within a few clicks. The only thing you need to know and understand is Tokens plus basic HTML.

Templated interface also supported by SunBlogNuke and DNN's default core blog module. Again, If you need a professional support you can pick third party modules, however DNN Blog module also becomes stronger within each new release.

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 Beta Released

2011-03-05T21:50:00.001+02:00

As of yesterday DotNetNuke 5.6.2 Community Edition Beta packages are now available for download from DotNetNuke Beta Downloads page. DotNetNuke team members have made a number of bug fixes to the content management platform and implemented a long list of performance enhancements.

DotNetNuke 5.6.2 further stabilizes the DNN 5.6 platform and should be a solid foundation for any DotNetNuke site. Please keep in mind that this is just a beta and is not intended for production use. Upgrades to the final DotNetNuke 5.6.2 release are not supported. They still have a few additional issues that expected to be resolved prior to Mid-March release of DNN Community Edition.

DotNetNuke Source Code to be converted into C# in Q2 2011

2011-02-28T16:16:00.002+02:00

Since 2002, the first release of DotNetNuke VB.NET (Visual Basic) was the first core development language of DotNetNuke Framework. Then, C# Developers started to publish their own free or paid extensions for DotNetNuke. Many people asked about a path to convert DNN's VB.NET interface into C# programming language.

Well, this is the day the official announcement has been made. DotNetNuke 6 will include C# source code. Hurray!!!

Obviously this was the right decision, because C# is more popular than VB.NET nowadays and clients asking about C# source code for modules and even DNN Core. Shaun states that a community preview version of DotNetNuke 6 will be published in Q2 of 2001 in order to attract DotNetNuke Developers and of course C# programmers. I think Feb 2011 was a great milestone for DotNetNuke Community to hear such a great announcement. Guess what? Combine it with Active Modules Forum integration. Than you'll have a great CMS + Source Code.

DotNetNuke Web Connections

2011-02-26T13:45:00.000+02:00

Europe's greatest DotNetNuke event will be held in amazing city of Hamburg. DotNetNuke folks, it is time to prepare for a great journey. Let's create an international atm and enjoy the power of community together.

You certainly need to checkout DotNetNuke Web Connections event details at the resource. They are also calling for speakers. So following areas might be ideal for you to speak about:

Business Integration
Administration
eCommerce integration
Module Development
Mobile Development
Frontend Design / Development

DotNetNuke Core Module Retires

2011-02-26T13:36:00.000+02:00

Since it is decided to implement Active Forums into DotNetNuke Community Edition, current DotNetNuke core forum module will be a legacy one and receive no future development when the right time comes.
Chris Paterra discusses the issue at Retirement of Core Forum Module blog post.

Who knows, maybe Chris and Will provide us more powerful community modules that can be used on DotNetNuke Community Edition.

Active Forums Replaces DNN Core Forum Module

2011-02-24T09:42:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, i noticed an interesting blog post at DotNetNuke official website. Robert Collins states that Active Social is going to be implemented inside DotNetNuke Core and part of this great package will be available in DotNetNuke Community Edition too.

So far, I have certain clues that Active Forums replaces DNN Core Forums module which is also a great one but misses some of the features that already supported by Active Forums.

Well acquiring Active Modules is a perfect milestone for DotNetNuke Corp. Hopefully things will get better with new releases.

Switching to Blogger

2011-02-18T19:50:00.002+02:00

Currently, I am in the middle of transforming OnlyDNN's old content into Blogger. You may ask "why?". The reason is I will be away for about 5 months starting with April 2011, because of military services. While serving for Military i need to maintain my websites easily and for the time being Blogger is one of the best alternatives.

This does not mean i dislike DNN, instead I want to focus on posting more... Although I will not have a live dedicated box for DotNetNuke, I'm going to keep a virtual dedicated box in case someone needs consulting services and suggestions.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for DotNetNuke Consulting. You can hire me under Odesk or vWorker environments.