How to build a dotnetnuke module from source i.e blog module

Question

So i have dotnetnuke community version 5.2 and i downloaded the source for blog 3.5. For the purpose of learning i want to build the module using source code. But no matter how i add the module from the host account, it fails. Any experience dotnetnuke user able to guide me through? There is practically no good documents online regarding this.

Answer 1

Here are the basic steps for setting up the DNN Blog module in your local development environment from its source package on Codeplex.

Downloading the Source

First, download the latest stable version's source package from Codeplex. Currently this is 03.05.01. The file's name is Blog_03.05.01_Source.zip. There are newer versions availalbe, but currently there are no newer official releases.

Install the Module Locally

This package is an installable module, so next, navigate to your DNN site and install the module through Host -> Extensions (DNN 5) or Host -> Module Definitions (DNN 4).

Create a Test Page

After installation, create a test page and place the module on the page. At this point you shouldn't see any errors.

Debug the Module

Now, to debug the module, navigate to \DesktopModules\Blog in your website's file system and open the Visual Studio solution with the filename DotNetNuke.Blog.Build.sln. This solution contains a VS 2003 project file (.vbproj), so if opening in VS 2005/2008, you will be prompted to convert (which is fine). I had to remove the ".ascx.resx" files from the project in order to get it to compile.

<update>

To remove the ascx.resx files, make sure the "show all files" option is selected in the top of the Solution Explorer window in Visual Studio. For each .ascx file in the project, you can expand it with the + sign next to the file, select the corresponding .ascx.resx file and press delete on your keyboard or right click -> delete with your mouse.

<*/update>

But once it builds successfully (in Debug mode), you should see that the assembly gets placed in the website's bin directory (\bin\DotNetNuke.Modules.Blog.dll).

Now you're able set a breakpoint in the code and run the project or attach to process (which is CTRL+ALT+P in Visual Studio). Somewhere around lines 45-50 in Blog.ascx.vb will probably be a good place to start. This is the Page_Load for the main module control.

Answer 2

Hello GeminiDMK,

If you want to know how to get started quickly building your own modules, read and follow Michael Washingtons Linq tutorials

This will allow you to build a module with Linq and you will see how easy it is to install using the GUI. This does work and I have built 50 - 80 modules using Michaels tutorials.

If I can be of more help, just ask, Mark

Answer 3

Gemini, You might also want to start with dnn creative magazine (they got training videos on how to build modles). Just curious... why dnn blog 3.5? there is one another cool dnn blog module you might want to check ;)