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DotNetNuke can use jQuery to enable popup style and image rotator effects. These are great and a big improvements on technologies like flash. However it is not hard to find two separately coded jQuery modules that can cause conflicts when used on the same page as each other.
The reason in most cases is that modules can be hard coded to use their own version of jQuery. (Think of jQuery as a plugin that is required for the code to load onto the web page).
The library that powers jQuery is often updated to include new features. Earlier version of DotNetNuke did not have any ability to load jQuery or reference it as “part” of the core of DNN.
So for any module written for early DNN versions, the library plugin for jQuery needed to be included or referenced to an online source like the free Google jQuery reference.
If two module are on the same page and calling different versions of jQuery into play, it is likely that one of the modules will conflict and fail to work correctly. Often it will be the more advanced or later built module that fails.
The solution to this is to built a common core library into the core of DotNetNuke, and allow modules and other code to reference this single source when calling on the jQuery library for any reason.
DotNetNuke have included jQuery as an option in the host settings, to allow it to be loaded from there.
They run a release version of the jQuery library that is presumably updated with releases of DotNetNuke. The last version of DotNetNuke 5x shows this.
Modules can either call this library, or use their own library.
Well developed code or modules will usually have a setting that allows you to reference the HOST DNN version of jQuery, or call into play the version that shipped with the module.
On our modules, we use a tab setting that looks like this:
If the “Load jQuery” is ticked, the module will use the jQuery library that is shipped with the module.
If the option is not ticked, the module will use the DotNetNuke included version of jQuery.
When conflicts occur, the best way to resolve it is to ensure that both modules are referencing the exact same jQuery library version. The easy way to do this is to ensure that both modules are NOT using their own version, or in our case “Load JQuery” is NOT CHECKED.
And, ensure that any other modules are also not referencing their own version of jQuery but are looking to the hosted jQuery. (Talk to the module developer on how to do this.)
1. One of the modules may require a feature that is more advanced than the the hosted jQuery version. In this case, a later jQuery library will need to be referenced. To allow this to be done, DotNetNuke have allowed you to reference a URL for another version of jQuery.
For example, in our Mushroom Image module for DotNetNuke, the rotator effect requires a later version of jQuery than the last version of DotNetNuke 5x references. 1.4.4. To set a later version, you simply find an online resource like this Google hosted jQuery library:
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js
And enter that URL into your HOST jQuery settings.
2. Another issue is that there may be a conflict in the jQuery script used to call the module actions. We have included the ability to customize the script used to reduce conflict.
Naturally this is an option for advanced users, and not all modules have this feature.
When a conflict occurs, there is usually no “developer” at fault, but rather an incompatibility between the ways that the jQuery is being called. Don’t assume that the last module installed is to blame.
In most cases the conflicts can be resolved using the steps outlined above. This assumes that the modules installed have similar flexibility as we do in our modules.
We found an issue with what is the current release version of DotNetNuke Blog module 04.01.00 or 04.01.01.
First up, we don’t know what the version number should actually be, as the compiled version on the download is 04.01.00 but the source code is referenced as 04.01.01.
We presume there is some difference, but who knows what it is.
The problem is that any forms on a page that run the blog module, will not allow form data to be validated. By validated, we are talking about ensuring a number is entered in a number field and text in a name filed etc.
The cause is the blog module is using an old ASP.Net 1.0 validation function. While it should be using ASP.NET 2.0 with the updated validation behaviours as found here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0ke7bxeh.aspx
With this mistake, if you use Page.Validate on ASP.NET 2.0, page validation groups are ignored and the controls are validated.
Why the BLOG module is even coded this way is quite questionable in any case. However without DNN being a true open source system, we have no ability to fix this were needed in the source.
We fixed the problem and recompiled a version that people can download an use for free.
Blog_04.01.01_Install A
You can install this on top of any DNN blog module 04.01.00 and we would expect that future releases of the blog module will not be affected by this version we compiled. However they may well revert back to their junk code in the future releases.
If you see this error
Could Not Load file or assembly NVelocity, Version=1.1.1.0, Culture-nutral, PublicKeyToken=null (Exception from HRESULT: 0×80131040)
While using one of our DotNetNuke Modules. The solution is a simple one.
Update all of the InteractiveWebs DotNetNuke Modules to the latest builds by downloading the latest release from here: http://www.interactivewebs.com/DotNetNukeModules/ModuleDownloads.aspx
The problem stems from a change to some of the code library of some modules that share code with other modules. Updating all modules to the latest build will resolve this issue in all our modules.
If you look at the project downloads for dotnetnuke, you will notice that the forums module has the latest version as: 05.00.01
And if you click the link from within this page: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Resources/Downloads/Projects-Downloads.aspx
05.00.01 is exactly what you get.
All sounds neat and tidy… right?
Not really, because if you install the latest version of DotNetNuke 05.06.03 (an important security release) you will kill your forums. Dead as dead.
And if you check around for an update of the forum module, you will not find one either in your Module Definitions, or in the DotNetNuke website. But keep looking to codeplex and you find this:
05.00.02 and what is strange, it is released before the DNN 05.06.03 update, like significantly before it… like 1 month.
This Forum Update is NEEDED if you want the forum module to work on DNN 05.06.03
http://dnnforum.codeplex.com/releases/view/67840
The same module as 5.0.1, except compiled against DotNetNuke 5.6.3 (and therefore is a minimum requirement) and the same version of Telerik (2011 SP2) included with it. NOTE: This was compiled against, and for, 5.6.3 and is included with that release (Not released yet, as of June 12th (try 5 July).
It waisted a lot of our time trying to work out what is going on. All we know is that DNN 05.06.03 broke a bunch of stuff, including the Forum Module. There is a fix but it is hidden on codeplex and is incorrectly referenced.
Very Unprofessional DNN Corp!
If you update to DNN 05.06.03 – your forums will die.
To fix it, download the hidden forum update 05.00.02 here: http://dnnforum.codeplex.com/releases/view/67840
The net is changing fast. Release of the iPad and other mobile devices that have correctly made the decision to discontinue Adobe Flash.
I say correct decision because not only is flash yesterdays technology, but it is far from the optimal way to produce simple motion in web pages.
Flash still has it’s place, just not as a way to inject interesting motion into websites.
So what do we use on http://www.InteractiveWebs.com home page?
We have some simple code that renders motion:
<div class="slideshow"> <div class="slide"> <div class="inblock_first"> <div class="wsc_image_frame"> <div class="wsc_frame_tl"> <div class="wsc_frame_tr"> <div class="wsc_frame_tc"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wsc_frame_cl"> <div class="wsc_frame_cr"> <div class="wsc_frame_cc"> <img alt="" src="/Portals/0/banners/slide2.jpg" /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wsc_frame_bl"> <div class="wsc_frame_br"> <div class="wsc_frame_bc"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="inblock_second"> <h1>Have a Business that needs to get a message out?</h1> <p>InteractiveWebs provides the best of Content Management Systems on our professional hosting services.<br /> Combining DotNetNuke, WordPress Blogs, iPhone Apps, Microsoft CRM & hosted solutions..<br /> <br /> </p> <a class="button2" href="/Services/Mushroom.aspx"><span><strong>More</strong></span></a> </div> <div class="cleaner"></div> </div> <div class="slide"> <div class="inblock_second"> <h1>We have a solution… that is perfect…</h1> <p>We have some increasable solutions with years of experience…</p> <h4> We would love to share them!</h4> <p><br /> </p> <a class="button2" href="/Services/Mushroom.aspx"><span><strong>More</strong></span></a> </div> <div class="inblock_first"> <div class="wsc_image_frame"> <div class="wsc_frame_tl"> <div class="wsc_frame_tr"> <div class="wsc_frame_tc"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wsc_frame_cl"> <div class="wsc_frame_cr"> <div class="wsc_frame_cc"> <img alt="" src="/Portals/0/banners/slide1.jpg" /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wsc_frame_bl"> <div class="wsc_frame_br"> <div class="wsc_frame_bc"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cleaner"></div> </div> <div class="slide"> <div class="wsc_image_frame"> <div class="wsc_frame_tl"> <div class="wsc_frame_tr"> <div class="wsc_frame_tc"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wsc_frame_cl"> <div class="wsc_frame_cr"> <div class="wsc_frame_cc"> <img alt="" src="/Portals/0/banners/slide.jpg" /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wsc_frame_bl"> <div class="wsc_frame_br"> <div class="wsc_frame_bc"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cleaner"></div> </div> </div>
The source references some jQuery effects known as cycle: http://jquery.malsup.com/cycle/
You will see on this page that it uses code in this method:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>JQuery Cycle Plugin – Basic Demo</title> <style type="text/css"> .slideshow { height: 232px; width: 232px; margin: auto } .slideshow img { padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; } </style> <!– include jQuery library –> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5/jquery.min.js"></script> <!– include Cycle plugin –> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/jquery.cycle.all.latest.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function() { $(‘.slideshow’).cycle({ fx: ‘fade’ // choose your transition type, ex: fade, scrollUp, shuffle, etc… }); }); </script> </head> <body> <div class="slideshow"> <img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach1.jpg" width="200" height="200" /> <img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach2.jpg" width="200" height="200" /> <img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach3.jpg" width="200" height="200" /> <img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach4.jpg" width="200" height="200" /> <img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach5.jpg" width="200" height="200" /> </div> </body> </html>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>JQuery Cycle Plugin – Basic Demo</title>
<style type="text/css">
.slideshow { height: 232px; width: 232px; margin: auto }
.slideshow img { padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #eee; }
</style>
<!– include jQuery library –>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5/jquery.min.js"></script>
<!– include Cycle plugin –>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/jquery.cycle.all.latest.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
$(‘.slideshow’).cycle({
fx: ‘fade’ // choose your transition type, ex: fade, scrollUp, shuffle, etc…
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="slideshow">
<img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach1.jpg" width="200" height="200" />
<img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach2.jpg" width="200" height="200" />
<img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach3.jpg" width="200" height="200" />
<img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach4.jpg" width="200" height="200" />
<img src="http://cloud.github.com/downloads/malsup/cycle/beach5.jpg" width="200" height="200" />
</div>
</body>
</html>
Producing this page: http://jquery.malsup.com/cycle/basic.html
Within DotNetNuke, there are a bunch of module and skins that have this effect built in. We use a skin known as LightHeads (not developed by us) that uses some hard coded references that make the implementation of this effect really simple. As the first block of code above indicates.
We love jQuery and have used it in our Mushroom Image module and our Mushroom Lite Module.
InteractiveWebs DotNetNuke Modules require a license to be activates on each sub domain from which the module is accessed.
The license is per sub domain, and NOT for each instance of DotNetNuke.
A sub domain example is:
In the case of domain.com and www.domain.com, these are considered as one single license. EVERY other sub domain needs it’s own license.
If you activate a module on dev.domain.com then browse to the same module using another sub domain (like dev2.domain.com) the module will not be activate with the new sub domain in the browser URL.
Each module will automatically enter into a 100% functional TRIAL mode the first time you access the module with any particular sub domain.
The trial period is automatically set from the date you first visit the module with any particular sub domain.
If you access dev1.domain.com the module will start it’s trial period from today, and may expire if you don’t activate.
If you then use another sub domain like dev2.domain.com the module will start a new trial and you will continue to be able to access the module on that dev2.domain.com sub domain.
Note: All the settings and modifications you make to any module in trial WILL be preserved and waiting for you once you activate the module license. So if your trial expires on your development sub domain, you can simply activate the module in it’s final www.domain.com location when you are ready to go live.
We recommend that if you need to configure and test (development site) before going live, that you do that on a development sub domain (like dev.domain.com), IN TRIAL MODE.
From that dev.domain.com, Setup the module, test and be sure things are working. Don’t be concerned if you get things just right, and the trial time expires. Because as soon as you access the module page on a new sub domain, it will go back into trial, and be available fro activation.
All your module settings and customizations will carry over to the new sub domain when you access it. So in this example, if you are ready to go live with www.domain.com you can access the module page with that sub domain, and extend the trial, or activate the module.
For this reason we always suggest that you only activate your module on www.domain.com as your final public URL of your website.
Select the Licensing Dropdown Menu Item from the module Menu:
The module will tell you about the Module Name, Version Installed, sub domain you are on, and trial days remaining.
If you have not purchased a License yet, you can click the Buy Now icon and purchase a license from our site.
Note: Check that the sub domain shown in the module is the final correct sub domain you wish your license to be active on:
Click: Request License Activation
Fill in the details requested, including the store you purchase from and the email address that you used with your purchase.
Note: The email address must be the one you have on file. With SnowCovered, it is apparently possible to have more than one address on file. The address we need is the one that is in the purchase order confirmation data sent during purchase. This is the accounts primary e-mail address.
If we are unable to match the email address against a valid license activation, we return the error:
We suggest that you verify the email address used for purchase and try again with the correct address. You can also monitor your License Management on our site by logging in with the email address that you try to activate with.
With the correct details, you will receive a message like this:
You can monitor your licenses and activations by visiting our License Management page here.
Ensuring that you login to our site using the e-mail address that the license was purchased with.
We provide several Support services for our modules.
Then use the support menu to find module specific support. This will include KB Articles, Support Forums, Blog Posts.
InteractiveWebs Support Services
At InteractiveWebs we have years of experience with DotNetNuke, with more published modules on SnowCovered than any other module developer in the store. (And we don’t publish all our modules.)
Quite literally there is no one who is more experienced with everything dotnetnuke.
We offer paid support services for DotNetNuke in an easy and covenant process.
You only need to purchase support tickets if we have advise you how many tickets you will need to purchase upfront for the particular job.
You can purchase support tickets from our Support Store Here.
All of our DotNetNuke Modules are supported free of charge. We will work to resolve issues that our modules cause, or problems directly related to our modules not working as they should.
Sometimes we have clients who need our modules to be configured in a complex environment, or would like them to work with another conflicting product, or they may just want the people who made the module to set them up for them.
In these instances, we are happy to identify work that goes above an beyond “product support” and provide a quote for the additional work. You will find that we are very reasonable both about the price and what we cover for free.
Purchase Support Tickets Here
We had a requirement today to run a DotNetNuke Website in .Net 4.0 as some code we are using as part of the Microsoft CRM 2011 SDK require .Net 4.0.
Problem is that with many of the DotNetNuke websites, they have some references that will cause this error when you flip your website worker process to 4.0. in IIS.
This will give you an error that looks like this:
Generates an error:
Description: An error occurred during the compilation of a resource required to service this request. Please review the following specific error details and modify your source code appropriately. Compiler Error Message: CS1703: An assembly with the same identity ‘System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35′ has already been imported. Try removing one of the duplicate references. Source Error:
[No relevant source lines]
Source File: Line: 0
Show Detailed Compiler Output:
Interestingly too the reference to Version=4.0.0.0 initially said Version-3.5.0.0 until the second page refresh on the error.
The problem in our case, and it may differ with others, related to an older file for Microsoft Ajax.
There is a file called: System.Web.Extensions.dll
in the \bin folder.
We renamed this to: System.Web.Extensions.dll.bak
And our problem was fixed.
This is due to an older way that Microsoft handled Ajax vs the new way in .Net 4.0.
We do offer DotNetNuke support services and would be happy to assist others with this or other DNN problems that need professional support services with.
http://www.interactivewebs.com/Services/DotNetNukeSupport.aspx
During an update from DNN 4.9.5 to DNN 6x we experienced:
All pages with HTML blank when logged out, but show this error logged in.
Error: Services is currently unavailable.DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.ModuleLoadException: The type initializer for ‘DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.DataProvider’ threw an exception. —> System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for ‘DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.DataProvider’ threw an exception. —> System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type ‘DotNetNuke.Modules.HTML.SqlDataProvider’ to type ‘DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.DataProvider’. at DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.DataProvider.CreateProvider() — End of inner exception stack trace — at DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.WorkflowStateController.GetWorkflows(Int32 PortalID) at DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.HtmlTextController.GetWorkflow(Int32 ModuleId, Int32 TabId, Int32 PortalId) at DotNetNuke.Modules.Html.HtmlModule.OnInit(EventArgs e) — End of inner exception stack trace —
In our case, the upgrade left 2 things behind that DNN 6 did not like.
Save and you are done.
Specifically we wanted to take a version of DotNetNuke from 4.9.1 to 6.1.3 today and actually found that it worked perfectly.
We did take some steps that helped a lot. This may be of value to some of you.
1. Backed up the entire file system for the website.
2. Backed up the database on SQL server for the site in question.
3. Ensured we had a HOST login account that worked.
4. Ensured the server we were running on (Windows 2008 R2) was patched and running .Net Framework version 3.5 SP1.
5. If your site is busy, work out a way to stop the traffic. One way is to add a portal alias, like test.domain.com in your DNN website. Setup a DNS entry to that test.domain.com points to the IP address of your DNN web server. In IIS, setup a Binding, so that test.domain.com will answer for your site.
Then access the site on test.domain.com and check you can login, etc.
Then remove the binding in IIS for www.domain.com (temporarily while you play upgrade).
This way, the site will not answer normal user access, but will answer you when you go to test.domain.com.
We suggest the following table for upgrading your DNN Website.
Note: If you are upgrading a version prior to DNN 4.6.2, then you will need to manually update the web.config file. After this version the updates are automatic.
On Codeplex, Click on View All Downloads
Find the version for the next upgrade step from the table above. Then find the Version Upgrade download link.
Download the .zip file to your server. Then extract the contents directly over the existing website directory structure.
You will be asked to overwrite files, Tick yes to all.
You will be asked to overwrite folders, Tick Apply to all – And continue.
Once you have extracted, hit your website in a browser, and watch the upgrade happen before your eyes.
Repeat the steps of backing up after each successful update, and download the next update package and repeat the process.
If you are using the XML module, on a DNN version before 5.3.0, then you should obtain the latest update of the module before moving past 5.3.0.
If you have the Ifinity URL Master module. We suggest turning it off to upgrade.
In IIS you will wan to move the website to a new application pool that is running .net 3.5 or 4.0 Integrated. You cannot share application pools with earlier DNN versions that run on .net 2.0.
Jump into the HOST settings, and configure things like, friendly URL’s, DNN Host Menu Options, and performance settings.
If you disabled bindings (from the initial steps 5 above) re-enable them and test access.
We offer a DotNetNuke Support Service that can include the upgrading of DNN websites for you. This is especially useful if you are not confident with either .net websites or IIS server administration.
We are happy to help you evaluate the upgrade path and potential problems. The cost of the service is in effect calculated at at an hourly estimate. It should be noted that if everything goes well, and trouble free, there there is at least 1 hours work in this upgrade, usually more as there are often little bugs to sort out.
Please contact us for support here: http://www.interactivewebs.com/Services/DotNetNukeSupport.aspx
http://www.datasprings.com/resources/articles-information/dotnetnuke-articles/upgrading-dotnetnuke-4.9-to-dotnetnuke-6.0
We have often receive lots of questions about Web-safe fonts, or web friendly fonts. We have products that work with technologies like Microsoft Word, and publish back to websites like DotNetNuke. (DNN Word Editor)
The issue is that not all fonts will work on all browsers on all computers. Here is the reason why.
There are an awful lot of fonts in the world! For years, no doubt, you’ve been using a ton of them in word processing documents, party invitations, banners, etc. But have you ever noticed how few of them are used on the web?
There’s a really good reason for this. When a web page loads, the browser is told to write text onto the screen using a specified font—one that is stored on the computer that the browser is running on. Therefore, if the web page’s code is calling for a font that a user does not have installed on their computer, it won’t show up! What that person will instead see is a default font, which might look a little ugly.
Now you might be wondering why this will happen so often if there are so many fonts installed on your computer. Well, here’s the problem: the two most widely-used operating systems—Windows and Mac OS X—each come installed with a different set of fonts. Awesome!
To illustrate this point, here’s where the fonts are stored in Windows 7:
And here’s where they’re stored on Mac OS 10.6:
Right away, we can see that only one of the displayed fonts overlaps: Arial. None of the Calibri orCambria fonts are available on the Mac, and the Mac has at least a dozen just on this page that aren’t available in Windows!
In fact, between these two systems, there are only ten fonts that overlap:
Those fonts that fall into that middle area, covered by both operating systems, are what we callweb-safe fonts. If you use Calibri on your webpage, Mac users won’t see it; if you use Andale, Windows users won’t see it; but if you use Georgia, you can rest assured that users of both systems will see the it.
Now there’s a bit of grey area here. Users of older operating systems don’t have some of these fonts we’ve declared web-safe. For example, Windows XP users don’t have Palatino or Trebuchet MS. Even worse, users of Android mobile phones don’t have any of these fonts.
So to be clear, there are only five fonts that are considered universal:
Feel free to use these fonts all you want! Even if you dug up that old Packard Bell you had back in 1997 and it didn’t explode when connected to the modern web, you’d be able to see these fonts rendered as intended. Those Android users will just have to fight for themselves.
Your text will still be visible, but the browser will use whatever default font it supplies for situations like this. This means that you may have intended to use a cute, scripty font, but what you get is
Your text typed in a regular serif font.
This is good because your content still goes through, but your design might be compromised. Therefore, you should always specify fallback fonts and a category that the font falls into. Let’s say that you want to use Helvetica, but you’ll settle for Arial. Since both of these fonts are considered to be sans-serif fonts, you can write a CSS declaration like this:
{ font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; }
The browser will first try to use Helvetica, and if it’s not installed, it’ll attempt to use Arial. If even that font is not available, it’ll use whatever default sans-serif font the browser likes, but at least it’ll be the correct type of font!
For more information about coding fallbacks, alternative methods to using non-web-safe fonts, and everything typography related, you can pick up a copy of our Web Typography Handbook. It’ll tell you everything you need to know.
Today we announced that our DotNetNuke Module for syncing to outlook was updated to DNN 6. Check out the details here.
http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Resources/Forums/forumid/112/threadid/451288/scope/posts.aspx
I noticed a question today on a Microsoft Dynamics CRM discussion site asking
“is there anyone who is not trying to sell me their product, that has done something interesting with CRM and Silverlight?”
Well yes there is…
InteractiveWebs have done several interesting projects with Silverlight as an interface to Microsoft CRM.
One of the most interesting of these is a Silverlight membership login system for a grain trading company based in Australia. The business is an organisation that trades produce in a similar way to how shares are traded in the stock market. The difference being that the commodity being traded has been grown by “growers” (farmers) and represents the produce that their farm has for sale in the open grain trade market.
Interestingly, Microsoft CRM is being used entirely for the backend management of this trading. This is quite complex in it’s design as you can imagine would be the case if you were running a stock exchange using CRM.
Entities are being used to track the bidding for sales and purchasing of hundreds of different qualities of different grains, at different locations over an entire country.
Of note to the Silverlight interface, is the fact that there are an ever increasing number of records within this system in the order of 65,000,000 records of some CRM Entities.
In it’s simplest function, the Silverlight interface is a membership system.
Allowing users to login and manage the buying and selling of commodities. Very similar to how users of a Stockbroking system would login and buy and sell their shares. But of course the user data is all being driven from a CRM backend running CRM 2011 with IFD.
The membership login is using custom attributes within CRM Contacts to authenticate and allow login.
Once logged in the user can modify personal details that are saved back to the CRM Contact entity.
Data is retrieved live using XRM to interface with CRM on the fly. Silverlight gives a clean and robust interface for users.
Just like with the sale of share, there is some paperwork generated with the buying and selling of commodities. Broker Notes, Freight Invoices, and Monthly trade Statements are example of just a few. Originally the thought was to interface with a Microsoft SharePoint server to store the related .PDF documents generated for these items. Instead we took the simpler approach of attaching the .PDF documents to the relevant records in the custom entities that are used to track each trade.
This data is simply stored as CRM Notes with Attached Files (.pdf) to the custom Entities.
Then in the Silverlight interface we allow users to open (on the fly) these notes and attached .pdf files to view the “paperwork” associated with each sale.
Summary data is presented that is referencing custom attribute data, and able to be exported live from Silverlight to Excel.
Or clicking on the PDF icon, will open the associated attached note from CRM and open the .pdf record live.
Example of PDF data.
Growers of commodities can create new stock records, listing the gran they have, quality, quantity, location etc in a simple user interface.
Listing too the price they wish to achieve in order to sell the produce.
Doing this creates a new record in a custom Entity in CRM directly, and this data is used in the bidding and selling process.
The data is available to Silverlight users in their record of stock.
Similar in concept to a statement of shares for a stock market trader.
So far, these are reasonably simple interfaces using XRM to CRM. Reading, writing, opening attached files etc. Where it gets interesting is in some real time graphing that we do to show bids on stocks / commodities.
For this we are needing to access tens of thousands of records that represent different bids for different commodities and work out on the fly the best or highest bid, and show that to the client in a fast loading graph.
This is where Silverlight and some cleaver XRM calls to some cleaver processes in CRM delivers a great result.
With the great graphing tools in Silverlight, the graph draws in real time and animates the loading of data. It has a full screen mode:
And is really a great use of Silverlight for this particular task.
One of the features we built on this interface is the ability to “Run Out of Browser”. So the client can right click the interface and select to “Install to this computer”.
This adds the project to an Out of Browser Silverlight experience that can be launched as any other application or program from your computer.
This feature of Silverlight can run on a Mac or PC, and delivers an experience for end users that is very similar to having a membership program installed on your computer.
The project will auto update if we modify the web based source version with a new release automatically. The client is promoted with a messaging saying the program will close to update, then opens with the new version automatically. Truly using the best experience that Silverlight has to offer.
Uninstalling the out of browser app is as simple as a right click in the app, and selecting from a dropdown “Remove this application”.
Kind of like a windows 8 experience with any pc.
Silverlight… ahhh what to say about Silverlight….. where to start.
1. We drank the Kool Aid. Microsoft told us how great Silverlight would be, how it would segregate the design team from the development team and deliver the benefits of keeping people within their specializations.
2. We spend years of time investing in Silverlight development. We get it, we can work with it and we can do amazing things with it. This and other cool projects including a MS Pivot interface to DotNetNuke and Microsoft CRM data.
MS Pivot and CRM – http://demo.interactivewebs.com.au/dnnpivot/dnnpivot_demo.htm
3. We kicked it’s butt. We were able to deliver anything we wanted using Silverlight and made it interface with a multitude of data sources at multiple times using XRM and other web services to pull data from both CRM and other data sources.
We get it, we can do it, we hate it and we regret the time we wasted after Microsoft mislead us into their Silverlight sphere.
Microsoft Silverlight Evangelist – We drank the Kool Aid
Silverlight never came close to delivering on any of the promises that Microsoft made about it.
It is tricky to develop in, it is poorly supported by even Microsoft, design tools are definitely lacking greatly, the development experience was a mine field of poorly documents bugs and broken features that required time and commitment to untangle the crap that Microsoft produced.
It was amazing to us how many things we were doing and solving that literally no one else was talking about. We felt like the first team walking on the Silverlight moon at every step of the way.
The end result is something that we are proud of. There are some cool features that we think make the project example above shine. But for all the time, and trouble invested to deliver it, it is just not worth it!
If looking at this and other similar projects again, we would use other technology to more quickly develop a very similar experience. There quite simply is nothing in Silverlight in interfacing with CRM that we can do easier other ways.
So there you have it. A good example of Silverlight with CRM, and the reason why we would suggest you use other technology yourself.
And check out that Silverlight Pivot link above. It is actually very cool too in what it does and how it does it. We have rigged this to work against any internet facing CRM environment including the Microsoft Hosted CRM.
We wrote this to help someone asking for a non commercial plug for a Silverlight in CRM example. We hope the above meets the requirement of that… but we are a development and CRM business, so we need to mention that if you need some cleaver interfacing with CRM. Then please contact us here http://www.interactivewebs.com/ContactUs.aspx.
We have other examples to show too.
Recently we launched a new website called Network You. The site can be found at networkyou.org.
Of particular interest on the site is a new module or ours soon to be released to the DotNetNuke Community called Mushroom Video Module.
The module will feed Youtube Play Lists from youtube.com directly into your site in an easy to manage and easy to use video feed.
The end result of the feeds looks like this:
http://www.networkyou.org/Network/GlobalVillage.aspx
With the video feeds being selected directly from a play list selector button that referenced a YouTube account name.
The module also uses the template system developed by InteractiveWebs for the display system that allows simple to load templates to be customized to the users requirements.
An example of the module with multiple feeds onto a single page is this one: http://www.networkyou.org/Network/Professionals/VideoTopics.aspx
We will be releasing the module to the public in the next few weeks. We would love to hear any comments!
Steps to add an Attachment Field to Feedback Designer Module for DotNetNuke.
The result is a form with file upload ability. The attachment is sent as an email attachment.
Please contact us for additional DotNetNuke Support requirements.
The Bulk Email module for DotNetNuke has a feature known as Bounce Email Monitoring, and it is probably a good idea to understand what it does and how it does it so we can explain how best to configure it.
When an email message is generated using the DotNetNuke Bulk Email Module, a list of all the email addresses that you have selected from multiple sources is generated into a database.
The lists that you select can include.
Once the list is complied, email addresses are removed.
Then the email messages are sent out and ticked off as being sent.
You can see that bounced email addresses will only be removed if they are on the bounced email list, and have bounced to a count matched the settings configured.
Periodically, the module will use the setting for the POP 3 account to look for email messages that it can add as a bounce. To do this, it will download all messages in the mailbox and look using some complex searching tools for email messages that appear to have bounced back from a failed send attempt.
Unfortunately email servers report bounce messages in different ways, so the code that reads the email messages and looks for bounce backs is long and complex. For this reason, the process of finding bounce messages should be kept to a minimum to reduce the load on the server.
The best way to reduce load is to minimise the number of mail messages that the process needs to check.
The best way to do this is three fold.
The process of downloading thousands of email messages, checking them all and processing them all can take hours. It will put a huge load on both the web server and your email server. It will increase your data transfer costs both on your web and email server.
So follow the suggestions and the result should be clean and fast.
Want to know more about email messaging in DotNetNuke.
Today we updated some code in our Contact Details module for DotNetNuke.
The module makes it easy to add your contact details to a page in DNN.
There is a map control function that uses Bing Maps that can be seen in the demo here: http://www.interactivewebs.com/contactdetails/Demo.aspx
We have updated the module today to support the use of SSL or https connections to the page that contains the module.
So here are the two ways to add the Bing Ajax control to your page in HTTP or HTTPS:
HTTP:
<script src=”http://ecn.dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6.3” type="text/javascript"></script>
HTTPS:
<script src=”https://ecn.dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6.3&s=1” type="text/javascript"></script>
Now on the HTTPS version notice I changed the URL to start with HTTPS, this is what pulls from the secure site over at the good Bing folks. Also notice I added the “s” parameter and set it to 1, default is 0, this tells the Bing API to get the image tiles for the map from HTTPS.
Why? you ask.
Well it seems that the API determines what protocol to use for JavaScript and other parts from the document.location.protocol, however when it comes to the map tiles it looks to a global setting that is set based on the parameter being passed.
Today we have added support to the DotNetNuke Bulk Emailer module for WebFarms.
We have identified a feature of Bulk Emailer for DotNetNuke that has caused some issues with the running of the module on a WebFarm.
There is an automatic enable feature that checks when you start a bulk email message that the scheduler for the module in the Host / Scheduler is enabled. If it is not enabled, the module will enable it.
With WebFarms there are two processes that run at the same time.
This will cause duplication of sending email messages.
The solution is easy… just disable one of the schedule processes. However this will be automatically re-enabled by the module.
To solve this we have added an option to the Bulk Emailer Settings. This option enables you to tick that you are using a WebFarm, stopping the automatic enabling of iWebs BulkEmailer EmailSchedule process.
After you enable WebFarm mode, you will need to go into the Host Scheduler processes and disable all but one of the multiple processes for the iWebs BulkEmailer EmailSchedule.
The result will be that only one of the schedulers run and only one email message will be sent.
The steps in setting up the Outlook Social Connector for DotNetNuke on your local computer.
The steps assume that you have installed the DNN website module by InteractiveWebs called the Outlook Social Connector.
1. Close Outlook
2. Start the MSI installer “Setup_DNNSocialConnector”
3. Select Next
4. Use the default path, or select one, then select – Next
5. Select Next when ready to proceed
6. Wait a bit
7. Select Close
8. Open Outlook and in the Mail view, find an email message and expand the view for the Social Connector.
9. Select the + symbol under the contact image, and select “on another social network” from the available list.
10. Select “iWebs – DNN Social Connector” from the available social connector plugins.
11. Fill in the connection settings for your DotNetNuke Website that has the iWebs – DNN Social Connector module installed. And admin or host account is needed. Click Connect
When you browse an email message from a user who is registered on your website, you will see the activity that they have taken on your site. This includes activity on security roles, DNN Forums Module, and if you have updated to our modified Documents Module, activity on that module too.
Today we have added this feature to the DotNetNuke Advanced Login Module.
Normally DotNetNuke requires a user name to be entered at registration. The Advanced Login Module will automatically create a DNN user name at registration time, even if the token for User Name is not included in the registration form. This way you can allow users to register with an email address and no user name, while in the background the Advanced Login Module handles the user name for you.
If omitted from the registration form, the user name will be taken from the email address.
david@domain.com for example will generate a user name using all data from before the @ symbol.
david@domain.com = david as the user name.
If david is already taken as a user name, then david-01 or david-02 etc. will be used automatically.
This keeps the username familiar to users should it ever be provided to them, yet keeps the registration process as simple as possible.
The module is available as a Free DNN Module trial on our site.