I was quite excited to get an email a two days ago announcing that I'd been awarded MVP status for contributions to the DotNetNuke community and an exciting way to start off 2007. I didn't realise how exciting the award was, until I read about others who had achieved them... And I came to the conclusion that passion and community spirit make a difference.

It's interesting as I look at the advancements of DNN over the last 4 years, and it's hard to believe that on Christmas Eve - DotNetNuke celebrates it's 4th Birthday..

It's interesting to have been part of the process from virtually the beginning of an era, and the mix of users with DNN 1, 2 & 3 sites are now looking to upgrade. And I've got my own thoughts on the process...

From a business perspective, it always interests me how people are using DotNetNuke and it's no wonder that we see increasing amount of questions about what DNN can do, when you consider the spectrum of users coming into DNN.

From a business perspective, it always interests me how people are using DotNetNuke and it's no wonder that we see increasing amount of questions about what DNN can do, when you consider the spectrum of users coming into DNN.

Oh man the month just flew by - and busy as ever - but I had to take some time out to review some processes, and get some work finished. And the outcome has been interesting to say the least..

Great to see DotNetNuke in use with this fantastic TechEvent on this weekend. With over 450 people registered to attend this free event, you should check out what's on offer.

It has been nearly three weeks since I've popped my head into my blogs, not even spending much time on forums, but it's definitely not from lack of interest, simply closing of jobs that have taken me what seems an eon to do.. But Xflex Is now available on snowcovered and http://www.skinsforsale.com

Or should that be.. Just because it's fast, it doesn't mean it's easy. That's the general thought of the day I'm having while we work on getting some projects out the door and they have taken longer.

I think the system/methods now of getting the DNN builds out to the benefactors is working with them getting access to the 3.3.5 & 4.3.5 builds for the last couple of weeks.

It did see several reposts and rebuilds along the way- maybe 5, as they reported things back, other issues were discovered and final testing was underway.

So, I believe in the next day or so, if not already there - a much needed and updated version of DNN is going to be available.

Charles Nurse compiled the following list of issues which have been resolved in 3.3.5/4.3.5:

Admin/Host Functions
DNN-3913 - Improved performance of URL Control with a large number of folders
DNN-3911 - Inform User if email to vendor or admin fail
DNN-3932 - Fixed behavior of User Settings in SuperUser Accounts
DNN-3928 - Add ability to disable the Update profile on login functionality (this is great for people who want to restrict the changes made by susbscribers)
DNN-3868 - Fixed display of Page specific Header info
DNN-3867 - Fixed the Portal Template Schema Definition for the file element
DNN-3866 - Fixed AddPortalInfo sproc so users upgrading from 4.0 can add new portals
DNN-3793 - Fixed bug with adding codeSubdirectory node to web.config
DNN-3730 - Forced validation of Profile Definitions in case client-side validation doesn't happen (plus added missing keys)
DNN-3791 - Private and verified registration no longer redirects but displays confirmation message (this will elminate confusion if you were actually sucessfull in filling out registration)
DNN-3804 - Fail gracefully on Password Update if problems with Email
DNN-3839 - Added ability for Admin to set the default profile Visibility
DNN-3835 - Added ability for Admin to disable/enable Services
DNN-3834 - Added ability for Admin to enable/disable Profile Visibility
DNN-3838 - Added option to suppress the Pager in the Users Grid when not needed (PageSize > TotalRecords)
DNN-3748 - Fixed Paging in User Accounts when using a Search option other than username
DNN-3822 - Suppress Group Header when Profile has no properties in the Category enabld for display
DNN-3760 - Breadcrumb Enhancement - Allow use of tab title instead of tab name (This could be a good SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) enhancement)
DNN-3694 - Added friendly message when duplicate portal alias is added  (great for non technical people)
DNN-3419 - Removed some unused resource keys (this will clean up the language resource pack)

Control Panel
DNN-3874 - Change to add custom permissions by default to all roles with EDIT permissions when adding a new module to the page

DAL
DNN-2913 - Fixed situation where a TextColumn is bound to a null value (now returns "")

File Manager
DNN-3865 - Added buffering to downloading of files (in 10K chunks)

General
DNN-3702 - Fixed case where a Port is specified in SMTP configuration
DNN-3743 - In LogController, fixed SupportsEmailNotification and SupportsInternalViewer so they return a value
DNN-2699 - Fixed SiteWizard.ascx to allow debugging if specified in web.config

Text Editor
DNN-3926 - Make sure Action menus are not visible if they are empty (or only have break items)

Install/Upgrade
DNN-3759 - Fixed localization errors when no portal (eg during Install)

Localization
DNN-3917 - Improved RTL support in Profile Editor
DNN-3812 - Added en-us to default language
DNN-1974 - support for longer locale strings
DNN-2612 - Fixed xml error in reource verifier
DNN-2268 - Updated Resource Verifier to support asp.net 2 style resx files
DNN-3594 - Languages sorted alphabetically in Languages editor

Resource Installer
DNN-3742 - Fixed installation of app_code based modules

Search
DNN-2344 - Fixed Indexing when Page has an enddate
DNN-3464 - Added validators to Search settings
DNN-2798 - Fixed UpdateSearchItem stored procedure to use nvarchar instead of varchar
DNN-1902 - Fixed PageCount check
DNN-1891 - Include Common Words setting is now used in GetSearchResults

Security
DNN-3718 - Added required image to password fields (in Register and Add User)
DNN-3964 - Fixed missing code to Log the SuperUser Login event
DNN-3747 - Fixed Registration when RequireQuestionandAnswer is selected
DNN-3849 - Add check for empty string in Decrypt method to avoid errors on x64 servers
DNN-3883 - Allow all Administrators to unlock each other
DNN-3853 - Improve scalability/performance of GetModulePermissionsByModuleID and GetFolderPermissionsByFolderPath
DNN-3833 - Added message for unauthorized users when attempting to log in.
DNN-3706 - Made ValidationExpression column nvarchar(2000) rather than nvarch(100)
DNN-3968 - Created separate temporary and persistent cookie timeouts

Skinning
DNN-3984 - The DNNMenuNavigationProvider correctly utilizes the CSSNodeSelectedRoot in all cases
DNN-3707 - Fixed skin parsing that extracts the skin components from a full html file.

Templates
DNN-3661 - Fixed C# Module Template error
DNN-3708 - Fixed portal template errors when using Modules with multiple Module Definitions (like Blog)
DNN-2234 - Fixed templates default user/password
DNN-3783 - Fixed Site Wizard bug

UI
DNN-3882 - Fixed View mode of the List Edit Control so it correctly returns the list item (when two different Lists contain the same Values)
DNN-3746 - Fixed display of login instaructions
DNN-3798 - Fixed the maximize behaviour of the Password Aging section in User Settings
 

Overall, this has been a build focussed on fixes and most requested enhancements.

Great job overall by the core team developers.

And, we haven't even touched on the projects that have been updated. So good news all around for those who have endured the rollercoaster ride.  DNN is definitely worth it.

Nina Meiers

 

And I'll tell you why - Last week my server was compromised by a module written by Richard Cox using the BDPDT layers. Quite a few of his modules use it, and it will NEVER be allowed on my server again, and when I show you just how far the server was compromised, you might want to check out your own server...