DNN Documentation for Developers
The lack of documentation, especially centralized, up-to-date documentation, has been ailing the DotNetNuke community ever since the project’s birth. To somewhat rectify the problem, at least for aspiring developers, Ernst Peter Tamminga recently scoured the DNN core, extracted all comments that do exists in the code, assembled it in CHM format, and put it up CodePlex. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, comments, or valid XML comments, are still utterly missing for most public methods in the DNN core.
Now on to documenting this week’s news.
- By the time you read this, DotNetNuke Websites Problem Design Solution by Tracy Wittenkeller will be available from a bookstore near you or your favorite online retailer. I’ll share my thoughts on the book as early as next week.
- A recent upswing in automated SQL injection attacks targeting ASP and ASP.NET based websites has caused concern and confusion for many DNN webmasters. DNN’s security expert Cathal Connolly addresses the issue here and Microsoft’s security advisory can be found here.
- XHTML compliance has been a hot topic lately and Timo Breumelhof sheds more light on the matter and explains what it means for DNN module developers and skinners as we move closer to Cambrian.
- Ever thought about getting your feed wet with DNN module development? Then check out Rafe Kemmis’ blog as he “screencasts” you through creating a DotNetNuke module from scratch.
- And speaking of screencasts / videos, Jason Kergosien of Ingen Systems takes a closer look at the skinning enhancements delivered by DNN 5 Beta 6. Be warned though as this 30 minute “NukeCast” may easily eat up your lunch hour.
- Robert Harriman of Webmazing.net releases AutoWebSuite / BrokerWebSuite 4.0, a set of DNN modules for handling vehicle and real estate inventories. Online demos are available and you may also try before you buy. I’ve deployed a number of previous versions of the modules and highly recommend Robert’s craftsmanship and support. Watch for a closer look at the latest version in an upcoming review on this blog.
- Hector Sosa of SystemWidgets put together a neat little Windows application to recover and reset DNN passwords. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but it’s evident that it makes a great addition to any DNN amdin’s tool belt.
What are your thoughts on the current state of DotNetNuke documentation? As any kind of documentation is not a small undertaking, how is it best addressed for a software application such as DNN? How much longer can DNN Corp. afford to cite limited resources as the main culprit for missing and out-of-date documentation?
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