May 2010
In this tutorial we demonstrate how to create an Installable DotNetNuke PA (Private Assembly) Module using Open Web Studio.
A PA module is a standard module that you would install using the host menu / extensions option in DotNetNuke.
We demonstrate creating a basic OWS Contacts module, we add module settings options to the OWS module and we show you how to configure the files that create an installable DNN PA Zip file, this covers the resx files, .dnn files, sql files and any other files that are needed for your module to work.
We show you how to create the Install and Uninstall SQLDataProvider code using SQL Management Studio, this will create the SQL tables and procedures required for your module. We also show you how to export the OWS Contacts module configuration and import the data into a Contacts.rescx file.
A powerful feature of the OWS Contacts module is the module settings, we show you how to set up an OWS module with module settings options and how to transfer those options into a DotNetNuke PA Module.
To finish, we demonstrate how to put all of these files together into a module installation zip file and how to install and test the DotNetNuke PA installation zip file.
We recommend you download the latest version of OWS from here:
www.openwebstudio.com
If you are new to OWS we recommend you first of all view the six part series on
How to Build a Knowledge Base Article Module.
The videos contain:
Video 1 - How to Build a Contacts and Settings OWS Module
- Introduction
- Explanation of two OWS modules, a Contacts module and Settings module
- Explanation of the Contacts module
- Add, Edit, Delete, View contacts functions
- Query variables
- OnRender, query to read from the module settings configuration
- Explanation of 'module settings' in standard DNN modules
- How to create a Module Settings OWS module
- How to build the module settings form
- How to integrate with the module settings table in DotNetNuke
- ObjectQualifier, System variable
- Message action for updating settings
- How to test the settings module using OWS
- How to change the color of the module text using the settings module
Time Length: 8min 53secs
Video 2 - How to Create the DNN Installable PA Module Files
- Explanation of the download code included with the tutorial
- MyModuleTemplate
- Install SQLDataProvider code file - the SQL code to run when installing the module
- How to create the SQL tables, procedures etc. when installing module
- Uninstall SQLDataProvider code - the SQL code for uninstalling the module
- How to remove the SQL tables, procedures etc. when uninstalling the module
- MyModuleSettings OWS Config for building the settings section of the module
- MyModule.ascx, MyModuleSettings.ascx templates
- MyModule.ascx.resx, MyModuleSettings.ascx.resx templates
- How to create the Install and Uninstall SQLDataProvider code using SQL Management Studio
- How to configure the Contacts.resx file
- How to export the OWS Contacts module configuration
- How to add the OWS Contacts module configuration into the Contacts.resx file
- How to configure the ContactsSettings.resx file
- How to export the OWS Contacts Settings module configuration
- How to add the OWS Contacts Settings module configuration into the ContactsSettings.resx file
Time Length: 8min 09secs
Video 3 - How to Create and Test the Installable PA Module Zip File
- How to configure the MyModule.dnn file
- How to set the module name, folder name, description, version
- How to specify which modules and files to install
- Module Controls
- How to zip the module installation files
- Testing and installing the module PA zip file
- Adding the Contacts module to the page
- Testing the Contacts module settings
Time Length: 5min 44secs
Total Time Length: 22min 46secs
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