DotNetNuke (DNN) Module Development #1

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Why develop modules in DotNetNuke?  There are so many available on the commercial market – just look on Snowcovered and DotNetNuke Marketplace.  If you can’t find what you are looking for then do you actually need it?  Only Joking!   I have purchased, so far, over 50 of the best (in my opinion) Commercial DotNetNuke Modules available.  In most cases these modules meet my requirements, but I always find something  not to my satisfaction.  In one case I realised that the module was very poor indeed and I asked for my money back only to be told that they did not do refunds – and that was that!  The good thing is that most DotNetNuke Modules are very, very cheap – in fact I wonder how the developer manages to make a profit from them, but I guess they do.

Developing Your Own DotNetNuke (DNN) Modules

If you want exact functionality, and you do not want to purchase someone else’s module then you have little other choice than to develop your own.

The good news is that there are quite a few options available to you whether  you are a developer or not!

For Non-Developers

1) Outsource your requirements – to someone like me!  In a later newsletter* article I will show you how to write a requirements specification that you can use to outsource your development with minimum fuss.

2) Learn how to use packages like DNNDev XMod or Bi4ce ListX – both are excellent.  In fact I will be doing a newsletter* review on each of these soon.

3) Find a module that does 80% of what you want, and then pay the original module developer to customise it to provide the remaining 20%.

For Developers

1) Well the same 3 options above are still valid of course!

2) Develop your own from scratch

3) Find an existing module that does 80% of what you want, that comes with its own source code and develop the remaining 20% yourself.

I am going to write a series of articles on DotNetNuke Module Development.  I am going to develop modules in VB.NET, C#, SQL, and also use Module Development tools such as DNNDev XMod and Bi4ce ListX. What’s easy, what’s hard.  A lot of the information will be in my newsletters so make sure you sign up if this is of interest to you.

* remember to sign up for my newsletter – just send an email to dnnsecrets@gmail.com with the subject “Newsletter” and I will add you to my DNNSecrets Newsletter.