Customer Reviews

Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wish that this book was available when I started using DNN 1.5 years ago. It takes you though the installation, then introduces you to the basic concepts, and explains some things that you "must get around to figuring out what it does".

There is a middle section that then explains a little about the core and about the web.config, which are extremely useful, and they are the first documentation I have seen on that subject area.

Finally, the third section, is the brilliant examples from Michaels site on how to build modules easily. If you have not built a module, you will love this.

This book will suit a complete beginner but it will also suit a developer that wants to learn DNN and wants to learn how to program modules.

To followed on from the previous reviewer, my father always said about Country music that it is the chords you leave out that are he nicest. Michael Washington has a particular style, he cuts to the chase and tells you what you want to know without the fluff.

I have five DNN books now, but this is the best. I repeat, I wish I could have bought it a year ago.

thanks for all the help.

What you get here is basically two books in one (approx 300 pages in total). The first section is a DotNetNuke user manual, essential for anybody who is starting out with DotNetNuke for the first time. Pages are clear, well laid out, and screenshots are supplied where apt. The book is constructed like a good jazz track, jazz for me is not about the notes you play, it's about the notes you don't play. This book knows what to leave out and gives the user exactly what they need without wasting their time with irrelevant noise. Once read the user will be empowered enough to find out what they need elsewhere without looking or feeling like a newbie.

The second section is for those wanting to start out in developing DNN modules. Many people will purchase a DNN module and have no need for this section of the book, however many will want to develop modules for their specific needs, or will simply like to get into the nitty gritty of things. Once again this the perfect introduction and is no-nonsense.

Those with a lot of time on their hands will not like this book. Those who just need to get the job done simply need to go out and purchase a copy.

This is an easy guide to follow for someone just learning to develop in DNN.

When we began our search for a platform to power the Le Moyne College website three years ago, we quickly decided on DotNetNuke (DNN) as our tool of choice. Like most DNN users, we find the open source platform, flexibility, and extendibility indispensible to our day-to-day operations. As a result, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read Packt Publishing's Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5 by Michael Washington and Ian Lackey, as we look to take our DNN implementation to the next level. This book did not disappoint.

DotNetNuke is an open source content management system, as well as an application framework. Unfortunately many DNN books seem to focus on either the content management component or the application framework component. Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5 promised to address both elements of DNN and delivered over the course of the book's ten chapters. Because of this well-integrated approach, anyone interested in DNN can benefit from this book:
- A DNN novice will receive clear and concise instructions on how to download, install, set up and run an instance of DNN for the first time.
- Those taking a look at administering a DNN site for the first time will receive detailed instructions on how to use the tools within the DNN framework to create content rich website, by creating a network of content providers using the DNN security framework.
- Those needing a primer on the host and administrator settings will find an overview of the best practices for getting the maximum performance out of a DNN site and an explanation of what each setting will impact within a site.
- Anyone overwhelmed by the feature set of the modules that come with the standard DNN installation covering everything from calendars to announcements to blogs to syndication to FAQ's will find a clear & concise description of the purpose of each module, any special features added to each module and recommended uses within a DNN site.
- We've been using DNN since version 3 - users that have used DNN for a while will enjoy a detailed overview of what's changed in DNN 5 and what new features and functionality you can expect.
- Developers will receive an overview of how to develop modules in DNN that gets progressively more detailed to even include incorporating Silverlight and LINQ to SQL into a DNN module.

One of the features of the DNN framework which really sets it apart from its competitors is the ability to administer multiple sites from one instance of DNN. The final chapter of the book details how to set up multiple sites, best practices to maintain them, and how this configuration facilitates backing up DNN because only one database being utilized to power the sites. This is an especially important concept for those new to DNN to understand and this book breaks it down very clearly. The core DNN architecture is also explained in enough detail to leave the reader with a good working knowledge of how DNN puts the pieces under the hood together to create feature and content rich sites.

This book features screenshots throughout the book to help the reader follow the concepts as they are being explained. Warnings and tips are also clearly indicated and appear frequently throughout the text.

In short, Building Websites with DotNetNuke 5 has something for everyone: the novice will be able to quickly get up to speed with DotNetNuke, the long-time user is sure to learn something new about the DNN environment, and those wanting to try their hand at developing their own DNN modules will benefit from three chapters detailing how to create a DNN module from scratch.

Chapters 1 - 5 are a good insight into the basics of DotNetNuke; also, great for reference. I've been working with DotNetNuke for about a year and I'm always looking for information on the baseline components of DotNetNuke. This book delivers on that.

Chapters 6 - 9 are fantastic! That's just what I was looking for. Module Development is what makes DotNetNuke so useful. It's also great to see the code in C# and VB; being that I only have VB2008 for now, that is very helpful. I'm strong in VB, but not C#... it makes the coding easier. In addition, the use of Silverlight module development was a big help. I've been looking for more coding examples of Silverlight in DotNetNuke Modules.

Chapter 10 I have not used yet to create multiple portals, but it's good to have a place to look when I do.

Well, planned and written. I hope there is an expansion on chapters 6 - 9 in the works.

I have over 20 years of programming experience under my belt. I was looking for a book that went beyond the help remarks in DNN. The author shies away from any serious explanation of the modules, for example. His typical writing says something like, "This particular modular is outside the scope of this book." He uses similar phrases far too often. He then regurgitates text that is found within DNN itself. There is very little useful information in this book. I didn't buy a book to be told that I have to search for information elsewhere--would you? Don't bother buying this book.

I have found Michael's short tutortals regarding module development to be invaluable. So, I had positive expectations for this book where he would have the space to get into the details. What I found was disappointing to say the least. To begin, only Chapters 7, 8, and 9 deal with development. Chapter 7 is good, using a simple Hello World example to introduce the code structure but, it goes into no more detail than Micheal's online tutorials. In Chapter 8 I was hoping to get a primer on how to use LINQ. No such luck, the Coffee Shop example has only one table! I wanted to see an example with parent to child relationships, a lookup table, some challenging data types, like dates and file objects, some business logic, like interdependent fields, or a workflow. An example like Micheals ADefHelpDesk project. Additionaly, in Chapter 8 the step by step construction and explaination of the user interface and code behind is abandoned. All I can do is copy and paste and hope to reverse-engineer to improve my understanding. Then comes Chapter 9. It fails to explain why Silverlight should be used. It covers so much ground that even copy and paste fails to keep up. You have to copy the entire solution folder. I was hoping to see how use a basic web service, like a geo code could be used. Again, no luck. Then comes Chapter 10 dealing with setting up multiple portals. What happened to the Coffee Shop?