Hi,

Could someone please explain the status of the Extropy skin (not the DNN 5 default Minimal Extropy; I believe the Extropy code name is Cambrian, if I got that right)?

I am rather new to DNN, learning the ropes. Started with DNN 5.1.1 Community Edition, now at the latest DNN 5.1.4 (3) level.

Got the book "Professional DotNetNuke 5 Open Source Web Application Framework for ASP.NET". It speaks of the Extropy skin as being part of the DNN 5. And towards the end, it recommends Extropy as more powerful (and having examples) when it comes to use of widgets.

But then, Extropy seems to have been withdrawn. It certainly is not part of the DNN 5 downloads, and I was not able to find it anywhere (strange!?).

Then, downloaded Extropy 1.0.0 as part of the support material with a Nick Kalyani's webinar on skinning. My experience is stll non-exisitng, but on the outside the material looked somehow incomplete. There are no container files there. But then, I decided to give it a go. Zipped the files together, and installed the skin without problems. It was recognized as a legacy skin (there was no manifest file), but installed and ran correctly on my development PC. I simply used the Minimal Extropy containers, and everything seemed fine.

I must say I have been very impressed with the Extropy skin. It is absolutely fantastic. The online toolbox, changing the colors, font sizes, page size, hover-on descriptions on menu items... Obviously, I wanted to switch to it.

So, after some testing on my development machine, created an installation package (from the Host > Extensions > Skin details), with proper manifest file, and installed it on my new hosted DNN site.

There, initially it seemed OK. But then I noticed that the currently active toolbox buttons did not jump up to a higher level. Yet, they worked fine, so I moved on. Then, at some point (I don;t quite know when), I lost my menu. Actually, it is still there before login. But the moment I login as any registered user, Admin or Host, the menu disappears. And I can not get it back, tried everything I could think of (well, I noticed there was no DOCTYPE XML file, I'll try that tomorrow). The links in the page footer (reflecting the content of the menu) are still there, so I am able to get around in that awkward way.

I really like the Extropy skin. I'd like to go on with it (if DNN developers need testers, I'll be happy to participate). I wish to learn more how it is done, and to work with the widgets (at this point, the Relocation Widget seems very interesting, to get some SEO tuning)...

Maybe someone knows a solution to that menu disppearing act.

And, maybe someone can throw some light on:

• The status of the Extropy skin?
• Will it come back to the Community Edition?
• Is the Extropy 1.0.0 the most current version?
• Where can I download the official version from?
• Any other detail or links to where I can learn more...

Thank you heaps.

BTW, if you are going to use the skin, plese log the issues you find on support.dotnetnuke.com.
If someone would doa good test of the skin and log the issues, we might decide to fix and release it.

Timo, thank you for the explanation. It means a lot.

I will gladly test the skin and log the issues as you suggested. But, for my testing to make some sense, it would need to be done on the latest Extropy version. My copy does look rather incomplete, and it might be outdated. If that is the case, all my testing and logging errors would be a waste of time.

Would you be able to provide a download link, or somehow let me have the Extropy version that you would be interested to have some test reports for?

(As a tiny detail, the toolbox icons are suddenly jumping up correctly. But the menu is still hidden, non-existent. Obviously this version is not ready for production. Yet, I still think it is a great skin, worth working on. A possible release to the DNN Community would be of great interest to everyone, I am sure. As a feature, it would be great to have a full choice of colors used. The current ones selectable through the toolbox are impressive, but somewhat too sharp, aggressive to the eye, at least mine.)

And Geoff is right. Chapter 16 of the book is where I decided to investigate Extropy closer.

BTW, I found the WROX errata reporting totally unacceptable, totally user-unfriendly. No wonder books have no errata reported. I discovered an error in this DNN 5 book (Chapter 16, on Skinning DNN, page 467 at the top, where the use of the "Parse Skin Package" link is explained, the correct path to get to this link is Admin, Skins, and not Admin, Extensions as printed. And it is important to mention that one has to be logged in as Host, while using the Admin functions, otherwise the link is not visible.) Well, I wanted to report the error through the regular WROX channels, just to end up in frustration (I was logged in, yet the online reporting form requested all my personal details, and even my user password(!), and it speaks of a "question", not an errata report, as much as I used the correct link) - I gave up. Maybe you DNN guys should set a forum dedicated to readers comments on the DNN books, to make this process more effective and valuable to the community?

So, Timo, where and how to get a complete Extropy package worth testing?

Thank you.