The automatic switch to the admin skin and exclusion of other modules from the page that you are experiencing is normal DNN framework behavior for any controls other than the default (with blank key) view control.

Although you could create a second module which would share the same info and controller classes, etc., you may have a problem if you have followed the usual practice of keying your data on the ModuleId. You'll also have a problem with sharing Module Settings which are keyed to either ModuleId or TabModuleId.

To avoid the automatic switch to the admin skin and to allow the best reuse of code, I prefer to use the concept of sub-views in which the main or dispatch module uses LoadControl to dynamically load other .ascx files to display or allow the user to interact with the same data in different ways.  Another possibility is to use panels or multi-view/view controls (ASP.NET 2 only) or tables or table rows with id and runat="server" attributes set so that they can be selectively displayed or hidden. Along with this technique, you may find it necessary to define more global module settings that are keyed to PortalId or ModuleDefId.  I started using the combination of techniques often enough that I built a framework called ModuleViews that extends the pattern of the Module/ModuleControl (keyed by control key) to one of Module/ModuleControl/ModuleView (keyed by view key).  The source code of this framework (for DNN 4.x) is available free on the downloads page of my website (http://www.wesnetdesigns.com) to registered users. As the code is not documented or complete (problems in the IUpgradable interface implementation), I do not consider it a solution for the inexperienced developer.

Further discussion of this same problem may be found in this recent thread: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/ForumsDotNetNuke/tabid/795/forumid/-1/threadid/83465/scope/posts/Default.aspx

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Bill, WESNet Designs
Team Lead - DotNetNuke Gallery Module Project (Not Actively Being Developed)
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