I just made it through the install and wrote up what I did while I was doing it. So here it is. Hopefully it will help someone else having trouble getting through the install.
OK everyone,
I’m back trying to do this.
And I picked up the Apress “Beginning DotNetNuke 4.0 Web Site Creation in VB 2005 with Visual Web Developer 2005 Express” Book.
Only I’m using the full Visual Studio and full SQL Sever 2005 versions. Let’s see if the install chapter (Chapter 3) gets me through.
So download the latest Starter Kit install (I think the latest right now is 4.5.3) from http://www.dotnetnuke.com/.
Expand the Zip file.
Double click on the DotNetNuke.vsi file. For me it was DotNetNuke.vscontent.
Walk through the wizard with all checkboxes checked for the install.
Now the DotNetNuke project and item templates are installed.
So open up Visual Studio and select File -> New Web site. I did this and said to myself “Where is the template!?”
Select Visual Basic for the language and you get the “DotNetNuke Web Application Framework” template under My Templates in the “New Web Site” Dialogue box.
Select “DotNetNuke Web Application Framework”.
Make sure to choose HTTP under location if you have Windows XP Pro, Windows 2000 or Windows 2003.
If you only have Windows XP Home Edition you’ll have to choose the flakier “File System”
And make the path read http://localhost/DotNetNuke.
Click OK.
This process takes a few minutes and is scary watching all of these files install. But let’s proceed.
The project just loaded in my Solution Explorer. It looks good in IIS under wwwroot/DotNetNuke.
And Welcome.html is loading in the main window. So I’m printing that out for future reference.
And I’m clicking on SQL Server 2000 Configuration and SQL Sever 2005 links to print those out for later reference.
In windows explorer right click “C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke” and go to the security tab. Check Modify for the ASPNet user.
Now follow the instructions we printed out for “Configuring SQL Server 2005 for DotNetNuke.”
At this point, of course, there are no tables in the new Database. I called my DB “DNNWebsite.” And I’m expecting some tables to show up there once I build the project.
Now in the web.config, replace the connection string in the
and areas with something like: Server=(local);Database=DatabaseName;uid=LoginName;pwd=LoginPassword;.
Once of the nicest things I’ve seen so far in this install is the SQL Server 2005 format for the connection string in the web.config is already there and just commented out in both sections. Let’s see how it works out.
Switch back to Visual Studio and build the project (Ctrl – F5).
OK, the project built successfully.
And a page, http://localhost/DotNetNuke/Install/InstallWizard.aspx, came up in the browser. Looks like an installation wizard.
OK. I’m into the 4.5.3 install wizard in IE now. And each step seems to have a test button to test features. My computer just passed the “File Permissions” test.
This is getting awesome. The “Configure Database Connection” page just pulled the information I plugged into the web.config page earlier.
Just passed Connection test.
As a side note here, I just plugged in DNN in the Object Qualifier field to avoid name clashes. It’s always scary doing things like this without being sure it’s the right thing to do. But better safe than sorry.
The next step installs the Database and it told me successful.
(Installation of Database Complete)
Next step upgrades DB to 4.5.3
(Upgrading Database to Version 4.5.3...Success
Installation of Database Complete)
Next two pages setup Host Admin and initial Portal Admin.
(Congratulations, you have successfully installed DotNetNuke.)
Click “Finish, Go to site” and http://localhost/DotNetNuke/Default.aspx comes up.
I’m now viewing a cool looking web site with a cool skin and cool looking web parts or I guess DNN calls them modules. Now all I have to do is read the intro info on this page and learn this thing.
I immediately recognize the “Links” module on the left from some previous reading I’ve done. I also notice the title bar in IE has what I plugged into the wizard, “Initial DNN Portal.” Now save this page to your favorites under a folder called DNN.
And there is a cool (I can’t stop saying cool) print button in each module. Not crazy over how this feature is working. It just puts the plain text into a new IE window.
One last thing I wanted to check. I just flipped back to SQL Sever Management Studio and see all the tables were created with the DNN object qualifier I plugged into the install.
Well once you get it going this install is pretty tight. You just have to find the right book. Kudos to Nick Symmonds. I’ll look for more of his stuff.
Ok. Let’s try to login with these Admin accounts.
Click the Login link in the upper right corner of the browser.
I just logged in with the Host Account I created during the install and now see the Admin and Host Menu items in the menu bar. As well all the modules have dotted lines around them like I am in some kind of authoring mode.
Now I logged out and back in under the Admin account I created and I have the Admin Menu item in the Menu Bar. The Host Menu Item is gone.
Well everything looks good. Time to start learning DNN!