For several years now, I have been storing my business data in a SQL Server database. My business data is stored in an independent SQL Server database that is totally separate from any other database.

One of the reasons I chose DNN was because it uses a SQL Server database to store website configurations and web page schemas. Since I am already familiar with SQL Server, it seemed that this would help reduce some of the learning curve associated with new software. So I now have one database for my business data and a new database for DNN.

One of the tables in my own user-defined database stores inventory items. The items are assigned to specific categories. For example, I have a category called Beverages and all drinkable-type inventory items, like coke, coffee, tea, etc. are assigned to this Beverages category. I have another category called Dairy and items like milk, cheese, butter, etc. are assigned to this category. I have 10 categories in all.

I am fairly new to DNN website development, but I currently have a main web page that I developed using DDN. I have a series of choices (or tabs) in the left-hand margin of my web page. The choices are similar to the following:

    Greetings
    Contacts
    Services
    Products
    Locations

When the mouse is placed over some of these choices, a submenu may (or may not) appear. For example, when the mouse is hovered over Products, a submenu appears, listing my 10 categories (2 of which I mentioned above).

What I want to be able to do is to click on any one of the submenu items, such as Beverages, and have my DNN website go out and fetch from my user-defined database, only the beverage-related inventory items, and display the results on the web page. How do I get DNN to do this?

Again, I am quite new to DNN. Any guidance will be extremely helpful.

Thank you so much,

Steven