Hi Danilo!

To answer your questions:

The purpose of DataProviders is to abstract away the concepts of SQL, Connection Strings, and other database-specific terminology so that the Module is not tied to a specific database system. If the module used Connection Strings and SQL directly, it would have to release separate versions if it wanted to support different databases, but with a DataProvider, users can just install a new DataProvider (assuming one exists for the other database) and the module would be none the wiser. It would continue working with the DataProvider in the same way as before, but the DataProvider is working with a different database server, such as Oracle.

You can write your module however you wish, of course, which direction you choose depends on your goal. If you want to display generic data by allowing users to enter a Connection String and SQL Query then the DataProvider architecture may be a bit more than you need. You could simply use ADO.Net directly.

Sure you can use Reports as a Start Project! DotNetNuke and its projects are Open-Source, so you can modify it and redistribute it (as long as you conform to the terms of the license which is at the top of every file). You can't use the name DotNetNuke in your modified module (yes that includes Namespaces and Class Names) because it is a Trademark, but you can use the code all you want! However, it looks like you want a system to display Reports (in a Grid or other form) that use data from other Databases, and that is a planned feature for the next release so you may wish to wait out the next version.

Thanks for the feedback

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Andrew Nurse
DotNetNuke Core Team Member and Reports Module Project Lead
Microsoft Certified Professional Developer