Hi all!!  we are using a new IT vendor and we're told that old vendor "lost" the sourcecode to huge application we use to build sites for our clients.  My first question is, can sourcecode be lost?  my understanding of dotnetnuke is that the sourcecode for the modules is stored in the SQL server tables.  is this true and if so how do we access that code?  I would also like to know if, without access to sourcecode we could create a testing environment?  I have fa few ideas on how to do this: by making a cc of the the whole application and the associated db, deleting all participant data and adding in "test" data to a few of the sites or testing at the site level only on a site created specifically for testing... is that possible without sourcecode or am I way off base? The problem we are having is that new modules or updates are being forced in the application and causing a lot of problems to the live site. Please help me understand...

Thank you so much Ian for that explanation... that makes sense.  Could the web.config file have been a part of the source code? or do they definitely have access to that file.

tigerlily,

The web.config is an essential piece of the application. You cannot have a functioning DotNetNuke site without it. Being that you could certainly have a DotNetNuke site without any custom or third party modules installed, and you still have a web.config -- it is not necessarily part of the "source code" for any one module. However, it does hold various keys and settings for modules to use (such as the credentials to access the database).  So think of it as a repository for application level settings that a custom module could use if so desired. With that said, in the case of DotNetNuke modules that Engage Software sells commercially we tend to avoid putting any setings in the web.config.  Having settings there can certainly increase the complexity of module installation and maintenance.

Hope that helps!

Take care,

Ian