I'm working on an academic project. Specifically, master's project that I, an undergraduate, inherited for maintenance. At its core, this project was developed to generate dynamic web pages using DNN, allow administrators to create and modify "virtual" sql tables (abstracted from actually knowing sql, of course), and users to fill out forms to input into those tables. Before I inherited this project, the project was based on DNN 4.3.5, but now is under 4.8.2. The reason for the update was to provide support for ssl, which is mandatory for some real-use implementation. This update, from what I understand, caused a number of problems. I'll list a few...
* Information handling: SQL virtual tables are, by and large, not working, as the web pages want to insert a null value for key values used to track rows of information. Manually toying with the stored procedures demonstrates that the problem is not likely on the SQL server's side.
* Client-side Javascript errors: Up-down scrolling causes a javascript error - I fixed this with a change to dnncore.js, but the pages are supposed to remember the user's place, (that is, if I was scrolled mid-way through the page and used a form that caused me to return to the same page, I should be automatically returned to my place).
* Web page generation problems: Pop-up windows produce sql errors instead of, you know, their actual information.
* There are about five other major issues, which I cannot explain without going into much more detail about the program itself.
This software uses Javascript, Visual Basic, and Microsoft SQL.
My number one question is this: I'm a DNN newbie, so what layer of abstraction would DNN lie? Would it be just generating the web pages, or could it also be working with the SQL calls? Obviously, it handles many Javascript functions, as well as the virtual basic that generates much of the client-side frontend.
Question number two, how much of this do you think could be caused by the DNN upgrade? Was there really this much change in the last six months sense the master's presentation such that the entire program came crashing to its knees, or is the culprit perhaps a poor upgrading job, or could it be that there's a totally different, non-DNN related change that is causing these errors?
My other specific question is thus: is there a compatibility setting such that DNN can handle this obsolete code? Alternatively, is there a free beer ssl module for DNN 4.3.5? The task specifies that the entire program be at least free beer.
My final question is general. Just from what you've read, do you think I should hunt bugs manually, or try to start from the working and bug-free master's project and try to implement changes from there? Complicating the issue is that I was dropped in the project earlier this week, and after it was already late. Documentation is fairly scarce; my primary source of information regarding the structure of the program is the master's writeup, which is useful but generally unspecific. Also, I generally focus myself with Linux Bash scripts, Perl scripts, and C++, so not only is time of the essence, but I'm in unfamiliar water. It's a good opportunity to get used to this new water, but I've got to swim, and all I'm doing now is splashing. On the other hand, I do have a line of communication with the author, and I've asked him these same questions.
Thanks to anyone who read all this, and double thanks to any suggestions or pointers.