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HomeHomeOur CommunityOur CommunityGeneral Discuss...General Discuss...Is DNN suitable for my requirements?Is DNN suitable for my requirements?
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3/23/2009 4:12 PM
 

Hi, 

I am looking into the possibilities of using DNN to create by web site. I must say that at the moment I am finding it a bit overwhelming!
 
The web site will be used to sell my software product that I have finally finished.
 
The most important feature I require is after the user has purchased the product, I want them to be given an account that they log into, where they can download the software from. As new versions are released they should become available, but only up the publication date allowed by their license. After which they would purchase an upgrade and the new versions would be available for download.
This is a fairly standard sort of model used to sell software, but I can’t really work out if this is possible or not with DNN.
 
Any comments or thoughts would be greatly appreciated
 
 
Thanks
 
 
Julian
 
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3/23/2009 8:01 PM
 

Well, it's a great platform for this type of use. I have used it myself for this exact purpose (plus a fair number of other requirements). Unfortunately, it doesn't do it "out of the box" all by itself. I use DNN mostly as an application framework, with many custom developed modules, skins, store-front, etc. It did take quite some effort to get up to speed in DNN and to develop all applications, but I believe it was well worth the effort. I have yet to find another platform where I could have implemented all my requirements as easily (and without breaking the bank). As a developer, I love having access to the source code so readily. While I'm not a great fan of VB, I can still develop all my "stuff" in C#.

 
New Post
3/24/2009 10:42 AM
 

 

Hi, thanks for the reply.
 
I am now encouraged to spend some time looking at DNN. Your web site indeed looks very similar to my requirements.
If you do not mind me asking what store-front did you choose to use?
 
Thanks
 
 
Julian
 
New Post
3/24/2009 2:52 PM
 

No problem. There are no third-party modules used at all. I wrote 40+ modules, a few skin controls with about 250 tabs, including the store-front. Some of the modules I wrote were ports from an asp.net application I wrote a couple of years ago to handle invoices, customer contacts, etc (all internally used stuff). Others were complete rewrites (mostly things that hadn't changed in years), a lot of it was originally running on Unix written in Perl.  The store-front was originally a Perl script, written in 1995, with many, many enhancements along the way. I probably could have purchased a store-front, but I hate spending time evaluating all possible products to have my choice take me 90% of the way and then I hit a roadblock. One of the main problems I expected with any purchased store-front was the fact that it probably would be difficult to "teach" it about license upgrades. I like my customers to be able to enter their license number and it tells them what the possible upgrades are. Some licenses were sold as bundles or with certain user quantities. Rather than having to become an expert in some store-front, I just decided to roll my own. Credit card processing goes through Verisign which has a nice .NET assembly/web service that can be called from an asp.net application and of course DNN modules like my store-front. Google checkout also offers similar features but I have only looked at it briefly.

The site now handles all the inhouse things (customer contacts, bug tracking, etc.) and allows customers to purchase products, look at their invoices (PDFs generated as needed), download products, maintains their license information (like passwords), keeps track of their product support subscription and nags them to death  when they don't renew, handles product activation, etc.

Even though the entire development effort took 3 months, it was well worth it. It's a great improvement to the "old" site. DNN brought in so many features like user roles, navigation, tons of free modules and it's a great framework to develop your own applications/modules. The reason it took 3 months is mostly because I didn't know DNN and spent most of the time gathering information (aka Google). The documentation for DNN is a major minus, except that you always have access to the source, which is an invaluable source of information.

Assuming you are just starting out with DNN you should definitely get the new WROX book DotNetNuke 5. DotNetNuke Module Programming is also a worthwhile investment.

 
New Post
3/24/2009 4:40 PM
 

Hi, 

Ok that’s interesting, I understand your reasoning for doing the modules yourself. I guess I was hoping to find an out of the box module that would suit my needs, but you are of course right it’s not that straight forward.
The dilemma is how much work/time it will take, I am very experienced in C# with Winforms but as for ASP.NET, I programmed my licensing system using a web service and SQL database. That’s my only experience, but I think I will have to bite the bullet. I really do need the control over way I license my software.
 
Thanks for the help
 
Julian
 
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HomeHomeOur CommunityOur CommunityGeneral Discuss...General Discuss...Is DNN suitable for my requirements?Is DNN suitable for my requirements?


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