Having asked many of those same questions I think I understand your concerns and hesitation.

The short answer is, Yes!, the long answer is, it depends...

Because DNN is built on the .NET Framework and ASP.NET, "anything" you can do with a homegrown ASP.NET Application can be done in DNN. Notice the quotes, well, that's because with DNN you are working within a very large framework of its own and as you mentioned, many of the tasks/features you want in your site are provided for you by this framework. However, learning the framework can be a daunting task, as is learning the .NET Framework, but it's doable.

There are modules developed for managing subscription services, I've use the one from Ventrian.com and it works well, there are others and DNN even has some features baked in that might or might not meet your requirements.

As for creating your own modules there is a lot more to it as you may have imagined.

Mainly when developing new modules you need to have a solid understanding of the DNN Security, Profiles, Membership and Navigation which most all modules will end up utilizing to some extent. Beyond that its about functionality. I would summarize a custom module as ASP.NET Controls in a DNN Box (box sounds kinda limiting but really it's not).

Modules are made up of .ASCX files with or without the .cs/.vb files depending on how you deploy the module.

I typically will start out by creating a new ASP.NET Project just like any other website. Use .aspx and .ascx files, so View.aspx has it's own View.ascx control where I do all of the programming and so on. Modules usually have at least two controls, Settings.ascx and View.ascx, names can be different but that's the typical naming convention in most modules I learned from. Once I have the .ascx file(s) doing what I want them to do I add the Settings.ascx and start wiring up to the DNN Security, Profiles, Membership and Navigation models. That's done by adding a reference to the DotNetNuke.dll to your project and then add the using DotNetNuke ... to the .cs/.vb files.

So, for the "it depends" part of the answer; Do you need the entire DNN Framework? Do you want to be dependent on the DNN community for Core updates? Do you have the time to learn the framework? Do you have the money to pay someone else to program for you if you don't have the time or knowledge? Those are just some of the questions I would ask, not trying to talk you out of it, I've been using DNN for the last 4.5 years both personally and professionally and I've been very satisfied with  the "free" features and the ability to program my own.

I would recommend you do a clean install, find a simple free module (the DNN Team offers theirs for free but they're most if not all in VB.NET) and then modify it to do something new. I acquired much of my knowledge by modifying other people's modules to do what I wanted them to do, they generally provided a good starting point.

Remember, we as humans, tend to over complicate things, it's not that hard to install DNN, here are my steps:
1. Create DB (assumes you have running and know MS SQL Server)
2. Create DB User
3. Create a new web application in IIS
4. Edit permissions on the root folder for the site, give Full Control to the account the website will be running under (Windows XP = NetworkService - Windows 7 = IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool *Location = local machine if you're on a domain)
5. Unzip the install package to the root of the website
6. Browse to the site and follow the instructions.
(if i missed something let me know, that's from memory)


Good luck!


Josh