Sorry for the basic nature of this question, but I am really confused and searching the forums here did not uncover any useful posts!

I've just created a new dnn site using the starter kit (4.0.3) and added a new skin (again using the starter kit template). All went ok - the site runs ok and I renamed the skin folders as per the instructions that the starter kit popped up. 

My question is, how do I go about actually testing my skin as I develop it?  Do I have to install it before I can use it, and re-install it every time I make a change?  I am confused because as things stand, my list of host skins includes an entry called 'skinname' but of course that contains nothing because I renamed the folder that the starter kit template created as instructed.  I cannot find the skin I created (which I called TestSkin1) at either the host or portal level.  Do I need to do something else before I can use it and therefore test it?

host skins are installed at /portals/_default/skins/<skinzipname>
admin skins are installed at /portals/<portalID>/skins/<skinzipname>
host containers are installed at /portals/_default/containers/<containerzipname>
admin containers are installed at /portals/<portalID>/containers/<containerzipname>
They are hidden from the DotNetNuke file manager to prevent unwanted modification

For development I use a local DNN installation, where I can easily tweak the files until it looks like expected. Notice, that changes on skin.HTML and skin.xml requires a reparsing of the skin / container, in order to take effect.

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Cheers from Germany,
Sebastian Leupold

   

Speed up your DNN Websites with TurboDNN

How about trying this - if you feel more comfortable using html, then continue to do so..

Open one window and have it open on the Host/Skins or Admin/ Skins page - where ever you are saving files to.

Then have another window open with the skin file in it.

Open the html file directly where the skin is.. work on it, work on the xml file in situ -and then when you've saved it - drop the skin box down in the skins area, and downl the bottom of the page, you'll see - parse skin - click the *portable* radio button and reparse the skin..

Then click the other window where the skin is.. and preview it.

It's like working in ASCX mode, but, you're reparsing the html skin which means the skinning engine is doing it's job with the html file and modifying the ascx file for you instead.

I was thinking about how to skin a cat .. and there are lots of ways..

Give that at try - then you won't have to zip the skin all the time and you get your cake and eat it too.

Cheers

Nina Meiers

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