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HomeHomeOur CommunityOur CommunityGeneral Discuss...General Discuss...Monthly Topic module?Monthly Topic module?
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11/10/2006 3:13 PM
 

My client has the need to have a "Monthly Topic" module. Basically, it needs to be some text with a couple of file attachments. Looking over the standard modules, this feels a LOT like the Announcements module, but with three main differences:

  • Monthly Sensitive : The Announcements has a startdate but no enddate. This "Monthly Topic" module needs to be removed once the end date is hit. Yes, we could effectively delete the announcement, but that's a maintenance issue. It would be nice if there was just an enddate.
  • Multiple Attachments : Currently, the Announcements module only allows one file/link/etc. This "Monthly Topic" module needs at least two: an audio mp3 file and a PDF file. I can see the need for even more attachements in the future.
  • Separate Database from Announcements : The main reason Announcements won't be used now is because the client wants Announcements for exactly that, announcements. This monthly topic module needs to co-exist with Announcements.

I was thinking I could maybe subclass the Announcements module to add these features (I'm still learning the DNN architecture) but was worried about the co-existance requirement. If I did subclass this, would there be a database problem?

Is there an existing module out there that does this already?

-shnar

 
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11/13/2006 10:20 AM
 
you can have as many announcement modules as you like, they will not interfere. please note, there are advanced announcement modules like Articles from Efficion Consulting and Magic News by Portalfabrik.

Cheers from Germany,
Sebastian Leupold

dnnWerk - The DotNetNuke Experts   German Spoken DotNetNuke User Group

Speed up your DNN Websites with TurboDNN
 
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11/13/2006 11:55 AM
 

It's really too bad that the out-of-the-box solution doesn't have these extra features (i.e. more than one attachment and an expiration date). That's all that's really missing. Not familiar with the technology yet, is it terribly difficult to subclass the module and simply add these?

-shnar

 
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11/14/2006 12:20 AM
 

What about http://www.apollo-software.nl - he has an ML announcements module - it is a clever combination allowing you to set some parameters on it's display - and utilises the links, images and announcements in a combo.

It archives, and without looking in great detail - I believe it would allow for multi links, if not, Erik is definitely skilled enough to customise and enhance it.

The Articles Module from Ventrian does has some features that might be customisable, but off the shelf may not do exactly what you want, however, the source is available.

A module I'm working on now for our new site release is an Annoucement module that not only archives, but deletes, allows for at least one file attachment   (you could get around this by zipping into one, the monthly files for people to download)

You can have a look at how I've used it (still learning and had to customise it a bit for the look and feel but overall it's a pretty good module) http://www.skincovered.com/goodies.aspx

You can read more about the module here - and what I did on my site is setup months.. and an overview of a new release each month will go there, and in the other categories - I've expanded the topic and used the month as the heading.  Sometimes we need to be creative to find solutions that will work with DNN.   As I said - I've tweaked this a bit, but it allows you to add an attachment, and it has an archive and delete date.. This module also allows for RSS and it will delete the items from the database/server, once the deleted date has been reached. I thought that was a well thought out option.

Hope this gives you some more thoughts on what can be done.

Nina Meiers


Nina Meiers My Little Website
If it's on DNN, I fix, build, deploy, support,skin, host, design, consult, implement, integrate and done since 2003.
Who am I? Just a city chic, having a crack at organic berry farming.. and creating awesome websites.
 
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11/14/2006 2:38 PM
 

I have a feeling this will become my first module that I build, since nothing out there appears to be exactly what I need. Besides, this seems to be a pretty straightforward module that it would be a good exercise to go through...

-shnar

 
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