DotNetNuke: Update and configuration for development with Visual Studio

Question

The topic is as follows: we have a website on an intranet that was developed in Dotneknuke in version 5.0.0 and runs on IIS with framework 2.0. Currently it works ok.

What we need to do is add new modules for which I would like to update the version to the latest (if possible), download a copy locally, configure it to work with Visual Studio 2019 in a development environment, and upload it to a Git repository.

The site has passed through several hands. Previously, it seems that they made the modifications directly in production with Visual 2008, which I do not like at all, so I would like to configure it correctly in a development environment like any other project.

Currently when we tried to update it gave us several errors and we had to go back the code version and the DB.

My most specific question is: what is the correct way to work with this tool? Do you work directly in production?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

good on you for taking on the challenge and I agree with much of the previous answers regarding the code base and visual studio. My answer is targeted mainly toward the upgrading process.

Make your life easier by forgetting about visual studio for now as this would only be useful if you are building custom modules or skins etc.

Leave the DNN code base and any installed core modules for the DNN developers to look after - the updated versions of the platform and modules come packaged in the update zip files.

Any store bought modules (not in the update package) should also have updates that are compatible with the DNN version that you are moving to. Log into the DNN store with the account used for original purchase to download the zip files.

My advice is to plan your upgrade path carefully as there are some critical way points in the code base versions like changes in language to C#, .NET dependencies etc. Perform each upgrade on a copy of production first.

Follow the suggested path https://dnndocs.com/content/getting-started/setup/upgrades/suggested-upgrade-path/index.html

If you need further help you can log a ticket at https://dnnweb.technology/help-desk and I would be happy to share my experiences free of charge.

Answer 2

When you refer to development, are you referring to developing content on the website, or are you developing modules or other extensions to DNN (as it is now named)?

The first thing that you want to do is to get the DNN installation upgraded to the current version, which is DNN 9.6.2. This could be easy or it might be very difficult. All of this depends on the website, whether or not modifications have been made to the DNN code, etc.

Generally speaking, it is quite a bad practice to modify the code. DNN has a number of extension points which, if used correctly, make it possible to keep DNN upgraded and not screw up your website.

Given the age of your installation, the variety of modules installed, what else might have been done to the installation, and depending on the size and complexity of the ste it might make more sense (and actually save time and money) to start with a fresh 9.6.2 installation, and migrate the structure and content of the existing site to this install. And there may be tools that you can use to do this.

The best practice is to maintain a dev and a production installation and do migrations of both content and features from dev to prod. Occasionally, you will want to refresh your dev environment from production.

As for getting your current installation up to date, I'll be happy to answer any other questions you might have.

My questions to you include:

1. Has the DNN source been modified?
2. How many pages, users, etc.?
3. What modules are in use? This would include third party modules.
4. Do you have custom modules? And do you have the source code for those?
5. Do you have a custom skin/theme?
6. Do you have user contributed content?

Well ... that's a start ...

Answer 3

To add my two cents: Upgrading DNN is not very difficult, but there are a few things to consider. First I would recommend to copy the whole installation (incl. database) to a testing environment and try and fail there until you succeed. There might be several module updates with each step and the skin/theme might run into an error and has to be modified.

There is quite a good description on how to perform upgrades: DNN Platform Upgrades on DNN Docs, and a suggested upgrade path you should follow.