How to Create a Skin Object from an OWS Configuration

By Paul Deschenes
June 2010

In this tutorial we demonstrate how to create and embed Open Web Studio skin objects or embedded modules directly into your skin.

We demonstrate how to place special tags within the skin file code to display OWS configurations.

We show you how to utilize skin objects by placing a menu on our page as well as a feedback form.

Upon completion of this tutorial you will be able to automatically display these OWS configurations on every page that you have assigned the skin file to.

We recommend you download the latest version of OWS from here: www.openwebstudio.com

If you are new to OWS we recommend you first of all view the six part series on How to Build a Knowledge Base Article Module.

The videos contain:

Video 1 - Building the New OWS Configuration and Creating the Menu System

  • Introduction
  • Creating a new page and adding OWS modules
  • How to create a new OWS module Menu Skin Object
  • Removing unnecessary components from the default new configuration
  • Initial query 'HasChild' to see if the current page has children
  • Returning a list of all child pages
  • Creating the detail template to display the child pages as links
  • Creating the no results template
  • What to do for the last item in the menu list
  • Selecting the ID of the parent of the current tab
  • Selecting all siblings of the current page
  • Importance of explicit system variables
  • Bolding a menu item to identify where we are in the site
  • Selecting the menu skin object in OWS module settings
  • Testing the configuration and hiding or showing DNN menu items
Time Length: 10min 16secs

Video 2 - Placing the OWS Skin Object within the Skin File and Creating a Feedback Skin Object

  • How to determine which skin we are using in the DotNetNuke portal
  • Navigating to the skins directory in the DNN file structure
  • Finding and editing the skin index.ascx file
  • Registering the OWS menu skin object in the skin ascx file
  • Determining where to place the menu skin object
  • Finding the left pane section within index.ascx
  • Replacing the left pane with the OWS skin object code
  • How to determine the menu skin object configuration ID in OWS
  • Pasting the configuration ID into the skin file
  • Deleting the OWS module from the page
  • Creating a simple OWS feedback module for use as a skin object
  • Understanding the importance of the ‘Ajax Enable’ option
  • How to use the OWS fetch command correctly when creating a skin object
  • Deploying the feedback form as a skin object
  • Creating a unique skin object ID
Time Length: 7min 54secs

Total Time Length: 18min 10secs

Comments

comments or questionsIf you have any comments or questions for this tutorial, please ask them in this How to Create a Skin Object from an OWS Configuration forum thread.

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Recommended Tutorials:

R2i Open Web Studio (OWS) Module:
'How to Build a Public Knowledge Base with OWS'
How to Import the Configuration Source Code into Open Web Studio
An Introduction to R2i Open Web Studio – Part 1
How to Build Module Interfaces in Open Web Studio – Part 2
The User Search Interface in Open Web Studio - Part 3
Personalization, Text Editor, Logging and Reporting in Open Web Studio - Part 4
Debugging, Enhanced Reporting, Importing Records and Scheduling - Part 5
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