I have seen your videos with OWS but that really isn't the greatest option for creating modules. It is nice if you are creating little simple modules, but for anything complex, it could get difficult. I was wondering if you have any tutorials on building a PA module with VS and the DNN starter kit? I have been searching for days and can't seem to find a good one. I've went through a few, but they are very general and I really need something that goes into all the details of how to do this. Do you have or know of any resources I could use?

There are people who will argue with your assessment of OWS (and other similar tools). I have heard people say that using them increases productivity even for complex modules.

That said, one of the best resources for module development is "DotNetNuke Module Programming" by Mitchel Sellers. It is available in paper or in a Kindle format.

Another great resource is the series of module development video tutorials that Chris Hammond is doing on the development of a Task Manager module. The tutorials are in the Video Library under Resources at dotnetnuke.com. Also see Chris' blog articles, especially the ones that deal with the DotNetNuke module templates that he has created for Visual Studio. I would heartily recommend them over what is in the Starter Kit.

I'm sure OWS is great and all, I just don't like it when I'm not in control of things. It's partially a programmer thing, partially a control freak thing, and probably a little bit of an ego thing . Anyways, I'll look at that stuff. Thanks for the resources. By the way, I'm not getting emails when you guys respond to stuff. I have subscribe to topics in my profile checked. Is there something else I'm missing?

I can appreciate your comments.

Last year I gave a talk about the RAD tool at the Orlando DotNetNuke Users Group. Most of the people in that group are developers and eventually my "talk" turned into a discussion of the ultimate utility of all manner of "rapid development tools." The serious developers all preferred to go right to code, and I can't argue with that. These tools, though, can certainly help someone not well versed in programming to do things.

Later last year at the Day of DotNetNuke meeting in Chicago, there was one talk that focussed on rapid development tools and OWS in particular. The speaker, a developer and owner of a web development company, advocated using tools like OWS. He said that he could "retrain" .NET developers to use OWS with great improvements in productivity, in addition to easing new people into the DotNetNuke framework.

Couple that with the fact that R2i developed OWS for internal use, and I gather that they use it heavily, and I think that you can make the case that it is and can be a legitimate development tool.

So ... I guess the bottom line is "different strokes." So don't dismiss it. But, use the tools that work best for you!

As for getting notifications, each forum and each thread have notification boxes that you can check. See if checking some of them help. And make sure that your forum profile has a correct email address.

I suppose if I could get some one on one training in OWS I'd probably use it. It's funny you mention the rad controls because I have used them in a few big projects and they do increase productivity. I'm sure OWS is the same way if you know how to use it. Maybe I'll look into it some more.

Also, forgive me, but I don't see the subscribe button. I remember I used to check it underneath when I would post a new topic but I don't see it anymore. Where is it?