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This issue is the beginning of Volume 5, so it's our 4th birthday! We would like to say a special thank you to all of you who have supported us over the past 4 years, it means a lot to us.

In this issue we demonstrate how to package skins for DotNetNuke 5. DotNetNuke 5 has introduced a new method of packaging skins using a .dnn manifest file. This allows you to install your entire skins, containers and skin objects using one skin zip installation package. It also allows you to display owner, release notes and a license which the user must agree to the terms before installing the skin. This makes the installation process much more streamlined and less prone to user error. In the tutorial we walk you through all of the steps required for creating skin packages along with tips, pitfalls to avoid and the various ways in which you can configure a DotNetNuke 5 skin package.

Following this we have an advanced tutorial which explores methods to combat spam in your website. In particular we focus on Active Forums and show you how to create scheduled SQL queries to prevent spam displaying in your forum. Spam can be a time consuming nuisance to both the administrators and the visitors of your website, so this tutorial helps you to automate the prevention of spam.

Next we are continuing with the Open Web Studio tutorials. Last month we completed the six part series on 'How to Build a Public Knowledge Base Module with OWS'. This month we are pleased to announce that Paul Deschenes has agreed to continue creating OWS tutorials, so this month we demonstrate how to create an email form using OWS. We demonstrate how to build the email form, how to create the logic for sending the form, as well as how to attach a file to an email and how to validate the email when it is sent to ensure deliverability.

To finish this issue we have a podcast interview with Joe Brinkman, in this podcast we discuss OpenForce Europe and USA, the latest DotNetNuke Corporation news, as well as a tip on relative URLS with SSL.

This issue comes complete with 13 videos and 1 podcast!

Tutorials:

Skinning:	How to Package a Skin for DotNetNuke 5 (8 videos - 89mins)
Administrators:	Forum Maintenance - SQL Automation for SPAM (4 videos - 36mins)
Module Development Series:	How to Create an Email Form with OWS (1 video - 12mins)
Podcast:	Joe Brinkman OpenForce Interview (35 mins)

View issue 49 to download all of the videos in one zip file

In this issue we focus on getting started with DotNetNuke 5. These tutorials will help you to quickly find elements that have moved since version 4 and will also help a beginner to get started using DotNetNuke.

We begin with a Quick Start Guide to using DotNetNuke 5, this tutorial helps you to get started with DotNetNuke without getting confused in all of the finer details. We demonstrate securing DotNetNuke, how to use modules, pages, skins and containers. This tutorial will help you to quickly understand the basics of using DotNetNuke and allow you to quickly add content and change the layout of your pages as you require.

Following this we show you how to install a core module in DotNetNuke 5. If you have used a previous version of DotNetNuke you may be wondering where the core modules have moved to, this tutorial will provide all of the information you need.

Next we demonstrate how to install a module in DotNetNuke 5. We show you how to download the free digFlash module and install it using both the install extensions method and how to automatically install a module using FTP.

We then demonstrate how to install skins and containers in DotNetNuke 5. The method has slightly changed since version 4, so this will help you to learn the new methods quickly. We demonstrate how to install a legacy v4 skin package to DotNetNuke 5, how to install a skin to a single portal and to all portals in your DotNetNuke installation, as well as how to auto install a DotNetNuke skin using FTP.

To complete the DotNetNuke 5 tutorials for this month, we then demonstrate the new Content Staging Workflow options for the Text / HTML module in the Community Edition of DotNetNuke 5. We show you how to create a draft version, how to publish a draft version, how to view and preview the version history of the Text / HTML module as well as how to roll back to a previous version of the Text / HTML module.

This is a useful new feature for the Text / HTML module which makes it much easier for administrators to manage their content through the use of drafts and reverting back to previous versions.

To finish this issue, we have the final part in our 6 part series on how to build module interfaces with Open Web Studio. This episode covers 'Making it Cool - Creating a Mashup,' we work with social networking, APIs and web services. We demonstrate how to place a 'Send This to a Friend' email link on each Knowledge Base article, how to integrate AddThis for bookmarking and sharing content to social networking sites such as Twitter. We demonstrate how to share an article on Facebook using the Facebook API and to finish we demonstrate how to integrate, search and display Yahoo! Answers via their API. Some powerful features are introduced to help you get the most from the modules you build using OWS.

This issue comes complete with 14 Video Tutorials.

Tutorials:

Beginners:	DotNetNuke 5 Quick Start Guide - Free (6 videos - 59mins)
	How to install a Core Module in DotNetNuke 5 - Free (1 video - 3mins)
	How to install a module in DotNetNuke 5 - Free (1 video - 11mins)
	How to install a skin in DotNetNuke 5 - Free (2 videos - 18mins)
Administrators:	DotNetNuke 5 Community Edition HTML Module Content Staging Workflow (1 video - 9mins)
Module Development Series:	Making it Cool - Creating a Mashup - Part 6 of 6 – How to Build a Public Knowledge Base with OWS (3 videos - 34mins)

View issue 48 to download all of the videos in one zip file

In this issue we continue the ASCX method of skinning from the previous issue and now delve into the DotNetNuke NavMenu.

The NavMenu is the default menu that comes with DotNetNuke and is available in DotNetNuke versions 4 and 5. We demonstrate how to configure and setup the NavMenu in your DotNetNuke skins, how to create a horizontal menu, vertical menu and both a horizontal and vertical menu on the same page.

Throughout the tutorial we show you the various attributes that are available for configuring the menu as well as CSS code for styling the design of the menu.

Accompanying the skinning, we have part five in our tutorial series on how to build module interfaces with Open Web Studio. In this episode we demonstrate debugging, enhanced reporting, importing records and scheduling. Each of these techniques is a powerful tool for working with OWS. We show you how to troubleshoot bugs in your OWS applications, how to export reports to Microsoft Excel CSV and Word documents, how to import data from a csv file, and how to schedule your OWS configuration using the DotNetNuke Scheduler.

This issue comes complete with 16 Video Tutorials.

Tutorials:

Skinning:	DotNetNuke NAV Menu (11 videos - 95mins)
Module Development Series:	Debugging, Enhanced Reporting, Importing Records and Scheduling - Part 5 of 6 – How to Build a Public Knowledge Base with OWS (5 videos - 38mins)

View issue 47 to download all of the videos in one zip file

In this issue we look at the professionals method for creating DotNetNuke skins, ASCX skinning.

We did some quick research via twitter for the preferred method of skinning with the DotNetNuke professionals in the community and 100% of the skinners preferred the ASCX method for skinning.

ASCX skinning provides you with several benefits over the other methods of skinning in DotNetNuke. The main benefit is that it is much quicker to create a skin in DotNetNuke using the ASCX method.

Further benefits include you can make changes live on the website without re-parsing or re-installing the skin, you can instantly see edits and changes you make to your skin code, you can view at a glance all of a skin tokens properties, and a really useful feature is that if you are using Visual Web Developer Express it will suggest the attributes that are available for each of the DotNetNuke tokens.

We demonstrate all of these techniques and show you how to get started with ASCX skinning in DotNetNuke.

Accompanying the skinning, we have part four in our series on the Open Web Studio Tutorials. In this episode we demonstrate how to add personalisation to the knowledgebase module using InterModule Communications and creating a ‘my saved articles’ module. We also demonstrate how to create a Tooltip using JQuery, how to change the “fetching data” message, how to enable Rich Text / HTML articles and how to create a multi-category selection for each knowledgebase article.

Finally, we have a podcast covering the latest DotNetNuke News as well as more tips and tricks.

This issue comes complete with 11 Video Tutorials and 1 Podcast!

Tutorials:

Skinning:	DotNetNuke ASCX Skinning for Professional Skinners (6 videos - 58mins)
Module Development Series:	Personalization, Text Editor, Logging and Reporting in Open Web Studio – Part 4 of 6 – How to Build a Public Knowledge Base with OWS (5 videos - 58mins)
Podcasts:	DotNetNuke News, DataSprings Dynamic Forms, DNN 5.1 Professional, Openforce 09, Snapsis PageBlaster (25mins)

View issue 46 to download all of the videos in one zip file

This issue begins with a tutorial for Markit Modules Slideshow module. The Slideshow module is useful for displaying your featured articles and products as an image, text content or you can even display an existing module within a slideshow. This module displays content in a similar manner to the msn.com home page.

Following this we also cover Markit Modules free PageEar module. The PageEar module allows you to place Page Peel advertisements on your DotNetNuke websites.

Next, we demonstrate how to use DNN Stuff’s Module Rotator. This module allows you to rotate the content of multiple modules in the space of a single module. You can configure the module rotator to rotate modules each time the page loads, or you can also configure a timer to rotate through the modules in milliseconds.

Following this we explore the free Monitter for DNN module by Joe Brinkman. This is a simple module which allows you to easily display a real-time feed of twitter search results on your website.

This issue also releases the much anticipated third part of our series on How to Build a Public Knowledge Base Module using R2i’s Open Web Studio by Paul Deschenes. In this instalment we explore how to build the user search page for searching knowledge base articles. We demonstrate how to implement record paging, column sorting, how to create a categories module, how to create a print function for the articles, as well as how to add an articles rating feature.

Finally, we have a podcast covering the latest DotNetNuke News as well as more tips and tricks.

This issue comes complete with 14 Video Tutorials and 1 Podcast!

Tutorials:

Premium Modules:	Markit Slideshow Module (5 videos - 38mins)
	DNN Stuff Module Rotator (1 video - 9mins)
Free Modules:	Markit PageEar Module (2 videos - 20mins)
	Monitter4DNN Twitter Module (1 video - 7mins)
Module Development Series:	The User Search Interface in Open Web Studio - Part 3 of 6 - How to Build a Public Knowledge Base with OWS (5 videos - 51mins)
Podcasts:	DotNetNuke News, BrettleWeb Error Tip, Backing up Tips, Cloud Computing, DNN 4.9.4 and 5.1Beta (27mins)

View issue 45 to download all of the videos in one zip file