Professional DotNetNuke®5: Open Source Web Application Framework for ASP.NET

Chapter 17. Distribution

DotNetNuke's commercial and free module market has been instrumental in the success of the platform. The ability to do a quick search on the Internet and find free or relatively inexpensive modules that fulfill a need significantly reduces the cost to operate a web site when compared to a custom web site and other commercially available platforms. With the wide potential customer base, it's no wonder that developers have filled the void with low- to medium-cost solutions to countless business needs. This market is no accident. The modular nature of DotNetNuke and the extensibility and distribution model have created an environment from which developers can easily share the modules they create and designers can easily share the skins they design. This chapter explains the extensions model for packaging and distributing modules, skins, language packs, and all other application extensions available to DotNetNuke developers and designers.

The New Extensions Model

In previous versions of DotNetNuke, installing modules, skins, languages, and other extensions was achieved using a different process for each type of add-on. Skins were packaged using convention over configuration, meaning that if you put the correct files with the correct filename in the correct structure, it would install correctly. Modules were installed through the Module Definitions interface using a DotNetNuke manifest file that instructed the installer where and how to install modules. In version ...