Custom Authentication Providers For DotNetNuke v5.0 Stan Schultes – Sarasota, FL Florida Community Leader

Audience Experience Who is using DNN 5 in production today? Who has done DNN module development? Who has done DNN authentication provider development?

Agenda Why Custom Authentication Provider Development? Provider Installation & Management Visual Studio Environment Setup, Design Mode Provider Development Overview Custom Provider Project Overviews Create User Controls Package Modules for Deployment Developing & Debugging Tips & Tricks, More Info Level 300

Why Custom Provider Development? Adding functionality to DNN: Install Custom Modules Build Custom Modules Change Providers Modify the DNN Core Custom Modules are pluggable extensions to core DNN functionality Easily modify existing modules as a starting point Key concept: Reuse core code without changing it DNN is an application development platform Tons of pluggable, flexible infrastructure is provided

Demo Custom Provider Installation: DNNXML Provider Host  Extensions Same process used for module upgrade as install

Authentication Provider Management Host  Extensions Admin  Extensions

Visual Studio Environment Setup DNN v5 developer prerequisites: Win7/Vista, Server 2008/2003, (Windows XP) Visual Studio 2010/2008,.NET FW v SQL Server 2008/2005 (Express or Dev) IIS, SMTP Install DNN Starter Kit (for project templates) Configure DNN (use Install Package) and test Consider portal tags: objectQualifier, databaseOwner

DNN v5 in Design Mode Install module source package Edit project file for URL Open solution and check references Run in Design mode: Set project to Debug mode Site web.config: Site web.config: Tools  Attach to Process W3WP.exe – Win7/Server 2008 ASPNET_WP.exe – WinXP/Server 2003

Demo Visual Studio 2010 in Design Mode Custom Provider: DNNXMLProvider

Provider Development Overview Custom Providers consist of: Provider container (provided by DNN) Dynamically loaded user controls (.ascx) (Data layer components) Development process: Project setup (Build the data & business logic layers) Create the user controls Package for installation Deployment Develop providers in any.NET language

Create User Controls (UCs) Login UCs inherit from AuthenticationLoginBase Settings UCs inherit from AuthenticationSettingsBase Reusable DNN core controls Url, Url Tracking, Address, Dual List, Label, User, etc. The process is very similar to module development

Package Modules for Deployment Traditional deployment unit is a Zipfile including:.dnn manifest file – name & location of all contained files with directory structure Required.ascx’s and.dll’s Resource files such as images Source code New Package Installer – extensions Module, container, skin, provider, language, etc. Compatible with old deployment Zipfile Host  Extensions: edit a module Link at bottom: Create Package

Demo Look at custom provider: DNNXMLProvider Deployment package

Developing and Debugging Debugging your module: attach to process w3wp.exe in Win7/Servers, aspnet_wp.exe in XP set a breakpoint in Page_Load Common troubleshooting Exception log: Admin  Event Viewer Read the error messages carefully Code flow through the portal core HTTPHandlers – Global.asax – Default.aspx – LoadSkin – InjectModule – module Page_Load

Tips & Tricks Be familiar with the standard providers Look for examples of calling core functions Start here rather than working from scratch Code generation tools can save a lot of time ObjectBrowser is your friend! Goal: modify DNN core only for critical bug fixes Switch providers to change core functions Useful documents: Module Dev Guide, Data Access, Localization, Membership, Skinning

More Information DotNetNuke home: DNN forums Resources directory Gemini bug tracking DNN Documents Resource sites: Search – there’s a lot of information out there

Contact Website: Sample Provider/Slide deck is available (DotNetNuke  DNN Downloads) Blog: StanSchultes.spaces.live.com