I was emailing a client the other day with some upcoming news about our new training program we were starting and some new module releases that will be published soon and I thought… hmm…. this would be a perfect blog post
So… here are most of the details I was covering in that email:
DataSprings Provider Tags:
Forum Flow,
iPAD,
Active Forums,
DotNetNuke Forums,
DotNetNuke Modules,
iPhone,
Mobile Forums,
iPAD Forums,
Dynamic Forms,
Dynamic Views,
Dynamic Registration,
Dynamic User Directory
We have many new releases that are ready and awaiting some updated documentation and testing before the release… We were actually waiting for the new DNN Store to get released (which was supposed to be this morning so not sure why it has not happened yet).
For all of our upcoming module releases (just the major highlights):
New Data Caching: Now that we have started enforcing DNN 5 for new releases we have started to take care of some major performance enhancements related to Data Caching that we were not previously part. From some performance testing using dotTrace and SQL Server Profiler these enhancements have been huge. These will be released shortly with Dynamic Forms, Dynamic Registration, Dynamic User Directory, and Dynamic Views. We hope to add in features following these releases to take more advantage of caching (for example in Dynamic Views the ability to setup caching time in minutes per report/module instance).
Updated UI Improvements: All upcoming releases include many of the new UI enhancements (at the very least taking advantage of several style sheet classes from DNN6 such as primary/secondary input buttons etc…)
Dynamic Forms:
Upcoming release of Dynamic Forms includes support for new Telerik File Upload with multiple file uploads at one time and supports AJAX.
Other new improvements include the ability to utilize the results from some events (such as SQL or an HTTP Post) within other events. So for example – Now you can use the results returned from an HTTP Post within another event such as a SQL Event that follows the HTTP Post. Or for example, now you can show the results returned from a SQL Event, within an email event message or subject line. Just make sure the sort order for the event you are using has a value that is before the sort order for the event you are wanting to utilize the response in.
How do you implement this? For SQL Events you need to reference the response by using $(SQLResponse_EventName) and to get the response returned from an HTTP Post within Dynamic Forms/Dynamic Registration you can use $(PostedResponse_EventName)
Dynamic Registration:
Panels and Tabs - Upcoming release of Dynamic Registration includes new enhancements for the same Dynamic Panels that we released in Dynamic Forms (which also includes Tabs, Sections, etc…). If I can get the enhancements added in time Dynamic
Dynamic User Directory:
Google Maps Integration: Major new features that integrate Google Maps and Google Maps Location Proximity integration. For example, you can specify a search field for Distance and it will display all users with ‘x’ miles.
Search All Field: A “Search All” field meaning a search field that will search all of the profile properties.
Search Roles Field: A new search feature by security role instead of just a filter by security role.
Scheduler Updates: Additional effort has also been made to make sure that you can easily control caching, the PIVOT table that is created from the schedule etc… for example, if the scheduler ever gets deleted it can easily be added back in with no understanding or manual steps.
Dynamic Views
Scheduled Views/Reports: New scheduler feature that includes the ability to “Schedule” reports, meaning that you will be able to start to schedule daily reports, weekly reports, and monthly reports to go to specific emails. I imagine this will be enhanced a great deal overtime to include many additional features such as the ability to include a XLS attachment, PDF attachment, etc…
JSON Data Source: Dynamic Views will include the ability to pull data in via JSON and Web Service calls instead of just SQL etc…
New Mobile / IPAD products:
You will begin finding new products from us for iPhone and iPAD that integrate well with DotNetNuke. For example, Mar 1st we are releases Forum Flow® - The initial release will be an app you can download to utilize our forums that are created within Active Forums. Features are all native and very fast JSON calls, integration with DNN authentication, registration within DotNetNuke users (via Dynamic Registration silent post) etc… The actual Forum Flow® product will be our Premium Services to rebrand (app name, design, branding) and setup the same JSON services calls to support any of your existing customers that are using Active Forums. We plan to later support other platforms down the road and initially this is being rolled out only for iPAD.
More information can be found here:
http://www.datasprings.com/products/mobile-applications/forum-flow
Upcoming Module Training
This is a new system for us and one that I am excited about, we are planning to have a newsletter going out towards the end of the week advertising the first few sets of training. Since this is so new for us we also would like any/all customer input. Here are a few of the ideas we were planning to implement:
Initial rollout:
- We will be using Go To Training which can be scheduled in advance and you can easily sign up for items. When these are ready you will be able to sign up here: http://www.datasprings.com/support/training (the courses will be by category near the bottom).
- Pricing will be based on per participant and per training session and based on the complexity and needed instructors time. The pricing (at this time at least) will range from $0.00 - $79.00 and we will adjust as the training plan evolves.
- We will be focusing initially on the most requested topics such as popular topics in Dynamic Forms (PayPal, SQL Events and HTTP Post events, integration with other modules such as OWS, etc…).
- All training sessions will be recorded. We are planning to make all video recording available at a later time, and after we have enough offer a standard or enterprise level subscription plan to access all training. For example, the ability for $399.00 annually to offer up to 5 training classes and access to all past training materials and videos published from previous training). We are still working out the details, I don’t think we would ever charge for the videos until after we had a number of them.
That covers a lot of news and events at the springs! In other news… If you are wondering what has happened to Annie lately (http://www.datasprings.com/annie)…. She has currently been in her own Hip-Hop video that will be posted within the next couple of months. Can’t wait to publish that
Thanks,
-Chad