Where did the freaking DotNetNuke Core Module Source Code go!!!???

June 12, 2006 · 4 min read

I was in denial when this happened!!! I am going to rattle a little - if you googled to this place in search for a specifc answer (and don't want to waste time) you're probably looking for stuff way towards the end of the rattle (this post) under the head: Moral of the story.

The story so far: We're using (and enhancing) DotNetNuke to develop a very complex Application Framework. We've already taken a few DotNetNuke Core Modules and Enhanced them and it was implied knowledge that everyone in the team knows where to download the DotNetNuke Core Modules From, even though we hadn't really discussed it - but everyone who had enhanced a module had pretty much figured this part out... himself / herself... independently.

Everything was going fine and we were all busy addressing bigger problems when we were asked this question by newer team members - where could one download the Core Modules from, you know, just in case, someone wanted to learn module development. Valid question.

Hmm... That’s easy you go to... you go to... Did I forget where I went to!!? How can I just FORGET!!? I must have blogged about it, posted it in a forum, added it to my favorites or emailed the link to 'someone'... or… or… done 'something' other than downloading the source code from that link!! It was the community module section in the DotNetNuke website ... or was it? HOW CAN I JUST... FORGET!!? No Harm Done - I think - this is common knowledge in the Team. I’ll ASK someone!

Quickly I ping Madhavi (another member on the team) and ask her the URL - she remembers - she tells me she had spent 2 hours Google-ing the URL. "Same here" - I think. At least someone remembers! Thank god! I take the URL and forward it to others in the team. Everything is fine now, except for the fact that I am told by Debashish, that URL also DOES NOT seem to contain the source code for the core modules!

Hmm. Time to Think. Analyze the situation. ALL of us had downloaded DotNetNuke Modules, ALL of us had enhanced them and ALL of us had worked on that source code. And now, ALL of us forgotten ALL about them. Conveniently, Sweet! Honestly, to me this was like locking all your source code in with a 128 bit password, in a source control system and then forgetting the password. The only excuse I had for this was: It (spelt “Shit“) happens.

MSN search came to rescue, I don’t clear history pretty often these days, so, if I had indeed downloaded the module the correct URL aught to be there... somewhere... IN my machine! A Quick search revealed a URL which was different from the URL that Madhavi had provided me. Bingo! That aught to work - I thought.

I download the source and apparently even THAT Zip did NOT seem to have the source code. Hmm. I was amost about to blame it on the DotNetNuke team for this. The seed of the thought that DotNetNuke team might have accidentally removed the source code for Core Modules from the Source Forge website starts to germinate in my head - and then I suddenly recollected thinking like this before...

I had indeed doubted them before and had been proved SO VERY wrong… How was I proven wrong? Did I download from some other URL? Did I...? And then the bulb lights up - I had in fact "somehow" figured it out that the.resource file in the.zip file of the source code in fact, contains the whole freaking code behind!!

Moral of the story:

  1. If you are looking for Source Code of DotNetNuke Core Modules – Go to: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=77052 (I had used this link) OR http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/dnn/ (Madhavi had used this link) – Both of them are the same thing with a Different kind of UI so anyone of them works fine - nothing to get all confused about.
  2. Download the XXX_Source.zip where XXX is the module you want to download.
  3. Unzip it.
  4. You’ll find a Mysterious.Resource File there – Rename it to.Zip. Unzip THAT zip and that’ll give you everything you are looking for.
  5. Do this 10 times over so that you don’t forget this. Ever.
  6. Spread the word around. Tell this to EVERYONE you know (and don't know) -  guys that you see in office, on the road, at the grocery, friend's party or wherever it is that you go. That's the only freaking way by which they're going to find this source code. Honest!!:)
This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Rajiv Popat

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