At OpenForce Europe I showed how to create a new provider feature for DotNetNuke. In this case it was a provider for creating Sitemaps (see www.sitemap.org) for google search optimization. In DNN 5 we added a few options to better support sitemaps but the implementation was still very simple.
With this provider model you will be able to create custom providers for your own modules without modifying the base DNN core. On top of that feature I added a few more enhancements to the platform sothat we have greater control on how the sitemap is created. This is also a great opportunity to take a look at what the provider pattern offers you as a developer in order to extend your modules and provide hooks in your modules for for 3rd party extensibility.
As you should already know DNN uses a lot this pattern and I hope we'll even support it more on the future since it opens the framework for infinite extension points.
And now the even better news: this feature will be included in DNN 5.3! So start looking at the code and give it a try. If you are creating modules that make use of "unique" urls that a site owner would like to be included in the google sitemap, now it's your turn to start testing and planning for better SEO support for your modules.
NOTE: This project is not currently supported by DotNetNuke, this is currently a personal project. The final implementation when it's included in the DotNetNuke Framework can have some changes so keep this in mind. I'd not suggest you include this in a comercial module until it's added to core but you can for sure use it on your own sites and projects.
The module, source code, documentation and setup information is hosted at Codeplex on the SitemapProvider for DotNetNuke module.