Beta 2 Continued...

Bugs - as expected, a number of bugs were identified in the Beta 1 version and we have tried our best to address the majority of them in Beta 2.

MS Access - the AccessDataProvider has been synchronized with the the SqlDataProvider which allows you to now run DotNetNuke seamlessly on MS Access. Simply change the defaultProvider property to "AccessDataProvider" in the web.config.

PA Installer - the PA Installer has been overhauled to allow for installation of DNN 1.x modules, 2.0 modules, 2.0 skin objects, and 2.0 providers ( special thanks to Joe Brinkman ). In addition, the Module Uninstall feature has been added back into the application.

Users Online - DotNetNuke now has integrated session tracking using a technique similar to the ASP.NET Forums V2 ( special thanks to Scott McCulloch ). A private assembly Users Online module is include to expose the session information.

Skinning - based on some excellent community feedback during Beta 1, we have enhanced the skinning solution in a number of powerful ways. The Skin Uploader underwent a serious overhaul ( special thanks to Scott Willhite ). It now uses RegEx when parsing the skin files which allows us to be very flexible in terms of HTML tag attribute ordering. In addition to HTML files, it now also parses CSS files and ASCX files so that tags which require relative URLs cam be processed. The skin file attributes ( XML ) file has been enhanced to allow for named instances - this allows you to have variations of the same skin object on a single page. You can read the Skinning Guide for more detailed documentation.

Skins - we have bundled a couple of good skinning examples with the release which demonstrate the flexibility of the HTML skinning solution.

Skin Objects - a couple new container skin objects were added which provide some alternatives to the default Module Actions menu. Some new attributes were added to the Links skin object which allow for some interesting site navigation alternatives. Skin Objects can now be built and distributed as PAs using the exact same techniques as custom modules. Skin Objects also now rely on a common base class for future expansion in this area.