Get Ready for DNN Version 9.1

Will, This is possibly the worst idea I've heard in a very long time and I've been using DNN since version 3.

The legacy modules are the only thing making 9.02 usable at this point and it makes me very nervous to have you remove them before the new UI is feature complete and had the bugs worked out for at least a release or two . At least make items like the page manager/page settings available as an installable plugin as the new one is far less usable. Don't believe me? Check out the hate on the community forums.

Additionally many of us keep control panels for third party extensions in the /Admin folder. It's useful to have utility pages outside of the primary navigation structure. At least give us a UI to add links to the new sidebar for our custom admin pages.

As for the Telerik Controls, I guess it's time but I'm concerned that many third party developers may walk away from DNN rather than rebuild their plugins.

Thanks
Michael Cunningham

The module DotNetNuke.Console will be removed? Seriously?
Or does it mean that only the admin/ host pages using the console module will be removed?

What about the user profile pages which are also using the console module up to DNN 9.0x?

I am also often using console for different other usecases.

@Stefan,
That's a good point. We will add further clarification to that page. The module isn't being removed. On a new install, there will not be a /Admin/ with the console module displayed.

-Will

@Michael,
I can understand how you might feel that way. We are well aware of the comments in the forums and other channels. The 9.1 Version will restore any of the features that we accidentally missed. We don't want to support two different admin areas. Also, all of those old controls have various dependencies on Telerik. We need to continue to make technology improvements in the platform. You will still be able to create your own /admin or /host pages.

As far as the 3rd-party developers are concerned, we started communicating that this day would eventually come back in June 2014. It is about time that our 3rd-party vendors started to improve the UI/UX of their modules. Part of that improvement means removing Telerik. Perhaps this will create an opportunity for new vendors to build more modern modules for 9.x.

You are welcome to send feedback to me directly if you have other concerns you would like to share.

Thanks,
Will
will - at - dnnsoftware.com

Thanks for the update Will. Sorry for the tone of the first post I'm just frustrated with v9 so far and was venting. I'll cross my fingers and make a backup.

I guess there is no chance you can leave the admin tools in place at least as an option until the new controls have the kinks worked out. I like speed of the new interface but I can't ask my users to jump through some of the hoops it forces upon you the biggest being:

1. Page Settings doesn't allow you to upload a file to a subfolder.
2. Parent Page cant be set from page settings.
3. Broken Functionality for disable pages in menus and in page selection controls.
4. No layout mode which causes a big problem for modules that are broken.

Thanks!

Michael

@Michael - Thanks for the feedback on the issues you are having.
1. I don't see file upload control anywhere in page settings. What specifically are you asking about?
2. Pages can be easily dragged into their new location in the menu. We are trying to keep the UI as simple as possible and reduce the number of settings that a user must deal with. This also means we are actively reducing the number of methods available for accomplishing a given task. We may revisit this feature as part of our ADA/WCAG work.
3. Noted.
4. The page settings includes the ability to edit/delete modules on a given page allowing you to delete the module without requiring a layout mode.

Joe,

1. If you set page link type to File and attempt to upload a file it will drop it into the portal root instead of allowing you to pick a folder.

2. Yes this works. Would work better if the path didn't collapse every time I moved a page however making you start over for each page.

3. Thanks

4. The problem with this method is that occasionally modules break the page itself and make it unusable and not all of the module settings are in the "module settings". An example would be the Form and List Module. It's easy to make breaking changes via the XSLT syle sheets that break the page. Unfortunately I have to get to the "Form and List Configuration" to fix the issue not the Module Settings Page.

Hello Will, any chance that the wiki page could be updated on how to clone the git repository and submit pull requests. I understand that the project has been split in a couple of repositories for the personal bar admin experience but I can't figure out how these projects should be built and where each file should go.

Thanks

I, for one, really welcome these changes. The transition to 9.x has been a bit bumpy (missing features, new learning curve etc) but as a whole, the platform changes are long overdue. The admin had to become more unified and consistent. For new users to the platform, the learning curve is the same or faster. It's legacy users who have to retrain the brain.

Any module vendor still using telerik (or webforms) controls should be avoided and as a community, we all should be migrating to other solutions if possible. What would be helpful is a thread of 3rd party modules that will break with 9.1.

I guess that I will stay with Release 8.xxx until I have the time necessary to go through all of the issues in upgrading to Release 9.xxx. It would be very helpful if there was a way to identify those modules which will not long work with Release 9.xxx

@Joe:

Thanks - I'm mostly excited about the changes in 9. But, just to note on your comment about parent pages. I have a forum post noting that this has broken basic functionality in multi-lingual environments. It becomes impossible to find or move pages under certain conditions and I believe it is a breaking change due to the absence of the parent page selector.

I really love the changes in innovative changes, especially version 9.1. This CMS will stay for a long time.

Can we directly upgrade from dnn 7.3 to dnn 9? Any issues?

You can probalby upgrade from 7.3 to 9 BUT, I suggest you go with the recommended upgrade path at http://www.dnnsoftware.com/wiki/suggested-upgrade-path this upgrade path has been more tested and should be safer to prevent upgrade bugs. Also, check if you need to upgrade any modules, there has been some braking changes (mostly regarding telerik controls) and you may need to upgrade some third party modules too. Finally, don't forget to backup before the upgrade.