Over time, a large number of DNN modules (extensions) have been created by community members in addition to a whole list of commercial extensions created by vendors in various categories. Commercially available extensions are mostly found in the DNN Store.
Some of the open source extensions are listed in the store as well, but only a small number. There so many more open source free modules, tools, language packs, providers etc. Most of them can be found on GitHub, but not very easily.
The "good" old times
In the good-old-times, there was the Forge, based on DNN projects that were hosted on CodePlex. With some luck, you could find an extension in the Forge with the functionality you were looking for, retrieve the installation and start using the module. For free, since it was an open source module provided by community members.
In addition, there were the so-called "core modules", that were included in every new installation of DNN: Reports, Blog, Wiki, Forum, Events, News, Feedback and more.
But those times are gone.
The core modules are not included in every new DNN installation and, as a side effect, most of them have not been maintained for a while and cannot be installed on DNN9.2. To make things worse, CodePlex is archived and the Forge, as an overview of DNN extensions, no longer exists.
New times are becoming better
But times are changing for the better. There is a big initiative to make most of the former core modules available again on GitHub, converted to C# and fully up to date with DNN 9.2. You can read more about this initiative in other blogs here and here.
Say hello (and thank you) to the new heroes of the DNN community.
A new "Forge" with an overview of all open source extensions
That leaves us with the lack of an inventory, a listing of available open source DNN Extensions. And for this, we have set the first step as well.
On community extensions overview page of DNN-Connect.org, you will find the list of almost 100 open source extensions for DNN listed, with a link to the project source, the releases and documentation. This list is the first step. I expect that we are able to extend this list over time with hundreds of extensions.
While this list is static atm, we are planning to create plug-ins to retrieve actual and relevant data from the original projects, such as most recent release, DNN compatibility, last activity, number of downloads and add that with a review mechanism.
Is your extension not listed yet?
We know, there is more than we have covered so far, this is the first batch of extensions that I could find easily on GitHub because I knew the organisations and/or the name of the module. But the current list is only a small one.
Do you have or know an open source DNN extension that is not listed here?
Tweet the following @ernst_peter saying:
I have an extension for the #dnncms #dnnplatform, please list this ???? on https://www.dnn-connect.org/community/community-extensions
Of course, you replace ???? with a URL where we can find the extension (source, install, documentation or video). We will take care that the extension will be added to the list.