SunBlogNuke - DotNetNuke Blog Module

Today we are glad to announce that SunBlogNuke v7.0.5 is available to free upgrade. It looks a long time without any updates from our team, however, don’t worry about this project and we are still paying lots of attentions on developing better software/products for you and it will be never dead :)

As for any new website based DNN framework, the building DNN7 should be recommended, no doubt. So this building focus on more attentions on integrating with DNN7 framework, for example, the separate url provider based "Advanced Url" component of DNN core. More exciting things are lots of handy featured implemented in this package. Seamlessly integration with 3rd party commercial module also taken into account, for example, MyTokens now supported well. Hope win business together :)

Why not have a try? Get started now.

SunBlogNuke Version 7.0.5
Min DotNetNuke version required: v7.1.0

• ENH - supported email templates for subscription feature and now you can configure different email templates for specific blog instance.
• ENH - supported to access more properties of DNN core profile in the theme level, such as FirstName or LastName of blog author like "<%=Entry.AuthorProfile.FirstName%>".
• ENH - supported category image to show in the list of dashboard if exist.
• ENH - supported 'bulk delete' action for entries list of dashboard.
• ENH - meta title/description & header for archives view configurable for better SEO purpose.
• ENH - resolved ugly slug with friendly text/characters, for example, it will automatically transform "some $ugly ###url wit[]h spaces" into "some-ugly-url-with-spaces".
• ENH - integrated with MyTokens module(http://my-tokens.dnnsharp.com/) of DNNSharp corp, including dnn core tokens.
• ENH - totally compatible with DNN7
• ENH - integrated with lots of DNN7 core features, such as friendly url extesnion.
• ENH - supported new search API of DNN7 with implementing "ModuleSearchBase".
• ENH - replaced code editor in theme customization panel with dnn core one - CodeMirror plugin.
• ENH - disabled keywords auto retrieved from tags when empty due to irrelevant keywords - http://sixestate.com/meta-keyword-tags-still-useful/.
• ENH - updated obsolete methods & profile widget.
• ENH - support option to limit page links of pagination control.
• ------------------------------------------------
• FIX - post thumbnail removed after editing post and threw exception when uploading the same thumbnail.
• FIX - blog export url not found 404 when portal built by sub folder format like "http://www.domainname.com/subportal_xx".
• FIX - enclosure url not resolved with absolute path in the RSS feed.
• FIX - Google recaptcha not built by https with DNN secure enable.
• FIX - shortcut ctrl-enter feature of search box not work with DNN7.
• FIX - social icons not pop up properly on hover status with DNN7 style.

As usual, the complete details for all of the changes can be found in the Release Notes.

If you are still using older versions, we recommended that you should upgrade this stable package.

If you are applying upgrade process, please BACK UP YOUR CHANGES BEFORE PROCEEDING and follow up the suggested upgrade path: v2.1->v5.2->v6.0+.

You can get it here. We hope that with this generation dnn blog module you can enjoy the blog writing and it will make your life better; plus if you have any good advice about our products, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us.

The SunBlogNuke Team

I hope everyone is having a good morning! Today we are glad that SunBlogNuke v5.3 is available for free upgrade.

In this building, we continued to embrace Social Networking features with providing "post to Facebook" option in the edit post panel so that you can update the post status in your Facebook feed easily. More exciting is that we implemented a new extension called "SyncJournal", which support to update the blog post/comment to new journal module in DNN 6.2 and you can refer to this tutorial how to apply it. And as we promised in the old posts, we did have plan to utilize lots of core APIs & awesome features introduced from DNN5+ & DNN6 - we decided to include sitemap provider into the core framework this version. Due to this upgrade, it will require min dnn version dnn 5.3.1.

As usual, we collected clients' feedback and requests from our forum – in the building we finally tried to implement the enhanced version of core "Content Slider Widget" and called it "Content Slider Plus", which initially implemented multiple blogs & categories  support and highly customizable with lots of popular slider effects. You just have to configure it with UI, some attractive slider with blog posts will be there at once. Take a look at how it action in the bottom of feature page.

Major Highlights in v5.3:
Min dnn version required: dnn 5.3.1

• ENH - Implemented a new extension called "SyncJournal", which support to update the blog post/comment to new journal module in DNN 6.2 and you can download it in our extensions directory
• ENH - Included blog sitemap provider in the core framework.
• ENH - Enhanced blog theme with the ability to include "script.js" in customized theme folder.
• ENH - Added 'post to Facebook' button in the edit post panel so that you can update the post status in your Facebook feed easily.
• ENH - Supported multiple blogs & categories in Content Slider Plus, which is the enhanced version of core "Content Slider Widget".
• FIX - import/export bug & supported meta description with NULL - invisible in the tag view.
• FIX - enableEventValidation issue with custom field in the edit post panel.
• FIX - Updated assembly 'CookComputing.XmlRpcV2.dll'.
• FIX - Removed assembly 'Recaptcha.dll' because it may be conflicted with other modules also applied with this assembly.
• Lots of other small fixes

The complete details for all of the changes can be found in the Release Notes.

You can get it here. Blog your way and enjoy life. :)

The SunBlogNuke Team

As you know, there are lots of 3rd party services integrated with SunBlogNuke, such as Active Social module & Gravatar. Here we will cover another awesome external service - Posterous, with which you can easily build cross-post - only write your post in the Posterous and then autopost it to your SunBlogNuke source with one click.

Today we are glad that the release candidate version 4.0 for Ultimate DotNetNuke blog module - SunBlogNuke is available for free upgrade finally. In this building we had taken lots of attentions on "Refactor". With refactor it will be able to extend more features easily. Plus, we make it stay flexible by reducing obstacles to changes so that you will respond to customers' requirements quickly. We hope that it will be the kind of beautiful, elegant and productive software. Also it includes some awesome features, like integration with Google reCAPTCHA, support for Vote Up/Vote Down and new theme configure process with providing thumbnail and preview feature. As usual, the complete details for all of the changes can be found in the Release Notes.

Major Highlights in v4.0:

• ENH - Refactored theme configure process with providing thumbnail and preview feature.
• ENH - Extended thumbnail feature when editing post.
• ENH - Split "TagCloud Widget" into an optional module so that you can add it into any page at any time and point it to any blog on the portal.
• ENH - Converted old url with new "year/x/month/x" format in the monthly archive.
• ENH - Added new option for coping any existing blog settings when creating new blog, so don't have to go through and do all of it manually every time.
• ENH - New rule with no captcha for post author.
• ENH - Integrated with Google reCAPTCHA
• ENH - Implemented new Vote Up/Vote Down feature.
• ENH - Released new themes - eNews theme with supporting thumbnail view.
• FIX - Journal entry in the Active Social not posted when publishing draft.
• Lots of fixes & enhancements.

As with any release, we recommend you perform a complete file and database backup before performing any upgrade on a production website and that you first conduct a trial upgrade on a staging version of the site. Following these guidelines will ensure that you are able to recover should any unforeseen problems arise during the upgrade process.

Note that some issues may occur in the upgrade process if you've developed your customized theme. Please refer to the tutorial - Must-Read Note for SunBlogNuke v4.0 and follow the instructions. Hope it makes sense.

You can get it here. Enjoy blogging and good writing! :)

The SunBlogNuke Team

That is a brief buzz for our development team recently.

We are glad to tell you that our product is in active development and we are moving on as planned. Our guys are trying to enhance the Ultimate DNN Blog Module - SunBlogNuke and provide you the working and valuable product. In this stage we are focusing on the next building v4.0 in which we took more attentions on "Refactor". With refactor you will be able to extend more features easily. Plus, we make it stay flexible by reducing obstacles to changes so that you will respond to customers' requirements quickly. We hope that it will be the kind of beautiful, elegant and productive software.

BTW, also it will include some awesome features, like integration with Google reCAPTCHA, support for Vote Up/Vote Down and new theme configure process with providing thumbnail and preview feature. Please stay tune and it will be available to download. :).  Well. have a quick look at the screenshot about new theme configure panel:

And we are looking forwards to your feedback. We know that the more feedback we get from our clients, the better our product will be and also we will know which areas require attentions next. So please tell us what you want most or leave your comment below if you are interested in Ultimate DNN Blog Module – SunBlogNuke. Thanks a lot.

Today we upgraded our blogging platform website with DNN Core Forum v5.0 and the latest Ultimate DNN Blog Module – SunBlogNuke v3.8.2. Until now everything works well. The new forum module includes more better SEO options available following best practices and integrated with more awesome core features like Taxonomy Integration and Core Profile Photo Integration. New Blue Theme is VERY excellent too. You can find more exciting features in the links - Forum 5.0 on DotNetNuke.com and http://dnnforum.codeplex.com/releases/view/53503

Also you may have a look at the release note about SunBlogNuke v3.8.2:

• ENH - Added new token [BIO] in the entity Author.
• ENH - Integrated with Active Social Journals.
• ENH - Provided more handy parameters in Rss Feed, including "item"(Limiting items number) and "excerpt"(Whether including excerpt when activating "Full Show in Rss Feed").
• FIX - Avatar broken when integrated with dnn core profile.
• FIX - Rss Feed ignore "items max" option and always returning all posts.
• Other small fixes & customizations.

As usual, the complete details for all of the changes can be found in the Release Notes.

Enjoy Blogging and Writing. :)

Today we released a RC version 3.8.0 of our dnn blogging module which includes an option for Active Social journal integration. We finally added Active Social Journal support using the new Journal API. You will learn more about this great new feature over in our team blog. Thanks Will’s help and great support.

A special thanks goes out to Matt Marlor for pushing Will and I to finally make this happen.

You can get it here. Enjoy blogging and good writing! :)

The SunBlogNuke Team

Active Social has some powerful extensibility capabilities which you can leverage with your SunBlogNuke installation. For example, you can add an additional tab to the Active Social user profile page, and load the SunBlogNuke "Content Slider" widget within it - giving you a "My Blogs" tab.The cool thing about this is that then you can apply the same learning to integrate other modules that can use a custom user key. Today this tutorial will cover how to integrate SunBlogNuke to Active Social User Profile Tabs and show you the flexible capability it owns.

Active Social and SunBlogNuke can play very nicely together, thanks to some good design choices in Active Social, and the extensive skinning capabilities of SunBlogNuke. It's possible to use Active Social avatars within the SunBlogNuke comments and author images, starting from v3.6.1 of SunBlogNuke. I have done this successfully with Active Social 1.6 and 1.7. Today this tutorial will cover how to integrate Active Social avatars with SunBlogNuke and show you how easy and simple it is.

We bought several other Blog Modules, and found SunBlog to be not only the most powerful, but it has the best integration into Windows Live Writer. Their support is great also.

Chip Meyer (thechip.com)