SunBlogNuke - DotNetNuke Blog Module

In our previous posts on Ultimate DNN Blog Module – SunBlogNuke hacks, we discussed the incredible flexibility of  SunBlogNuke, which is one of the biggest reasons for its popularity among bloggers worldwide. In particular, from v4.0 we introduced the custom fields feature, which let users create variables and add custom values to them, are  one of the reasons for SunBlogNuke’ flexibility and endless possibilities.

In this tutorial, we will compile a list of useful things that you can do with custom fields in SunBlogNuke (if you are not heard of custom fields feature please refer to the initial guideline firstly - Extend DNN Blog With Custom Fields). Among them are re-defining the <title> tag of every post and linking to external resources instead of the blog post.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend! Today we are glad that the refactored release v4.1 for for Ultimate DotNetNuke blog module – SunBlogNuke is available for free upgrade. This release contains some requested features, such as extending new fields [PublishedDate] & [LastModifiedBy] in the post entity so now it totally supported the necessary fields - CreatedOn, CreatedBy, LastModifiedOn, LastModifiedBy and PublishedOn, which you can access in the theme view template as well as tokens in the Content Slider Widget. Also it enhanced custom field feature in the Content Slider Widget with extending new tokens {block:customfield:xxx} and {else}, with which you will can configure default value for some specific custom fields if they are null or empty (Please refer to the updated tutorial - Extend DNN Blog With Custom Fields). In the last we would like to thank our client Guido A LOT because their team contributed the Italian language resource package, which will make our module easily friendly. As usual, the complete details for all of the changes can be found in the Release Notes.

Major Highlights in v4.4:

• ENH - Supported new fields [PublishedDate] & [LastModifiedBy] in the post entity.
• ENH - Supported new tokens {block:customfield:xxx} and {else} in the Content Slider Widget.
• ENH - Enhanced the Disqus integration.
• ENH - Enhanced search result view.
• ENH - Released the additional language resource packages - Spanish & Italian.
• Lots of other fixes & enhancements.

NOTE: 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 if your original version of SunBlogNuke is lower version, like 3.x, and you've developed your customized theme. Please refer to the tutorial - Must-Read Note for SunBlogNuke v4.x and follow the instructions. Hope it makes sense.

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

The SunBlogNuke Team

From v4.2.0 , the Ultimate DNN Blog Module – SunBlogNuke includes custom fields features and the Content Slider Widget supports to include external scripts and styles easily. Now we have the ability to set up your content widget as a list and apply some cool jQuery slider scripts to it without any additional steps. Today we would like to show you how to integrate it with Coin Slider Plugin. First take a look at how the navigable content slideshow actions – demo link. Then let’s go ahead the great journey for building an awesome content slider in your home page.

Updated: Please upgrade to v4.2.5 (Fixed Version 4.2.5 for SunBlogNuke Available Now) with fixing the issue mentioned below.

If you are focusing on our Ultimate DNN Blog Module – SunBlogNuke, you should know that some release v4.x (the latest version is 4.2 until now) are available with LOTS of awesome features, such as threaded comment and custom fields. If you have missed those so cool things please visit our website for more details.  Today we would like to release a quick patch for fix issue where the Flashy Rotating 3D Tag Cloud Widget disappear and you should find the issue when you click to “View All Tag” from the TagCloud Widget. Please follow up some simple steps below:

1. Download the patch from here, unzip it in the local machine and you should find the fixed script file blog.common.js.
2. Find out the JavaScript folder - $YourRoot/DesktopModules/SunBlog/js.
3. Replace the original one with the patch file – blog.common.js.

Note that you need to backup the original one at first. Hope it makes sense.

Blog your way and enjoy life. :)

The SunBlogNuke Team

Happy new year for everyone!

We hope you have been enjoying a happy, healthy holiday season and are looking forward to a prosperous year in 2011!

Today we are glad that the release v4.2 of Ultimate DNN blog module –  SunBlogNuke  is available for free upgrade. This release contains  a new awesome features with the high priority – Custom Fields (please refer to the post for more details and some guidelines to get started - Extend DNN Blog With Custom Fields), as well as some great enhancements, such as enhanced tag url with SEO and enhanced Content Slider Widget with external utility scripts and styles, like NivoSlider or bxSlider, with which to build your awesome content slider. In the mean time, we converted "Category Widget" into an optional module, which you can add into any page at any time and point it to any blog on the portal.  Soon the enhanced widget framework will be done and you will also easily develop your extended widget into your DotNetNuke blog. Please stay tuned :).

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

Major Highlights in v4.2:

• ENH - Enhanced Content Slider Widget with external utility scripts and styles, like NivoSlider or bxSlider, with which to build your awesome content slider.
• ENH - Supported custom fields and removed the thumbnail field in entry table.
• ENH - Combined 'Edit Blog' panel into 'General' settings.
• ENH - Supported ability to moderate comments in the post view.
• ENH - Enhanced tag url with SEO, like http://yourdomain.com/blog/tag/yourtagslug.aspx.
• ENH - Excluded the 'eNews' theme to make the install package smaller size.
• ENH - Converted "Category Widget" into an optional module.
• Lots of other fixes & enhancements.

NOTE: 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 if any unforeseen problems arise during the upgrade process.

Note that some issues may occur if your original version of SunBlogNuke is lower version, like 3.x, or you've developed your customized theme. Please BACK UP YOUR CHANGES BEFORE PROCEEDING and refer to the tutorial - Must-Read Note for SunBlogNuke v4.x and follow the instructions. Hope it makes sense.

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

The SunBlogNuke Team

Finally our development team implemented the custom fields feature for Ultimate DNN Blog Module – SunBlogNuke in the upcoming version 4.2, which will be available soon. The use of custom fields will be one of the keys to SunBlogNuke's flexibility and endless possibilities. Essentially, all a Custom Field does is allow you to add extra pieces of data to individual DNN Blog posts that otherwise aren’t there by default. We hope that it will change the way people look at SunBlogNuke and rise in popularity of SunBlogNuke, too.  We’ll look at how to put custom fields into practice and continues to show you some potential uses of custom fields later. Hope it makes you easier or more productive to use custom fields.