[AccessD] new web site

John W Colby jwcolby at gmail.com
Thu Mar 12 07:50:36 CDT 2009


Steve,

IIRC I looked inside the backup zip and there was a SQL Server db file.  
However I have no idea whether 2005 (the only version I have installed) 
can mount 2K database files.

My web host company encourages users to do their own backups, though 
they do have backups they charge $40 to get it restored.  I would bet I 
could go to my site through the control panel and get the database 
file(s) in 2005 format.  I vaguely remember poking around in the tables 
once just to see what they contained.

I too am comfortable with the Host and Admin user roles and abilities.  
When I say comfortable, I have to admit that there is much I do not 
understand, but I can get a module uploaded and installed, modules out 
onto pages, pages created and so forth.

One thing I am having a real problem with is getting the built-in text 
editor to do its job.  It seems so very crude.  As an example the link 
editor works, but ONLY for seeing files in the directory where it 
expects all your files to be.  It can't seem to navigate down into 
subdirectories.  I hate just dumping all of my files into a single 
directory.

I also need to find a good multi-level content manager.  I had a module 
which I really liked which put short phrases in a little menu like 
structure on the left and then changed the text displayed on the right 
as you clicked on these phrases.  It functioned kind of like an editor / 
menu system rolled into one.  I would build the menu of the names of my 
files on the left and then a description as long as I desired on the 
right, including embedded hot links to allow downloading the file.  It 
worked well and was more compact that a tab system.  But of course, the 
author lost apparently interest and I can't find a version for 4.x.

I also need to find a good photo manager.  And a good forums module.  I 
have the built-in DNN forum module installed but it just doesn't "feel" 
right.  I use forums on a lot of technical sites and the one that comes 
with DNN just feels funny some how, kind of hard to explain.  Oh! And a 
good user manager that displays the users in a "continuous form" to use 
the Access analogy.  I had one but of course it also does not work in 4.X. 

All of this stuff just takes time to do and time to get set up, and all 
of this costs money too of course.  I have a ton of my own demo files 
for classes and withevents and really want to get it back up and usable 
for my users.

Steve Erbach wrote:
> John,
>
>   
>>> Unfortunately I STILL ended up with a low 4.X version, 4.09, when the latest stable version (and
>>>       
> considered very good) is like 4.9x.  Sigh. <<
>
> At least you can rest easy on *that* score!  What I mean is, Because
> DNN goes through so many incremental upgrades its version number often
> increments past 9 to 10, 11, 12, etc.  For better or worse its version
> numbering system includes zero-padding of single digit version
> increments...but sometimes when they refer to the version number, the
> zero is omitted.  Therefore 4.09 = 4.9.  Confusing, yes.  But you do,
> indeed, have the current version of 4.X.
>
> For example, my DNN site is at version 4.08.02.  That's the same as
> 4.8.2.  If you log in as Host you can see your current version number
> on the Host Settings page and whether there's an update available.
>
>   
>>> I did download the entire backup of the original 2.X site to my laptop here at the office, and AFAICT it included the db although getting it to work here at my office would seem problematic. <<
>>>       
>
> Well, a backup of the "site" to your laptop wouldn't include the SQL
> Server database automagically.  That would have to have been done in a
> separate operation using the SQL Server administrative software (SQL
> Server Management Studio for 2005...I don't remember off-hand what
> it's called in 2000).  My web host has a decent site administration
> system and I can easily backup my SQL Server database for a nominal
> fee...and then I can FTP it to my system.
>
> If you don't have the SQL Server data backup then the "site" backup
> isn't going to be any good to you, sorry to say.  Can you get your old
> web host to restore a backup of the SQL Server database?  They may
> backup their SQL Servers on a schedule and *may* be able to
> accommodate you on that score.
>
>   
>>> Are you a DNN geek?  Can you answer my questions? <<
>>>       
>
> No, but I'm comfortable with the Admin/Host portions of content
> management.  I have just about every book ever written on DNN because
> I *hoped* to become a "DNN geek" in my spare time...it's just that I
> didn't have much spare time; so my knowledge of DNN has kind of soaked
> through the skin by trial and error.
>
> Not having a job right now means that I can devote more time to
> getting up to speed on custom modules which I very much want to do as
> I have a project that's in the wings.  I'm going to convert an Access
> app to a web-based app w/a SQL Server backend.  The app involves
> subscriptions to a hazmat reporting service for about a dozen existing
> users around the country.  I want to dump all their data into one
> database so that I can administer them all in one place.  I also want
> to use the DNN capabilities for user registration, forums, custom
> modules, etc., to manage user problem reports, etc... again all in one
> place.
>
> So I have a vested interest in aspiring to become a "DNN geek"!  Ask
> your questions and I'll help as much as I can.  I'd like to be able to
> help.
>
> Steve Erbach
> Neenah, WI
>
> P.S., By the way, my web hosting company is CrystalTech out of
> Arizona.  I've had them ever since someone on either AccessD or
> dba-SQLServer recommended it back in '00 or sometime.  I don't have a
> dedicated host plan; I have the highest end shared host plan they
> offer for ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2000.  It's about $36 a month.  I
> have four "extra" domains in addition to my main one, and they're all
> DNN.
>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 1:29 PM, John W Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Steve,
>>
>> I did have 2.x.  I put my site up years ago and DNN was pretty new.  It
>> used the old .net 1.x framework, and sql server 2000 AFAIK.
>>
>> In order to upgrade to 4.X the site had to go through 3.x first and I
>> decided to hire the hosting company (WebHost4Life) to do the upgrade.
>> They advertised the upgrade as a service that they would do for $45
>> which sounded like a deal.
>>
>> Well...
>>
>> It didn't go as planned.  My site ended up at 4.X (4.12 I think?)  but
>> parts of it no longer functioned.  Much of this was not their fault, I
>> used some custom controls that no longer worked and that the author
>> never upgraded.  OTOH the admin user was trashed, it couldn't see much
>> of the site even though the logged in user could and the host user
>> could.  It appears that I lost my user database, although the control
>> that allowed me to see and manipulate the users was one of those custom
>> controls that no longer functioned after the upgrade so it was tough to
>> tell if they were in fact there.  I was able to log in under my actual
>> name so maybe they were there.  In fact now that you mention it I might
>> be able to go get the 4.x database (It is still there, just no domain
>> name pointing to it any more).
>>
>> I did download the entire backup of the original 2.X site to my laptop
>> here at the office, and AFAICT it included the db although getting it to
>> work here at my office would seem problematic.
>>
>> Anyway, I decided to just take the opportunity top switch hosting
>> companies and start all over with 4.X.  Unfortunately I STILL ended up
>> with a low 4.X version, 4.09, when the latest stable version (and
>> considered very good) is like 4.9x.  Sigh.
>>
>> I had the new web host do the DNN install.  I have heard that 5.X is not
>> stable yet and so asked for 4.x though I assumed (yea, I know) that it
>> would be the latest 4.X.  Sigh again.
>>
>> I am not too worried about the users.  I think I had 400-500 users total
>> I think, most of which probably never drop by.  If they do, they will
>> register again.
>>
>> I am happy to have made the switch, Having a 2.X site was very
>> limiting.  OTOH now I don't know how a bunch of stuff works, and I have
>> to go find and buy modules all over again..
>>
>> Are you a DNN geek?  Can you answer my questions?
>>
>> Steve Erbach wrote:
>>     
>>> John,
>>>
>>> Did you really have DotNetNuke 2.X (two dot X)?  Gad!  The oldest DNN
>>> book I've got is for DNN 3.x.
>>>
>>> I presume that 2.X had SQL Server as a back-end.  When you upgraded,
>>> did you use the Upgrade version of DNN?  I would think that it might
>>> be worth the effort to import data from the 2.X SQL tables into the
>>> 4.X tables.  I went through some issues with messing around with DNN
>>> on my web host.  An upgrade went badly and I wound up manually
>>> renaming all the existing DNN tables and then starting a fresh DNN
>>> install with the latest version at the time.  I changed the default
>>> table prefix to "nuke_", for what it's worth.  I was smart, for once:
>>> I backed up the SQL Server stuff BEFORE making the drastic re-install.
>>>
>>> Steve Erbach
>>>       
>
>   

-- 
John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com




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