Smart-Thinker DotNetNuke Development Blog

DotNetNuke CodeSmith Templates with IHydratable

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Do you use CodeSmith and the original DNNJungle C# templates to generate your DAL for your DotNetNuke Modules?

We've made some small changes to keep them up to date with the core changes, the main enhancment being the addition of the IHydratable Interface in the Info object. You can download our C# template set from our Free DotNetNuke Downloads page.

Smart-Thinker UserGroups 4.3.6 Released - SEO and bugfixes

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This module allows users to create private or public groups of users. Groups can be public and joinable or closed to new membership, and the group owner can decide if new members require approval or not. Users can search groups by Category, Country or freetext tags. If the group allows new members then they can join the group. The group owner can send Private Messages to the group or invite groups to Events. This module was based loosely on the MySpace and Facebook Groups implementation.

See the Poker Groups on PokerDIY for an example of an implementation (here is an example of a Alabama poker group).

Smart-Thinker UserProfile 4.3.11 Released

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The new version of the UserProfile module mainly has SEO enhancements and bugfixes. Before upgrading, please read this post about the CSS changes and what you need to do. This version is neccessary if you are using the Wall module 4.3.2

You can see it in action on PokerDIY (feel free to set up an account to test) or you can download a trial version here.

Customizing the FCK Editor in DotNetNuke - Adding smileys and stripping down icons in toolbars

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Objective: I wanted to customize the look of the FCK Editor on PokerDIY and allow users to select poker card icons as custom smileys in all modules that use the Rich HTML Editor, for example, Private Messages, the Poker Forums (in particular) and on all Wall posts (for example on Poker Player Profiles and Event Walls).
After reading my web usability book ("

I have recently implemented Google Translate tools on PokerDIY so that you can browse the site in a few different languages (apparently everyone plays poker these days!) and I thought I would mention it as not everyone knows about this great translation service. Go to PokerDIY and click on the flags in the top right corner to view the site in another language.

I do plan on doing a full-blown multi-lingual site one day when I can afford the cost of a translation service and have the time to implement it, but there are a LOT of poker FAQs and help text that would be expensive to translate and maintain (every upgrade and site change would require a new translation and documenting the change - it's a management nightmare). I therefore decided t

Module Update - Smart-Thinker Wall 4.3.2 Released

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Smart-Thinker Wall module allows you to attach a Facebook-style Wall to a Group, Event, UserProfile or other entity. This allows users to collaborate, discuss or simply leave comments (It is not designed to replace the Forums module).This was a sponsored enhancement/project and is based loosely on the Facebook Wall design and is fully templatable/localisable so you can change the look and feel to match your site.

To see this module in action, have a look at my PokerDIY profile, this PokerDIY and have implemented the UltraMediaGallery 5 module with the Smart-Thinker UserProfile module (as mentioned in the UMG UserGuide) and it really is a great looking match.

Smart-Thinker Events 4.3.7 Released (Requires DNN 4.6.0+)

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Smart-Thinker Events is a DotNetNuke Event Management System with email notifications.

This module can be seen in action on PokerDIY.com (Find live poker games and leagues). The email templates on PokerDIY have been customized so that the "From" person punches in to their profile, and the event punches directly in to the event detail page.

Smart-Thinker server upgrade complete!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hopefully you will have noticed that the Smart-Thinker website and The DotNetNuke Directory (and of course PokerDIY, our DotNetNuke poker social networking site) is a lot more responsive and quicker.

New Module - Smart-Thinker Wall 4.3.1 Released

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The new Smart-Thinker Wall module allows you to attach a Facebook-style Wall to a Group, Event, UserProfile or other entity. This allows users to collaborate, discuss or simply leave comments.This was a sponsored enhancement/project and is based loosely on the Facebook Wall design and is fully templatable/localisable so you can change the look and feel to match your site.

Smart-Thinker UserProfile 4.3.10 Released

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The new version of the UserProfile module has a single token improvement (ISINROLE) to display data based on a user's role. and a few small bug fixes. You can see it in action on PokerDIY (feel free to set up an account to test) or you can download a trial version here.

Smart-Thinker UserProfile 4.3.9 Released

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:58:03 GMT

The new version of the UserProfile module has optimisation and integration improvements.

UserProfile Templating and Forum Integration

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:02:59 GMT

The core DNN forums has it's own limited user profile system built into it. We already use the Smart-Thinker UserProfile to display templated views of the core profile data, so we want to remove the Forums UserProfiles and redirect all views to the Smart-Thinker UserProfile module, thus providing the user with a single user interface and more pleasing browsing experience.

Smart-Thinker UserGroups 4.3.5 Released - Member Approval & MyFriends

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Major Update: Group Member Approval (this was a sponsored enhancement) - group owners can decide if new member requests require approval or not. Users can now accept or decline group invitations (before they were instanly added). Now offers better integration with the Smart-Thinker UserProfile module, so that when inviting new members to your group you can select from All site users, MyFriends or both (this is a module-level setting). This follows the Facebook concept of only allowing users to interact with their Friend Lists. Email templates are used which can be localised to improve usability. Caching and SQL optimisations improvements have been ported in this version.

Smart-Thinker Events 4.3.6 Released - Role Filter/Location/Caching

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The new version of the Smart-Thinker Events DNN Module is now available for download.

What's ahead for the Smart-Thinker Product Suite

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

A quick summary of what you can expect from your fav DNN modules

Smart-Thinker UserGroups 4.3.4 Released - "Add to Groups"

Fri, 11 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The latest version of the social-networking component - Smart-Thinker UserGroups - has now been released

Sorry for the recent downtime...

Wed, 09 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We've recently had to migrate to better, faster servers to handle all the traffic PokerDIY.com is getting these days (almost 2000 visitors per day), and we hit a few snags along the way that meant Smart-Thinker and PokerDIY were down for a few hours or a bit sluggish.

Smart-Thinker UserProfile 4.3.8 Released

Wed, 09 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The latest version of the popular UserProfile module introduces some new tokens like "Add to Group". It is highly recommended that you upgrade to this version.

Smart-Thinker UserProfile 4.3.7 Released

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The latest version of the popular UserProfile module has massive performance improvements and introduces profile caching to reduce DB traffic. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to this version.

Smart-Thinker Events 4.3.5 Released

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Smart-Thinker Events is a DotNetNuke Event Management System with email notifications - This version is essential if you are using DNN 4.5+ This module can be seen in action on PokerDIY.com (A free service to manage your home poker leagues).

Smart-Thinker forum problems and downtime

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Recently Smart-Thinker was moved onto a new VPS server. Since then we've had a range of problems. We are aware of this and ask for your patience please.

Smart-Thinker Events 4.3.3 Released

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Major new features are improvements to the Guest templating system, and the ability to publish text in the event detail based on the RSVP. There are a lot of bug fixes in this version.

Recurring Events - Architecture and Suggestions

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I want to implement Recurring Events in the ST Events module, but there are a number of architectural design decisions to make.

Smart-Thinker UserProfile 4.3.5 Released

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The latest version comes with MySpace-like MyFriends capabilities - see PokerDIY for an example (feel free to set up an account to test) or you can download a trial version.

The HomePage module is being retired from the Smart-Thinker Product Suite

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

It is with much regret that I've decided to retire this module from the suite due to a number of reasons...

Future of the Smart-Thinker UserProfile module

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

If you use this module please take a moment to read and understand the direction this module will be moving in...

Event module update and upcoming features

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

I was recently asked about what was in the next version of the events module so I thought I would blog about it. We looking at a release in the next 3-4 weeks, depending on other requirements and projects I am working on. I am giving a broad range as dev is progressing well but I have lots of ideas I want to get in and it’s a question of freezing dev and moving it into testing and QA and then packaging it (something always comes up!). The hardest thing for me is to stop working on it (and believe me I have a years worth of good ideas for EACH of the Smart-Thinker modules alone!) and actually release it.

PokerDIY - Free tools, leagues and resources for home poker players

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 05:00:00 GMT

A little while ago we decided to start a real website powered by Smart-Thinker modules in order to dogfood and demonstrate our products on a real, live community-based website.

Increase productivity on Smart-Thinker Products and brand

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

On a personal level, you may be aware that I have a full-time job as an Analyst Programmer in a London software company and work on Smart-Thinker in my spare time. What exists today has been built over the last year and a half on weekends and a few hours during the week when time permitted.

Portal Licensing and Price model change

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

In most other industries, software and components are sold with volume licenses, or per seat, developer or server. This concept has not really taken off in the commercial DotNetNuke module world, although curiously I have seen many skins that come with a “Single Portal” restriction. Most modules are sold with very laid-back licenses and few restrictions, although recently I have seen “Single Server” licenses (i.e. one DNN Installation) and a few other variants. I do, however, think that the Portal License is the best way forward and the most fair…

Smart-Thinker Redesign and Focus

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

You may have noticed some changes recently – we’ve tried to make things less cluttered and simpler on Smart-Thinker!

DotNetNuke 4.3.3 “Final Release” available for download

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:00:00 GMT

It’s the moment we have all been waiting for – the “Final Release” of DotNetNuke 4.3 (It seems as though it will be versioned 4.3.3) has been released. This version is a minor update from 4.3.2, and I would imagine the DNN core team were focusing on stability and scalability issues raised during the recent DogFooding session.

The DotNetNuke Directory + FAQ, Simple SQL and Module Search

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 05:00:00 GMT

As a regular Forum user (I answer a lot of questions and ask quite a few myself!) I often see the same questions over and over again. What also struck me was the amount of information available to the DNN community that was hidden on websites all over the web. Just today I found a DNN website with some great free modules that I had never seen before, and I thought I had quite a good handle on what was out there!

DNN Module Trial Licenses – Try before you buy!

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 05:00:00 GMT

I get a lot of requests from users who want to test the Smart-Thinker modules before buying them. I always point them to the online demos, but these users have a very valid point. Why would you want to buy something before seeing if it actually meets your requirements? How do you guage quality without a hands-on test? You can look at shoes in a window to get an idea of the product, but it’s fairly common to try the shoes on before buying them.

Smart-Thinker vision and upcoming developments

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 05:00:00 GMT

Now that DotNetNuke 4.3.2 RC is out, I think it is a good time to share my vision for Smart-Thinker and what I see happening in the next 3-6 months.

Full steam ahead in VS2005, .NET 2.0 and DNN 4.3.x + and support for DNN 3.x only

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 05:00:00 GMT

My personal view is that the sooner the core drop new versions of 3.x the better. Before you burn me at the stake (all my websites, including Smart-Thinker and PokerDIY.com are in 3.x still by the way), hear me out.

DotNetNuke Vendor Affiliate Reporting

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 05:00:00 GMT

As a DotNetNuke developer, I am often surprised by the amount of functionality and useful code hidden away in the Global methods and libraries. Occasionally I come across similar nuggets of functionality hidden in the UI which should be shared by everyone. One such snippet is the ability to report on the number of clickthroughs you receive from an Affiliate or advertising campaign. It is not very well publicized, but did you know that this has been possible to do since at least the original 3.x version?