Free Express Tools In ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft has put a lot of focus on making the technology more accessible to the general developer community. A key deliverable in this strategy is the release of an entire suite of low cost ( currently FREE ) "Express" tools. Included in the "Express" line is a tool named "Visual Web Developer" which provides a functional integrated development environment ( IDE ) for ASP.NET 2.0. It also includes features for managing SQL Server 2005 Express, a powerful new database engine for local web development.
You can get Visual Web Developer for FREE here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/ ( note that you can install Visual Web Developer on the same machine as Visual Studio 2003 or Visual Studio 2005 and it will not interfere with your environment )
Open Source Webserver "Cassini"ASP.NET 2.0 comes with its own minimal File system based web server ( also known as "Cassini" ). This is so that developers are not required to have the full IIS web server installed on their development machine. Unfortunately in our testing, we experienced a lot of erratic behavior using Cassini and would recommend that developers continue to rely on the stability and performance of IIS ( which unfortunately requires a Professional license of Windows XP ).
Starter KitOnce you have Visual Web Developer installed on your system, you are ready to get started with DotNetNuke 4.0.0. In ASP.NET 2.0, there is a new concept known as a "Starter Kit" which is designed to enable a developer to configure a fully functional development environment for a specific application within minutes. The Starter Kit automates many of the procedures which you had to perform manually in the past. We have created a DotNetNuke Starter Kit to leverage the benefits of this feature.
You can get the DotNetNuke 4.0.0 Starter Kit here:
http://www.dotnetnuke.com/About/Downloads/tabid/125/Default.aspx InstallationOnce you have the DotNetNuke_4.0.0_StarterKit.vsi downloaded, you simply need to double-click the file in order to launch the installer.
Click Next
Click Ok ( in the future we will likely digitally sign the Starter Kit to avoid this message ).
Click Finish
Click Cancel ( you are done )
DotNetNuke ApplicationNow you are ready to create a DotNetNuke application from the Starter Kit using Visual Web Developer. Launch Visual Web Developer and choose New Web Site from the File menu.
In the New Web Site dialog box select the DotNetNuke Web Application Framework template. In the Location field you should select HTTP ( you can select File System but as per my earlier comments, you may experience some strange behavior ). You will need to specify the location for the website ( if you enter a value of http://localhost/DotNetNuke your website will be created in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DotNetNuke and if you select File System your website will be created in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\WebSites\DotNetNuke ). Since DotNetNuke is only available in Visual Basic you should select this value from the Language combobox. Select Ok to continue.
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This will create a fully functional DotNetNuke web application. It will also display some documentation in your web browser which walks you through the remainder of the installation process. The steps below will walk you through the minimal process. The next step you need to do is create your database. This can be done directly from Visual Web Developer. Right-click the App_Data folder in the Solutions Explorer and select Add New Item.
Select SQL Database and click OK ( this will accept the default database name of Database.mdf ).
Make sure the tab in the right-hand pane is set to Solution Explorer. Find the file named release.config. Right-click and select the Rename option from the menu. Rename the file to web.config.
PermissionsSince DotNetNuke is an extensible platform where a variety of plug-in resources can be installed at run-time, you will need to set the appropriate folder permissions. Locate the folder on your local file system where the site was installed. Right-click and select the Sharing or Properties option from the menu.
Then select the Security tab.
Select Add and enter the name "ASPNET" in Windows 2000 or "NETWORK SERVICE" in Windows 2003. Select Check Name to verify the name and then select Ok once it is verified.
Select the name of the account in the top listbox and then select Allow / Modify permissions from the bottom
listbox. Select Apply and then Ok.
CompletionIf you have completed the steps above, you are now ready to complete the installation of your new DotNetNuke site. In order to view the build progress you should select View / Output ( CTRL-ALT-O ) from the Visual Web Developer menu and select the Output tab.
To install the site, click Ctrl-F5 (ie. hold the Ctrl key down while clicking on the F5 function key). The application may take a few minutes to build if this is your first installation. Your default web browser will launch and will show you the installation progress.
Scroll to the bottom of the installation text in the browser window and select "Click Here To Access Your Portal". The default DotNetNuke application will be displayed.
You are now up and running. Login as the Administrator to add pages and content to your web site.
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