Tips Setting DNN Blog Documentation

The DotNetNuke Blog set of modules provide blogging functionality for your DotNetNuke website. Different modules in the package provide a variety of function. The Blog package provides each of your authorized users with their own blog.

A blog is simply a set of posts grouped by author in order by date. Each blogger can have child blogs to divide that authors posts by subject. You can set up categories to organize posts by subject across authors. You can create tags for each post as another means of filtering the posts.

Open the DotNetNuke Blogs page, listed above, so you can refer back to it for reference.

I. Install the Blog Module

First download the DotNetNuke Blog module from the codeplex link listed above. You should back up your database and website code before installing a new module, so you can revert back if things go badly.
Add the Blog Module to your DotNetNuke installation.
On DNN 6, you install modules by going to Host, Extensions.

II. Create a Role for Bloggers

You will probably want to restrict who can blog on your website. Go to Admin, Security Roles and set up a new role, say Bloggers. Do not check Auto nor Public, as you will want to assign each blogger individually.

III. Create a Blog Page and Add the Blog Module

Create a new page to display your blogs. Add the Blog module to your page. I titled my module Blog. Blog adds several modules to your page, giving all of them the same title, so they are a little hard to tell apart. You need to configure each one. Each Blog module has settings you can use to configure the Blog. All the Blog modules have the regular Settings link that all DotNetNuke modules have. Some of the Blog modules have an extra tab with additional settings. A few Blog modules have additional functionality under module management at the top under Edit options. On DNN 6, you can see the Edit options by pointing your mouse at the Manage button overlaying each Blog title. You can get to each module’s settings by pointing your mouse at the Manage button and finding the Settings link under Admin options. You can also get to Settings by clicking the gear symbol on the right edge of the module. From top to bottom, these are the nine modules Blog added to my page.

1. Main Blog Module
   The first blog module has the bolg configuration options. This module also displays the blog entries. Keep this module at the top of the Content section of your page. This module has two places to change settings. The first is under Settings, where you can change the title for your Blog. On DotNetNuke.com, they title this module DNN Blog. To get to the main configure options, under Manage click Module Options. The top part of his module, which is only visible to administrators, lets you add any of the other eight modules to the page. Since the other eight modules are already on the page, we do not need to add any now. If we deleted some, this would be a way to add them back.

The eight blog module parts are:
1. Blog List
2. New Blog
3. Search Blog
4. Blog Archive
5. Recent Entries
6. Recent Comments
7. Blog Categories
8. Blog Tags

• Blog List
  The next module lists all the Blogs. Go into Settings and change the title. On DotNetNuke.com, they title this module DNN Bloggers. Since this is a list of Blogs, you will want to put this module on the side. Point your mouse at Manage, under Move click To Left Pane. Under Manage, Edit this module also has two functions, one to update the settings of your individual blog and one for you to add an post to your blog. We have not created your blog yet, so these are not of any use right now.

• New Blog
  This module lets you create your blog. Under Settings change the title to My Blog. You want to restrict this module to Bloggers. Under Settings, Permissions, uncheck Inherit View permissions from Page. Next to Bloggers check both View Module and Edit Module. Under Manage, under Move, move this module to the left pane. If you are going to be one of the Bloggers, go ahead and click Create My Blog. Fill out the information about your blog as you feel appropriate.

• Search Blog
  The Search Blog module lets you search the blog posts, surprise. Change the title of the module. On DotNetNuke.com they use the title Search DNN Blogs. Move this module to the left pane, your choice as to where to position the blog. You can use the DotNetNuke Blogs page as a model.

• Blog Archive
  The next module is the Blog Archive, which is organized by date, which I find completely useless, but the calendar looks cool. Change the title, DotNetNuke.com uses Archive. Move to the left pane.

• Recent Entries
  The next module lists the title of Recent Blog Entries. Change the title to something like Recent Blog Entries. Leave this module where it is, or move to the top of the page or to the left pane. Under Settings there is an extra tab Recent Blog Entries Settings, which lets you configure how to display the entries. You can show the whole post, if you like. Point your mouse at the blue ? box to get a list of the control variables you can use. Here is how I configure mine.

This displays the author, title and date. The author links to the author’s blog. If you use this code, you will need to change the tabid to whatever tabid your blog page is on.

• Recent Comments
  This is similar to the Recent Entries module. You should know enough now to decide for yourself what you want to do with this module. I changed the titel and left the rest as is.

• Blog Categories and Blog Tags
  Their use is self explanatory. Change the titels and move both of these to the left pane.