May 2007 - Blog Watch

blog bits ScottW with a rather reserved rant in asking the very valid question of why Telligent couldn't have been provided pre-releases of Microsoft Live Writer bits in "WLW Good For Community Server, Great for LAMP." If for no other reason, sparing you from a pent-up alliteration spree. As Scott points out, with supporting disappointment from Rob Howard, several WordPress and other LAMP-stacked engines have better support than .NET-based Community Server. No argument with anything...

Earlier today I posted the first article in a series I'd previously mentioned . This article is about common issues that people encounter when setting up Forms Authentication . It talks about ensuring ticket names match, setting machine keys, and setting the cookie's path and domain properly. Also, as I'd previously mentioned, please send me suggestions for future articles if you haven't already! Over time, I'll be adding more and more. Over time, these will likely get more technical...

In reading the Community Server forums, I saw some questions about using forums at the root. I thought that was a great question. I am running my site with a blog at the root and I've seen several sites where they have deployed a forum at the root. Dan documented how to blog at the root for CS2.0 but I don't believe there's quite as much information on running other applications at the root. To use forums at the root in Community Server 2007, you'll want to do the following things...

I bumped into this error when I tried to do a Release Mode compile of the Ajax Control Toolkit project in my Community Server solution. The "JavaScriptCommentStripperTask" task was not found, yet I was referencing the JavaScriptCommentStripperTask.DLL in my Toolkit project Here's the complete compilation error: Error 2 The "JavaScriptCommentStripperTask" task was not found. Check the following: 1.) The name of the task in the project file is the same as the name of the task...

We're starting to make progress integrating the ASP.NET Ajax Control Toolkit into Community Server when we...D'OH!...encounter "Assembly generation failed -- Referenced assembly "CommunityServer.Components" does not have a strong name. We could generate strong names for CS.Components and any other reference assemblies or, heck, unsign the Toolkit assembly and remove the AjaxControlToolkit.snk key. Next. Read More...

This is the first in a series of posts on getting started with ASP.NET Ajax and adding it to an existing application, in our case, Community Server 2007. This is possible because all of the source code for the controls is included in the Ajax Control Toolkit. Since we have the source code, we can create custom versions of existing Ajax toolkit controls that use the Community Server API. An example of a CS-customized Ajax Toolkit control is my CS Ajax Slideshow control. Joe Stagman's Video series...

forum bits OnesAndTwos uses the Morpheus IExtended Membership, Profile and Role Provider interfaces to get membership information through web services and wanted to say that he was now a Black Box Believer. Robhuz considers the mechanics of offering a blog in multiple languages and links to an example language control. Neils is looking for CS Skinners for immediate work on a 1 to 2 day job. Ben explains how CS2007 still supports the Quote+Reply button as well as now supporting post portion and multiple...

From all appearances, the ASP.NET Ajax Control Toolkit and Community Server are two great tastes that go great together. I was tired of the limitations of the built-in Community Server Photo Gallery viewer, so the Slideshow Ajax Control that was recently added to the ASP.NET Ajax Control Toolkit seemed a viable option on which to base a new Community Server Ajax Slideshow Control. You can see the result on my site home page and in the screenpic below. There are a number of issues to consider in integrating...

The National Geographic team selected Community Server to power their community presence. COMMUNITY SERVER in Action The National Geographic is one of the world's largest not-for-profit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 350 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic , and other media properties...

We are pretty excited about our new summer interns that have started at Telligent . In addition to gaining some great real world experience (and keeping Kevin satisfied with ample snacks and soda), I expect Community Server to get even better with the introduction of a new reporting package developed by our interns, codenamed Tattletale . To stay on top of all the latest information (and hopefully pictures, video, etc), be sure to checkout http://telliterns.com/ You can either subscribe to the main...

I have created a little blog theme over the weekend and made it available for free. It is available for download here: http://geekcowboy.com/files/folders/community_server/entry12250.aspx This theme should be extracted to your Themes/Blogs folder, then it will be selectable from the My Blogs -> Theme Configuration page in the Control Panel. The theme that this blog is running is this new theme, which is entitled Infusion. Also, don't forget that there is a Community Server theme competition...

As Scott mentioned a few weeks ago , there are currently a few open positions on the Community Server Team. If you dream in ASP.Net/SQL/XHTML/CSS/JavaScript, the CS Team is a great group to work with. The open positions are: Client Side Specialist This person really gets XHTML/CSS/JavaScript/DOM/Standards and has the ability to make a good design great. Previous experience with ASP.Net (or desire to learn a little) will be necessary. This position will primarily focus on improving the overall usability...

Problem You want to customize the HTML that Community Server renders for a Pager. It is easy enough to add attributes to the Pager control to modify how many page links are displayed, whether to show a first or last link, etc... but you can't figure out how to render the links to pages within each template. Solution The magical CSLinkData control. Careful. Not the LinkData control, rather the CS LinkData control. Example < CSControl : Pager runat = "Server" id = "CommentPager"...