Configuring Users Online for DotNetNuke

Users Online Issues

There has been some confusion lately about the Users Online module; I think this is due to a combination of issues:-

• Influx of additional users (the module now installs as default since DotNetNuke 3.1.1)
• The module is not as intuitive as it could be (see the “can’t you make it easier?” section below).

Example issues include:-

• “People Online section always reports 0 online users”
• “The Online Now section never lists anyone”

There are a couple of steps that you need to do before the module will function correctly. The steps involve setting some host options (you will only need to configure them once for your entire installation).

Configuring Users Online

The “Users Online” module works on a background thread (via the scheduler) to add and expire users from the users online list. The scheduled job should exist in your installation, but it is disabled by default.

To enable the scheduled job:-

• Login to your portal as a Super User account (e.g. host)
• Navigate to Host -> Schedule
• Edit the “DotNetNuke.Entities.Users.PurgeUsersOnline, DOTNETNUKE” job (click the pencil)
• Check “Scheduled Enabled”
• Click Update

Now that you have configured the scheduled job, your users should begin to process background users. The problem is that there is an additional host setting you must set before this can occur.

To enable users online:-

• Login to your portal as a Super User account (e.g. host)
• Navigate to Host -> Host Settings
• Expand “Advanced Settings”
• Expand “Other Settings”
• Uncheck “Disable Users Online”
• Click Update

You should now see your users online count increment, updates occur each time the  schedule job runs (by default, 1 minute). A follow up article will be written to show the technical implementation of Users Online and why it operates like this.

Can’t you make it easier?

Sure we can and we will! The additional configuration for Users Online has evolved throughout the history of its implementation; let’s walk down memory lane to find out why we need these additional configuration steps…

Memory Lane

Development for Users Online began for DotNetNuke 2.x, I had developed the prototype in 1.x and it existed as a core hack. In fact, here is the link to the core hack (for DotNetNuke 1.0.10d).

When development began for DotNetNuke 2.x, it was decided to integrate the Users Online functionality into the core. The integration involved three sections:-

• A section of functionality that would process user requests and stack them up for process by the background job
• The background job that would add and expire online users
• The module that would display the user online information (this was not installed by default, but distributed as a private assembly with the core)

Since the module part was not installed by default, there needed to be a mechanism of disabling the integrated core work so that no additional load would be generated. This is the reason for the “disable users online” host setting.

At a later stage (DotNetNuke 2.1.2), the scheduler was introduced to run background tasks. The background job was moved from a hard coded event to use the new scheduler functionality. This job was then set to be disabled by default. This is the reason for enabling the PurgeUsersOnline job.

Back to Reality

Fast forward to DotNetNuke 3.1.1 and these configuration options still exist. The options should remain, but there is some additional functionality we can add to the module configuration to make it easier for new users. These options include:-

• Not allowing the user to show the “People Online” or the “Online Now” section if the host settings are disabled.
• Providing an option in the settings section of the module (to Super Users only) that will enable both host settings (the host setting and the scheduler job).

These enhancements will be among the first to be implemented as part of Users Online Sub-Project.

Get Involved!

• Do you want to participate in the DotNetNuke project?
• Do you want implement new enhancements for the Users Online project?  (register your interest in this thread)
• Do you have new ideas for the Users Online module? (register your ideas in this thread)

Important Links

• DotNetNuke
• Users Online Sub-Project
• Users Online Blog