You guys helped me get off of WH4L, I thought maybe you guys could weigh in on my latest quandry. I am interested in creating a couple new custom modules - one that actually provides a decent simple calendar that's visually appealing - and another that simply provides user-profile-esque data entry. I went out looking on a buy v build decision - and came across xmod as being an appealing option against custom coding.

I was wondering if there were anyone in the boards that have tried the DNN module, and whether it really is as relatively simple and robust as they bill it out to be. I would ideally like to have my own custom single-DB-table data structure for the calendar (I would not be using their calendar app), have a data entry form that is straight-forward (pref using xmod), and be able to create my own calendar container presentation (pref using xmod) that simply shows a graphic if something it scheduled, with the details being presented in a separate container. Pretty simple, I think. But I'm not sure I want to drop $60 to find out it if it meets my needs.

Any thoughts or opinions on the product? Or should I just take the couple days to code it myself?

I have purchased every version of xmod to date and don't use it on a single site. To me it does not fall into the "Simple" category unless you have a solid understanding of programing and or SQL. I have neither so for me the learning curve has been way to steep.

It looks to be very powerful, I just need to take the time to learn how to use it.

And another thing..........

I know this has been discussed before, but DNN'rs really need a quality calendaring module. AVCalendar is a nice module but it's development and enhancement cycle is way to slow. Sure it's source code is available, but doe not help the thousands of us who are not programmers.

I just used XMOD for the first time to do a product catalog type module.

Is there a learning curve?  Sure.  But I'm a coder, for me the learning curve was not bad at all.  I forked out cash for 2 of the "Add Ons"  They came with samples of their own.  The documentation for XMOD is pretty good (amazing if we are talking about just DNN module :p).

Anyway, it's no simple gallery.  But it does seem to have a lot of flexibility.  I know they have a calendar mod as well.  I'd check out DNNDev.com.  You could always email and ask for a demo/trial.

In the end I spend $80 on XMOD and it saved me many hours of work.

I did this:

http://www.jamiescustoms.com/MotorcycleInventory/tabid/53/Default.aspx

Totally different application to yours, but anywho, that's my 2cents.

Guys,

Thanks for the input. I'm not afraid to code - I've done tons of asp.net applications in the past and I've watched/done the Todd Davis's training videos (great resource for coming up to speed on DNN!). I was purely interested in xmod as an opportunity to trim the coding time.

I'll take a look at the xmod site then. I may start down the path of custom coding today and see how that goes; and take your recommendation and e-mail the xmod folks for a demo.

And I agree completely that there aren't any quality calendar modules out there - they're either quite ugly or overly complicated with the business-aimed scheduling. Anyway, I'll link up my end-result out here if you guys are interested in seeing it when I'm done.

Again - thanks for sharing your thoughts!  

For those interested, I've put my first version of the calendar module out there - you can see an example of it on my site. I did end up custom coding it in C#, but I think it came along quite nicely.

There's still some revisions I need to make to make the settings a bit more user friendly.

Posted By smcculloch on 9/10/2005 7:55:09 PM

Looks great - using DNN to build guild sites is a great idea!

I've only received raves from the guild members.  We used to be on a phpNuke site prior and there was massive frustration for getting content up there. We're in the process of getting our alliance up on DNN (http://nwa.wowuimods.com/) to further spread the word, and some of the other guilds in the alliance are considering a move to the platform as well.

The platform could use some tweaking to make it more gaming-community-friendly, but I'm hoping that I can put some skins out there and a couple modules like the calendar out there and help bridge the gap.

Any thoughts on the calendar module? It's my first DNN module, and I'd love some feedback.

Well, my last post provided absolutely no context.  Let me try again.

At the bottom of the page you gave us the link to, is a "Back To Top" link.  How are you accomplishing that?

I bought Xmod about 5 months ago.  I think it can do a lot for you, but I would hardly call it simple for a novice to use.  I am a developer and find it tedious to get the form layouts looking the way I want.  I would recommend you have a good feel for html/xml/css to get much out of it.  Here is a link to one of the places I am using it:

http://www.joerattz.com/PublicPortal/Default.aspx?tabid=165

I would agree that the documentation is very good compared to most DNN doc...but then again, it is one of the more expensive DNN modules.  Kelly, if you are reading this, more examples would be great!!!  I have found support to be excellent.