08.00.00 RC 2

The Official Community Forums Module for DNN CMS

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IMPORTANT!!! This is a Release Candidate (RC). Please do not use this installation/upgrade package for any production websites of any kind. This release is not supported and is only provided for test purposes, to allow others to test their websites first.

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IMPORTANT: Upgrade Notes

The release notes will follow, below these important notes.

NEW CSS Loading Order

CSS loading has been improved to deliver robust CSS both within the module, across all themes, and then theme-specific with a custom override.

New Community Forum's CSS Load order:

• ~/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/module.css (already existing)
• ~/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/themes.css (new name and CSS content / used across all themes)
• ~/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_currenttheme_/theme{.min}.css (already existing / new name). Can now have a .min.css variant.
• ~/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_currenttheme_/custom/theme{.min}.css (new) has been updated. Can now have a .min.css variant.

Orphaned Web.Config Update

If you have previously installed the Community Forums module --and its URL rewriter in order to use friendly URLs-- that process inserted the attribute runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" into the <configuration><system.webServer><modules> tag in the main web.config.

Per Microsoft documentation, this attribute is obsolete if you are running IIS 7 (plus a patch), or IIS 8+.

Since you may have other modules that require it, we have chosen to NOT remove it automatically. If you have no other modules that require it, you many remove it manually.

Release Notes

What's to follow are all of the relevant updates that have occurred during the development cycle of the 8.0 release.

If you wish to see all of the development work (including updates related to internal testing), you can view the 8.0 milestone in GitHub.

08.00.00 RC 2 (NOT FOR PRODUCTION!)

New Features & Enhancements

• NEW: Rebranded Active Forums to Community Forums (Issue 280, thanks @johnhenley & @WillStrohl & @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• NEW: Updated the template engine to store templates in the file system instead of the database (Issue 227, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Raised minimum supported DNN version from 9.4 to 9.9 (Issue 374, thanks @WillStrohl!)
• NEW: Created a new Community Forums module logo (Issue 401, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• NEW: Added ability to Ban user accounts from the forums ([Issue 165, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Added <Ctrl>+<Enter> keyboard shortcut to submit quick replies (Issue 502, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Lots of caching updates for less database reads and overall performance improvements (Issue 258, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Theme engine now includes minified & maximized theme.css (Issue 65, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• NEW: Default themes included with & without Bootstrap dependencies (Issue 501, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• NEW: Loads a minified theme CSS if exists & fallback to maximized if it doesn't (Issue 600, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Added a custom folder & instructional README.md for theme developers (Issue 604, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• NEW: Modernized the collapse icons in the Topic Editor (Issue 602, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Installs & uses a local instance of FontAwesome for a newly included icon library (Issue 556, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Updated community details on the initialization view (Issue 519, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Updated the module branding & info in the control panel to help newer forum administrators (Issue 490, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof & @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Added view options for Most Liked & Most Replies forum filters (Issue 420, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Added localizable headers to the forum listing grid for the Ratings & Status columns (Issue 476, thanks @johnhenley!)
• NEW: Added a dnn-community-forums wrapper class for easier styling and theming (Issue 449, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• NEW: Added a project README and Code of Conduct (Issue 372, thanks @WillStrohl!)
• UPDATE: Moved hard-coded quick reply HTML to a theme file (Issue 348, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Stop setting runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests on the <modules> tag in the web.config (Issue 439, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability of quick reply on mobile devices (Issue 305, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability of quick search (Issue 577, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability of toolbar icons (Issue 550, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• UPDATE: Replaced iconography of Next & Previous topic navigation (Issue 522, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability of control panel navigational links (Issue 570, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• UPDATE: Improved design & usability of the original (legacy) forum theme for v8.0 compatibility (Issue 547, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability of topic collapse/expand iconography (Issue 471, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Marked the module as not shareable, due to not fully supporting IPortable & multi-portal (yet) (Issue 530, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability of topic & forum subscription text/links (Issue 523, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Updated titles to use headers for consistent theming (Issue 457, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Implemented a deliberate CSS loading order for stability & easier theming (Issue 228, thanks @johnhenley!)
• UPDATE: Improved usability for forum subscription checkboxes (Issue 300, thanks @johnhenley!)

Bug Fixes

• FIXED: Friendly URL detection can report false positives (Issue 336, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Bundled CSS files won't load using the Client Resource Manager (Issue 609, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Quick reply button position & design (Issue 491, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• FIXED: Close previous button emits HTML into the page (Issue 557, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• FIXED: Resolved exception generated by viewing the control panel (Issue 539, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Moving a topic does not move the subscription to the topic (Issue 537, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Only send one email if subscribed to the topic & forum (Issue 419, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Advanced search title is not wrapped in an element (Issue 481, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• FIXED: Added v07.00.12 to the upgrade version list in the manifest to ensure friendly URLs are updated (Issue 447, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Unable to move forums in the control panel when a forum has been deleted (Issue 254, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Resolved HTTP 404 errors with topic icons in the control panel (Issue 437, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Paging not working when forum doesn't inherit group settings (Issue 425, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Rest API endpoints not available to the Forums Viewer module (Issue 395, thanks @johnhenley!)
• FIXED: Links in Forum Viewer open in the main forum module instead (Issue 373, thanks @johnhenley!)

Tasks / Development Updates (and Technical Debt)

• TASK: Moved theme documentation from the theme files/folder to the Community Forums wiki (Issue 595, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• TASK: Updated the wiki to include information on how to contact & connect with, and help the Community Forums team and DNN community (Issue 518, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• TASK: Removed a master file from being packaged & deployed (only for dev purposes) (Issue 551, thanks @johnhenley!)
• TASK: Removed orphaned afbuttonback.gif file not deleted during upgrade (Issue 562, thanks @johnhenley!)
• TASK: Removed an orphaned (and unnecessary) ActiveForums.sln.GhostDoc.xml file from packaging & deployment (Issue 560, thanks @johnhenley!)
• TASK: Removed an orphaned themes\module.css file from packaging & deployment (Issue 552, thanks @johnhenley!)
• TASK: Removed dead code related to template files that never existed (Issue 525, thanks @johnhenley!)
• TASK: Made PortalId & ModuleId variables consistent throughout the source code (Issue 330, thanks @johnhenley!)
• TASK: Removed legacy CSS from central theme.css class file (Issue 444, thanks @Timo-Breumelhof!)
• TASK: Removed/replaced deprecated DNN Platform API endpoints (Issue 328, thanks @johnhenley!)