My story begins in a dimly lit airport hotel lounge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Year 2009.

In a back corner was the soft glow from a laptop screen and the silhouette of a man behind it.

Four Days Earlier

I received a call from Kelly Ford letting me know he would be in Minneapolis and was excited about having something new to show me. Since I had been building apps with XMod since version 1.0 and was an advocate for XMod, I readily agreed to meet him.

Back to the Story

As I entered the lounge, Kelly waived me over and proceeded to share his laptop screen. “You know what this is, Buck?” he asked. Reviewing the source code it looked vaguely familiar but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.

He proceeded to smile and said, “This is the beginning of XMod Pro! I just started writing the code.” “XMod Pro what’s that?” I replied. He began to tell me about his vision of a new XMod that would revolutionize how I was currently writing my apps.

At this point, you need to understand that I had over three hundred clients using apps, modules and websites I built utilizing the original XMod. So, my first question was, “Kelly, is XMod Pro compatible with XMod? Is it an upgrade path?”

Kelly was quick to explain that this version was being built from the ground up and will revolutionize DNN module development. He went on to explain that unlike the current version of XMod, where you only could access database tables that you created in XMod, you will be able to access every database table in DotNetNuke, every DotNetNuke class, object and new and existing stored procedures.

This sounded great! But, in my mind, all I could think about how was I going to explain to 300 clients that I would need to rewrite their apps to be compatible with the new code. I have been involved with DNN since the early beta days. At the time, DotNetNuke was gearing up for a major version change, 5.0, and that going to be a major headache upgrading client sites to the version code changes.

My Biggest Mistake Ever

I let my fears get the best of me and knowing full well that my clients were not going to buy into paying for code rewrites, I did not buy into Kelly’s vision. Instead, I abandoned XMod development and spent the next few years assisting my two sons build their successful digital marketing agency, Jive Media Group. Don’t get me wrong. This was a labor of love and I am very proud of what my sons have accomplished.

However, something was missing. The passion I had cutting code in XMod. Fortunately, I was presented with a one year client project that I knew would require extensive use of XMod Pro to complete. So, I dug back into XMod Pro, read the documentation, read every article, leveraged my existing knowledge of the original XMod and reached out to fellow XModders Ryan Moore and Patrick Ryan.

The passion was back. I wrote 22 modules for this client including eLearning, Helpdesk, event calendar. Mime sharing, training quiz, mentor training and daily scheduled email modules to name a few. My client was ecstatic! They are now leaders in a billion-dollar industry and their website is host to 105,000 private members and growing thanks to XMod Pro.

Coding Your Passion

I want to thank Kelly Ford for his steadfast vision and belief in the power of XMod Pro.

I want to thank Ryan Moore’s team for their efforts in smoothing out some rough edges by refactoring some of the code.

I want to thank my friend, Patrick Ryan, for his unwavering help and his persistence in involving me in his “Discover XMod Pro” training program. It has opened my eyes to endless possibilities for future projects.

Friendships are reestablished. I am back up to speed with XMod Pro and again coding with passion. I have dedicated my career to assisting my fellow XModders, building apps and custom websites with vision and utilizing the power of DNN and XMod Pro.

I hope you welcome me back to the XMod community.

Always glad to help,
Buck Anderson