I'm excited to announce that my company, MooreCreative, has worked out our installation kits, instructions and support site so that we can release many of our Custom Controls for XMod Pro forms that we've been using this year. Additionally, we'll begin posting MooreCreative Module Kits for several of the DNN management tools that I've posted here in my XMP Blog.

Why Build Custom Controls & Module Kits for XMod Pro?

MooreCreative develops complex corporate websites and systems with DotNetNuke and XMod Pro at the core. The vast majority of custom solutions that we build for clients are built with XMod Pro as the main module... really the main development platform that we build on top of. In that development, the majority of all that development is within the template and form tools provided within XMod Pro versions 3, 4 and up.

On occasion, a client will ask for (hmmm sometimes demand...) that one part of that XMP solution that we've built be specifically different from what we can produce normally in XMP. Sometimes we push back (you know, clients are sometimes demanding out of ignorance of the web, or sometimes ask for things that aren't best practices or would be confusing to their users). But, sometimes, what they've asked for inspires us to invent something new to work into our XMod Pro toolbox!

It's those new useful tools that we are releasing on the DotNetNuke Store so that the XMod Pro community can benefit from the development and use the enhanced functionality too. We have developed the MooreCreative Module Kits and Custom Controls for XMP as ready-to-use functionality and enhancements for people who love to use XMod Pro as much as we do!

What Are XMP Custom Form Controls?

XMod Pro forms come with a range of standard, default form controls that you use to build your form including: Textbox, Textarea, HTML Input, Radio Button, Check Box, Radio Button List, Check Box List, Drop-Down List, Date Input, File Upload, and more.

In XMod Pro Forms (AddForm and EditForm), you are able to register XMod Pro compatible Custom Controls that create new form controls / tags that you can call within the code. To use third party libraries containing XMod Pro-compatible controls, you use the <Register> tag at the top of the Form code. This registers the library and makes the new control available to both the Add and Edit form.

In most cases, with these Custom Controls that we've released, they are rebuilt versions of standard XMP form fields that are enhanced to have new functionality. Most of the time this comes through the incorporation of additional variables/values for configuring the form element, additional functionality through jQuery and ASP.NET additions. Once wrapped up in a Custom Control, you are able to install that control dll and reference it at the head of your XMod Pro Form, and then you can call that new form field just like you reference other standard form elements.

Items We've Released So Far

You can see the full list of items that we have released on store.dnnsoftware.com that are built to work with XMod Pro
http://store.dnnsoftware.com/vendor-profile/moore-creative

• Custom Control For XMod Pro - Enhanced File Upload

  

  This is our own build to replace some of the custom uploaders that were previously available in the XMP community a few years back. We developed this Enhanced File Upload Custom Control for project situations where we needed to allow users to upload images to the website through an XMod Pro form, however we needed further enhancements including the ability to enforce file size restrictions (separate from the web.config), work with image resizers, resize images, enhanced image thumbnail previews, remove/clear functions and more.
  Enhanced File Upload available at store.dnnsoftware.com

• Custom Control For XMod Pro - Checkbox List Menu Tree

  

  This Custom Control for XMod Pro Forms gives you the ability to have an ASP.NET Menu Tree / Structure for a Form Checkbox List! We developed this Custom Control for project situations where we needed to present multiple options for a user to choose from in a multi-select scenario in check box lists.
  Menu Tree Checkbox available at store.dnnsoftware.com

• Custom Control For XMod Pro - Add Additional Item

  
   

  In XMod Pro, items are either a Template (which can loop) or a Form (which cannot loop or have repeating dynamic fields), but with this new Custom Control, you can have the ability to create dynamic "add additional" fields/records to an XMod Pro Form! Essentially you can have a row of form elements (normally a set of text boxes and dropdowns) that the user can click an "add more" button to keep dynamically adding that row to the form. It's perfect for any form where users need to add in multiple records or sets of data (ex. multiple addresses, multiple invoices/POs, etc.). Because of the complexity of setup for this one... we install and customize it for you ; )
  Add Additional Item available at store.dnnsoftware.com

• Custom Control For XMod Pro - Enhanced ListBox with Search/Filter

  

  This Custom Control for XMod Pro Forms gives you the ability to have an enhanced ListBox with a dynamic filter/search at the top. It's the perfect solution for form multi-select lists with too many items/options for users to sift through!
  Enhanced ListBox available at store.dnnsoftware.com

Wrap Up

So, next up, we'll be releasing some of the FREE Module Kits for the DNN Administrator utilities and managers that I've mentioned in previous blog posts... also have a new one that is a "better portal review manager" kit that's great for DNN instances that have 10+ portals to them.

Go check out the items we've built, and I'll keep you updated on new things as we release them.

Thanks!

- Ryan

MooreCreative XMod Pro Development Blog

In the MooreCreative XMod Pro Development Blog, I'll try to share some of the thoughts and ideas that we've come up with on a day-to-day basis as my development company uses DNN + XMod Pro to tackle client projects. I'll include items such as tips/tricks, did-you-know articles, troubleshooting/testing examples as well as posting samples solutions and explanations behind our experience working with XMOD and jQuery functions, PageBlaster, ZLDNN Article, and other modules/elements.

If you would like to see us tackle a topic, especially anything out of the forums that could use further examples, please, don't hesitate to email me, and I'll look into preparing it for a blog post.