Tonight I tried to use some of the XSL stylesheets I created for my ASP.NET 2.0 web parts mashup in the DotNetNuke 4 web portal. I was very pleased to find that most of them work when used with the News module. The News module allows you to specify both the news feed and its news feed stylesheet so you can actually use any kind of XML feed. You can use web services, developer APIs, or RSS feeds. If you are not actually consuming a news feed then you just use your own stylesheet to control how the data is formatted.
I was able to use several of my web parts in my DotNetNuke 4 web portal because they were basically just XSL used to style XML feeds. Please see the screen shot below. I was able to use my local weather widget, the show my IP address widget, LiveVideo featured videos widget, and the actual news feed for the Newsvine Web Development Group (did not require a stylesheet). Therefore it appears as though my work with web parts will port to this web portal as long as it is based mostly on XML and XSLT (stylesheet transformations). DotNetNuke 4 does not use web parts but you can still minimize modules and move them from place to place when logged in as an administrator. I have the book Professional DotNetNuke 4 by Shaun Walker and others from WROX Press.
I’ve switched form using ASCX user controls for my web parts to using VB class files that are real web part controls. I made the switch because you can use title icon images in your web parts when they are actual web part controls. I really wanted those icons in my project because I’m an icon freak. I have a large collection of web site favorite icons. You can use regular Windows icon files .ico for web parts as long as they are 16×16 pixels. I have noticed a major drawback to web part mashups. Web parts do not use AJAX so there is an annoying refresh of the web page every time I make a change.
