4
(5 product reviews.)
DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer (DNM RAD) v1.50 - DNN5 Compatible
posted by DotNetMushroom - 7/22/2010
DotNetMushroom Active Since 1/15/2008
Malta
 5.00
(2 total reviews for DotNetMushroom in the last six months.)
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| About |
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| What Is DotNetMushroom RAD? |
DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer (DNM RAD) is an application builder, capable of building whole applications with interlinked forms and intelligence. DotNetMushroom RAD is also a rapid application development platform which can help you build tables, queries, forms, create navigation between forms and many more quickly and efficiently. It can also be integrated with custom made web services to expand the capabilities of your application. |
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| Why Choose DotNetMushroom RAD? |
- It is NOT a form Builder: Whilst DNM RAD CAN be used to build simple forms such as a contact form, this is such as simple process that we have decided to give the contact form for free! Be amazed at the power of the DNM RAD when you use it to develop entire web based applications such as custom quotation systems, blogs, testimonial applications and so much more!
- Localization: DNM RAD uses DotNetNuke's localization settings. This means that the applications that you develop will change the language depending on the language selected by the user.
- Connect to ANY SQL Database ... even non-DotNetNuke: How many times have you encountered the situation where your client ALREADY has a database and all he/she wants is for you to link your website to it? With DNM RAD you can! This means that the content that is displayed on the website is automatically synchronized with the client's database!
- Access Databases Directly: DNM RAD allows you to directly access data via SQL commands and Stored Procedures so that you are always in full control of your data.
- Package your applications: Packaging simply means that after you develop your application you can save it as a zip file and re-deploy it on as many other websites that you need ... all with a click of the package button! Translated, this means that you develop once, and you use as many times as you want!
- Style your applications: DNM RAD enables direct editing of HTML and CSS via its advanced editor. Moreover, for those who are not so fluent in HTML styling, DNM RAD AUTOMATICALLY generates the HTML via the auto generate button.
- It is backed up by a team of developers and an ever growing community: We have been developing and enhancing the DNM RAD for the past years and continue to do so on a daily basis. We have been in the software development since 1994. We have our own development team and we use the DNM RAD for all our websites. This means that we understand you better and you will get all the support and peace of mind that only a company can offer.
- 1 Year of FREE Updates: With every purchase of DNM RAD, you get all major and minor version updates for a period of one year for FREE!
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| What are people saying? |
“DotNetMushroom has been a life saver for our business. Their support response time is amazing and attention to detail makes me confident they can handle any project I have for them.”
James De Rosa, Product Manager
CBOSS
“DotNetMushroom - RAD is precisely what it is 'Rapid Application Development' Don't be fooled by other similar products that claim to be easy. This is the true Easy Application Development platform for DNN”
Doug Blackmon
Alabama Technology Network
“DNM RAD - was sonst? Ersparen Sie sich lange Ausflüge in "viel versprechende" Anwendungen. Mit DNM RAD entwicklen Sie DotNetNuke Module in extrem kurzer Zeit.”
Henner Ungethuem
webtogether
“I believe this is the beginning of a product me and many others will see as their main development tool. Excellent service, and I believe these people will manage to improve very fast.”
Inge K
(DNM RAD review on Snowcovered)
“Through DotNetMushroom's software, and the diverse technical expertise and flexibility of their team, we became the first Maltese Insurance company that allows customers to Quote for and Buy car insurance online. We can say with pride that this has provided us with a critical competitive advantage in a cut-throat market. We look forward excitedly to further expanding our web-based applications portfolio using DotNetMushroom.”
Robert Gauci
Elmo Insurance Ltd.
“An exceptional application builder. I have been waiting for something like this for ages. I managed to build a simple email form in just a couple of seconds. They also have great video tutorials on their website so its really easy to start off with something simple. A definite must buy for any serious developer. And, considering that this is just a version 1, its amazing.”
Robert P
(DNM RAD review on Snowcovered)
“Awesome module ! Used other form builders but this is by far the best. It is really simple to use, has excellent documentation plus it looks like Microsoft Access so I learnt to use it almost immediately. I definitely recommend it.”
Kevin A
(DNM RAD review on Snowcovered)
“This module is great! I have already done a couple of apps in no time! Initially I had some queries but they answered me in no time. The documentation & support is exceptional! Out of the several form builders out there, I think one should seriously consider buying the Rad because for me, it wins hands down!”
Matthew F
(DNM RAD review on Snowcovered) |
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| New Features in 1.50 |
1. Page Title Control
The DNM Page Title control provides the user with the functionality to manipulate the value of the Page Title of the page. It is possible to either Append To or Completely Overwrite the default Page Title, and the value can be extracted from the currently selected Item
Properties of the Page Title control are:
- Title Type: One can set whether the page title will replace the new page title will replace the current page title or concatenate to it
- Title Delimiter: This property specifies the delimiter to be used when the title type is set to concatenate
- Page Title: You can use this property to specify the text and column data to be used for the page title
2. Page Meta Tags Control
The DNM Page Meta control provides the user with the functionality to add or manipulate the value of the Meta Tags available on the page
Properties of the Page Meta control are:
- Meta ID: This property defines the ID value for the Meta tag present in the Form
- Meta Tag: This property defines the Name value for the Meta tag present in the Form
- Meta Content: This property specifies the Text and Column Data to be used for the Meta Control
3. JS Tree Control
The JS Tree Control provides the users with a Tree Control, very useful when navigating through Articles, File Structures or Categorized Items. Like all DNM Rad controls, the jsTree control is very easy to implement, all you need to do is to include the tag [DNMTREE::ID=idofcontrol] in your template either by writing it manually, or by selecting the control from the control dropdown in the template section.
Properties of the JS Treecontrol are:
- Select Theme: This property specifies a Custom CSS Theme to be used by the jsTree
- Bind Data Source: The Source Table to be used by the jsTree control
- ID Field Source: The Column used as the source for the Tree Item’s ID
- Title Field Source: The Column used as the source for the Tree Item's Title
- Parent Field Source: The Column used as the source for the Tree Item's Parent ID
- Remove Parameters: This is used only if you want to keep the filters that currently are being used on the form
- Navigation Filter: When you click the link (‘Click here to add navigator’) a pop up will load which will give you access to input button navigator items
4. Slider Control
The slider control allows you to create an input or a filter in the form of a slider. For example in the screenshot below, it is being used to filter items by their price.
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| New Features in 1.40 |
1. The Events Calendar Control
Using the Events Calendar Control, one can easily get events data from a table in DNM RAD and display it in a calendar as shown below
Features of the calendar control are:
- Easy User Interface customization via CSS: One can easily customize how the calendar looks like via CSS. A default, usable User Interface (like the one shown above) is already available.
- Automatic Plotting of Events: Calendar is bound to a source table and so any change in the table's data (New / Edited / Deleted Events) are automatically plotted on the calendar
- Preset Days, Months & Years: The calendar comes with the correct days / months and years so all you need to do is plot your events against them
- Clickable Events: Each event can be made clickable so that a user can see more details about it on the same website or any other external link
- Event Summary: A summary of a particular event can be seen by the user upon hovering over it
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| New Features in 1.30 |
1. The Chart Control
Using the Chart control, one can apply a data source to represent the data in a graphical manner. DNM RAD 1.3 enables data to be represented by a
Other features of the chart control are:
- Cross browser compatibility: The Chart Control has been successfully tested on Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, Firefox, Safari and Opera.
- Chart Legend. Tick or un-tick an option to show or hide the chart legend which displays the various series present in the chart along with their respective colour.
- Various line style options to choose from with 6 built in marker styles. Various combinations can be achieved to display chart lines in different styles, e.g. Show/hide line, filled square marker.
- Horizontal and vertical Bar charts. By just ticking a checkbox one can switch a horizontal bar graph into a vertical bar graph without the need to change any other properties.
- Chart points with labels. One can display the point value in a chart line in order to have a better visualisation of the figure represented by that specific point on the chart.
- Trend Line. By ticking an option in the chart properties one can show a trend line in the chart which automatically works out the trend of the chart's data.
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2. The Captcha Control
The Captcha control will further enhance the validation control arsenal in the DNM RAD since it gives you the opportunity to increase form validation in your DNM RAD applications.
Features of the Captcha control include:
- Setting of Height and Width
- Assigning CSS to both the captcha control and the error messages it displays
- Access to set the character set and the number of characters that will be used by the control to generate the captcha image.
- Set the prompt text that can be displayed under the captcha control
- Set the text that will be displayed in the event that the captcha characters are entered wrongly
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3. Improved Speed Performance
We have optimized and compressed all the CSS and Javascript files used by DNM RAD. This exercise has approximately yielded a 40% improvement over the DNM RAD 1.2 when we ran speed tests. This also means that your applications will consequently perform faster.
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| Features |
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DotNetMushroom RAD Features
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Architecture
DotNetMushroom RAD is built on a relational database concept. It is built completely on SQL tables. Top
User Interface
The user-interfaces is similar to most commonly used Relational Database Packages available. This will reduce your learning curve.
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Security & Encryption
Having the power to use SQL to query tables we also introduced a very tight security model. Basically the security model will provide encapsulation so that a user can only access the tables belonging to his application only so ensuring that data from other applications is not accessible. Also encryption ensures that URLs are masked for protection. Top
The Control Panel
The Control Panel provides the user with the functionality to create and modify an application. Here the user can find all the objects that are used by the application. 
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Tables
Data is stored in SQL tables. Fields can have the following types : Text, Number (Integer/Long/Decimal), Memo, Calendar Date, True/False, Hyperlink, Image, File, Drop Down List, Relation (Foreign Key), Computed field.
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Queries
This section will allow you to define database queries. Queries (sometimes referred to as Views) allow you to define a subset of a single table or bigger sets of multiple tables. Write your own SQL command to manipulate data as needed.
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Forms
A form is a representation of the data in the data tables. DotNetMushroom RAD allows for two types of forms: View Form and Edit Form. Their final goal is similar, which is to display data. However an edit form will also allow you to edit or insert new data. Forms are thus basically the user interface of your application.
By default, a DotNetMushroom RAD module can keep one form at one time; however this can be change dynamically through navigation control. You can also put multiple forms on a single DNN Tab by inserting more DotNetMushroom RAD modules. One single navigator control can manage all the DotNetMushroom RAD modules in a single Tab.
A screenshot of the Forms Control Panel is shown.
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Templates
Templates are used to style the data and controls which will be visible within the form. You can use your own HTML, CSS, and Javascript to create any template needed.A DotNetMushroom Form has four template sections that you can use to facilitate the process of building templates. These are Header Template , Body Template , Alternate Body Template and Footer Template
A very powerful and time-saving feature is the Autogenerate Template used for both the View Form, for displaying data, and for the Edit Form, used for data entry. This will automatically generate a template from a data source of your choice. All the fields in the table will automatically be included in the template. (Calculate the huge time savings to create templates especially on large tables)
Template editing can be done in 2 ways either using a plain text editor because most experienced users prefer or a GUI editor. Having the possibility to use both systems help both the application developer and the designer. The application develop will use the GUI editor to create the application without focusing on the design, while then the designer will edit the templates via plain text editing to skin the application.
This brings into DotNetNuke application development the possibility to separate the designer from the actual application developer. In DotNetMushroom RAD a developer can prepare a whole application, creating tables, queries, forms, and inserting controls inside the templates section of forms, sets any control property, the form’s data source, any necessary logic such as JavaScript through the JavaScript control, and setting the Navigation control. The designer will skin the application’s templates either by editing the HTML templates directly or by using the DotNetMushroom RAD text based interface itself inside each form. He can also set a property in the form to make sure that no GUI editor is loaded on this form. 
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Powerful Controls
DotNetMushroom RAD provides a rich tool set of ready-made controls to be used with your forms, mainly :
Data Input
- Textbox
- Data Input
- HTML Input
- Number
- Memo
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Selection
- Dropdown
- RadioButtonList
- Checkbox
- Labellist
- Multilist
- Calendar
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Validation
- Custom Validator
- Range Validator
- Compare Validator
- Validation Summary
- E-Mail Validator
- Regex Validator
- Captcha
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Display
- Label
- Paging
- Image
- Video
- Currency
- Date
- Hyperlink
- Literal
- Charts
- Calendar
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Events
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Others
- Javascript
- Tooltip
- File Upload
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Navigation
The Navigator (Form redirector) is the most powerful feature of DotNetMushroom RAD.
Within an application navigation is a must, therefore to facilitate this process DotNetMushroom RAD provides you with an extensive website navigation module. This navigation system will help you with filtering, navigation between pages and passing values between forms.
A navigator is not bound to do only one type of navigation function i.e. a navigator can change the form of a module and filter the new form.
For maximum flexibility : A navigator can filter a form in one module, set a default value in another form in another module and filter a control in another form in another module.
As explained above the navigation with the DotNetMushroom RAD is versatile and gives you the tools to create a full fletched linked application.
In the example below:
- Click on the CCTV item in the top menu
- The categories under the CCTV menu are displayed in the left menu
- Clicking on ‘Internal Cameras’ on the Left menu will display all the items under ‘Internal cameras’
- In the detailed section a display template is shown
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Button Events
DotNetMushroom RAD provides an extensive list of ‘Out of the Box’ pre-defined events, which will help you to add more functionality to your application with a click of a button.
A sample of the events include :
| Save |
- Save data in form to data source
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| Save & Navigate |
- Save Data
- Reload data to get row saved
- Redirect to the set navigator
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| Save, Return New Row & Navigate |
- Save Data
- Reload data to get row saved
- Redirect to the set navigator
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| Save, Return New Row, Call Webservice & Navigate |
- Save Data
- Reload data to get row saved
- Call a web service
- Redirect to the set navigator
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| Save, Return New Row, E-Mail & Navigate |
- Save Data
- Reload data to get row saved
- Send Email
- Redirect user to specified navigator
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| Save & Back to Caller |
- Save Data
- Return back to Caller Page
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| Save & Email |
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| Save, E-Mail & Navigate |
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| Save, E-Mail & Navigate |
- Save Data
- Send Email
- Redirect user to specified navigator
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Lists
Lists provide a simple way to provide multi-level lists in DotNetMushroom RAD. While you can still use tables to manually create the same functionality, lists provide you an easy and fast way to create one level, or multi level lists. Top
Package & Unpackage
Build an application once and deploy it again in a few minutes.The package module provides you with access to package and unpackaged applications so that you can transfer them from one portal (maybe one development portal) to another. Top |
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| Support |
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| Support On DNM RAD |
We offer 2 types of support for DotNetMushroom RAD, namely:
- COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Available for FREE on our Community Forum
- PRIORITY SUPPORT TICKETS: Available for PURCHASE from This Page
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| DotNetNuke Version Compatibility |
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| DNM RAD Compatibility with DNN |
DNM RAD 1.4 is compatible with versions of DotNetNuke from v.5.2 onwards. If you are using an older version of DotNetNuke and would still like to purchase a compatible version of DNM RAD, then please contact us directly via our contact form |
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| Licensing |
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| Licensing Features |
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Standard $149 |
Pro $299 |
| Valid for 1 Developer |
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| All service packs for that Product Version |
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| Access to Community Forum |
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| All Major & All Minor versions for your product for a period of one year |
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| Subscription Term |
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| Priority Involvement in Beta Programs |
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| Royalty Free Distribution to clients |
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| Priority Support Tickets through our web-based Support Ticketing System (3 Tickets) |
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| DNM RAD Applications |
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Portfolio (FREE)
A portfolio is a web application which displays one's projects. Projects inside a portfolio are displayed to showcase one's knowledge, skills and accomplishments to professionals or potential clients. Mainly, a portfolio consists of project images and short text to describe the project.
We are releasing this FREE portfolio application, the same version packaged from the DotNetMushroom website but without data. Website owners can easily unpackage on their website, through DotNetMushroom RAD. No programming skills are really required from website owners.
 Click here to download the DNM RAD Portfolio Application (FREE)
Contact Form (FREE)
An online contact form is a form inside a webpage, which allows a website's visitors to interact with the website's owner. With the help of this online contact form, the interaction is done instantly and in a convenient way.
We are releasing this FREE online contact form application, which you can easily unpackage on your website, using DotNetMushroom RAD. No programming skills are required. The only thing required is DotNetMushroom RAD installed on the website to unpackage the online contact form application.
Click here to download the DNM RAD Contact Form Application (FREE)
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FAQ's
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Q: Will you be updating the trial to 1.5?
A: Yes, very soon, although the v.1.4 gives a very good trial base for the capabilities of the 1.5
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Q: I installed the trial version of DNM RAD today. I can't read the button items on the main menu because the back-color is dark blue and the text color is black.
A: Most probably your skin is interfering with RAD's design. I suggest that you set the Admin skin for editing purposes (your original skin will still be visible to your users)
Changed the Edit skin from Admin > Site Settings > Appearance > Edit Skin (if necessary click Host radio button to see the skins of the host)
Do the same thing but for ‘Edit Container’
This will load a standard default skin when you are in DNN edit mode - it is also quite good practice to do this so that in Admin mode you are not loading a possibly bulky skin)
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Q: Do you have a 30-day trail? I wanted to try it for 30 days before purchasing it. Thanks.
A: Even better - we have a trial version that does not expire. It is a full working version of the DNM RAD v.1.40 which also has the ability to link with external data sources. You can select it from the options above
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Q: So a standard license is for 1 DNN install only? If this is the case can you upgrade to professional if needed for just the extra cost?
A: Yes, the Standard license is for 1 DNN install. Obviously all portals on the DNN install can make use of DNM RAD. The difference between Standard and Professional is that with Professional you have 3 Free Support Tickets too. You can buy Standard and then buy as many Support Tickets as you need. The details and prices can be found on: http://www.snowcovered.com/Snowcovered2/Default.aspx?tabid=242&PackageID=18707
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Q: This tool looks very promising compared to other RAD type modules I have used. However, I am a bit confused on the licensing. What does royalty free distribution mean? Does the Pro license force a developer to install and use DNM on a local install of DNN only? Also,what happens if a developer has purchased a Pro license, develops an application for a client, then installs the application only to find that he has to tweak 1 or 2 minor issues? Can the developer tweak the issue on the client's dnn install or would the developer have to fix locally, re-package the whole app, then install the app again?
A: Hi. First of all, thanks for your interest in DNM RAD. Royalty Free Distribution means that you can install DNM RAD on ANY number of DNN installations, including those of clients. Therefore, it is NOT limited to a local install of DNN. For your second question, if a developer develops an application for a client and needs to tweak the application, he/she can either tweak it using DNM RAD directly on the client’s DNN installation or else, the developer can tweak it using DNM RAD on his/her DNN installation, package it and then unpackage it on the client’s DNN installation using the DNM RAD that is installed on the client’s DNN installation. The latter approach will not upgrade the current application but will instead create a new application. So, both ways are possible and you can choose any. We recommend tweaking it directly on your client’s DNN installation using his/her copy of DNM RAD. For the time being, each portal that is developed needs to be on a DNN installation that has DNM RAD installed on it. Therefore, if your client has a DNN installation, you need to install DNM RAD on it for DNM RAD applications to work. We are currently developing a “runtime” version of DNM RAD whereby the packaging will package with it the necessary files for an application to run on a DNN installation which does not have DNM RAD installed on it.
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Q: What are the similarities and differences between your product and XMOD?
A: Hi MH,
Whilst we do have a number of reasons why DNM RAD is better than XMOD, it would be unethical to criticise a competitor's product.
What I can do, is say a few words about DNM RAD because that is what we use ourselves for all our clients'needs! DNM RAD has a very short learning curve since in principle it is very similar to database products that most users are accustomed to (such as Microsoft Access). At the same time it allows flexibility for the more advanced developer by allowing features such as direct SQL querying, Javascript control, direct HTML styling, connection to webservices and connection to access any SQL database (even non DotNetNuke) via a connection string.
Something worth mentioning is that we use the DNM RAD to develop all the websites you see on our portfolio - which range from simple catalogues (which can also be done using other form builders from our competitors) to more advanced solutions that we have done using the DNM RAD such as a school intranet, a custom Insurance quotation system and practically any system that clients ask us for, where some form builders will definitely fail.
Moreover, DNM RAD is backed up by a company. We have developers who work all day on adding more features and enhancing existing ones. We have a support ticketing system and we also offer outsourcing solutions. So, you have peace of mind that whatever your level of development know how is, with DNM RAD you can meet your client's needs.
Back to your question. To evaluate the similarities / differences between RAD and XMOD, or any other DNN module, we suggest you download trial versions of each and test it out. As a small footnote, DNM RAD trial is v.1.10, whilst as you can see on this page, there have been a number of new enhancements to the current version (v.1.30.)
Hope this answers your concern.
Cheers,
Justin
DotNetMushroom Team
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Q: There is a trial version?
I want to access the tables where the users are stored,
May I access mysql from an app developed on this tool?
A: DNM RAD 1.3 onwards has the facility to access any SQL Database, even those not built in DotNetNuke. With regards to a trial version, there is a free trial version of DNM RAD 1.40 (available on this page) which has this facility.
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Q: Do I have to buy 1.3 as I already have 1.2 ?
A: You have a 1 year free upgrade. Go to www.DotNetMushroom.com, register your product from 'My Products' link and you can download the latest version. The product code is the Snowcovered.com invoice. If your trial period expires, then discounts are available automatically when you buy from Snowcovered
Ask a Question
License - DotNetMushroom End User License Agreement (EULA)
Software Product License
The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties.
1. Grant of License
This is a license agreement, and NOT an agreement for sale. DotNetMushroom retains ownership of the copy of THE SOFTWARE in your possession, and all copies you may be licensed to make.
Provided that you have accepted the terms contained herein, this EULA grants you the following rights:
In the Standard license you are granted a non-transferable license to install the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a single development pc for application development and design, and on a single production web server, as long as development is not done on this server, and use it in a SINGLE DotNetNuke installation with UNLIMTED portals under the licensed DotNetNuke installation. You are also permitted to use the same license for another non-production or staging servers as long as no development is done on these.
In the Pro license (Royalty Free license) you are granted a non-transferable license to install the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on a single development pc for application development and design, and on a multiple production, non-production, or staging web servers, as long as development is not done on these servers.
2. Description of Other Rights and Limitations
Termination. Without prejudice to any other rights, DotNetMushroom may terminate this EULA if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. In such event, you must destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT and all of its component parts, source code, associated documentation, and related materials.
3. Copyright
All title and copyrights in and to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (including but not limited to any images,photographs, animations, video, audio, music, text, and "applets" incorporated into the SOFTWARE PRODUCT), the accompanying printed materials, and any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT are owned by DotNetMushroom. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by U.S. copyright laws and international treaty provisions.
4. Limited Warranty
NO WARRANTIES. DotNetMushroom expressly disclaims any warranty for the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT and any related documentation is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT remains with you.
5. Limitation of Liability
NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. In no event shall DotNetMushroom or its distributors be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other financial loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this product.
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