We often receive support requests and depending on the platform, version, and so forth we have to ask several leading questions to make sure we get the appropriate details over to a support representative. The questions and answers below can greatly help us in making sure we have the right answers and know the best way to help you with your support issue (and ultimately provide you with better and faster support which is our goal).
Common Questions
What version of DotNetNuke / SharePoint are you running on? Please be as specific as possible including any details such as if the version was a fresh install, upgraded several times, recently upgraded, etc...
What version of our module or web part are you running on? Please be as specific as possible including any details such as if the installation was a fresh installation or an upgraded, and the exact version number (you can find this under host/extensions). Please provide more details such as version 04.01.52 rather then simply saying (we are on the latest version).
Are you having email problems? All of our modules use the "exact same" email functions as the DotNetNuke or SharePoint core components use. So please test sending email using Admin, Bulk Email with the exact same from email address. If you are running on certain version of DNN (specifically 5.4.4 or 5.6.1) please review the product forums or google "DotNetNuke 5.6.1 and Email Problems" to find the work around.
Are you having problems with PayPal implementations within Dynamic Registration or Dynamic Forms? If so please make sure to review the several tutorials on this topic in details, spending time following the tutorial is time consuming but ultimately will help you better understand the complexities for some of these demonstrations. You can find these demonstrations at http://www.datasprings.com/formdemos and there are also blog posts posted within our blogs. I also encourage you to search our community forums.
Have you searched our site thoroughly for items related to the topic? If you are having the problem then chances are someone else has also had the problem and their have likely been past discussions within the community forums or specific blog posts to address your question. The best way to search our site is often through Google by using the site: property. For example, try these sample searches in Google:
site:www.datasprings.com DotNetNuke Email 5.6.1
site:www.datasprings.com Dynamic Forms PayPal Completion Events
site:www.datasprings.com Dynamic Registration And Opt In Email Integration
site:www.datasprings.com SharePoint Stock Quote Web Part Sample Templates
site:www.datasprings.com Dynamic User Directory Installation Errors
Often you can copy and paste the exact error details that you see on the page into Google, and adding the site:www.datasprings.com will make sure to reference only our site if that helps.
Can you duplicate your problems on our Sandbox Environment? We host www.betasprings.com (sign in with the username host and password of dnnhost). The sandbox environment is refreshed on a regular basis and allows you to test our modules as well as try and duplicate or replicate a problem with the module. Replicating a problem on the sandbox environment is not a requirement for a support ticket however if you can spend the time to do this then it will greatly improve on the timeframe that we can verify a bug and possibly provide you with a work around or a patch within a faster timeframe. If you can't replicate the problem on Beta Springs (either you tried and it doesn't work the same or you do not have time) then that is acceptable but we then that to look at more possibilities (based on DNN version, based on possible conflicts with other modules/skins/containers/browsers/etc...)
Do you see any errors within the Event Viewer? Often times an error or bug will exist within our modules and throw a DotNetNuke Error Exception. You can typically provide us with more specifics related to this error (and find more details yourself) if you check the event log. You can find the Event Log under Admin, Event Viewer. Often (although it might seem like gibberish) if you review the error message or stack trace of the message you might be surprised that the problem is right in front of you! If the error message doesn't really help then simply copy and paste it within any support ticket you open with us... The sooner the better as we will likely ask you for the details for any initial support case already.
Where are you hosting your DotNetNuke Portal or SharePoint Portal at? Although our modules work on any DotNetNuke host we do have our recommendations and favorites (ask us!). Simply put, you typically get what you pay for and if you are going with a cheap host that might come along with extra problems including overloaded shared hosting servers, restrictions on the trust environment your site can run on (i.e. Go Daddy for sure), or even difficult or slow support. Although we will support our modules on any host that offers DotNetNuke Hosting, if you let us know beforehand where you are hosting the site then this will help us in determining if their are any known issues (or none at all) with the specific host and our modules.
Do you have any JavaScript errors? Are you trying to work with client side events (i.e. JavaScript) within Dynamic Forms or Dynamic Registration and the client side events are not working? Client side events are powerful features within both Dynamic Forms and Dynamic Registration... With power comes difficulty when trying to figure out where specifically the problem is (after all, behind the scenes this is really just another name for JavaScript which is a pretty large programming language!). If you are having problems I would first encourage you to make sure you have checked and searched our forums, demonstrations, and user guide. After that my next suggestion would be use the FireFox browser and specifically a tool within the browser called FireBug (its an add on that you can get). This tool includes several useful tools but the most important is a feature within FireBug called Console which allows you to see any JavaScript errors that might be coming up when the page loads (often very important if nothing works like a submit button even, sometimes a conflict with another module that is causing it). This can also provide very specific details regarding other JavaScript error messages and if you are close to getting your client side event to work but its failing... then this is the tool for you! Get familiar with it once and use it over and over again on your implementations!
Don't forget, many of our tools have a "Debug Mode" feature! Many of our tools include a feature called "Debug Mode" within our modules. This tool can be extremely helpful in debugging things such as:
- What client side events have actually rendered as (the JavaScript itself) and this can help identify trouble spots (either for you, or for you to get our support staff)
- What SQL is firing such as for initial SQL data bind within Dynamic Forms etc...
- After form submissions what completion events would fire including the details such as the exact SQL (great as you can then copy/paste that SQL under Host/SQL and check the box that its a script.. then receive the full error message of what the problem is)
- Any errors that might occur with more details to provide our support staff. Don't be afraid of enabling debug mode, no harm can occur!