Community Server exclude paths and BlogJet
Disclaimer: Let me start off by saying that I am so thankful that I have the ability to use Community Server and that I don’t want people to think I am negative about it. I have used CS since 1.0 and it has worked out well for us, except the time Matt upgraded without me knowing. =)
We upgraded to get rid of some problems and it has been wonderful, the upgrade went great, BUT I do have some things that have made me want to blog.
Problem: We used to have problems with BlogJet and the MetaBlog.
Explaination: The MetaBlog API had problems supposedly and you can’t fault the guys at Telligent because they didn’t write the MetaBlog API.
Solution: Once you upgrade to 2.0 just use the .Text setting in BlogJet, works like a charm.
Problem: Community Server doesn’t have exclude paths!
Explaination: Now I tried to just deal with this, but this makes me so angry everytime I have to add a new application or upgrade the site. Community Server doesn’t play well in a hosted environment where you have other applications as virtual directories below Community Server. This is as much a problem in ASP.NET as it is a result in Community Server, but it is still something that I think is a major feature needed in Community Server moving forward for a hosted environment.
Solution: This is the solution for CS 2.0. To resolve this problem just copy the CommunityServer*.dll’s, MemberRole.dll, Telligent*.dll’s, and the freetextbox.dll from the CommunityServer directory to the new applications virtual bin directory. Then update the web.config file as below:
<system.web>
<httpModules>
<remove name="CommunityServer" />
<remove name="CSProfile"/>
<remove name="CSRoleManager" />
</httpModules>
</system.web>
NOTE: The good thing about this is that it will completely change from version to version so you will have to figure this out for version 3.0 of Community Server
Another problem that I get upset with is the fact that my Community Server application recycles all of the time. Another sign of the hosted environment not set up right.
Update: There is a FAQ for this here.
Now I am sure there are settings for all of these, but I didn’t find an easy to use FAQ on steps to set these up. That might be something helpful in the future and I might get that if I pay for support.
Like I said in the beginning, I couldn’t imagine not having Community Server it is great and runs the site for me, but I guess there is always something you can improve on. Thanks for the application guys!