The idea behind the module is a simple one. If the datastructure of a lot of core modules is almost exactly the same, then why not make not just one module that can do everything the core modules can do as well... and more? The advantage is clear... no longer you have to learn to use 4 or 5 different modules, you can do it all in one module. Thats where MLAdvAnnouncements comes in.

The magic of the module sits primarly in the Module Settings. In the module settings you can select how the module should behave when rendering items. Regrettably a live demo of the module settings page is not possible, so we made screen shots of the settings page of every module instance on this page. You can view the screenshots by clicking on the appropriate link in the header of every module.

The edit page of the module is the same for every display type, but content entered will be rendered differently or not at all depending on the selected display type. For instance... the links display types will not show images. If you need images to link to something, use the image displaytype as well, in the module settings you can select what kind of url should be used (none, Image Original, or Item URL)

Features:

• Different display modes, which allows the module to act as Annoucement, Links, FAQ, Image, or ImageLinks module
• Enhanced URL control, with image preview upon file selection
• Publish date for easy future publishing of items
• Expired and future items can easily be viewed by module editors
• Archived items can be made visible to all visitors
• More sorting options, which include publish date, expire date, alfabetical on item title, number of clicks (to allow a "most favorite" list), and manual sort order (the legacy "view order")
• FAQ view uses clientside collapsing and expanding of items, and includes an "Expand All" and "Collapse All" option
• You can add automatic numbering to items
• Add (or remove) publish dates to all titles with one click
• Optional automatic thumbnail generation
• Full support for IExportable, needed for importing and exporting modules and for use in portal templates
• Full support for ISearchable, needed for the DotNetNuke search function and module RSS feed.
• And of course... fully multi lingual. The multi lingual capabilities have been implemented in a quiet way: if your portal has only one installed language (ie. en-US), you will not see any of the multilingual options of the module.

If you want to try out the module, visit the demo site here.

The module is for sale on SnowCovered.

Release Notes for Apollo MLAdvAnnouncements for DotNetNuke 3.0.13 and newer
(Tested on DNN 3.013, 3.1.1, 3.2.2 and 4.0.2)

version history:

2006-01-13 - 01.00.03
* added javascript to settingspage, to allow for clientside collapsing and expanding at mode change
* fixed errors in dnn file
* changed location of dnn file to root of module directory, to allow for dnn module uninstall

2006-01-04 - 01.00.02
* removed faulty javascript from settings page
* added fail safe procedure in settings page for loading TabModuleSettings

2006-01-04 - 01.00.01
* added extra image render options
* settings devided into different sections
* added module help
* compiled against DotNetNuke 3.2.2.

2005-12-01 - 01.00.00 - original version
features:
* can act as Announcements, Faq, Links, Image and LinkImages module
* no restriction on length of description
* expired items always visible to administrators, and through a setting in module settings
  also available to all users
* In faq mode, items can expand and collapse at the client side, module can start with all
  items collapsed or expanded, and users can expand or collapse items with one click
* Items have a publish date, which can be set to any date in the future.
* Full support for DNN Search
* Full support for DNN Module Import/Export
* Easy copying of itemtext in different language
* Automatic thumbnail generation
* Links mode new style shows a links menu wich will open url's in the onchange event of the menu, no postback needed.
* Through module settings the sort order of items can be set to Publish Date, Expiry Date, Number of Clicks or View Order
* Through module settings all titles of items can be appended with the Publish Date
* Through module settings items can be autonumbered
* Through module settings "Q" and "A" can be appended to items (useful in Faq mode)
* Items can be shown in multiple columns, through a setting in module settings
* compiled against DotNetNuke 3.1.1.