I am a n00b.

Can someone help me where to download CSK.

I looked at http://www.asp.net/community/projects/  and I cant find CSK.

Is this under a different name now?? 

 This one? It's 1.1, which is rather old at this point. It's archived.

http://www.asp.net/downloads/archived/starter-kits/community/

Oh..sorry I should have specified.Yes I saw that, and since that was 1.1 based, I wanted to know if there is a 2.0 version?

Looks like this is not supported or used anymore?

Do I have any other option with asp.net based forums (without having to pay money) other than YetAnotherForum.net?

TIA 

http://www.CodePlex.com/CASKDotNet is a C# Community (Advanced) Starter Kit version 2.0 - it is the CSK 1.1/GCN upgraded to support .NET 2.0.   When I was first introduced to this "Starter" kit I was surprised at how complicated it was - not your typical starter kit.   I renamed it to the Community Advanced Starter Kit to give a better indication what kind of starter kit a developer is about to venture into.

With CASK I tried to minimize changes to the database - there are some improvements but for the most part the database is the same.   In this version I fixed all known issues with the CSK 1.1 version.

To date I have had over 1800 downloads (released in May 2007) and have no reported issues.  I use it for my company site as well as a number of client sites so I'm constantly tweaking and tuning it to ensure all features work (and continue to work as security tightens).  

There have been numerous improvements since the last release to include a Module Interface that will isolate a developer from the complexity of the CASK system - there are new Calendar and Guestbook modules for samples on how modules can be easily generated and plugged in.

You can log into a demo site that is used to develop flash tutorials (available from the home page on the above link)  http://smartclient.global-webnet.net/INFO/  Login with CASKUser and password of CASKUser to have Community-Administrator access - note that this security role provides access to the Admin area but will not allow you to Save any changes - you can however add, edit and delete in the public areas.

Ok, this is clear to me now.

I read a lot of good reports about ASP.NET CSK (for 1.1), and I like to get the best alternative for this CSK for VB.NET for ASP.NET 2.0 framework. I have to porpose a proper Starter Kit for use at my Work to be used as a tool/method to Streamline the Development Work for APS.NET Applications. We are using VS2005.

What do you recommend ?

tarekahf:

I have to porpose a proper Starter Kit for use at my Work to be used as a tool/method to Streamline the Development Work for APS.NET Applications. We are using VS2005.

What do you recommend ?

I would recommend the Web Client Software Factory (http://www.CodePlex.com/websf).  For Visual Studio 2005 I understand the October release will be a plug'n play (I'm using VS2008's WCSF 2.0 version).   The Guidance Package Recipes (look at these as code generators) and community support is very strong.

I definately wouldn't recommend the CSK (or my CASKDotNet) as the architecture is out-dated.   You should be looking at the Model-View-Controller (MVC) or Model-View-Presenter (MVP) patterns for ASP.NET infrastructures. 

How do you compare DNN with WCSF ?

What is your view about DNN ?

My colleague have downloaded DNN, and developed a couple of sample projects with it. Though it looks cool, but taking a closer look, it is so confusing, and has BLOATED Output, have some limitations, and performance issues.

For your information, we are moving to SAP Enterprise Portals, and expected to be live with several months. 

From my side, and taking into consideration our company direction, I prefer to avoid using Huge Engine such as DNN or WCSF.

Do you know if there is a light-weight tool or some method which helps you build the Presentation Layer by offering Master Pages Templates, with different Themes, and Skins, and provide easy method to switch themes ?

Tarek.

I am using DNN for building one of my site.

Its a nice little framework, but it has got no proper documentation or resources available. The documentation covers genernal administration, but there exists no developer level docs properly.

I am also evaluating Yetanotherforums, it looks good but the current alpha version has some bugs and no idea when it will be released.

Its sad that, no "real" opensource frameworks exists for asp.net as compared to php (for eg, Joomla) 

I have decided to download WCSF and give it a try.

I am using VS 2005 SP1. Can I download and try WCSF under VS 2005, or I must upgrade to VS 2008 ?

Appreciate your help.

Tarek.