I was wondering what needs to be done to allow users to select their own skin on a page (or all pages) like what's done on the DNN site. I haven't really noticed that anywhere; but maybe I'm missing something.

What you see on the DotNetNuke site was created by Nik. You can download his Skinergy package at:

http://skinergy.speerio.net/

Jeff Johnson

You just need to set the SkinSrc either in the querystring or in a cookie.

More info here:
http://forums.asp.net/884387/ShowPost.aspx

What cookie? I tried setting the SkinSrc cookie; but that didn't do anything. I have everything working correctly to switch between skins, I just need to know where to actually set the skin so it will load dynamically. I tried setting the active tab's skin in the Page_Load, but that didn't work. I've also tried setting a SkinSrc context parameter. Neither work.

I tried looking at Sperio's Skinergy, but it didn't give me everything I need. I've got all that setup, tho, so I just need to know where to set the skin. I looked at Skinergy's source, but didn't see anything that was setting the actual skin at runtime.

Ok, here's my issue: The code that determines the skin is on the skin itself. You'd think that this would occur to me a lot sooner, but obviously not I really don't want to have to do a redirect every time someone uses an alternate skin (Response.Redirect to the page + "&SkinSrc=/path/to/my/skin.ascx"). I'm hoping there's a way around it; but I'm done for now... I'll just have to take another look tomorrow, I guess. I'm about sick of it, tho, so if anyone knows of a good way to do it, puh-leeeeease let me know!!!

I implemeneted it in my own SkinEngine so I create my own cookie, but the DNN framework is looking for a cookie called "SkinSrc" when it loads.
I list all the skins I want to allow for the user in a drop-down box and after they select the one they want I store it in the cookie.

So, all you should have to do is store that same query string value in a cookie with code like this.

Dim oCookie As HttpCookie oCookie = New HttpCookie("SkinSrc") oCookie.Value = QueryStringEncode("path/to/your/skin.ascx") oCookie.Path = "/" oCookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-30) Response.Cookies.Add(oCookie)

I tried that and it didn't work. I'll have to try it again, tho. I know I bounced back and forth with the path I tried. Maybe that has something to do with it. The only thing I don't like about it is that other DNN sites on the same server will be affected by it - won't they? If so, it's not an adequate solution for me.

Yes, if you are running multiple portals then this will set the skin no matter what portal they are in.
I added a couple extra keys to my implementation to limit it to a specif tab, and to also make it unique by portal.

Unfortunately you won't be able to control that without changing or overriding the core Skin Engine.

I have modified my default.aspx as thus

            ' load assigned skin
            If ctlSkin Is Nothing Then
                If IsAdminSkin(PortalSettings.ActiveTab.IsAdminTab) Then
                    Dim objSkin As UI.Skins.SkinInfo
                    objSkin = objSkins.GetSkin(SkinInfo.RootSkin, PortalSettings.PortalId, SkinType.Admin)
                    If Not objSkin Is Nothing Then
                        PortalSettings.ActiveTab.SkinSrc = objSkin.SkinSrc
                    Else
                        PortalSettings.ActiveTab.SkinSrc = ""
                    End If
                Else
                    Dim objUserInfo As UserInfo = UserController.GetCurrentUserInfo
                    Dim uid As Integer = objUserInfo.UserID
                    If uid = -1 Then
                        uid = 0
                    End If
                    If Request.Cookies("_User_Skin_Pref" & PortalSettings.PortalId.ToString & "_" & uid) Is Nothing Then

                        Dim objUserSkinPref As HttpCookie
                      
                        objUserSkinPref = New HttpCookie("_User_Skin_Pref" & PortalSettings.PortalId.ToString & "_" & uid)
                        Dim objUserSkin As DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.CRV_UserSkinInfo
                        Dim objUserSkinC As DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.CRV_UserSkinController
I am retreiving the skins for a user from db.. but u could choose to do it differently

                        objUserSkin = objUserSkinC.CRV_GetUserSkin(PortalSettings.PortalId, objUserInfo.UserID, "Skins")
                        If Not objUserSkin Is Nothing Then
                            Dim userskinsrc As String
                            userskinsrc = objUserSkin.SkinSrc
                            objUserSkinC.CRV_FormatSkinSrc(userskinsrc, PortalSettings)
                            objUserSkinPref.Value = objUserSkinC.CRV_FormatSkinSrc(userskinsrc, PortalSettings)

                        Else
                            objUserSkinPref.Value = ""
                        End If
                        PortalSettings.ActiveTab.SkinSrc = objUserSkinPref.Value
                        Response.AppendCookie(objUserSkinPref)
                    Else
                        Dim objUserSkinPref As HttpCookie
                        objUserSkinPref = Request.Cookies("_User_Skin_Pref" & PortalSettings.PortalId.ToString & "_" & uid)
                        PortalSettings.ActiveTab.SkinSrc = objUserSkinPref.Value
                    End If
                End If

You can setup user-selectable skins by using a very simple skin that acts as a loader. For instance, here's a skin that loads a different skin based on the browser:

Switcheroo.ascx
===========

<%@ Control language="c#" %>
<script runat="server">
 protected void Page_Load(object s, EventArgs e)
 {
            string browser = Request.Browser.Browser.ToLower();
            string version = Request.Browser.MajorVersion.ToString();

            if (Request.QueryString["debug"] != null)
                Response.Write(browser + version + ".ascx");
     else
            {
      try
             {
           this.Controls.Add(this.LoadControl(browser + version + ".ascx"));
             }
             catch
             {
           this.Controls.Add(this.LoadControl("Default.ascx"));
 
             }
      }
 }
</script>

You can use this same technique to look-up a skin name from a user's profile and have it displayed, or alternately, present a list of available skins and once a user makes a selection, store it in a cookie with the portal ID as part of the key. On subsequent visits, you can force the display of the last selected skin.

If this is of interest to more people, I can add it to the Skinergy suite.

Nik

I was checking out the code to understand how the cookie-based skin that John referred to works and found this reference:

            ' load user skin ( based on cookie )
            If ctlSkin Is Nothing Then
                If Not Request.Cookies("_SkinSrc" & PortalSettings.PortalId.ToString) Is Nothing Then
                    If Request.Cookies("_SkinSrc" & PortalSettings.PortalId.ToString).Value <> "" Then
                        PortalSettings.ActiveTab.SkinSrc = objSkins.FormatSkinSrc(Request.Cookies("_SkinSrc" & PortalSettings.PortalId.ToString).Value & ".ascx", PortalSettings)
                        ctlSkin = LoadSkin(PortalSettings.ActiveTab.SkinSrc)
                    End If
                End If
            End If

Unless I am mis-interpreting the code, it looks like you need to have a cookie named "_SkinSrcX" where X is the PortalID.

Nik

Nik, is right.  That's what I get for trying to go by memory. 
Everything is there if you put the underscore in front and the portal id on the end.

Sorry about that.

Ya know, that'd explain why it didn't work when I tried SkinSrc I've got no complaints about _SkinSrc#! I'll have to switch to that on Monday. Thanks for all the input. I guess I should've dug thru the code earlier.

i'm trying to do something very similar but i'd like to change the skin based on a users internet connection speed.  if they have a low bandwidth connection i'll load a skin with static images, if they have a high bandwidth connection i'll load media rich content.  i've been stuggling with creating the selectable vbscript all day.  can someone give me a vbscript example of how this would be down with cookies?

If you look at the main dotnetnuke home page, there is a menu bar across the top for setting the layout and the size based on skin... it uses a javascript function to set the cookie:

<script language="Javascript">
function setSkinCookie(name, value, expires, path, domain, secure) {
  var curCookie = name + "=" + escape(value) +
      ((expires) ? "; expires=" + expires.toGMTString() : "") +
      ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
      ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
      ((secure) ? "; secure" : "");
  document.cookie = curCookie;
}
</script>

i am sure this could work