Son of Blog(Engine.NET)

Just finished upgrading this BlogEngine.NET blog from 1.3.1 to 1.4.5 and all went fairly smooth.  Followed the upgrade instructions and watched again the screencast just to double check the installation process.  The only catch I came across was the Profiles function threw an exception when I clicked the tab in the Control Panel.  A little staring an the cryptic ASP  server error message, a little poking around the files and a look at the BlogEngine.NET discussion board, and I realized I missed a folder in the upgrade.  As suggested by the upgrade instructions, I replaced the APP_DATA folder in the new install with a backup.  And thus lost the Profiles folder in APP_DATA.  When I copied it in from the upgrade files, the Profiles tab worked just fine.  No harm, no foul so far.

Back In The Blog Saddle 

It' been a good 6 months since I was last here but I'm looking forward to picking up where I left off.  Just highlights of adventures in the IT world in which I work and all other things tech which constantly interest and occupy me.

Suppose I probably should throw a little non-tech writing in there just to mix it a bit.  Life, work, fun, and technology; fortunately it's all good for me.  Been involved in a lot of interesting stuff over last months, so hopefully I'll get some of the details posted here again.

A Blog is Born

After experimenting with an initial install of BlogEngine.NET, and several re-installs primarily due to my own mistakes and not being familiar enough with the underlying application, I believe I have a stable site.

Don't Pass Out The Cigars Yet

My first mistake was switching the primary Theme from Standard to Mobile, which I believe doesn't provide admin function.  With both the primary and mobile Themes set to Mobile, I was effectively locked out.  Perhaps something else caused it but that's what I thought happened.  So I just reinstalled the app again was good to go for a second attempt.

Didn't I Just See This Movie

I was going along pretty well experimenting and trying out different features.  I found the places to customize the About Author blurb and change some font sizes and colors.  I added another page, tested a post, and just explored the interface.  Then my next mistake was to accidentally uncheck the admin role from the single user on the system (I had deleted the default Admin user).  Again I was apparently locked out.  So...

Houston We Don't Have A Problem (Finally)

Reinstall #2 (making a total of 3 times including the first install).  Well I'm getting pretty good at installing BlogEngine.NET.  I fairly quickly reapplied my config changes and appearance tweaks and have become comfortable with basic operation of the application in the process.  I also turned off the Trim function as per a post on the Wiki.  This seemed clear the intermittent "loss" of all style formatting that was occurring.

Exceeded Expectations

I don't know or claim that my "mistakes" were caused by the reasons I've mentioned and that goes for the "solutions" for that matter.  But to my recollection and observation over the last couple of days, those were the only glitches.  Minor and self-inflicted at that.  Overall, I'm pleased with the clean presentation and stable operation this platform seems to exhibit.  What started as a hunch that such a blogging app would exist in such a format (ASP.NET, open source, pay by donation) has resulted in just what I was looking for.

Thanks BlogEngine.NET team.  I'll keep you "posted" on my progress!

If you see this post it means that BlogEngine.NET 1.3 is running and the hard part of creating your own blog is done. There is only one thing you need to do from this point on to take full advantage of the blog and that is to set up the first author profile.

Write Permissions

To be able to log in to the blog and writing posts, you need to enable write permissions on the App_Data folder. If you’re blog is hosted at a hosting provider, you can either log into your account’s admin page or call the support. You need write permissions on the App_Data folder because all posts and comments are saved as XML files and placed in the App_Data folder.

Username and password

When you've got write permissions to the App_Data folder, you need to change the username and password. Find the sign-in link located either at the bottom or top of the page depending on your current theme and click it. Now enter "admin" in both the username and password fields and click the button. You will now see an admin menu appear. It has a link to the "Users" admin page. From there you can change the username and password.

On the web

You can find BlogEngine.NET on the official website. Here you'll find tutorials, documentation, tips and tricks and much more. The ongoing development of BlogEngine.NET can be followed at CodePlex where the daily builds will be published for anyone to download.

Good luck and happy writing.

The BlogEngine.NET team