Welcome PAS MEMBERS!  

I thought I'd give this a try as a way to list the progress on this web site...

The site is run using software called DotNetNuke (DNN), an open source Content Management System (CMS) that runs on a Windows server.  You can read more about it (if you really want to) at //http://www.dotnetnuke.com/  One of DNN's key features is is modularity - all of the web pages you see are built by selecting and configuring modules.  There is no need to edit HTML or any ot the other work normally done to build and maintain a web site.

The site went live in September 2009.  Anel and John Ryan of "Connect 2 Clubs" did the initial setup work.  Since then I've put in MANY hours sorting out some bugs and adding new features.  Here it is Octbober 18th, and we have begun the migration of PAS members from the old way of doing things to the new.  The old way was paper membership applications and checks for payment, trips to the club's PO box, an MS Access database, a printed newsletter and mailing labels every month, and lots of postage stamps.  It took three people and several hours a month to keep everything going, most of the time smoothly.  The new way is this web site, with online registration, payment, discussion forums, newsletter, photo gallery, and much more.

I sorted out the online payment part early on, but one of my goals was to have automatic reminder notices sent out when your membership was about to expire.  I searched around and found a DNN module that was able to provide this, but when I tested it I found some problems with it.  The author acknowledged the problems but is currently busy with other things.  Well, it's open source, right?  So I dug in, learned how DNN module development is done, and then took a look at the Subscription Tools module.  I've now fixed the bugs I found and a couple more, and added a few enhancements.  Hopefully the author will include my fixes - I'm really trying to keep the amount of "custom" code used on this site to a minimum.  My original goal was no custom code or mods!  Oh well...

I hope you like this web site.  I've put a lot of work into it, and there is still more to be done.  If you have comments, corrections, criticisms, please do let me know.

William Phelps
PAS Membership and now Webmaster!