Friendly URL Settings

Friendly URL Settings in the DNN Community Forums module

If you are using the DNN Community Forums module, you will want to enable friendly URLs to enhance the user experience for your website as well as improve your SEO.

You go from cryptic URLs like this:

https://example.com/Forums/aff/1/afv/topic/aft/2

to

https://example.com/forums/forumgroup1/forum1/this-is-a-topic-about-something/

Friendly URL Configuration for Forums (Module Settings)

To enable friendly URLs for the Community Forums module, you will first need to the module settings, and in the 'Advanced Options' for the Forums module, you will have a link to install the URL handler. This inserts the URL handler into web.config:

Once installed, the link will change to an 'uninstall' option:

You will also have options to enable/disable the rewriter (in other words, it can remain installed but still disabled): Once you enable the rewriter, remember to click 'Update' to activate the module settings.

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Note for older versions of the Community Forums

If you have previously installed the Community Forums module--and its URL rewriter in order to use friendly URLs--that process inserted the attribute runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" into the <configuration><system.webServer><modules> tag in web.config. Per Microsoft documentation, this attribute is obsolete if you are running IIS 7 (plus a patch), or IIS 8+. Since you may have other modules that require it, we have chosen to NOT remove it automatically. If you have no other modules that require it, you many remove it manually.

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There are several path values that can be used with the rewriter, these are defaulted when you first install the Forums module:

• Base Path: initially set to 'forums' this is the path off of the web site's root, e.g. https://example.com/forums/
• Category Path: used when displaying forum categories, if you are using the [Categories] Categories feature
• Tag Path: used when displaying forum topic tags, if you are using the [Tags] feature
• Views Path: not currently used

Friendly URL Configuration for Forum Groups and Forums

The rest of the Friendly URL configuration is forum-specific. From the Forums Control Panel, you set the 'vanity name' for the Forum Group(s) and Forums:

These are defaulted when you first install the Forums and activate the sample forums.

Additional Notes

• If you don't specify a 'vanity name', any topics in that Forum Group or Forum **WILL NOT ** display or use Friendly URLs.
• Any time you move or split a topic, the URLs associated with the topic are updated, and the previously-used URLs are updated to point to the new topic.