new module not showing on server

I created a new module for my site, I was able to install it on my local pc, however, when I try to install it on my development web server its not showing under the Content section. I created a setup page (like the one in Josh's webinar), I ran that and it tells me the module is installed, I can see the module information under Administratrion -->advance --> system --> application modules, but yet I can't see it to start added content.

What am I missing on the install process on the server for this?

What I've noticed is that if there are any errors during the module install process, SF will not make you aware of it on screen.  I've had to be in debug mode to see the problems. Josh's demo will give you a success message as long as the module is properly registered in the system config file.  However, the meat of the install is when the application re-starts up, which calls the "install" method of the actual module (this is when your pages, widgets, and data tables are created).  I presume that you're running into a problem there.  I would check your logs and see if anything shows up, otherwise, find a way to debug the app and step through each line in the "Install" method. HTH.

-Amir

I figured out what it was, it was pointing to the wrong connection string, once I fixed that it appeared on my dev server.

Thank you for sharing your feedback, you are correct that if there is an exception during installation, it is completely rolled back. The Error log in the App_Data folder is the best place to check for errors.

It would be helpful to capture these scenarios and display them to the user. I'll see if I can modify my installer example to do this, as well as sharing your feedback to the team on better notifications of errors.

thanks again for updating us on your progress

SF needs to trap errors a little better, these generic .NET errors aren't very helpful at all, there needs to be a way to trap and log the actual error. The only reason I even looked at the connection string is because I ran into the same issue on another developers PC with the same module. Other that I'd still be looking for the actaul error. And as for the SF logs, the line it points to that is causing the error isn't the actual line in most cases. Example: in this scenario it was pointing to a line that was the begining of a method (private String Something()) and not even the database connection call.