When you are supplied all the dlls that an application uses and these are all COM object it is possible to discover things about the application that you would otherwise not normally be able to do. Some people may call this “hacking” but others like myself would prefer the less confrontational description of “investigating”
Monthly Archives: September 2007
Static, Dynamic and User-defined code table entries
I regularly use the API help file and the code examples it contains. After all why reinvent the wheel There is a good example of how to retrieve values from a code table (search for “Code Tables Server” and select the entry with the same name). The example shows you how to create a code table server, load a combo box with certain entries or see if a certain value is in the table.
A while back I was looking to validate the gift pay method. I would retrieve the data from a CSV file and before applying it to the field in the gift I wanted to make sure it was a valid value. This way I could control the error message myself. This help file example was just what I needed.
Continue reading Static, Dynamic and User-defined code table entries
Installing IDLookup
Update: IDLookup is a legacy application that is no longer available for download. Almost all of the functionality has been incorporated into Importacular and we recommend that product instead.
In this post I hope to offer some help in installing IDLookup. Many people have downloaded it but it may not be so straight forward to install. Note that these instructions can also be used for installing Query Manager.
If you do not know what IDLookup is here is a brief outline. IDLookup is a plugin that I have created to lookup records in Raiser’s Edge given a list of constituents and their address details. This is useful where you have a third party list given that does not contain your constituent ids (such as many giving sites e.g. JustGiving, FirstGiving, CharityWeb, etc) or cold lists that you want to ensure really are cold. The application can be found on Zeidman Development ->IDLookup. This is a demo version that is tied to the sample database.
When you download IDLookup from Zeidman Development you receive a zipped up file consisting of one installation file. After extracting the installation file (IDLookup Setup.msi) double click on it and follow the guide that will install all the files in their correct location. In the plugins directory you will then see a link for IDLookup. However we are not ready to start just yet.
Continue reading Installing IDLookupIs the API really that expensive?
I get a lot of questions asking me if a certain change to The Raiser’s Edge can be done. Here is a typical (if somewhat abbreviated conversation)
Them: “We would like to add an attribute every time a constituent is saved. Then we want to synchronize our online giving application with Raisers Edge. Lastly we want to validate fields when entering gifts into Batch.”