Zeidman Development is pleased to announce the latest release of IDLookup. With this latest release (version 1.1.4) we bring you some exciting additions:

• Use your search criteria against a spouse record.
• Previously we introduced address equivalents (a match against “1 High Street” would also match “1 High St”, or “1 High St.”). In this latest release we allow you to customize the address equivalents list so that you can add new equivalents and change existing ones.
• A user guide. (a long sought after addition)

If you have not checked out IDLookup for a while then there are many new features including:

• Matching on the first few characters of fields
• Making your search accent insensitive (e.g. côté matches against côte, coté and cote)
• Matching on maiden name
• Filtering the results on specific constituent codes or constituent attributes.

If you already own a full license of IDLookup then download this latest version now for free. Otherwise download a full working version of IDLookup (restricted to the sample database)

If you need any help installing IDLookup, wish to purchase it or have any feedback then please do not hesitate to contact us

David

Previously I have integrated Quick Address from QAS with The Raiser’s Edge. I implemented their pro API in order to validate the address on saving the constituent/relationship/participant and on demand using the VBA macro button. I created a plugin to update addresses en masse using their batch API. I implemented their pro API to create a “silent” validation during import. The one thing that I didn’t do at the time was to validate addresses in a constituent batch. At the time this was not a requirement.

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OK so the title can be interpreted in many different ways but what is says in essential the truth.

 I had a complaint from a client who was testing a plugin that I had created. She said that “deleting makes Raiser’s Edge go backwards and that the arrow keys were broken too”. Of course it took some probing for me to work out what she really meant but here is it is.

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Here are the most popular plugins for the month of November from the plugin directory. This is based on the click through for more information link.

1. Audit Trail
2. Action Reminder Updater
3. Convio DataSync Connector RE
4. Blackbaud NetCommunity Integration
5. Constituent Document Linker
6. Bank Checker Solution
7. Create Preferred Address
8. Alternate Address Deleter
9. AFP
10. Custom Reports

Cannot find the plugin that you are looking for? Get in contact with us and find out how we can make your Raiser’s Edge processes more efficient and make savings in both time and money.

The plugin directory has been upgraded to include the possibility to filter by product type e.g. Raiser’s Edge, NetCommunity, etc. This is slightly limited as it is currently only possible to give each plugin one product category even though some span two products.

 I have also added sort functionality so that you can sort alphabetically, by most highly rated and most highly viewed (based on the click through to more information).

 As previously if you have had any experience with any of the plugins add your comments as it will help others to decide their usefulness.

Here is the link again: http://www.zeidman.info/php/plugins.php

I normally keep up with the latest changes in the Raiser’s Edge version.  I thought that the jump from 7.81 to 7.82 was not that great. I knew that there were fixes so that RE would work with Office 2007, there were some more changes to optional modules (I was only really familiar with events), there were new names for items in query and export, another change to Gift Aid and that was about it. At least that was it until I saw an item on the conference pages talking about the new Batch API code that had been made available. What?? Batch API! This is something that I have been asking for forever and it completely threw me when I just stumbled across it. Read the rest of this entry »

I am pleased to announce phase 2 of the plugin directory!

You can now rate the plugins and add your own comments about them. If you have had some experience of some of the plugins listed then please do add your comments. Unlike adding or editing the plugins listed comments are not moderated so feel free to add what you think about them. The average rating is also given.

Adding ratings requires that you are “registered” this is so that plugin ratings are not skewed. Adding comments does not required any registration and can indeed be anonymous.

Check out the new features here:

http://www.zeidman.info/php/plugins.php

Look forward to reading your comments!

Phase 3 will include sorting and filtering by product, rating and date added. Watch this space…

You may be interested in knowing how to install a plugin because you have just downloaded one and want to install it or you have just developed a plugin and want to deploy it. This article covers both.
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If I have often wondered if I were in charge of the API at Blackbaud how I would change it. Well unfortunately I don’t wield that kind of power and secondly I am not sure that a major overhaul is required. It is clearly not a modern API being COM based but for the main it works well. However there are still quite a few areas that I would improve upon. I don’t suppose that these will ever happen. Changing the API is no doubt lower on Blackbaud’s list of priorities. With the imminent arrival of the Infinity platform (and, yes, its name does seem to have influenced the pace at which it is being released) , the ability to develop any interface into the system seems a real possibility. RE API by comparison appears somewhat staid and limited. I would imagine it no longer commands the attention at Blackbaud those of us using it would like.

That being said I would love to be proven wrong so Blackbaud if you are listening here are the areas that I would change: Read the rest of this entry »

I just noticed Blackbaud have added a code sample to their Blackbaud Labs site. This appears to be the same code sample as was released on CodePlex but it will no doubt get a larger audience here.

My initial thought about this code are that it is unnecessarily complicated. Creating an embedded HTML resource, creating a specific control, putting in the correct GUID into to the HTML page and then getting it all to work seems to be somewhat of a long winded approach. Read the rest of this entry »