At one time I was very keen on working with VBA on import. I now steer clear of this wherever possible! There are many reasons.
Continue reading VBA in Imports
Tag Archives: Constituent
Custom user defined business rules
The idea of creating user defined business rules has been discussed in various threads at Blackbus and on the Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge forums (see User Defined Business Rules for example). The whole functionality is really useful but there are clearly limitations.
One really good use of VBA is to perform this very task. For those not familiar with the build in version it allows you to select a query (constituent, gift or action) and for a all or a limited number of security groups it allows you to display a message on opening the record. This same functionality can be repeated using VBA. Of course you are able to query on a lot more, or perform more than simply display a message. Continue reading Custom user defined business rules
How I would improve the API
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: Continue reading How I would improve the API
Opening a custom Crystal Report from code
Have you ever wanted to call your own Crystal Report from a custom user form? Here is how…
In this example I have a UserForm, a button, a text field for the constituent id and a Crystal Report Control. You will need to go to the control toolbox and add this control before it can be added to your form. All of the constants (variables in upper case) have been previously defined somewhere in the code. Continue reading Opening a custom Crystal Report from code
If you are not a constituent Do Not Call
I always thought that CConstitAddress and IBBConstitAddress and CConstitAddressPhone and IBBPhone were more or less interchangeable. Or at least from the perspective of the constituent. If I have just jumped over too many steps in one sentence then let me start again.
Continue reading If you are not a constituent Do Not Call
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 IDLookup
Is 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.”
Continue reading Is the API really that expensive?
Working with Attributes
Attributes are a common tool within The Raiser’s Edge. I know of no organisation that does not have any constituent attributes. Yet the API treats them rather peculiarly. Unlike an import where you specify the category and description the Attribute record doesn’t store the category in plain text. This would be OK if you regularly referred to attributes with their code table id but you do not. They are referred to using the category text.
Continue reading Working with Attributes
Sometimes the API is just not enough
Sometimes I cannot quite get want I want from Raiser’s Edge using the API. Or if I can it is very slow to get the information. For example when you get a collection of top level records, say constituents, there are filter objects which work well, you can also use the custom where clause which works when there is not a filter parameter. However what do you do when you want a combination of different areas of The Raiser’s Edge all combined into one selection.
Continue reading Sometimes the API is just not enough
Checking security
With the API it is very common that you will want to make a change to an object. Say you have some code that adds a pledge to a constituent when an event registrant is added. The user running the code may well have the rights to add an event registrant (participant) but they may not have the rights to add gifts.
Continue reading Checking security