When I first started out working with Raisers Edge API I realised that I was reusing many routines over and over and that would it not be better to create my own tools class so that I would not reinvent the wheel. Over the years I have added items to this class that I have found useful and have developed older items in order to do more things. In this post I will share with you some of the items that I find invaluable. Continue reading Your own API Tools Class
One of the good things about the CCodeTablesServer class is the ability to fill a combo with code table entries. For example if I have a custom form and want to be able to allow the user to select say, a title, I can simply call the CCodeTablesServer class method LoadCombo and my combo is filled up with titles. Well it is if I am using a COM environment such as VB6. But what do I do if I am using .NET? Continue reading Filling a .NET dropdown with code table entries
I have on several occasions expressed my delight about the arrival of the Batch API. I am still enthusiastic but somewhat war weary having spent this passed week trying to solve problems that have appeared. Clearly the Batch API was not rigorously tested before it was released as otherwise the sort of errors I am getting would not have appeared. In case you have been struggling too or in case you thinking about using this functionality here is what I have been up against.
Continue reading Battling on with the Batch API
Here is a strange problem that I encountered. I wanted to show the constituent form with constituent data. I also wanted to know if the user had saved and closed or just closed the form afterwards. If I had not been interested in knowing this information then I would have simply done the following: Continue reading The Case of the Missing Tabs
A while ago I wrote an article about filtering on gifts. I find myself regularly having to reference the knowledgebase link which itself links to an Access database file. Here is a snippet from that other article.
A word on the GiftTypes filter. Here you can filter on cash, pay-cash, pledge, etc. However this is not simply the text but rather an id that the type refers to. This too is not well documented. There is a link in the knowledgebase (http://www.blackbaud.com/esupport/es…r=0&id=BB17413) that gives this information or it can be derived by looking at the SQL or a query.
For example:
oFilter.GiftTypes.Add 1, "Cash" oFilter.GiftTypes.Add 2, "Pay-Cash"
I got somewhat tired of having to download that mdb file each time and some of the gift types stuck, many I forget. So here is the list (mainly for my own reference but for the benefit of anyone else who needs this list):
| Gift Types ID | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cash |
| 2 | Pay-Cash |
| 3 | MG Pay-Cash |
| 4 | Covenant Payment |
| 8 | Pledge |
| 9 | Stock |
| 10 | Stock (Sold) |
| 11 | Pay-Stock |
| 12 | MG Pay-Stock |
| 13 | Pay-Stock (Sold) |
| 14 | MG Pay-Stock (Sold) |
| 15 | Gift In Kind |
| 16 | Pay-Gift In Kind |
| 17 | MG Pay-Gift In Kind |
| 18 | Other |
| 19 | Pay-Other |
| 20 | MG Pay-Other |
| 21 | Write Off |
| 22 | MG Write Off |
| 24 | Net Covenant |
| 25 | Gross Covenant |
| 26 | Deposited Convenant |
| 27 | MG Pledge |
| 28 | Adjustment |
| 29 | Covenant Write Off |
| 30 | Recurring Gift |
| 31 | Recurring Pay-Cash |
| 32 | GL Reversal |
| 33 | Amendment |
| 34 | Planned Gift |
In export for a recurring gift it is not possible to pull out the bank details specific to that gift. You can only pull the name of the bank or all the banks on the constituent’s record. It is not possible to pull the account number and sort code. This is really important when there are bank issues with recurring gifts that need to be sorted out.
Continue reading VBA User Fields in Export
Following my previous article on creating a batch with a notepad I am following it up with a some code that adds attributes. This is more or less shown on the Blackbus thread that I referenced but I wanted to clarify some of the steps having gone through the procedure myself. Continue reading Creating Attributes with the BatchAPI
I have started to use the Batch API in earnest now. I have said previously that it is a great long overdue piece of functionality but I am beginning to understand why it was never included earlier. As with much of the API the newly added Batch API is not well documented. A good example of how to use it was given and can be found on Blackbaud’s knowledgbase (BB418575) but it is somewhat limited. It does not explain for example how to add an attribute or a notepad to a gift batch. This was discussed on a Blackbus thread. Adding the items to the batch header was quite straight forward but adding the actual values proved more difficult. Here I try to shed some light on the process.
Continue reading Using the Batch API with Notepads or Attributes
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.
Continue reading Validating a Constituent Batch
Inspired by a posting on Wired (which in turn was taken from a Wiki on obsolete technologies) I wanted to give you a list of the top five obsolete areas of the RE:API.