There was a question recently on Blackbus asking how to open a link from a constituent record. For example if you had an external system that uses constituent ids to find individuals it would be very useful to be able to open a web page from the constituent window by pressing the macro button and going to the web page that is specific for the constituent. This requires the VBA module. Here is how it is done:
Latest IDLookup Release
Zeidman Development are excited to announce the release of IDLookup 2.0.
It has been totally rewritten to give it a new look and feel but that is the least of it. The new version includes:
- Instead of just one set of criteria you can have many. The plug-in will try to match against each criteria set until it finds either a unique match or the match with the fewest multiples. Save your criteria sets for later use.
- Review multiple matches more easily. The multiples are now cross referenced to another worksheet in Excel so you can see the values from Raiser’s Edge and compare them to values in the file
- Match last or organisation name on aliases
- Match on date of birth.
- Address equivalents are now customizable from within IDLookup in a new easier to use interface
- User interface is localized for UK, US and for Canadian English language
And what is more Zeidman Development is keeping its pledge and making this latest upgrade to our existing users absolutely free.
Read more here
Plug-in order
This question has been eating away at me for ages. When you go to the Plug-ins module in The Raiser’s Edge and see the various plug-ins installed I often wonder is there any kind of order to them. Some of them appear to be in alphabetical order but then one will sneak up on you and mess up the theory. They are not in date installed order as you often get the Blackbaud plug-ins coming in the middle. The only one common theme is that the .NET plug-ins appear to come last. Come on Blackbaud what’s the deal here? I need to know!
Installing a .NET plugin revisited
A while back I wrote a post about how to install a .NET plugin. Since writing that post I now almost always use Windows installer to install my plugins but every so often they do not install I have not been able to work out why. Today though I think I cracked it.
Inconsistent Last Changed Date Behaviour
This is less of a coding issue and more of a Raiser’s Edge in general issue. I had known that when you make a change to an address on a constituent both the address’ and the constituent’s last changed date would be updated. This is understandable as you cannot save the address without saving the constituent. Continue reading Inconsistent Last Changed Date Behaviour
A first look at Blackbaud’s Infinity platform
What better way of starting the new year than taking a look at the next generation of Blackbaud’s products that are based on their Infinity platform. A couple of products have already been released but unlike many other products released into the IT wild Blackbaud has chosen, wisely in my opinion, to make the release a quiet affair and not a must have upgrade. I have managed to take a look at Blackbaud CRM. This product is aimed at the larger fundraising organisation and its flexibility certain shows this.
Continue reading A first look at Blackbaud’s Infinity platform
Top Plug-ins of 2008
A few days shy of the end of the year, I hearby present to you the top visited plugins of 2008 (unless of course there is a sudden rush on any of them before midnight in which case the list will be adjusted accordingly). This list is based on the top number of clicks through to the more information about each plug-in supplied by each plug-in author.
Audit Trail
Blackbaud NetCommunity Integration
Bank Checker Solution
Clear Invalid Spouse IDs
Constituent Document Linker
Code Insert Custom Part
Convio DataSync Connector RE
ID Lookup
Action Reminder Updater
CanadianUpdateRE
Thank you to all that have added to the directory during the year and to those that have rated the plug-ins.
Blackbaud broke the API
The title is somewhat dramatic and probably not relevant to many people however for me and a client that I work with it proved to be a disaster. This is not the first time that Blackbaud has changed the API and it certainly won’t be the last but this was annoying. So what am I referring to?
IDLookup – A new version
I am pleased to announce the release of IDLookup version 1.1.5. This is just an incremental upgrade with the small additions of support for searching by title and by gender.
As always if you already own a copy of IDLookup then follow this link to download the new version. Use the same serial number if prompted.
If you do not own a copy then why not download a trial version at Zeidman Development. And now for a limited time only (thanks to Her Majesty’s government) UK buyers can get the reduced VAT rate! If you are buying from outside of the UK then take advantage of the low exchange rate. Due to the exchange rate the US dollar equivalent price is now 27% lower than it was four weeks ago!
IBBMacroProperties – A very useful interface if it worked
The IBBMacroProperties interface promised some nice enhancements to VBA macros. However of the three properties in the interface only one of them actually works.
Continue reading IBBMacroProperties – A very useful interface if it worked