The PEO Labs series brings you information or advice on items that are geared towards users who can take high-level concepts or sample code and run with them. Please note that many of the things discussed are not supported. That doesn't mean that an item is a warranty-voider; it just means that the Support Analysts can't walk you through it or troubleshoot it if it breaks.
Over the last few months I've noticed that electric and water companies are really pushing the "round up" thing to work on public projects. So why not do something similar for Patron Edge Online? With a bit of ASP and JavaScript, we can find out how much a patron's total order is, then display a message asking if he would like to round the total up to the next dollar and give the remainder as a donation. The concept is simple, the patron doesn't mind giving away the electronic equivalent of spare change, and you get a donation towards your annual fund. Everyone wins!
Here you will find a zipped file containing two SQL scripts and an ASP page called round_up.asp. This page checks to see if the patron has already put a donation in her basket. If she has not, it will auto-magically display and ask if she would like to round the total up to the next dollar as a donation. It does not just look for totals that are even dollar amounts; a total of $42.30 would add a $0.70 donation and a total of $42.00 would add a $1.00 donation.
To install:
1. Place round_up.asp into your PEOSite\bbCustomizations folder
2. If you do not already have the eSroCstmSiteSettings custom table, run Create Custom Site Settings Table.sql on the PEO database
3. Run Round Up Feature.sql on the PEO database
4. Go to Administration, Custom Tables, eSroCstmSiteSettings and set Donation Round Up Fund to the desired code (found in Content, Donation)
5. Drill into the screen parts of my_basket.asp for the appropriate interface
6. Set round_up.asp as an Include After on the basket view screen part, or create a new screen part below the basket view in the desired location
The page is pretty basic and I created it in about 4 hours over the course of a weekend. It would have taken about half that if I had ever taken a programming class (the life of a French/Business major, *sigh*). Please note that this is custom PEO code. It is not supported (which just means my analysts cannot answer questions about it) but works beautifully on my system. Still, be sure to test before putting it on your live site; I claim no responsibility if it breaks your site, burns your supper or lets your dog out of the fence!
Did you find the round up feature useful? Would you like to see more of this kind of thing on the site? Leave a message in the comments.
It's patch day! Patch 5 is now available for download at http://downloads.blackbaud.com and includes fixes for the following reported issues:
BB289847 - Error: 94 Description: Invalid use of Null Source: TIX_CloseReg Proc: Modfunctions.PrintCloseTillRS Line:305
BB452498 - Itemized receipt does not print in Batch printing
BB456374 - Cancelled tickets do not show as red in booking
BB445316 - Error: Event is already over
BB453326 - Pre-paid credit cards with insufficient balances approved for entire transaction amount (when using NOVA)
There were also some design improvements related to choosing account numbers for our PE/FE integration. As always, make sure you have a patch plan and can handle the downtime it takes to apply a patch. We've updated our compatibility matrix recently as well and made it easier to read, so check out Knowledgebase solution BB346664 to make sure any products you integrate with are compatible.
Does your organization have a blog or XML feed to get out news or other information? Why not display your most recent two or three posts inside Patron Edge Online? It will help boost readership of your blog and potentially increase your number of patrons/donors as well. It is super-easy using a free online tool, and you won’t be doing ANY double-entry.
Interested? Here’s how to do it:
- On the Admin Site, create an HTML screen part with a Name and Filename called Blog on the screen or template where the feed will display
- Go to http://www.rss-info.com/en_rssinclude-simple.html and enter the URL of your feed
- For Max entries, choose how many of your most recent posts you’d like to display
- Make the Table/Iframe width the same as your screen part width
- For the three color fields, I recommend setting them all to the same color as your site’s background
- Open Links in a new Window refers to the behavior that you want if a patron clicks on a post title or link. To keep the patron from having to leave your ticketing site to read the post, check this box
- For Integration, use IFrame. It works on all modern browsers and we can stick it in right into our screen part with no extra work
- Now click Create HTML and copy the code
- Highlight your screen part on the Admin Site and click Edit Free Text Field
- Click the button that says TEXT; this puts you into HTML mode
- Clear out anything you see here and then paste in the code you copied from the RSS-Info site
Et voilà! You now have your most recent blog posts displaying in PEO real-time. It takes less than 10 minutes to get working and just a little longer to tweak sizes, positions and colors to make it blend perfectly into your site.
Do you currently have a blog at your organization? What other ideas are you using to increase readership? Leave a message in the comments.
Here’s a quickie while I’m working on a few things:
Patron Edge Online 3.2.5 and higher gives us the ability to get granular with delivery methods. This will allow people who are buying tickets to the Romeo and Juliet matinée print them at home, but those who are coming to the nearly sold out Pink Martini show have to come pick their tickets up at Will Call. Here’s how:
- On the Administration Site, go to Events, Shows and highlight a show
- Click the email/PDF icon on the toolbar. If you hover, it will say “Choose available delivery methods”
- Check or uncheck Mail and Print at Home as needed. Will Call is always an available delivery method.
How are you currently using this feature? Is it a security measure, a marketing tool to get people to the box office, or something else entirely? Leave a note in the comments.