Post-Conference Goodies

During the Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits this year I demonstrated an application I had been working on that will instantly open the RE record for whatever PE record you're currently viewing with a single click. I promised to have it up on The Spotlight by the end of the week for all of you to enjoy, and I feel like it's finally finished enough to put up here. Here's the rundown of how to install and use it:

• Download the following ZIP archive: Open RE Record From PE
• Run Add RE Record Menu Item.sql against the PE database. If you don't want it in the spot for User App 01 or have installed Patron Edge to any folder other than the default, you need to update the script before running it.
• Copy OpenRERecord.exe and Interop.BBREAPI7.dll into the Patron Edge application folder. This goes onto every workstation that you want to have the feature.
• Access a CRM record in PE and click the link under Applications in the right-hand pane. You will be taken to the RE record.

And a few caveats:

• This is not official functionality. It was not written or tested by programming so there may be bugs (nothing worse than an error message; it can't break your data).
• If you have issues please leave a comment here or start a thread on the forums, or feel free to send me an email. Please do not contact the Patron Edge Support team, as they cannot help with this.
• I wrote this in Visual Studio 2008, so it may require you to install the .NET 3.5 Framework.
• I spent all my spare time for a couple of weeks writing this interface, so please leave a comment and let me know how it works (or how it doesn't)!

Happy weekend everyone!

Patron Edge 3.310 Patch 8 is now available

Hi all, there's been a lot going on under the hood here in PE-land so I've been a little quiet this week. Not wanting to leave you completely empty-handed though, we have just finished building the latest patch for Patron Edge 3.310. Since Patron Edge 3.340 is currently under controlled release, we have ported several of its fixes to 3.310 to help with stability issues for your current version.  Here is a full list of the items that are resolved in this patch:

BB469388 - Itemized Receipt is rounding up GST so that it does not match what the patron was charged
BB481526 - Able to bypass required Voucher Category field when paying with an External Voucher
BB482840 - Credit Cards are charged twice in Moneris and not reflected in Patron Edge
BB540272 - JCB cards issued by American Express appear as JCB cards in reports
BB489561 - Post to GL will still post when there are unspecified accounts
BB489560 - Post to GL will still post when out of balance
BB472058 - Error: Database exeuction error: An expression of non-boolean type specified in a context where a condition is expeted, near 'SFTILLCLOSE'
BB453326 - Gift credit cards with insufficient balances approved for entire transaction amount
BB538706 - PE: Sales Profile Report shows incorrect number of Series tickets sold

So head over to http://downloads.blackbaud.com/ and grab the latest copy. Standard rules apply: make sure you have a patch plan and can handle the downtime it takes to apply a patch, and don't forget to see Knowledgebase solution BB346664 to make sure any products you integrate with are compatible. Hope to see you at the conference next week!

PEO Donation Round-Up, v2

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.

A client recently contacted me about the free donation round-up customization I had written for PEO earlier this year. She had a couple of suggestions to improve it, and I had some time available last week to work on it. Here's the info on version 2 of the customization:

• Updated for compatibility with PEO 3.3.3
• Fixed a memory leak
• Added a new parameter that allows the administrator to enter the amount to round; it is no longer hard-coded to go up to the next dollar

You can download the updated copy of the feature here. Please feel free to download and install it, and let me know what you think. You will need your system administrator to run a couple of SQL scripts and put a file in place, and then it's ready to go. Full instructions are included in the ZIP file. If you install it, leave a comment to let everyone know what kind of effect it is having on your online donations.