[odb-help] Important Fine-Tuning of ODB

[Rich Cowan]

Dear ODB user:

The upcoming 0.9.3 release is probably one of the most
significant yet, mainly because of the enormous amount
of usability and quality control work that went into it.  Much
of the credit for this is due to the work of our volunteer Tim
O'Leary, who has been coming into the office for two days
a week for the past month.  Credit is also due to four
ODB users, Gail at the Farmworkers Association
of Florida and Marianne at Our Bodies Ourselves, Carrie
at Peace Action, and Joel of Hands on Orlando, who spoke
up about minor problems they were having.

The release is sufficiently well developed that we would like
to find a few additional groups willing to update early.  Just send
an email to odb@organizenow.net if you are willing to do that.

Also, though we don't usually do this outside of the release notes,
I am going to describe the key fixes below, in a very nontechnical
style.  By doing this I hope that it will cause additional users to speak
up if they have run into something not on the list!  Eventually we
are going to promote ODB much more widely than we have done
so far, and your reports will help us deliver a flawless product!

Again, these notes are for the UPCOMING release of ODB,
due on the 15th of May!


HAVE YOU EVER...

1) ... noticed an error message when you start ODB to the effect
that "We recommend you run the 0.9 update utility on your database
to take advantage of newer features?"  Well, this utility has never
done any harm, but for a couple of months the version on our web
site was often quitting right in the middle of an update.  This problem
is now fixed (you don't have to wait for 0.9.3; just go to
www.organizersdb.org web site for the utility).

2)  ... entered a payment of 2,000 only to find out that ODB recorded
it as $2?  If you used a comma in your number you would have this
problem.  But now it is fixed.

3) ... seen an address like "234567 Main St."?  Six digit addresses
were causing ODB to crash.  Now they are handled properly.

4) ... had trouble with the "logo" feature of ODB?  Well, we just created
some logos for ten Boston groups using the software, and tried to
load them all (the logo will appear in the upper left hand corner of
the screen).  We noticed that sometimes the logo would not load;
one problem was if it ended in .JPG or .GIF instead of .gif or .jpg.
Now this is fixed.

5) ... tried to install ODB 3 times?  I.e. you want to install it in
c:\program files\oc, and c:\program files\oc1, and c:\program files\oc2
so that you can have 3 different ODB icons, each attached to 3 different
ODB databases?  Apparently this was not working very well in the past,
but now it works.

6) ... wanted to delete a payment?  Well, you could always do that,
using the delete key.  But you couldn't edit a payment to change the
dollar value for instance, from $50 to $60. Now you can - double-click it.

7) ... wanted a list of your donors in the order of the total amount they
have given over the years?  Now ODB will create this for you.

8) ... wanted to quickly add a comment about a conversation you had
with someone today, and have ODB enter today's date for you?  Now
it will.

9) ... tried to import data with a crazy number of columns (like an Outlook
address book) only to find that ODB had a limit of 50 columns?  Well,
the limit of ODB has been doubled.

10) ... tried to copy, as one group did, a huge email list of 3000 or more
emails, only to find that ODB would bog down?  Well, we fixed it:  now
this operation is TEN TIMES FASTER THAN IT WAS.

11) ... tried to type in very old donations, only to find that ODB would
give you dialogue boxes asking you about renewal dates, etc. that were
not really relevant?  These messages no longer appear.

12) ... had ODB tell you could couldn't back up the database, even when
you were the only person with ODB open at the time?  This problem has
now been fixed!

13) ... been asked by ODB, in creating a new database, if you wanted to move
an old database out of the way?  If you were asked this question, and you said
"NO", ODB was doing it anyway.  Not anymore!

14) ... used the new "Mark Address As Old... Enter New" feature?  If you did,
you might have noticed that it had the tendency to erase comments.  This no
longer happens!

15) ... noticed that when you right click on the main menu search results and
copy an email address, that the address is copied with an extra "linefeed"
character at the end?  Not anymore.

16) ... wondered how to use the "save/load language file" button in the Admin
area of ODB?  Well, this button used to work, but for the last few versions it
was not functioning properly.  Even though it only works for 5 screens right
now, and even though we have not yet double-checked the translation, it is
possible (using a file called localize.txt) to have ODB use Spanish
instead of English on all of the main buttons.

17) ... wanted to have a payment category that would NOT affect the
membership date (T-Shirt sales, for instance).  Well, now this can be done;
the feature has actually been around for a couple of months...


Now if you have noticed any of these things before, don't be shy: we want
to hear from you.  And if you notice anything else which should be on this
list, again please let us now.  As long as we are fixing things we might as
well not miss anything.

-Rich Cowan
  for the ODB developers