[Odb-help] ODB Update; Question about Network setup

[Rich Cowan]

Dear ODB users:

Things are moving along, and we have four brief updates!
The network setup question is the last of the items.

1) Donation Reporting Fixed

    While we were demonstrating the features of 0.9.3b to a large
    gathering in New Bedford, MA on Tuesday night, we found a bug
    in the "Record Selection Tool" of ODB that had not been reported.
    Because this bug affected functionality that used to work (and
    that people might be relying on), we went ahead and fixed it
    by noon the next day (September 17).  If you already have
    0.9.3b, you can update to a newer 0.9.3b:  go to http://organizersdb.org,
    and fill out the form to obtain the full installation program.

    The cause of the bug was that we added a cool new feature to
    ODB so that when you go the Record Selection Tool and you do
    a search, you will see the category of each donation in addition
    to the donation date, amount, and the donor name.  ODB was
    also trying to display the category for the last three reports,
    which are actually "aggregates" which add up multiple donations
    for one person.  (Displaying a category for the sum of multiple
    gifts made no sense.)

    In addition, ODB development team member Steve Wishengrad
    noticed that report #5 and report #3 were identical; we
    fixed this as well, so you can now sort your donors by the
    number of times they gave or by the total amount they gave.

    Note: Thanks to Corinn and Claudia at the Community Economic
    Development Center in New Bedford for setting up the event
    at which 40 local activists got a chance to see ODB in action!


2) ODB tester moves on; new tester joins OC.

    We wanted to thank Tim O'Leary for putting in many volunteer
    hours doing quality control testing on ODB.  But Tim has
    moved on: he actually found a job and moved to NY City!
    As recent events might suggest, we really benefited from
    his testing of new versions (prior to 0.9.3b).

    The GOOD NEWS is that a new tester/intern, Cory Forsyth,
    has joined us.  Cory just moved out here from California,
    where he recently attended college.  Cory will be the tester
    in residence for the next 4 weeks or so and will then move
    on to other OC projects.

    At that time, we will be looking for yet another volunteer
    to help with software testing.  You don't have to do this
    for a long time, but if you have a knack for this kind of
    stuff we could use someone to try out a number of new
    features we are developing for future releases of ODB.


3) ODB demonstration in Burlington, VT next Wednesday

    Hot on the heels of our south coastal demonstration in what (today)
    is a windy, tropical New Bedford, MA, we are heading to the opposite
    corner of New England for yet another public software demonstration.
    On Wednesday of next week, with help from Cyber Skills for VT
    Non-Profits we are providing a free demonstration at the Fletcher Free
    Library in Burlington.  Even if you don't live in Burlington, it is
    a good time to see the autumn leaves.  So if you have the interest
    (and a full gas tank), please email us for details on registering.


4) Question about Network install.

    We got a question about a network installation from the
    North Shore Women's Center.  Here is their question:

>We have slowly been converting our past database to ODB. We are now at a
>place where it is necessary to use ODB on our network. I carefully followed
>the directions found in the manual and when I attempt to run the program
>after specifying the location of the data I get a run time error;
>specifically error number '-2147417848(80010108)':Automation Error
>I am not sure what this means.
>We do not have a network person (actually with a staff of 2 I am the
>resident computer expert--terrifying!) nor a separate network drive that we
>can access to store the info.  The data is stored on a computer that has
>full write access.
>Deanna Ogle
>North Shore Women's Centre

    Response: we would need a bit of additional information to diagnose
    this but it sounds like one of the computers might be using an older
    version of Windows or a version in which the "OLE" feature is not
    working properly.  I have emailed you privately to get more information.

    Secondly, the section of the user manual on network installation is
    going to be revised in 0.9.4 to more clearly explain the difference between
    installing the program and linking the program to an ODB database.  In
    a network installation the program is always installed separately, usually
    on the C: drive, of each computer.  Only the data file (containing your
    database) will sit on the network.  You don't even need to have ODB
    installed on the computer functioning as your server.  (That's why you
    are able to use a Linux machine as the server if you want.)

    As for your comments about not having a network person, I just wanted
    to remind everyone that we now have very affordable support options
    covering ODB users.  This is nice to have if you would like to ask
    questions via telephone once in a while.  We are starting out with very
    low sliding scale rates which we will maintain as long as possible:

    http://organizenow.net/odb/odbrates.html

    This page will be updated soon to be more specific about the sliding
    scale rates we offer on conversion or setup assistance, and also to
    provide a list of independent consultants who can provide support.