[Odb-help] Answers to some basic ODB Questions

[odb-help at lists.democracygroups.org]

Good Morning ODB users:

  We receive many questions by email and occasionally we send
answers to them out on this list. Here are some answers to six
questions that we have received in the last 3 weeks.

1) From Karen Twitty-Hartlieb:

I downloaded the new version a couple weeks ago, but could not get
it to load.  I think the problem was that I had not logged on as
Administrator.  What I'd like to do is remove that version and download
the new version properly, if I'm understanding your message correctly
today.

ANSWER:  Chances are that you installed the ODB software
successfully, ODB does not require you to be the administrator.
However the database drivers may not be properly installed.  To
install them on Windows XP or Win 2000, you must:

a) first log in as Administrator (or as a user who has the same
rights as Administrator).
b) go to:   http://organizenow.net/odb/odbsupport.html
and follow the instructions.
c) log out and log back in as you, and open up the "Run ODB"
icon to start ODB.


2)  Question: I want to put ODB onto our network so that
4 people in the office can share the database, but no one else
in the office can have access to it.  How do I do that?

Answer: Have your administrator set up a new Network Share
that the 4 people have access to.  This is something that a
qualified network administrator can do easily.  Then make sure
that all of the machines are set up to automatically connect to
this network share.  Finally, put the main copy of your ODB database
on the share and make sure that on each machine, ODB is set up
to open up the shared database (NOT a local copy).

This is something you would normally do with a Win 2K/ Win
XP/ Win NT/ or Samba server.  It can be done in a peer to peer
network as well, however under that situation users might have
to be given a special password for the shared folder that is separate
from their main login password.


3) Question:  I put the ODB data file onto our network, so it can
be shared.  Do I now have to install ODB on the server?

ANSWER:  No.  ODB just uses the server to store the data.
(ODB is a client-based software program, as opposed to a server
based software program.)


4) Question from Ellen Hayes:  
>I am working with a small database (with plans for its expansion of
>course) of 14 entries so far.  According to the manual, I see that I can
>print out all records, but how may I "select"  all the records in the
>datbase to view prior to printing?

ANSWER: just click the search button without putting anything
in the box... that is the easiest way. You may also right-click on the
Select Records button to reveal a select all command.


5) from Jeff Strong

I read the odb user manual (haven't installed the
software yet, though) and saw that you can only record
one contribution per year for a member. Hinted that
there would be that capability soon. I'm the treasurer
of a church and we usually have multiple contributions
per month from our members. Have you added the feature yet?

ANSWER:  Jeff: ODB allows any number of contributions
per year, from people.  Hopefully we have fixed what may
have been a confusing passage in the old user manual.  If
you enter a second contribution, ODB does not extend a
person's membership, by default.  This is the way that
membership software programs usually work... the default
behavior of ODB can be changed.  One of the default
templates will allow you to turn off the membership feature
altogether.  The template is called:

standard - not membership org



6) also from Jeff Strong

I had another question about the software. Is it
possible to record a check number for donations or
whether they were for cash? We'd like to keep track of
that and print it on the receipts/end-of-year giving
reports. Thanks,

ANSWER:  In version 0.9.5b and higher, you can turn on the
"showappealinfo" setting and you can change the label
that is shown in ODB in the addgift screen.  The new setting
is called "appealinfolabel", and it is blank by default.  Just
change it to "Check Number:" to do what you want.

You'll still need to program any custom reports in Access
or some third party software.  Note: for the web programmers
out there, you can certainly create ODB reports from PHP if
you would like... you would need to install PHP and a web
server on a computer inside your organization's network, and
then you could write PHP pages which queried an Access
database that is set up on one local machine as an "ODBC
data source".  You would not make this web server available
to the outside world, only to your internal network.  If anyone
wants to try this let us know; we can refer you to a few software
developers with relevant experience, if you give us a week or
so to do that.  Take a look here for hints:
http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials/61/0.php
http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_db_odbc.asp
http://apache.org   (free web server for Windows 2000/XP, or
   you could use microsoft IIS)