We occasionally get requests from customers about doing batch updates to donor records. We have plans to address this within GiftWorks in the future but until then it has to be done manually. This is obviously not a great answer, but since GiftWorks has an API, developers have an additional option. Below is some VBScript that formats the addresses for all donors in an individual SmartList. Because this is an example, the only formatting I show is converting all text in an address to uppercase. There's no reason the script couldn't be extended to reach out to the postal service and validate the address. I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

**This script is provided only as an example and should be used with caution. It will modify data in your database. Running any scripts against your database should be done only after your database has been properly backed up. Also, scripts that modify your database should be done when nobody else is signed into it. There are mechanisms to protect multi-user access, but this script does not utilize them.

   1:  Const typeIndividual = 0

   2:   

   3:  ' create an instance of our application

   4:  Set App = CreateObject("MissionResearch.GiftWorks")

   5:   

   6:  ' Make sure the user is signed in so a db is selected

   7:  If App.Security.SignedIn Then 

   8:   

   9:      ' make sure the user is viewing a SmartList

  10:      If App.Shell.History.CurrentTask.Urlpath = "/list-browse-list" Then

  11:      

  12:          ' get a reference to the current SmartList based on the id passed to the page

  13:          Set smartlist = App.Modules.Donor.ListManager.GetList(App.Shell.QueryString("id"))

  14:          

  15:          ' make sure we have an Individual SmartList, or error out

  16:          If smartlist.ContentType = typeIndividual Then

  17:          

  18:              ' get a recordset based on the SmartList

  19:              Set rs = smartlist.ItemList.Recordset

  20:              

  21:              ' go thru each donor

  22:              Dim donor, address, changed

  23:              Do While Not rs.EOF

  24:                  changed = False

  25:                  Set donor = App.Modules.Donor.DonorManage.GetIndividual(rs("id"))

  26:                  ' go thru each address for this donor

  27:                  For Each address In donor.Addresses

  28:                      ' call the reformat method

  29:                      ' this example just uppercases all text

  30:                      changed = ReformatAddress(address)

  31:                      ' if the address was modified, 'changed' will be True

  32:                  Next

  33:                  ' if any address was changed, update the entire donor

  34:                  If changed Then

  35:                      App.Modules.Donor.DonorManage.UpdateIndividual donor

  36:                  End If

  37:                  rs.MoveNext

  38:              Loop

  39:              rs.Close

  40:          Else

  41:              App.Shell.MsgBox "Must be viewing an Individual SmartList"

  42:          End If

  43:      Else

  44:          App.Shell.MsgBox "Must be viewing a SmartList"

  45:      End If

  46:  Else 

  47:      App.Shell.MsgBox "You must be signed in before calling this script" 

  48:  End If

  49:   

  50:  ' this function just uppercases all text

  51:  ' return True if it needs changed

  52:  Function ReformatAddress(Address)

  53:      Address.Street1 = UCase(Address.Street1)

  54:      Address.Street2 = UCase(Address.Street2)

  55:      Address.City = UCase(Address.City)

  56:      Address.State = UCase(Address.State)

  57:      Address.Zip = UCase(Address.Zip)

  58:      Address.Country = UCase(Address.Country)

  59:      ReformatAddress = True

  60:  End Function

  61:   

We have not released a GiftWorks SDK yet so there is no documentation available to show you the rest of the properties for a donor, but those that know how to use an object browser can check out the files: msdsvc.dll and gitwks.exe.

I've seen a couple request from customers wanting the ability to keep some of their users out of certain areas in GiftWorks. Below is a small addin that attempts to solve that problem by removing the toolbar buttons at the top of the window. In this example I remove every application button except the Donors button (see the picture to the right).

See my HelloWorld post and my What's In A GiftWorks Addin post for more details on using the following addin file. This post will skim through the details and assume you've already created and used an addin file. 

   1:  <gml id="MissionResearch_DisableExample">

   2:      <info>

   3:          <title>Disable Addin Example</title>

   4:          <versions>

   5:              <version match="2.0.*.*" module="version2" />

   6:          </versions>

   7:      </info>

   8:      <module id="version2">

   9:          <objects>

  10:              <object id="MyObject" type="vbscript" url="" cache=""><![CDATA[

  11:                  Sub EventHandler(Ev)

  12:                      If Ev.Data.Url = "toolbar" Then

  13:                          For Each button In App.Shell.Toolbar.Buttons

  14:                              If button.Title <> "Donors" Then

  15:                                  App.Shell.Toolbar.Buttons.Remove button.Title

  16:                              End If

  17:                          Next

  18:                      End If

  19:                  End Sub

  20:              ]]></object>

  21:          </objects>

  22:          <handlers>

  23:              <handler id="module-execute" object="MyObject"/>

  24:          </handlers>

  25:      </module>

  26:  </gml>

toolbar buttons

The toolbar buttons at the top of GiftWorks are the main navigation elements for the application. GiftWorks inserts several by default and addins can modify those buttons or add their own. This post just concentrates on removing existing buttons. GiftWorks gives you access to these buttons through a Buttons collection.

App.Shell.Toolbar.Buttons

Each button has several properties that you can modify with code.

Button.Order - a number indicating the sort order the buttons should use for display
Button.Action - the action a button executes when clicked
Button.Title - the title of the button displayed
Button.ImageUp - the image file used when the button is in normal state
Button.ImageDown - the image file used when the button is in clicked state
Button.ImageOver - the image file used when the button has a mouse over it
Button.ImageDisabled - the image file used when the button is disabled

event handlers

You can embed event handlers in the addin file to handle events raised by GiftWorks. Event handlers are the primary means for addins to integrate with existing GiftWorks elements. This addin handles a general framework event called 'module-execute' which is fired whenever the framework needs to initialize the toolbar. GiftWorks fills the toolbar first with it's buttons then fires the event so addins can handle it as well. An addin can add toolbar buttons using a simpler interface which will be shown at a later time. This event enables an addin to modify buttons that have already been added. You could rename buttons or other things. This addin just checks for the Donors button and removes everything else. The <handler> element simply tells GiftWorks your addin wants to be called when the 'module-execute' event is raised. It then calls the EventHandler subroutine in the 'MyObject' script.

Try this our and let me know what you think. In later posts I will try to expose some more of the many GiftWorks events.

Updated 9/14/2006

Thanks to some helpful members of the IE7 compatibility team at Microsoft (specifically Keryn Mark), we were able to identify the reason GiftWorks was crashing. GiftWorks has code to keep IE from beeping every time a page changes which was causing the crash. I guess IE7 made some changes around calling the beeping function and our code was no longer valid--or most likely was never valid in the first place even though it worked. The good news is that we have a fix. The bad news is that it won't be available until the next update to GiftWorks which doesn't have a date yet. I will keep you posted.

For the past several months Microsoft has been beta testing a new release of Internet Explorer, version 7. As some of you may know, GiftWorks uses Internet Explorer internally for its user interface. Since the first IE7 beta, GiftWorks has not worked correctly and even crashes for some customers when they have the beta installed. We were hoping that the issue would have worked its way out by now, but Microsoft released their first release candidate (RC) of IE7 and the issue remains.

We are working with Microsoft to have this issue resolved for RC2, but you can actually help us raise the priority of this issue. For those that have installed IE7 beta, you were asked to join the beta program and provide feedback. Please sign in with your account at http://connect.microsoft.com and do a search for "GiftWorks". You should get at least one feedback item in the results. Please open that item and make sure it applies to what you're experiencing (typically a crash of GiftWorks), then submit a vote for the issue. Thanks and we'll keep you informed.