Archive for the ‘Beta Testing’ Category

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DONATION version 3.41 final beta

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Hello again DONATION beta testers. I have just uploaded what I hope will be the final beta test version (Beta4) of DONATION 3.41 to the usual http://www.software4nonprofits.com/pretest.htm page.

The improvements in that version include some final cleanup and fixes to the new Internet backup feature (which I’ve already separately sent emails about, to those of you who informed me they were testing it). But also the following:

  • The Database -> Import  Donors window now allows you to also import the Donor Category 1 and Category 2 fields, which previously could not be imported.
  • For users with @earthlink.net email addresses, who are using the first window of Maintenance -> Email Sending Configuration and basing it just on their email address, rather than the settings in an existing email program, DONATION was suggesting the wrong SMTP server (smtp.earthlink.net). That has now been corrected to use smtpauth.earthlink.net.
  • Fixed a problem where you got a techie error message if you tried to add a 2nd donation or donor category with the same name as an existing one, in the Maintenance -> Donation Categories menu option or the Maintenance -> Donor Category 1 or Donor Category 2 menu option. Now you get a nicer error message.
  • Added a check for adding a 2nd Paid By value with the same name, in the Maintenance -> Donation Paid By Values menu option.
  • Fixed a bug in the Database -> Import -> Donations menu option, where Donation Categories containing single quotes (or apostrophes) cannot be imported.

As usual, any comments on these changes, or testing results, will be greatly appreciated. I plan to release this as an official version on the DOWNLOAD page on the website on the weekend, and start sending all users emails about it next week.

Thank you.

Posted in Beta Testing, General | 1 Comment »

DONATION version 3.41 Beta, with Internet Backup

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

I have gone ahead and implemented a version of Internet Backup, as discussed in my earlier blog post DONATION Backup to the Cloud. It is an optional addition, at the end of each regular backup, and is strongly encrypted using a password that you supply (which is forced to be a strong password). The backup goes to a password-protected area on my web server, in Vancouver, where the password is based on the one the user supplies.

There are also a number of other nice new features, and bug fixes, in this version. One that will stand out is that all File Open or File Save dialog boxes are now new-style dialog boxes, and they all have Help buttons that give help on whatever feature they are part of.

Full details of all of the changes are on the www.software4nonprofits.com/pretest.htm page, from where you can download this beta test version and try it out.

I would greatly appreciate any testing you can do on this new version, and Comments back to this blog post (or private emails if you prefer) with your testing results, positive or negative. That includes, if you have the time and interest, commenting on the Help topics describing the new Internet Backup features.

By the way, you will notice that for this beta test version, you have to download the appropriate full installation file, for the Standalone, Lite, Network Server, or Network Client version. For technical reasons (having to do with putting up with a larger download for this version 3.41, to prevent larger update downloads in all future versions) there is no smaller update version available.

Thank you all in advance for whatever testing you can do, and comments you have, which will help make sure this version is as good as possible for all users.

Posted in Beta Testing, General | 6 Comments »

DONATION version 3.40 w/ Backup Changes

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Hello DONATION beta testers. I have made the changes discussed in the blog posting http://www.software4nonprofits.com/blog/2011/12/donation-backuprestore-changes/, and our comments to it.

They are now ready to be tested, as part of version 3.40 Beta1, which you can update to at http://www.software4nonprofits.com/pretest.htm. As usual, I will greatly appreciate any testing you can do, and your comments (positive or negative) on the changes.

A full summary of the changes is on that Pretest download page, below the download link. In brief though, it includes renaming the backup files to include the date, plus a sequence number if you make more than one backup per day; warning the user clearly if they are restoring an older backup on top of a newer database; giving an option to retain only the last “N” backups in any one backup directory; and a few other small changes.

I have not done anything yet about my backup to the cloud idea, discussed in the other blog post from last week, because I have not yet found a suitable cloud storage service in Canada, to satisfy privacy concerns for Canadian users.

Thank you!

Posted in Beta Testing | 7 Comments »

DONATION v. 3.39d Released

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

I have just released version 3.39d of DONATION to the website, and you can upgrade to it with the regular Help -> Check for Updates menu option.

However, as with version 3.39 that I wrote to you about a few weeks ago, there is nothing crucial (for most users) in this version, so I’m not going to announce it to everyone. I will add its list of features into the announcement of whichever is the next version that I do announce to all users.

Having said that, I would very much appreciate your comments on the changes, and your testing results if you have a few minutes to test the changes. Here is what was changed:

  • Added a new mail merge code «else», that can optionally be used between the «if:FIELDNAME» and «endif» codes, to provide alternative content.
  • Put the Load SQL button back onto the reports-viewing window, for use in unusual circumstances. (Its features, and that of the Save SQL button that was not put back on, were mostly replaced by the Memorized
    Reports feature added in version 3.38, at which time those two buttons were removed.)
  • Fixed a problem where the organization name printed on the built-in receipts could have some characters at the end cut off, because the font size was too large, especially when the organization name is all capital letters.
  • Fixed some problems in the conversions from Membership Plus and Church Assistant.

I would particularly appreciate it if you could test creating a sample receipt, with the Receipt -> Current Donor Sample menu option, to ensure that the completely new calculation I added to determine the font size of your Organization Name on the receipts works for you.

As always, thank you in advance for any Comments you add in response to this blog post. Emails are also fine!

Posted in Beta Testing | 4 Comments »

DONATION v. 3.39 released, but not announced

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

I have just released version 3.39 of DONATION to the website, and you can upgrade to it with the regular Help -> Check for Updates menu option.

However, because there was a release only about a month ago that was announced to all users, and there is nothing crucial (for most users) in this version, I’m not going to announce it. I will add its list of features into the announcement of whichever is the next version that I do announce to all users.

Having said that, I would very much appreciate your comments on the changes, and your testing results if you have a few minutes to test the changes. Here is what was changed:

  •  The Find Donor window (Ctrl-F from the main window / Alt-F from One Date Batch Entry) now allows you to find by phone number or address, as well as by name or member/envelope number as it previously did. It also allows you to find by a combination of any of those four fields.
  • In the One Date Batch Entry window, added a popup tooltip, when you hover your mouse over the Name field for a donor, that displays the donor’s phone number and address, if they have been filled in.
  • Renamed Tools -> Register by Email to Register Online, and changed it so that it forwards the information on your window to the REGISTER page on the Software4Nonprofits.com web site, which you can then review and Submit there.
  • If you try to delete a donor that has donations, you have always received an error message saying that is not allowed. That error message has been expanded, to explain how to delete it, by first deleting the donations and then the donor, or by using the Database -> Merge Duplicate Donors menu option.

The change to the Tools -> Register Online window, to forward the information to the REGISTER page and let the user submit it, rather than submitting it directly by email, may have you wondering why I added that extra step. The reason has to do with tracking marketing efforts.

If you come to the www.software4nonprofits.com website from a marketing source, say a Google ad on the right-hand sidebar, a bit of text is added to the URL to show where you came from, for instance it might change to “www.software4nonprofits.com?source=GoogleAd”. That source information is then stored in a cookie in your web browser, and when you register using the REGISTER page, the same value is retrieved from the cookie and sent to me as part of a registration information email. That way I know you found DONATION through that Google ad source, and if you buy the program, I can see whether the money I’m spending on Google ads is worth it!

When the old Register by Email function in the program submitted the registration directly by email, however, it was impossible for it to access that cookie, so there was no way for it to transmit the fact that you found DONATION through a Google ad. And so it took away from my ability to assess the value of my marketing dollars. By making the new Register Online function in the program forward the registration back to the REGISTER page on the web site, the cookie is now accessible and I get that information, just as if you used the REGISTER page directly in the first place.

As usual, thanks in advance for any comments or testing results you can share with me!

Posted in Beta Testing, General | 5 Comments »

Finding Donors by Phone # or Address

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

At the request of a user, who has a large number of his donors having the same last name (and doesn’t use envelope numbers), I have added finding by Phone number or Address to the Find Donor window (Ctrl-F or File -> Find Donor from the main window).

If you have a moment to try it out, you can find the beta test version of that at http://www.software4nonprofits.com/pretest.htm.

Other than “what do you think of that”, I do have one specific question for you. The exact same Find Donor window is used by the One Date Batch Entry window as by the main window. One thing that is now a bit weird about that (and which I mention in the revised Help page for Finding a Donor) is that this means you can search by Phone # and Address  on the One Date Batch Entry window, despite the fact that those fields are not displayed.

My initial thought is that there is no big downside to leaving this in, and some users with unusual data (like the one I created this new feature for) might actually find it useful. But an obvious small downside is that it’s potentially confusing, and having searched by Phone # or Address, you still have to check that the one it found is correct. And you may not be able to check that successfully, if you say have two donors named “Smith, John”, with different phone numbers and no envelope numer. You would just have to trust that the program found it correctly.

There are actually a few further improvements in Find Donor in this version, beyond the new fields. The first is that you can search on more than one of the four fields (Name, Number, Phone and Address), and choose between joining any conditions on those fields by “and” or “or”, with a “Use Or” checkbox. (It defaults to being unchecked, so “and” is used.)

The second improvement is that for the fields other than the Number (member/envelope #) field, you can use the “%” symbol in a search string to represent “anything”, i.e. any number of characters. For instance, “Cooper%Dan” will find “Cooperstock, Daniel” in the Name, or
“123%5678″ will find “(123) 111-5678″ or “111-123-5678″ in the Phone number.

Finally, for donors with both a Business Name and a Last Name and First Name filled in, the Name field will search on either of those fields. (Previously it would search only on the Business Name, for donors that had one, or on “Last, First” for all other donors.)

As usual, please leave a Comment on this blog post, or email me, with any testing results or thoughts on these changes. Thank you!

Posted in Beta Testing, Development Advice Requests, General | 4 Comments »

Memorized reports beta version ready

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Hello again beta testers. I have completed the memorized reports feature that I discussed in an earlier blog entry, and I’m really happy with it. It allows you to memorize and then replay both custom reports and standard reports with custom sorts and filters.

You can test it as part of version 3.38 beta3. It’s available as usual from the pre-test page at http://www.Software4Nonprofits.com/pretest.htm.

Please note that only the first download option on that page, donupdtBeta.exe, is for beta3, with the new memorized reports feature. All of the other options below that are only for beta2, which has the features I wrote to you about a few weeks ago. (And which I still would appreciate some further testing on.)

As usual, please let me know any testing results, and thoughts about the new features, either as a comment on this blog, or by direct mail.

By the way, I probably won’t announce this version until about mid-September, to give everyone time to get home from their summer vacations first. I may release it to the main website sometime earlier though, so that any new users do get the new features.

Thank you very much.

Posted in Beta Testing, General | 8 Comments »

Please test DONATION v. 3.38 Beta2

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

Hello again beta testers.

I have a new version that I’d appreciate your help with testing. As usual, you can download it from http://www.software4nonprofits.com/pretest.htm

You will note that both the update installs (e.g. donupdtBeta.exe) and the full installs (doninstBeta.exe, or doninstNetServerBeta.exe and doninstNetClientBeta.exe for the network versions) are available on that page.

If possible, I’d really appreciate it if you first did the update install, tested the PDF changes (described below) and then did the full install and tested them again. The reason is that there is a new version of the novaPDF printer driver in the full install, and I’m not entirely clear whether it has anything to do with why my PDF fixes are working. (I can’t really go back and test it with the old version at this point.) By testing the update first, with the program changes but no new novaPDF, you are confirming that everything will work for both updating users and new users.

The biggest change that I’d like you to test in this version is that I fixed a longstanding annoyance when saving reports or built-in receipts to PDF files (or emailing them, which also saves them to PDF), that you had to run DONATION as Administrator on some versions of Windows. That is no longer a problem – you can run DONATION normally, and all PDFs work. (N.B. this was never a problem for mail-merge letters or receipt, so you don’t have to bother testing them.)

Here are the other changes and fixes:

  • Changed Reports -> Receipt -> All Receipts, so that if you are displaying the Eligible Amount field in the Donation Details area (as determined on the Donations tab of Maintenance -> Main Window Options), both the Total Amount and the Eligible Amount of each receipt appear on that report.
  • Changed so you can email both Individual Donation and Donor mail-merge letters. (Previously those two types couldn’t be sent by email, although all other types could.)
  • Fixed a bug which could happen when you email any mail-merge letters or receipts created with Letters -> Mass Mailing, but only occurred if you have Internet Explorer version 9 installed on your computer. The bug was that the email merges would fail, with a message to the effect of “The mail merge was apparently not completed successfully for sending the email to the email address … because the contents of the «Name» field were not found in the merged document”, or “Null object reference at line 11 in function of_get_body_html of object u_web_browser”.
  • Fixed another bug where you would get that same message, and email merges would fail, in the unexpected situation where your template document being merged didn’t contain the «Name» field.

There’s one other thing I’d like you to check, if possible, which has not been fixed. I happened to notice that when I run Reports -> Donor -> Category 1 Totals, it displays fine on the screen, but when I print it to my printer, it gets cut off part way through the report. If I save it to PDF, the PDF looks fine on screen too, but if I print that, it gets cut off in exactly the same way. (Which to me suggests a bug in my printer, not DONATION.) If you could just try printing that report and let me know whether it’s OK, I’d appreciate it. And if it’s not OK, what make and model of printer do you have?

Thank you all, as usual! Your testing always helps ensure a more solid product for all users of DONATION.

Posted in Beta Testing | 2 Comments »

Drop Save/Load SQL from Reports Window?

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

In thinking about adding the Memorized Reports feature, which I wrote about earlier at http://www.software4nonprofits.com/blog/2011/02/memorized-reports/, I’m wondering whether I should drop the Save SQL and Load SQL buttosn from the reports-viewing window. (N.B. I’m not thinking about dropping the Open SQL File and Save to SQL File from the Database -> SQL Select window.)

There are a few reasons I’m thinking about dropping those buttons from the reports-viewing window:

  • I have hardly ever heard from anyone who uses them.
  • The most likely reason to use them is to add a custom sort or filter into the SQL itself, so that it can be retrieved and re-used later. But that need will be satisfied by the features of the new Memorized Reports.
  • There are a lot of buttons on that window – if I add a “Memorize” button, dropping two other buttons leaves it less cluttered.

Having said that, there would still potentially be complex things that could be done with the Save SQL and Load SQL buttons on the reports-viewing window that could not be done with only Sort and Filter. However, in most cases those same effects could be reasonably replaced with reports/SQL created through Custom Reports, or directly through Database -> SQL Select.

So please get back to me if you have ever used this feature and do not think it would be sufficiently replaced by the ability to memorize reports with custom sorts and filters.

Thank you.

Posted in Beta Testing, Development Advice Requests | No Comments »

Membership Plus conversion to DONATION done

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

Further to my earlier post at http://www.software4nonprofits.com/blog/2011/04/membership-plus-database/, I want to let you know that I have completed coding the conversion of data from Membership Plus (versions 5 through 12) into DONATION. (Actually, only about 5 of those versions have been tested, but the missing ones can be added as needed.)

The current release of DONATION, 3.37b, includes the conversion routines. When you start DONATION for the first time, if Membership Plus is installed, you will be prompted to convert your data from it. Or, you can convert later with the Database -> Import -> From Membership Plus menu option. I haven’t made a general announcement to all existing DONATION users of this new version, because it is more of interest to new users than existing ones.

As well as converting the basic organization info, it converts the Membership Plus members to donors, funds to donation categories, and contributions to donations. The last two years of contributions are converted.

Posted in Beta Testing, Business Advice Requests, Development Advice Requests, General | No Comments »

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