Software4Nonprofits Blog

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.

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.

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!

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.