Accessing "Custom Reports" on a Vista machine

Here are the most frequently asked questions about the Donor Manager. You might even find a few answers !

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snofriacus
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Accessing "Custom Reports" on a Vista machine

Post by snofriacus »

Hi all,

I'd like to learn how to tweak an existing report to get just what I need for a specific purpose. For instance, adding phone numbers to the "Supporters List". Yesterday I began exploring possibilities and came upon the "Custom Reports" button. It just produced error messages when I pressed it. Today I looked into it deeper and learned that since I'm running Windows Vista, I have to run Donor Manager as administrator the first time I press the "Custom Reports" button. This enables it to do some administrative type things in preparation for running "FoxFire" for the first time. Then after FoxFire has been successfully started once, these administrative privileges no longer seem to be needed to make it work the next time.

I haven't yet gotten any further in my exploration of Custom Reports, but just want to post this detail in case it might be helpful to some of you. Any tips on the actual tweaking of reports would be quite welcome.

Allan J.
jmuehleisen
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Re: Accessing "Custom Reports" on a Vista machine

Post by jmuehleisen »

Thanks for posting this. I wasn't aware of the need on vista to be in administrator mode to get FoxFire to run.

Unfortunately, in the next major update of the program, the "custom reports" option will be dropped due to a licensing change in FoxFire.

Bummer. At this point, I'm still looking for a good option for adding custom reporting to the program, but have not yet found a solution that I like yet.
John Muehleisen
Mentoring Emerging Christian Leadership in Africa for Excellence / Integrity / Innovation
snofriacus
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Re: Accessing "Custom Reports" on a Vista machine

Post by snofriacus »

Hi John,

I've tinkered with this a little bit more. One partial success I've had is, I can export my Donor Manager database to Excel format, then import the Excel data to MS Access. I'm only a beginner at MS Access, but have enough knowledge of it now to print out basic reports that include the fields I want to see.

But this wouldn't provide a general purpose solution, since MS Access isn't freeware.

Allan
jmuehleisen
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Re: Accessing "Custom Reports" on a Vista machine

Post by jmuehleisen »

Allan,

Actually, it's easier than that. You don't need to export to Excel and them import into Access.

Access has the ability to open the DM data tables directly, and you can then report directly from there.

In fact, if you set up an Access database, set the tables in the Access db to be "linked" to the DM data tables, the Access db will keep itself "refreshed" with the latest DM data.

Now the exact procedure depends on which version of Access you are using, but the basic steps are to create a blank Access db, then "link to external data."

Some versions of Access will allow you to choose "FoxPro databases" while others put the FoxPro option under ODBC.

On some computers you may have to download and install the FoxPro ODBC driver (6 mb ... download from here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb190233.aspx.)

Then you can create reports using the Access report writer.

Hint: Access often wants to know "what is the primary key field?" In the Donor Manager, that field varies from table to table.

In the Donor table, it is the "link" field. In the giftdetail table it is the "giftpk." In the gift table is a combination of "link" and "year."

Now, another free alternative is to use Open Office. (technically it is called "OpenOffice.org" ... but it is a desktop app). This is a free, open source, and very versatile suite of programs, similar to Microsoft Office. Oh, and did I mention it is free? The database part of OpenOffice (called "base") can also open DM data files with no problem, and has a pretty decent report writer and query engine.

I hope that helps.
John Muehleisen
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snofriacus
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Re: Accessing "Custom Reports" on a Vista machine

Post by snofriacus »

Very good info! Thanks. For word processing I'm already a fan of OpenOffice, so the database program that comes with it is already on my computer. I'll be very interested in trying it out.
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