Hi. I'm new to ebase, but not to Filemaker Pro. I'm familiar with the challenges of this kind of database, having built one from scratch that is considerably more rudimentary that ebase. We're considering ebase for our non-profit. I've already downloaded and run through ebase on my own and visited a non-profit that is currently using ebase to watch it in action with real patrons and constituents. What a great database! I hope it's okay to ask here questions about version 2. I plan to wait for version 2 before doing any transfer of data from our db to ebase. I'm getting our database ready to import into e-base, and I want to know what changes have been made so I can concentrate my efforts on modules/capabilities that are not included with version 2. So... a. The affiliations field is a challenge. Sometimes, I'll do a find and get 700 people whom I want to put under, let's say, 'forest activists'. Do I have to go through each of those 700 folks and check 'forest activist'? If I try a global search and replace for that field in the found set, I'll swap out everyone else's important affiliations to mirror exactly those affiliations of the current record. (Argh...) Will this be addressed in Version 2? b. There is no quick&dirty 'print-one-address-label for-this-record' button. (I can specify which label on which type of avery sticker.) Nor is there a 'print-one-envelope' button. It's something I've become very dependent on in our current system. Will this be addressed in Version 2? c. What about wizards? I want to sit a fresh intern down at the table, have them start at layout that says 'enter donation/invoice/dues' and have them walked through the process of entering the information, printing the thank-you letter/invoice, printing the appropriate envelope or label and have it all entered into the notes/actions/output areas. Volunteers and interns sometimes only stay a few months, and teaching time is premium. I'd rather have it failsafed through a wizard. This is something I've also become very dependent on. Will this be addressed in version 2? d. My website is on a Unix server, so I'm guessing that we would have to access any data we kept on our server via SQL. I understand that FMPro has SQL compatibility. Will ebase Version 2 have SQL compatibility? Currently, we write a lot of action letters to companies and congress. Using a perl script, we send the letter to the target, thank the sender, and send myself a copy of the letter. I also flat-file all of our action letter data as pipe-delimited text on our website, download and import it into a text editor, change it into a tab-delimited text file and import into FMPro using an import wizard that verifies prior activity. It's a pretty tedious process, but when you've got hundreds of letters to sift through, it's a lot easier than copying&pasting from separate emails. I've got this wizarded for interns too, but I know it's tedious for them, and I still have to massage the data into a format recognizable by our db. I'd like to set it up with MySQL so that various live web data can be viewed/uploaded/downloaded/edited using ebase as a vector. Will this happen or is it something that will have to wait for FMPro Version 5.5? e. Is e-base verions 2 created on FMPro 5.5 and if so is it backwards compatible to version 5.0? Regards, Chris ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------
