Update: IDLookup is a legacy application that is no longer available for download. Almost all of the functionality has been incorporated into Importacular and we recommend that product instead.

In this post I hope to offer some help in installing IDLookup. Many people have downloaded it but it may not be so straight forward to install. Note that these instructions can also be used for installing Query Manager.

If you do not know what IDLookup is here is a brief outline. IDLookup is  a plugin that I have created to lookup records in Raiser’s Edge given a list of constituents and their address details. This is useful where you have a third party list given that does not contain your constituent ids (such as many giving sites e.g. JustGiving, FirstGiving, CharityWeb, etc)  or cold lists that you want to ensure really are cold. The application can be found on Zeidman Development ->IDLookup. This is a demo version that is tied to the sample database.

When you download IDLookup from Zeidman Development you receive a zipped up file consisting of one installation file. After extracting the installation file (IDLookup Setup.msi) double click on it and follow the guide that will install all the files in their correct location. In the plugins directory you will then see a link for IDLookup. However we are not ready to start just yet.

In order to lookup items in the database IDLookup does not make use of the API. This is too slow and not flexible enough. Instead the plugin reads directly from the Raiser’s Edge database. In order to do this you need to have a login to the database. This is not same as your Raiser’s Edge login.

In order to create this login you need to run a script on the database server. This is usually done by the IT staff who manage the database and database server. I have prepared a script (SQL script to create user) that creates this user. It should be updated in order provide your organization with your own user name and password and you may need to update the database it references (It currently looks for a Raiser’s Edge database called RE7 but it need to be pointed to the sample database)

Going back to the plugin now you are ready to do a lookup. The download includes two test files; one with names and addresses and the other one with email addresses. Enter the location of the control report and output file. You will then have to map the fields in the file to the fields IDLookup is expecting. There is no need to map all the fields if you are not planning on matching on them. Then select which fields to search on.

You are now ready to start the lookup. The first time you run the lookup on a client for a specific Raiser’s Edge database you will get a database login prompt. This is where you need to enter the values that you entered from the script. This is shown below:

If all the details are correct and the script has been run correctly then the lookup will start. This step above only needs to be performed once per machine and per Raiser’s Edge database instance (e.g. once for the sample database and once for the live database)

If you do decide to purchase IDLookup then you will have to repeat these steps for your live database.

Ideally I would like to get have an installer that does all this for you and time permitting I will try to make one but for now I hope that you are able to install IDLookup with these instructions.

If you have any comments about your experience or anything that other users may find helpful then please do not hesitate to add a comment.