I’d love to see more folks taking advantage of our APIs. So, while driving home last night I thought to myself that it would be cool to start up a little open source API community where together we can post and modify samples in an open source format. So in just a few minutes today at lunch I was able to easily set up a Blackbaud community on Microsoft’s CodePlex.
I also uploaded a sample that demonstrates how to write a simple plugin using the Raiser’s Edge 7.81 and Visual Basic .NET 2005.
You can view the project page here.
(Note this sample will only work with RE 7.81 or later, since 7.81 ships with the required .NET 2.0 support files)
Did you know that Plugins do not require an API license to create? That’s right, grab this sample, play with it, make your own plugins and contribute them to the project/community! The only restriction I am making is I am putting all code under a Creative Commons License.
I’ll be up front with you, I probably won’t have much time to field direct questions on any code I post. Also, this isn’t officially suported Blackbaud product. That said, if you are looking for a place to learn more about using our extensive APIs and plugins, I hope this community will serve as a launch pad. I’ll upload more stuff when I get free time and inspiration. What I’d most like to see is what you come up with.
Now go buy that .NET book and start coding! Be sure to let me know if you’d like to contribute code or projects, I’ll add you to the open source team. Make something really cool and we may ask you to join the Blackbaud Product Development team 
Shaun
No, Plugins do not use VBA functionality at all. Blackbaud licenses the embedded VBA programming from Microsoft for a fairly hefty fee, hence the reason we charge for it.
Comment by Shaun Sullivan 02.22.07 @ 4:41 am[...] Blackbaud developing… Those interested in RE development should definitely check out Shaun Sullivan’s latest post on blogbaud: BlogBaud.com - A Nonprofit Blog Powered by Blackbaud Employees __________________ things haven’t been the same since that house fell on my sister. [...]
Pingback by Blackbaud developing... - Blackbaud User Society - Forum 02.22.07 @ 3:44 pmwhy not use summit? same APIs, lower licensing costs. Besides, you folks are so flush with cash…it should just be free.
Comment by Charlie Crystle 02.24.07 @ 8:33 amCharlie,
I think you might be confused about the Microsoft / Summit relationship. They work exclusively for Microsoft on VBA, VSIP and VSTA. It is not possible to “use Summit” when you license VBA. You go through Summit and then sign with the contract with MS.
The great news is with VSTA Microsoft is getting much more reasonable about the licesning terms so who knows, the story may be even better for our Infinity-based applications…
The guys at Summit were awesome to work with BTW.
Shaun
Comment by Shaun Sullivan 02.24.07 @ 6:30 pmNow THAT is fantastic work! I wish I’d thought of something like that sooner… I’ll be linking to your CodePlex page on the Blackbaud User Society for sure.
Comment by Peter Gulka 02.25.07 @ 8:34 pmShaun:
We’re right behind you…expect a big contribution from me to this effort everyone else is interested in participating and contributing.
Currently, we’re working on a couple significant integration projects and I’ll discuss with folks at the foundation on what we can contribute to the cause.
Let us know what you need in terms of support for this open-source movement to take off - we’re 100% behind it and we would welcome further community building amongst the world wide foundations that are interested in doing development in a significant way.
At SickKids, we have at least 3-5 significant RE API projects scheduled for this year, so we will definately participate and work with you to thought lead and help others as much as we can.
Let us know what we can do help…
Chris
Comment by Chris Woodill 03.21.07 @ 5:48 pm
That’s very interesting, even more reason to upgrade to RE 7.81. If you don’t need the API license to create plugins why is the RE:VBA optional module, which sounds like what you’re using, something you have to pay for?
Comment by Paul Morriss 02.22.07 @ 2:29 am