Query in SQL Management Studio and RE7

Although I am a novice at T-SQL, I am attempting the same thing you are and am in the midst of obtaining read-only access to our SQL Server instance that contains our backend Raiser's Edge database.  Below are some tidbits that I've found helpful:


Blackbaud offers an optional plug-in called the "Read Only Database Assistance Query Tool" (RODBA) that is free to those folks that have a certain level service agreement with Blackbaud support.  You can find out more details about the RODBA plug in by going to the blackbaud website and looking it up in the Knowledgebase...very helpful.  The big advantage is that it allows you to view any RE query in actual SQL, so you can see how RE queries are formed in SQL, helping you craft how you form your queries in SSMS.  So, you can take a query that does what you want, view it in the RODBA plug in, grasp the SQL behind the query, and then expand on that, rather than starting from scratch.


There is also a helpfile that becomes unlocked when you enable the RODBA module discussed above...this helpfile provides a great resource to understand how the Raiser's Edge schema is constructed, as the RE table structure is definitely not intuitive.  I highly recommend you use this helpfile, along with the RODBA plugin, and SSMS to more efficiently figure out how to hit the back end data.


I am planning on using SSMS to access additional RE fields that RE Query does not expose.


Hope this helps!!

I don't know the answer about NXT, but if it's not included, it might make you feel any better RODBA is only a starting point. It's good for that but you'll very quickly see that the SQL that the system generates can be pretty obtuse -- it aliases tables with their own name or just as T_1, T_2, etc. it refers to system tables that apparently are added to pretty frequently but there's no indication what they are.  It's not that helpful, for instance, when you see a line like this:

 



uh... ok.


That said, at least for starting out getting the schema somewhat down, figuring out which functions pull primary adressee, preferred address, views that handle hard and soft credits of gifts, etc., it's definitely useful.


Alternately post any questions here and there are a few of us around who might be able to help. I'm much closer to novice than expert when it comes to writing SQL, but I've figured out some stuff about how it's all set up.

RODBA is not available in the Blackbaud Hosting Services environment, which includes NXT.