Search by constiuent ID in a Query

John Zajc:

 

John Heizer:

Teresa Hosch:

 

I did reach out to Blackbaud, and was told that what I want to do cannot be done.  It’s difficult to believe that our institution is the only one that wants this capability, so I reached out to the community.  It sounds like others want it, but have it, so I’ll keep working to get it to work for us.

 

Thank you for the suggestion regarding Excel.  Others, too, mentioned that, and I will definitely give it a try.

 

Thank you!

 

Teresa Hosch

Prospect Researcher

Cal Poly Pomona

3801 W. Temple Avenue

Pomona, CA  91768

(909) 869-2969

 

 

"Cannot be done"????  But you see that others are doing exactly that, unless there's something else you told Blackbaud that you're trying to do that you're not telling us in the community.


The behavior you're describing is not what others are experiencing (no one else here gets the same results you say you get with a Query using the criteria you've described).  If the community has all the same information you gave to Blackbaud then your RE is not behaving as designed and you have discovered a bug that should be documented and fixed.  There should be no reason that this "cannot be done."

 

I can replicate this behavior in my database and I have a guess as to why others aren't able to.

The database I am working in has lived through several differernt ID schemes. So really old records have 3 or 4 digits and newer ones have 9 digits. Others have TB or TBN at the start of the ID.  If the database stuck to one scheme, then this quirk would not appear until you "turned off the odometer."

A similar thing happens in my database when I sort by ConsID in a query; It seems to behave as if the ConsID field is text irather than numerical (it's early and I'm at home without access to RE, so I apologize if I just wrote something stupid about the field).

 

 

Steven Cinquegrana:

 

John Heizer:

The Constituent ID IS a text field. Even if an RE database contains only numerical digits the field is still searched and sorted as text.  This still should not result in the behavior being described.  "Is one of" criteria should result in, at most, one result for each of the entries in the criteria list.

John's 100% correct on this.


And I sure wish this weren't the case!


People depend on Constituent ID as if it were a primary key, but it ain't: It can be edited, contain non-numbers, be duplicated, etc. System Record ID is a better choice for any time you need a PK, I think. (If you have the VBA/Macro module, you can add a business rule to manage errant changes - or any changes - btw.)


Steve


PS I sure with there was auto-spellcheck on this thing!

 

Teresa,


Is the query you created a constituent query?  If it is a gift query, it will bring up all gifts with that Constituent ID so you would see multiple entries. (doesn't sound quite like your description, though).


Are there other criteria being selected in the same query? Possibly they are the reason for the extras.


Have you tried creating a new Constituent query with only the Constituent ID is one of ...? Sometimes starting fresh helps.


Although it should make no difference, you might try changing the query type from Dynamic to Static (or Static to Dynamic), and choosing an Individual query type rather than Constituent query type.


If someone from support is saying that what you are asking can't be done, then they don't understand what you are asking. It's a standard feature in RE., listed in chapter 23 of the Query and Export Guide.


Good luck.

Lance


Teresa Hosch:

Hi All,

When attempting to run a query, I want to use "one of", and then enter the constituent ID.  However, I am finding that when I enter say, 263, Raiser'sEdge doesn't select just record #263.  It chooses several records that contain the number 263.  How can I have it select 263?  I have this problem when the ID number is short, fewer than 6 digits or so.

Thank you,

Teresa

Teresa,


I'm with many of the others on this one.  I think you need to try BB support again, and don't take no for an answer.  I cannot replicate what your RE sounds like it's doing in my database even though I seem to have the same numbering system as you - where 415 could be record id #415, 41501, 4155, or any number of records where the id contains 415 in it.

 

Teresa Hosch:

I agree with Jenny, when I have those "random" queries when I use specific record one of and choose who I want. Learned this in a class years ago and it has saved me lots of time over the years.