Developing Custom Parts for NetCommunity

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Mark Siemon
Mark Siemon ✭
Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
NetCommunity touts itself as an "Open Platform" that users can develop their own custom parts for. This is a great thing and we are glad that they are moving in the direction of other innovative software companies by allowing their customers to tailor the software to individual needs that were not built in to the base product feature set.


When inquiring with support on how get information about the API, I was directed to a site called Blackbaud Labs. This site had a few blog posts describing that you can develop custom parts and gave 2 sample programs.


http://labs.blackbaud.com/NetCommunit...


I was happy about this since I am rather proficient in .NET and was eager to get started building a simple customization that we needed.


As I continued to search around that site, I realized that there was no documentation for this API posted anywhere. There was one page titled "Whats new in version 5.5" which mentioned some useful functions that sounded like exactly what we wanted to use. Unfortunately there were no function names or syntax reference. Despite the fact that BBNC is currently on version 6.5, there is no reference on how to use the API. I don't see how someone can use an API without a reference. We can possibly attempt to guess the function names as we write the code. Any other API that I have ever used had a reference explaining the available functions, the parameters they accept, and the expected output. Here is an example of a very simple one: https://developers.google.com/ad-exch...


I can't believe I am the first person who tried to do this. Does anyone know where I can find the documentation for this BBNC API?
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  • Paul Morriss
    Paul Morriss ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    I'm not aware of any other documentation than what you describe. I've developed custom parts by looking at that small amount of sample code on the labs website, but also in other places, like zeidman.info.



    The way that I've managed to find out what to do if I can't find it there is to look through the object names in the header files, and also to type an object name and see what the available methods are.



    It's not very good I agree. I've put some code snippets on my own blog: many pies.
  • Justin Morrow
    Justin Morrow ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 3 Photogenic
    We're glad that you're looking to take BBNC to the next level through customization via our API! We took similar feedback about Blackbaud Labs and have recently launched an entire library of new technical documentation about Infinity and our internet products. This is located at - https://www.blackbaud.com/files/suppo...



    Right now, portions of the content would solely pertain to BBNC's big brother counterpart that integrates with BBCRM instead of RE - Blackbaud Internet Solutions (BBIS). However, several articles are excellent resources for learning about the BBNC API and how custom part development would work for either BBNC or BBIS.



    Blackbaud also offers customization training geared just for the developer audience in case you'd like a guided approach to learn about customization either BBIS or BBNC. Below are the 5 most relevant articles for those folks looking to customize BBNC specifically.



    API: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/suppo...



    Custom Part Basics: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/suppo...



    Custom Handlers: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/suppo...



    User Imports: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/suppo...



    Example: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/suppo... (note: some Infinity specs here wouldn't apply in BBNC)

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