This page will contain questions and answers about SRM Church Database.  If you don't find you question here, email it to dennis@dbandsons.com and I will try to reply to you promptly.

Question:  During installation I got a message that the installation couldn't write something to my C:\winnt\win.ini file.   What's up with that?

Answer:  The program is just trying to set an initial "style" for the program to use.  If you are not using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, chances are your win.ini file is located somewhere other than C:\winnt (or they may be other reasons why the .ini file was not located where the install program expected.  That's OK.  You can just ignore the error and finish the installation.  But when you start the program you will want to use the Utility Menu option to choose a style.

Question:  I installed the program to a directory other than C:\SRMCDB and now I get a message when I try to start the program that it can't find the database.  Did I do something wrong when I installed the program to a different drive and directory?

Answer:  No, you didn't do anything wrong.  The installation creates and ODBC (Open DataBase Connection or DSN) that the program uses to find the database file.  If you didn't accept the default installation for the directory you will need to go to the Windows Control Panel, ODBC 32 Configuration panel.  Click on the System DSN named SRMCDATA Data source, click the configure buton,  and browse to the folder where you installedthe program - or if setting up for shared use on a server, the folder where you copied the .mdb file. (Scroll down for more information and a picture that might help).

Question:  What files should I back up?

Answer: You can always reinstall the program, and this is easier for registered users who will receive a CD, but you should periodically back  up the database file (C:\SRMCDB\SRMCDB.MDB) unless you have not accepted the defaults during installation.  You may also want to back up the C:\SRMCDB\Reports directory to save any reports you may have created.

Question: If I purchase a license can I use the program on my home computer and the church computer?  Or do I have to buy an additional license?

Answer:  The program is licensed to the church, so you can install it at home and on the church computer.  Then, if you copy the srmcdb.mdb file to take home and work on it, you can then copy the file you updated at home and overwrite the file of the same name on the church computer.  Remember, all the data files are in that one .mdb file.  So you can't have one person at the home computer adding attendance information while someone else is updating donations on the church computer. 

Question:  I have just installed the program.  What should I do next?

Answer: The first thing I would do is go to the Utility Menu and choose a style.  I have provided several styles so choose one from the Styles directory and then enter some sample data.  The next time you start the program choose a different style.  If you finally decide you don't like any of the styles, you can disable the style feature from the same Utility menu. 

After choosing a style, start with the Family Information option from the File menu.  Why not start by entering member data?  Well, each member should belong to a family (even if there is only one person in the family).  By first entering information about a family, when you add member information and select a Family, parts of the family data will be copied to the member record - saving you some typing.

After you have entered some data, try some of the reports.  NOTE:  On the Report Builder, the first think I would do before changing a supplied report is to choose the File, Save As option and save the file you just opened with a different name.  That way if you make a mistake you can always go back to the earlier report.  When you first start working in the report builder, I would go to the Option menu and disable the property box. 

You will find it works much better to just right click on a band or frame to go the the more detailed properties for the selected item.  The menu option under the Property Box option is to show field pictures (formatting of the item, such as text, numeric, date, etc) instead of field names.  You can always switch back and forth.

Question:  Can the program be used by more than one person on a network?

Answer: Yes.  And at no additional per user cost.  Be default, the programs files will be installed to C:\SRMCDB - please install the program at each computer on the network and accept the defaults during installation.   The database file (SRMCDB.MDB) will be installed to that directory and an ODBC Data Source will be created during the installation that expects the database file to be located there.  Create a shared folder on your server and copy the SRMCDB.MDB file to that directory from the first PC you installed the program on, especially if you have already entered data to test the program and want that data to be available to the other computers..  Be sure that users at each computer can connect to that shared folder with Read and Write permissions.  Finally, go to the Control Panel ODBC Configuration on each computer and find the SRMCDBDATA and click the configure button.  You can now browse to the shared folder on the network to select the mdb file.

 When each user on the network restarts the program they will all be updating and reporting on the same database file.  Since the .exe (executable) and other files are local on each computers hard drive, network traffic will be minimized.  If you have questions on this, please have your network administrator email dennis@dbandsons.com.