Volunteer Software

People Helping People

First: Backup the Reporter Data

  1. Open the Volunteer Reporter
  2. File menu | Backup
  3. Click the file folder icon to the right of the “Put the backup in:” field browse
  4. Scroll up to navigate to the desktop to save the file there [or wherever you prefer].
  5. Click OK. Click OK again
  6. Check the box to add the date to the file name. It will be named something like VRdata_20110729.zip
  7. If you get a message that some files were skipped or somebody else is using the Reporter, then you have not gotten a good backup because some file somewhere is in use. Sometimes Windows traps a file. Rebooting the computers often helps.
  8. Do not proceed until you have a good backup. stopCall us.

Determine the Path to the Data

  • In the Reporter, click on Help | About the Volunteer Reporter.
  • Write down the path to the Data Folder.
  • If the path does not begin with C:\ or \\, find out to which computer it is mapped with the following steps:
  • Open My Computer | Tools menu | Map Network Drive
  • Click in the Drive field to expand it.
  • Write down exactly the path next to the mapped drive letter that matches the path to the data folder.

Install the Volunteer Reporter on the first workstation

  • Close the Reporter on all computers.
  • Close the Touch-Screen Administrator on all the kiosks [with the quit PIN – 99999 by default, but you may have changed it].
  • On the first computer, install with the CD
  • During installation, make sure the install location is [C:\Program Files] for 32-bit Windows, or [C:\Program Files (x86)] for 64-bit Windows.  Contact Volunteer Software if assistance is needed.
  • Proceed through the installation wizard.

Upgrade the database

  • Open the Volunteer Reporter
  • Patches may be invisibly downloaded into the Patches folder in the data folder on the server.
  • When it says your data needs to be upgraded, click OK.
  • If you have not made a backup, make one now before upgrading the data.

Install the Volunteer Reporter on all the workstations

  • Install the Reporter on every other workstation computer.
  • During installation, make sure the install location is [C:\Program Files] for 32-bit Windows, or [C:\Program Files (x86)] for 64-bit Windows.  Contact Volunteer Software if assistance is needed.
  • The data is already upgraded, so no need to do that.
  • The program is already upgraded from the first installation, so no need to do Live Update.

Upgrade/Install the Touch-Screen Assistant

  • Initially, install the Touch-Screen Assistant on every Kiosk.
  • During upgrade, leave all the existing paths, the Reporter/Touch-Screen Assistant finds existing paths. For new installations you may change the path to install properly.
  • Click through the wizard to install.
  • Make sure the install location is [C:\Program Files] for 32-bit Windows, or [C:\Program Files (x86)] for 64-bit Windows.
  • Leave the Start Menu Folder as originally setup.
  • Leave the two icons checked
  • Open the Touch-Screen Assistant
  • If you inadvertently changed the program or data path, it will ask for a path to the data folder.
  • If it is not connecting to the data, call us for help in editing the touchassist.ini [800-391-9446]

Backup Procedure for the Volunteer Reporter

Since version 5.7 a backup can be performed when the Reporter and the Touch-Screen Assistant are in use.

Reporter versions earlier than 5.7 must close all but the one instance of the Reporter performing the backup and close all Touch-Screen Assistant instances.

  1. Open the Volunteer Reporter, have only the main menu open.
  2. Click on File menu | Backup.
  3. Click the file folder icon to the right of the “Put the backup in” field
  4. Scroll if necessary to navigate to the drive where the backup will be saved.
  5. Click the plus sign or greater than sign [ + or >] next to the drive to open it.
  6. Click on the name of the backup folder to highlight it.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Verify the path.
  9. The file always used to be named simply VRdata.zip, but since version 5.7 you can have the date added automatically so that it will not overwrite the previous backup. Check the checkbox to add the date.
  10. If you would like to include attached documents in the backup, check the appropriate checkbox.  This will make your backup file much larger.
  11. Click OK.
  12. Finished. Now you can keep the file as a backup. This is handy to attach to an email to send to support sometimes when we need to look at your data.
  13. Click OK to close.

Note: VR does not prompt you if it is overwriting a backup file. Saving with different dates provides insurance for the rare occasion when you’d like to rollback to a previous iteration of the database.

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