How to Use WardInfo In Your Ward

So your ward leaders like WardInfo (thank goodness) and have asked you to prepare regular updates for their PCs and PalmPilots. So now what do you do? Fortunately, this is exactly what the author has to do, and he has written and provided loads of neat tools that help with this responsibility. The tools are all located in the installation sub-directory Tools. They are all DOS-based tools, which allow them to be easily customized using Notepad.exe, and then run in ‘batch’ mode, while you go eat your supper or take a nap.

To maintain the ward that the author maintains in his stake, he spends:

1) Approximately 10 minutes per week maintaining the spreadsheets.

2) Approximately 30 minutes per month producing and distributing the updated WardInfo pages for ward leaders.

3) Please understand that it may take you a little longer at first, and that initial setup may take much longer!

Regular Usage of WardInfo

To regularly produce the WardInfo output, you will probably want to use several tools, such as:

1) A ZIP tool – the author uses the InfoZIP package, version 5.32. This is useful in packaging and encrypting the html or palm database files that are produced by WardInfo into a format that is easy to distribute to ward leaders. The InfoZIP package is free to use, and allows encryption to be easily accomplished to protect the sensitive member information data.

2) Blat – an easy-to-use freeware command line email program that will allow you to take a nap while all of the ward leaders are being sent their version(s) of the WardInfo output. Blat requires some minor setup.

3) ISiloX – a freeware command line version of the ISilo packaging program. ISiloX is used to produce the PalmPilot versions of the WardInfo output, which may then be viewed using the shareware PalmPilot program ISilo. The shareware ISilo program for palms requires payment of a reasonable fee for using it longer than 30 days.

These tools are distributable (as far as the author can tell from license agreements), and may be found in the WardInfo directory as unpacked from the source distribution. You can find the distribution that the author used in the ToolDist subdirectory, or on the internet by using any popular search engine, such as WWW.Google.Com, and entering the name of the program.

A batch file that uses these programs to produce the 6 versions of the WardInfo output is also located in the WardInfo directory, and is called BuildAll.Bat. The author uses this batch file every month to make a new version of the WardInfo output files for distribution in his ward. You may wish to modify this batch file using an editor like NotePad to suite your own circumstances.

If you want to distribute copies of the information that WardInfo produces to your ward leaders via email, you may wish to use the DOS command line program Blat. Some minor setup is required with Blat, similar to any email program. You need to tell Blat where it should send the messages by using a command like:

Blat –install your.smtp.isp.email.address your.email@your.email.address

Where your.isp.smtp.email.address is the smtp service address of your internet service provider, and your.email@your.email.address is the email address you want in the ‘from’ field of the email messages you send using Blat. You can look at the Blat documentation if you want more details.

A batch file that uses Blat to distribute the WardInfo output files to selected leaders is also provided for your use and is called SendAll.Bat. You may wish to modify this batch file using an editor like NotePad to suite your own circumstances. The input file for SendAll.Bat is Destinations.Dat, and it contains a list of people that should receive a version of the WardInfo output, their email addresses, and which version they should receive. Destinations.Dat must be edited using Notepad or a similar editor.

So the sequence of events for a monthly update is:

1) Obtain input files from your ward’s MIS or MLS program. See here for instructions on how to obtain these files.

2) Copy these files into the directory where the WardInfo.Exe program is (such as C:\WardInfo).

3) Copy any spreadsheets that have been modified since the last month’s update into the C:\WardInfo directory.

4) From a DOS command prompt issue the command buildall.bat command:

C:\WardInfo> Buildall mypassword “Your Ward”

You may want to edit BuildAll.Bat to suite your own needs, such as putting your ward name and/or the password into the .BuildAllBat file. The password ‘mypassword’ shown above should be replaced by a password that you tell the ward leaders to use in unpacking their files. In real life, the above command line might be replaced by:

C:\WardInfo> Buildall BishopFrost “Hinkley First Ward”

5) Make sure there were no errors in producing any of the versions or output files (i.e. look at the messages on the computer generated by the BuildAll command).

6) From a DOS command prompt issue the command SendAll.Bat. You may want to edit SendAll.Bat to suite your own needs.

With the BuildAll batch file, and using all available features in WardInfo, on the author’s 2.2 GHz PC it takes approximately 10-15 minutes to build all 6 versions of the output, including the ‘html’ output files, the compressed ZIP files (the .EXE and .EDE files) and the PalmPilot files (the .pdb files).

Depending upon your internet connection speed, it may take hours for the distribution files to be sent via email. On a 28.8 dial-up connection it takes 2-3 hours for the author’s email distribution to ward leaders to complete. He starts it just before going to bed!

Distributing The WardInfo Output To Ward Leaders

The first step is to identify which person(s) need which versions of the output. There are six (6!) versions of the output files, each tailored for a specific stewardship. You probably should confirm with the ward leaders which version is appropriate for them, but here are the general versions that are produced:

1) Bishopric – contains the all information available

2) Priesthood Leaders – contains information appropriate for Melchizedek Priesthood leadership

3) Relief Society Leaders – contains information appropriate for Relief Society leadership

4) Youth Leaders – contains information appropriate for Young Men and Young Women leaders

5) Auxiliary Leaders – contains information appropriate for other ward leadership

6) Members – contains no sensitive information

For specific details about each version, see this page.