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How can I develop add-ons for TntMPD?: Revision #5

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First published by:
Troy Wolbrink
on 29 Sep 2008
Last revision by:
Troy Wolbrink
on 24 Jun 2017
4 people found this article useful.
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How can I develop add-ons for TntConnect?

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Access Database Add-On

If TntMPD doesn't do exactly what you want, and you know how to use Access 2000, you can develop custom Access solutions to enhance TntMPD.  TntMPD has a special feature called "Link to Access Database".  This takes an existing database and adds links to tables within TntMPD.  This way you can add your own tables, queries, forms and reports and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) code modules.   For a better explanation follow this link: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa141493(office.10).aspx   Keep in mind in this illustration that the "Back End" database is the TntMPD file (*.mpd) and the "Front End" database is the Access 2000 database (*.mdb) that you told TntMPD to link.

Windows Application Add-On

More advanced developers will appreciate the fact that TntMPD provides programmatic ways to create and update linked Access databases via the command line.  For help on this feature, run "TntMPD.exe /?" from the command line.  The location of TntMPD.exe can be found in the registry at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TntWare\TntMPD\InstallPath".  Each add-on can create and maintain its own link to the database without requiring the user to manually establish the link.

TntMPD's Database Structure

As to the layout of the underlying tables. You will find that most tables use the first field as their primary key. For example, the main table is called "Contact". The primary key is "ContactID". The gift table has a field called "ContactID" that links back to the person who gave the gift.

Changing Data in TntMPD?

If your add-on changes data in TntMPD using your linked database tables, be sure to perform the File|Maintenance task when you are done. Open TntMPD. Click on the "File" menu ... select "Maintenance". From the maintenance screen, recalculate mailing, money and history data.  These steps are recommended for the program to operate correctly.  Also, each table has a "LastEdit" field that needs to be updated for TntSync to work correctly.

Adding your Add-On to the "Tools" menu in TntMPD

Look in the Windows registry (using regedit.exe) at the key:  "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TntWare\TntMPD\ExternalTools\"
(or if you're on 64-bit Windows look at: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TntWare\TntMPD\ExternalTools\")
TntCrypt and TntSync are provided as examples of how you can register your add-on under the "Tools" menu. 

Each tool can specify certain values:  Category (if you want a sub-menu), Target (what get's executed when you click the menu ... can be anything that runs under the Windows "Start" menu ... "Run"), IconTarget (where you want the menu extracted from for the tool's menu item), and Shortcut (if you want a keyboard hotkey such as "Ctrl+F1" for running your add-on).

In the Target, you can include "currentgroup.csv" somewhere, and it will be replaced with the name of an actual file which represents an export of the current filtered list of contacts in TntMPD's contacts view.  This allows your add-on to do something with the current group.

Mail Merge Handler

TntMPD includes built-in support for merging with Microsoft Word 2000 and newer.  You can replace this with your own Mail Merge functionality.  For some documentation on how to integrate your add-on with TntMPD, look in TntMPD's installation folder under "\Developer Notes\External Handlers.zip".

App Exit Handler

If you want your add-on program to get called when TntMPD exits, look for the example in TntMPD's installation folder under "\Developer Notes\External Handlers.zip"

Examples

There are some add-ons currently available for TntMPD.

 

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