A lot of the nonprofit organizations that we work with that use Blackbaud CRM like to have the ability to deploy their own customizations to non-production environments to become more self-sufficient. Thankfully, Blackbaud thought about this and has this functionality built into the product!
How to Upload a Custom DLL
In order to leverage this functionality, you’ll first have to get it configured properly by uploading a custom DLL. To do this, you’ll need to have file access to your BBCRM application server – which might be something that your hosting provider has to do for you.
Once you’re ready, here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Edit the web.config file found in bbappfx\vroot\ on all of your BBCRM application servers.
- Change the following values from false to true:
<add key=”DevSpace_AllowCLR” value=”False” />
<add key=”DevSpace_AllowUnsigned” value=”False” />
- Save your changes and then grant write access to bbappfx\vroot\bin\custom to your app pool user. Depending on your configuration, this might be a specific service account or the network service account.
- Once this has been completed you will want to configure the setup optionStes in BBCRM. You can access those by going to Administration -> Application -> Cloud Catalog -> Configure rules for custom assemblies (in the task bar on the left, as shown in the photo below).
- Make sure to check both boxes and save this form.
- Once saved, you’ll be able to upload DLLs to bbappfx\vroot\bin\custom using the following task in Administration -> Application.
Upload a Custom HTML Zip File
In the above photo, you’ll also see a non-standard task: “Upload a Custom HTML Zip File”. With this functionality, you can deploy HTML files to your application server as well, which greatly minimizes the turnaround time for bug fixes and deployments.
If you’re interested in getting this bit of functionality, email us at .
Compatibility Requirements:
- Please note that if you’re hosted by Blackbaud, you may have some issues getting this configured. We have been successful in getting this up and running for several organizations, but only after creating multiple support tickets.
- If you’re hosted by Blackbaud and are in Azure, Blackbaud will not support this piece of out-of box-functionality.
Chris is a senior software developer specializing in the Infinity CRM and BBIS space. He has over a decade of experience working for nonprofit organizations around the world and is well-versed in development operations, SDK training, and technical architecture.