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June 2018 Enhancements



Easy Entry of SMS Address

An SMS address is an email address that goes to a cell phone carrier and is converted to a text message.  It consists of the cell phone number followed by the cell phone carrier's domain name.  It looks like this:   2395551212@vtext.com.

TroopWebHost uses SMS addresses to send text messages to your members.  Until now, you had to figure out the correct format for the SMS address yourself, which made it less likely this feature would be used.

Now all versions of TroopWebHost will let you select the cell phone carrier from a drop down list and then automatically generate the SMS address.

Please encourage your members to go to My Stuff → My Personal Information and select their cell phone carrier.  This will automatically generate their SMS addresses, which will allow you to use our next new feature....


Quick Text Messages

Cell phone users will especially appreciate this new feature, which simplifies the sending of text messages.  The new Quick Text Message entry on your E-Mail menu (or Communications menu for Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts) will display this page:

Enter your message in the first field, then select the desired group of recipients.

The Event will default to the event currently in progress.  The drop down list is purposely limited to events that are in progress or will start in the next seven days.

Click Send to send your message.


Open Any Report In Excel

All reports can now be opened as PDF documents or as Excel spreadsheets.  This feature is enabled by default for PCs and disabled for smartphones.

This setting may be overriden by a new "Report Options" selection on the Tools menu, as shown here::

This will pop up a window with these choices:

With the second option selected, any reports that are selected from the menu will display both options once you select it.

Reports that are initiated from a button on a page will pop up a window that lets you choose the format.

Some reports that contain multiple sections may be rendered in Excel with multiple worksheets in one Excel document.   Use the tabs at the bottom of the Excel window to view the other worksheets, as shown here.


Upload Packmaster Roster

Cub Scout packs that were using the web-based version of Packmaster can now easily transfer their membership data to TroopWebHostCS.

Begin by creating the Personal Data Export file in Packmaster Web 2.0, as detailed in the User Guide.

Then go to Membership → Upload Members → Upload Members From Packmaster Web 2.0, as shown here:

We recommend using the Trial Run option the first time you upload any new file.  This will allow you to see what members would be added, allowing you to prevent duplicates from being created.


Electronic Permission After Deadline

Last year we gave parents of Boy Scouts the ability to grant permission electronically for their scouts to participate in an event.

This worked great, except when the event had a sign-up deadline.  Since giving permission automatically signed up the scout, we didn't allow it after the sign-up deadline.

This has been modified so that, if the scout signs up before the deadline, the parents can still access the Give Permission button after the deadline.


Rotate Member Photo

Each member of your unit can have a photo added to their membership record.  This feature is turned off by default for scouts, but can be enabled by enabling the "Scout Photo" task for all user roles.

We recently added rotate buttons that allow you to correct the orientation of photos that got uploaded sideways or upside down.

We also made some changes so that the rotated image is displayed immediately after you press the button.  If you don't see the effect of the rotation, you may need to clear your browser's memory cache and redisplay the page.


New Girl Scout Journeys

We added Outdoor Journeys at the Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador levels, along with six other badges at the Junior level.


Attach Receipt To Group Transaction

Treasurers for Cub Scout packs and Girl Scout troops may now upload a receipt document when creating a group transaction.

This feature was already available in the Boy Scout version of TroopWebHost.


Force HTTPS On All Pages

Your TroopWebHost site has always been secure with 2048 bit SSL encryption on all communications.

This was not always apparent, though, since the site operates within a frameset, and we were only forcing the inner frame - which is the only frame that contains any meaningful information - to use "HTTPS" in the URL at all times.

Depending on how you accessed your site, this meant that the URL you saw in your browser's URL window might not have shown the "HTTPS", indicating that the site is secure.  Lately, some browsers started displaying warning messages when the inner frame is secure but the outer frame is not.

Fortunately, we found a setting that allows us to redirect the outer frame to the secure channel, so you will always see the "HTTPS" in your browser's URL line.


Relay Messages Saved In Database

Until recently, when you used an E-Mail Relay Address to send a message to members of the troop, the body of the message was not saved in your unit's database.

Now it is.  If you go to E-Mail → View All E-Mail you will see all messages that were sent through the relay, and if you click the View button you will see the entire message.


Send Us Your Questions and Suggestions

Send us a ticket from the My Support Tickets page on your site's Help menu.   This is absolutely the best way to communicate with us!

Or simply contact us at CustomerSupport@TroopWebHost.com.  If you do, please include your troop number and city in your message so we can identify your site.