Currency Convert ® v1.7b 1991 _______________________________ Written by Ian Steuart Saturday 06/01/92 *DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER* The author of Currency Convert is not liable for any errors that may occur thru the use of this programme. I am fairly certain that it should perform in the way it is programmed to do, BUT there are always the little unforseen (options) that creep in. Currency Convert is freely distributable providing all documentation is contained within. No prior consent is necessary from the author if you wish to distribute this program as part of a Public Domain collection, but none of the documentation is to be altered. *DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER*DISCLAIMER* )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( What is Currency Convert you may ask? Well, hopefully the name gives a little bit away as to its origin. It is an exchange rate conversion program born out of frustration, due to my never having seen any other similar program in the Public Domain for the AMIGA. In its simplest form it will Convert a given Currency over to one of three Countries formats. Namely:-  Sterling to Australian  Australian to Sterling  U.S. to Australian  Australian to U.S.  Sterling to U.S.  U.S. to Sterling  I often read overseas AMIGA magazines to compare Software/Hardware prices with those here in Australia and have often wished there was a quicker way than using the calculator to work out the exchange rate between Australia and U.S.A. or Australia and England etc.... Plus I can never remember the exchange rate any way, and often end up ringing the bank or grabbing the daily NewsPaper to look up the exchange rate for the day. For the uninitiated. What is an Exchange Rate?? Most of the worlds currency is based on the value of the U.S. dollar. To enable trading between countries different currencies, there needed to be a formulae for those countries with strong and weak money rates. For example, one Australian dollar is only worth 78.40¢ compared to the U.S. dollar of 100¢. The Australian dollar is worth only 44.25p against the pound Sterling but the U.S. dollar is worth 56.27p against the pound Sterling, as it has a stronger value. So you would need to know the exchange rate to enable accurate use of this program. Details of exchange rates can be found in newspapers and T.V. news bulletins, but the most comprehensive reviews of trading figures can be found in daily financial papers like (here in Australia) the "Financial Review". Supposing you see in a U.S. magazine a software program costing around $ 400.50, it would be nice to know how much in Australian Dollars that would be so that a comparison could be made with Australian prices. Whilst it is always best to buy from your home Countries dealer, if you work on a tight monetary budget, it is on occasions, sometimes a little cheaper to buy from overseas. Hence, here now enters Currency Convert. This program will take input from the user, of say $ 200.50 plus if you know it, the exchange rate between the Countries concerned ( converting U.S. $ to Australian $ ). Enter Exchange rate of $ 78.40, then the converted amount of Australian $ 255.74 will be output. When designing the layout of the program I went to great lengths to ensure that it was V E R Y user friendly. I have attempted to catch every ERROR that could possibly be input so that the outputted money figure will always be as accurate as possible ( of course dependent on accurate exchange rate input from the user ). If you accidentally hit without inputting data at any of the prompts, you will end up with the CURSOR on the next line with NO prompt. If this should happen, simply enter the data select and your input will be accepted and acted upon. This is a sideline of the scanf() function. I am currently rewriting Currency Convert to get around this problem using the fgets() and atof() functions instead of scanf() and this version (v1.7) will also, I hope, be a little smaller. I have released v1.6 to enable some feedback if possible, and will consider any ideas in the next release. The program can be started from the both the CLI and WORKBENCH and will sense from which mode it is provoked and thus the startup procedures will vary slightly, as will be explained below. CLI STARTUP At the CLI prompt type program name ( from here on called Convert as it appears in its release form ) with no additional arguments. After selecting , the screen display will consist of a HELP menu explaining its operation which is fairly self explanatory. The allowable arguments for provoking the exchange rate conversions are:- Sterling to Australian, type > Convert [ea] [-r] Australian to Sterling, type > Convert [ae] [-r] U.S. to Australian, type > Convert [ua] [-r] Australian to U.S., type > Convert [au] [-r] Sterling to U.S., type > Convert [eu] [-r] U.S. to Sterling, type > Convert [ue] [-r] [-r] There is a second argument that can be used if you wish, following the country of origin option and that is [-r]. What this does will leave you in the [Re-enter Mode] so that after each conversion is completed, instead of the CLI prompt returning, you will be prompted for a new conversion option ie: [ue]. [q] This loop will continue until you have enjoyed dreaming of cheaper prices and decide to QUIT the program - this can be done at A N Y P R O M P T that appears in Convert by simply typing the letter "Q" and selecting . There are a number of additional options available to the user once the first prompt appears.... USAGE: Converts Australian $ to U.S. $ Enter amount in Australian Dollars $ 200.50 - 1st prompt Enter U.S./Australian exchange rate in cents ¢ 78.40 - 2nd prompt Converted to Australian Dollars = $ 255.74 ¢ - amount to pay FIRST PROMPT [?] Entering "?" will display a the currently known exchange rate as of the date when this program was completed "09/11/91" This action can also occur at the second prompt. [m] Type in "m" and this will abort the current conversion status and return you to a menu of options and selector prompt. This action can also occur at the second prompt. [h] Entering "h" will display an extensive display of all the arguments available to the user from within the program as explained above. This action can also occur at the second prompt. [q] Entering "q" will allow you to abort the program and return use back to the system CLI prompt. This action can also occur at the second prompt. In addition there is full ERROR CHECKING. Try a few errors of say alphabetical input, number input lower than 5, control codes or whatever and unless there is something I have missed, you should get back an error report!! SECOND PROMPT [b] Entering "b" will abort the prompt and return you to the first prompt. This function is useful in case you realize that the input at the 1st prompt is incorrect and you wish to change it. By selecting this will type out a default exchange rate I have encoded in that was current as of "09/11/91". This is an active function and will actually complete the calculation resulting in an answer displayed. This function is only meant as an example but is useful if you are only after an idea of an approximate exchange rate value. M O S T I M P O R T A N T : For accurate results you must look up the exchange rate for the particular day you are working on. This rate will be different every day by a few cents or pence, and will affect the total you pay out if you get it wrong. The default amount(s) I have encoded in are for example use to give you a rough idea only. WORKBENCH STARTUP If beginning Convert from the workbench icon(.info), naturally the startup arguments cannot be switched in at program execution, so I have allowed optional input to be selected after Convert is run. Clicking on the program icon will result in an output window opening up of 640 X 200 (ntsc size) in which will appear the following display.... O P T I O N S M E N U Sterling to Australian, type "ea" Australian to Sterling, type "ae" U.S. to Australian, type "ua" Australian to U.S., type "au" Sterling to U.S., type "eu" U.S. to Sterling, type "ue" Enter your selection : [h] After entering selection and the program will operate fairly much the same as when in the CLI mode with one exception. If you enter at the prompt "h" you will find a fairly extensive HELP display that is along similar lines to that displayed if run from the CLI with no arguments. This feature was added to allow new WORKBENCH users to gain additional HELP if unsure of some of the programs features. This display like all others is based on a timing feature and will display for a preset amount of time and then return to a prompt etc - if you find it is not long enough then hit the space bar once, and when finished reading, hit and the program will continue. C O N V E R T H I S T O R Y v1.0 Never released v1.1 Never released v1.2 Never released v1.3 Never released v1.4 Never released v1.5 A minor Delay() problem corrected - not really user obvious. v1.6 No known problems...... v1.7 Current version - re-written for improved error checking. In version 1.7 there is a new feature that after you have input more than five ERRORS in any one section, the program will report back to the user that the maximum of five ERRORS has been reached and then return you back to the system CLI. I have included this feature in case you are inputting mistake after mistake and going nowhere fast. I don't believe anyone will ever reach the maximum, BUT it is there as a safeguard. If you are using the [-r] switch then each successful input that brings you back to the prompt for more input the ERROR counter will be reset back to ZERO to start its count all over again, as will be the case if you go from the first prompt to the second prompt etc.. The selection of Countries that I used for this version of "CONVERT" was based on those I currently peruse for pricing of Software/Hardware. I am quite happy to encode other exchange rates into the program only if I am provided with full details including the exchange rate between the nominated countries. Remember, at any prompt regardless from where "CONVERT" was begun, typing in the letter "Q" will abort the program. All input incidentally is NOT CASE SENSITIVE. Any compliments "good or bad" about "CONVERT" would be appreciated, so I would like to hear from you at the address indicated below. Hope you find a use for "CONVERT" and that it becomes a useful addition to your program requirements!! A small comment about the system I am operating under..... ---------------------------------------------------------- A500 with ROM SHARER - contains OSv1.3 and OSv2.05 GVP A530 HARD DRIVE (terrific stuff this drive - veeeeery faaaast) 68030 CPU running at 40 mhz with NO MMU (pity about that??) 8 meg of 32 bit wide memory 3 meg 16 bit memory 1 meg of chip memory Have Fun!!!! Author Ian Steuart 11 St. Georges Terrace Bellevue Heights Adelaide S.A. 5050 Australia. Phone (08) 272.0348 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*( 37 )*(