BUD v1.00 ***ASCII document*** Copyright 1995, Eric Labbe. Version 1.00, released on July 1995. Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction 1.1 The Author 1.2 History 1.3 The Shareware concept 1.4 Registration 1.5 System Requirements 2. Copyrights 3. Tutorial 3.1 Installing Bud v1.00 3.2 Creating your budget database 3.3 Adding/Editing transactions 3.4 On screen Reports & Graphics 4. Command References 4.1 Bud Menus Reference 4.2 Bud Windows Reference 5. AREXX commands 6. ToolTypes 7. Future Enhancements 8. Problem Reports 1. Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------- Bud is a small Budget Management tool, that I developed for my personnal needs. This first version is limited to budget planning, recording, reporting, and graphing. Future release will incorporate multiple account handling (I found it quite usefull to have a 'transfer' operation, that can be shown as a separate transaction). For complete list of planned enhancements, refer to section 6. 1.1 The Author ----------------------------------------------------------- My name is Eric Labbe, I am a software developer, and because of my work, don't have much time for programming at home. After a degree in Computer Science at the Sherbrooke University I have been hired by CAE electronic Ltd., the world leader in commercial flight simulation. I worked for them for 4 1/2 years, and then moved to Visual Edge Software, the makers of UIM/X (Unix most spreaded GUI builder), and many other Unix software products. So, I am a s/w professional, and as you can see, programming is also a hobby. When there is some time left, I do play Chess, Curling, and pratice bicycle riding, and hiking. I can be reached at the Internet Address: ericl@vedge.com If you prefer snail-mail, send it to: Eric Labbe 3843 Repere, Rock-Forest, Qc. Canada J1N 3Y1 If you are not to far away, you can call my BBS: Amiga Zone BBS: 514-482-1339 1.2 History ----------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.00 - First public release, ShareWare, not crippled. - Supports only Amiga DOS 3.0 and up (v39 + ), (I'll try to make it supports 2.0 and up, but it's not a priority). - Very simple (limited) user interface (to be improved). - Some nice graphic output (more to come, I like those) 1.3 The Shareware concept ----------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 Registration ----------------------------------------------------------- I decided to keep the registration fees of Bud v1.00 to a minimum, since my first goal was to produce a tool for myself. To register, fill in the registration sheet (print the file registration.txt), and send an amount of $10.00 US ($15.00 canadian) at my parents' home address: Attn: Eric Labbe 3843 Repere Rock Forest, Qc Canada J1N-3Y1 or directly to me, (but you shall verify by e-mail if I still live there) Eric Labbe 2500 Cavendish #306 Montreal, Qc Canada H4B 2Z6 2. Copyrights ----------------------------------------------------------- Bud v1.00 is a shareware product. That means, if you use it for your personnal budget management, you shall send the small registration fee that I ask for it. The archive bud100.lha and its content can be copied and distributed anywhere, as long as no charge are asked for it, except for the usual shipping & handling and media costs. If you are using this program, and do not register, well... that's your problem. I won't bother looking after such people. 3. Tutorial ----------------------------------------------------------- This section guides you through the installation of the Bud application. Then it shows you how to create a small budget database. It shows you how to add/edit/delete transactions, and how to generate reports and graphics. 3.1 Installing Bud v1.00 ----------------------------------------------------------- Bud v1.00 is really easy to install. Just bring the archive in the dirctory wehre you want to install the program. Then, extract it over there. Bud v1.00 is ready to be used. Just click on the 'Bud' icon to start the program. 3.2 Creating your budget database ----------------------------------------------------------- - Click on the 'Bud' icon to start the application. Go in the menu, and select the item . - You are now facing the budget editor screen. - Click in the string gadget that is labeled 'Name'. Give whatever name you want to your budget (e.g. My 1995 Budget) You have up to 40 characters to identify your database. - Select the starting year for your budget, by entering the proper value in the Year input gadget. - Select the starting month, by clicking on the cycle gadget. The budget will start at that month, and will terminate on the previous month, of the next year. (Selecting June, will start the budget period on June of the selected year, and terminate it on May of the next year). - You can ignore the 'In Bank' and 'On loan' fields, they will be used in a next release. - Click on the 'Categories...' button: This pops up the category editor window. From that window, you define all the categories you want in your budget. This window, I must admit, is poorly designed, but will be enhanced in a next release. Anyway, you use it once a year! To create a new category for your budget, follow these steps: - Click on the 'New' button. This will enable the editor gadgets. - Enter the category name in the editable gadget, just under the categories list gadget. - Enter a default description for that category. (e.g.: for a category 'Food', the default description could be 'Grocery'). - Click on the 'Expense/Income' cycle gadget to specify if that category is a money entry or an expense category. - Click on the 'repeat' cycle gadget to specify if the transaction category is automaticly repeated. If you select a 'repeat' option, you have to enter the start date and end date for that automatic transaction. If you select. Selecting a repeat option will set that category as 'Automatic'. This means, a confirm pop-up window will show when entering a transaction for the first time after the start date. - Click on the 'Fixed' check box, if you want that category to have a fixed amount. - Click on the 'Force' check box, if you want to force the transaction, at the given rate (no repeat will not force the transaction). - Click on the 'Auto' check box, if you want a window to pop up, and ask the user to confirm the transaction for that category, at the given rate, between the given dates. If 'No repeat' was selected, only the start date has to be given. Such a category will have the popup confirm windows show for the category at the given 'start' date. - Enter the planned MONTHLY amount, in the 'Amount' gadget. This is the amount of money you plan for that category, for each month (e.g.: This would be your monthly salary for a 'Salary' category.) - Click on the 'Reset' button to zeroed the category currently edited. - Click on the 'Add' button to add the category to the list of categories. The category won't be added if one of the following field is not correctly filled/selected: - Name - Default description - Amount - Click on the 'Delete' button to remove the currently selected category from the list. - When all the categories have been added, click on the 'Ok' button. - When everything has been entered properly, select the Save button. Make sure you have entered everything properly before selecting the save button, since it is not yet possible to edit the budget once it has been created. (This will be available in v2.00). - You are now ready to add transactions 3.3 Adding/Editing transactions ----------------------------------------------------------- - From the menu, select the option. This will pop up a database selection requester. Select the database you've created, or the demo database, and click on the Open button. - Your budget database is ready to receive new transactions, or accept modifications/deletions of existing transactions. - To Add a new transaction, click on the 'New...' button. - Set the date of the transaction, either by clicking on the '+' or '-' buttons, or by typing in the date gadget the desired day of the month. - Select the transaction category from the list of categories. - Once you have selected a category, the default description for it will appear in the description field, and overwrite anything that was in there before. So if you want to enter a description that is not the default one: First select the category, then edit the description field. - Enter the proper amount for that transaction, and click the 'Ok' button. - To modify an already existing transaction, first select it from the transaction list, then click the 'Edit...' button. From the Transaction Editor window, you can modify whatever needs to be modified, and save it. - To delete a transaction, first select it from the transaction list, then click the 'Delete' button. 3.4 On Screen Reports & Graphics ----------------------------------------------------------- - Reports can be generated for a month, the year, or a specific category. To generate reports, click on the 'Reports...' button. - From the report selection window that pops-up, you can request one of the following reports: 1) Month Summary: Gives a total for each category, the percentage of money used on that category, the planned amount for that category, and the planned percentage. - You can print that report, or generate a graphic from it. - Clicking '>' or '<' buttons will move to next and previous months reports. 2) Year Summary: Gives a total for each category, for the whole year. Also gives the percentage of money used on each categories, the planned amount for the year, and the planned percentage. - You can print that report, or generate a graphic from it. 3) Category Report:Gives the amount of money spent on a category, on each month, and displays the total for the year. - You can print that report, or generate a graphic from it. - Clicking on the 'Category' cycling button will change to the next/previous category. 4) Budget View: Shows the budget. All the categories are shown with the planned amount and planned percentage. - You can print that report, or generate a graphic from it. 4. Command References ----------------------------------------------------------- This section describes the commands available through the application menus, and the commands that are activated by button or other gadgets selection. 4.1 Bud Menus Reference ----------------------------------------------------------- - Selecting this menu item, will bring up a database name requester, allowing the user to open an already existing budget database. - Selecting this menu item will bring up a budget creation window. With that editor, the user can create a new budget database. See the section 4.2.x Budget Creation Editor for a complete description of the features. Or refer to the 'Creating Your First Budget Database' section in the tutorial chapter, for a demonstration of how to use the Budget Creation Window. - Selecting this menu item will save the current state of the database, and continue. - Selecting this menu item will save the current state of the database, and will close the it. - This menu item brings a window with some basic information about Bud and its author. - Selecting this menu item pops up the report selection window. From that window, the user can select all kind of reports that he wants to see printed. See the 4.2.x section for a complete description of that window. - Selecting either this menu item, the close gadget, or the quit button will terminate the execution of the utility. If the database has been modified and not saved, a requester will prompt the user for a confirmation. - This option allows the user to set automatic backups parameters, and to enable/disable that feature. - This menu item pops up a window that allows the user to select its preference for graphic rendering (colors, dimension, ...) - By selecting a default database, the user will have the utility automaticly loading the specified database, and will be able to skip the 'Open' operation. Quite nice. Of course, if the user closes the database, a new one can be loaded by selecting the - menu item. 4.2 Bud Windows Reference ----------------------------------------------------------- 4.2.1 Main Window This is the application window. It appears at the invocation of the program. The main gadget in this winodw is a scrollable list that displays the transactions of the current month. Buttons: Add - This will bring the transaction editor window. That is the way to enter a totally new transaction. Edit - The user first select a transaction in the list of transactions, by clicking over it. Then, the Edit button will bring the transaction editor, and let the user edit the transaction. Delete - The user first select a transaction in the list of transactions. Then, the Delete button will remove the selected transaction. Quit - Terminates the application. If some modification were done since the last change, the application will request a confirmation before closing. < - This button will change the current month for the previous one. > - This button will change the current month for the next one. Print... - This button will print the transaction report of the current month. Reports... - This button will pops up the Report Selection window. Save - This button allows the user to save the current state of the database, and continue with its normal operations. Save & Close - This button allows the user to save the current state of the database, and closes the budget. The application is then ready to load another budget. 4.2.2 Budget Creation window This is the main window for budget creation. Two fields are now useless for that version ('In bank', and 'On loan'). They will be used in next versions, and more fields will be added for multi-account handling. Name - This string gadget receives the name that will be given to the budget database. Year - This gadget receives the year where the budget starts. Start on: - This gadget is used to select the first month of the budget database. In this first version, the budget last for 12 months. In bank: - Represents the total amount of money in bank (not used in v1.00) On loan: - Represents the total amount of money on loan (not used in v1.00) Categories - This button calls the 'Category editor window' (see 4.2.3) Save - This button saves the current budget definition. To be valid, a budget definition must have: - A Name. - A starting year. - A starting month. - At least one income category. - At least one expense category. Help - Calls the 'Budget Creation Help window' Cancel - Forget about the creation of the database, and return to main window. 4.2.3 Category Editor Window This window allows the definition of every 'transactions categories'. Those categories are used to planned the amount of money allowed for each kind of expenses, and the amount of money expected from each kind of income sources. Add - Adds the newly defined category to the budget. New - Activates all gadgets, to define a new category. Delete - Deletes the currently selected category. Clear - Reset all gadgets to empty (when editing a category) Default Description - Gives a default description to the category. Expense/ Income - Tells if the category is an expense or an income source. No Repeat/ Daily/ Weekly/ Monthly - Tells if the category is expected to receive repeated transactions, and if so, specify the frequency. Fixed - If checked, this box specifies that any transaction of that category will be of the planned amount. Force - If checked, this box specifies that at least one transaction of that category must occur in the month. If a date is specified in the start-date, the transaction must occur a that date. If a repeat frequency is specified, transactions must occurs at at the specified rate, starting on the specified date. Start on: - Specify a start date for automatic and/or forced and/or fixed transactions. End on: - Specify a stop date for automatic and/or repeat transactions. Amount: - MONTHLY planned amount for that category. Ok - Returns to the budget creation window (4.2.2) Help - Pops up an help text. Cancel - Returns to the budget creation window, and forget about the last changes. 4.2.4 Transaction Editor window This window is used to add a new transaction to a given month, of modify a transaction. Date - The date when the transaction occurs. This can be directly typed in, or adjusted by the two '+' and '-' buttons. Categories - A category, for the transaction, is selected from this list. When selected, the default transaction will be put in the description field Description - The description of the transaction. First select the category, since it will overwrite any information with the default description. Amount - The amount of the transaction. Ok - Returns to the main window, and save the current transaction. Help - Brings an Hepl text about the Transaction Editor Cancel - Returns to the main window, and forget about the transaction. 4.2.5 Report Selection This small window allows the user to select the report he/she is looking for: Month Summary (4.2.6) Year Summary (4.2.7) Categories Report (4.2.8) Budget View (4.2.9) Cancel - Forgets about reports, and return to main window 4.2.6 Month Summary Gives a list of categories, with the amount of money and percentage spent on/generated by them on the current month. Also shown, is the planned amount and percentage for that category (the budget) Ok - Returns to the main window. Print... - Send that report to the printer. Graphic... - Generate an on screen graph from that report. < - Produce a report for the previous month. > - Produce a report for the next month. Cancel - Returns to the main window. 4.2.7 Year Summary Gives a list of categories, with the amount of money and percentage spent on/generated by them over the year. Also shown, is the planned amount and percentage for that category (the budget). Ok - Returns to the main window. Print... - Send that report to the printer. Graphic... - Generate an on screen graph from that report. Cancel - Returns to the main window. 4.3.8 Categories Report This window displays the amount of money, of a given category, for each of the month of the year. Select Category - This cycling gadget selects which category to produce a report for. Print... - Send that report to the printer. Graphic... - Generate an on screen graphic from that report. Ok - Return to the main window. 4.3.9 Budget View This window displays the budgets categories in a list, and with all categories, the monthly planned amount. Other values, like the amount of money in each accounts at the beginning of the budget period, are shown. Ok - Return to the main window Print... - Send that report to the printer. Graphic... - Generate an on screen graphic for the report. Edit... - Edit the budget (not avaialable on v1.00) 5. AREXX commands ----------------------------------------------------------- For this very first release, AREXX has not been implemented, but will be for the next version (2.00). 6. ToolTypes ----------------------------------------------------------- All the tooltypes value are overwritten by the settings that a user can make from the application. The following tool types are supported by Bud v1.00. DEFAULTDB=database_name - Defaults to nothing. The 'database_name' is not a path, but the name given to the budget database at creation time. This tooltype will have the effect of loading the specified database when the program is started. This is usefull, since most of the time, a single database is needed. This tooltype will be ignored if the user select a default database from the Settings menu. 7. Future Enhancements ----------------------------------------------------------- For now, there are two next versions planned (V2.00 and V3.00), with probably some inter-release (V1.xx, v2.xx) to fix reported bugs. Here follows a to-do list, with the version where it is planned to appear. TO-DO Version ===================== ======= Full AREXX support v2.00 Enhanced User Interface v2.00 More Reports & Graphics v2.00 Allow modification of the budget v2.00 More Preferences v2.00 Locale support v3.00 Multi-Account support w/ transfers v3.00 8. Problem Reports ----------------------------------------------------------- One of the best way to have a program becoming robust, is through a structured feedback from the users. If you encounter a problem with Bud, please fill in the form that you'll find in the file Problem.txt, and mail it to me (see section 1.1 for my address). Make sure you are precisely specifying how to reproduce the problem. Thanks, Eric Labbe.