------------------------------------------------- Ultra Accounts 2.1 Designed by Richard Smedley & Andy Eskelson Programmed by Richard Smedley Copyright (C) Richard Smedley 1996 All Rights Reserved ------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ------------ A friend of mine recently told me that he wanted to try keeping domestic home accounts on his trusty Amiga, and asked me to show him some suitable software. When I arrived at his house with a selection of disks to show him, I was somewhat embarrassed to discover that even I (a computer programmer!) had trouble working out how to use them. It would be something of an understatement to say that my friend wasn't impressed with the choice of software available, and he commented that perhaps somebody should sit down and design a new type of accounts program, something that's so easy-to-use that literally anybody (even wives/husbands who won't normally go anywhere near the computer) can use it without any problems... After spending many sleepless nights sitting in front of the computer, I triumphantly produced a solution... REQUIREMENTS & HARD DRIVE INSTALLATION -------------------------------------- UltraAccounts now requires Kickstart 2.0 or better! This program needs a large chunk of unfragmented memory in order to work properly, so if you're only using a 1 meg machine then it might be best to disable any hard drives, external floppy drives, and anything else which takes memory from the system in order to leave as much free memory as possible. To install this program on your hard drive, all you have to do is create a new drawer entitled "UltraAccounts" (without the quotes!) in your boot partition, and then drag the UltraAccounts program icon into it. And that's it, no additional files, assigns or libraries are required. But don't forget to copy any saved data files into the UltraAccounts drawer! LOADING THE PROGRAM ------------------- Just double-click on the UltraAccounts icon to load the program from Workbench. If you prefer using Shell, all you have to do is CD to the directory containing the program, and then type "UltraAccounts" at the CLI prompt. Note, though, that the program isn't self-detaching! Either way, the UltraAccounts screen will appear after the program has loaded. You'll notice that a calendar has appeared in the middle of the screen, asking you to enter the current date. Simply use the mouse to press the appropriate on-screen buttons until the correct date is displayed in the top-right corner of the window, and then press the "OK" button. After a brief pause the main screen will appear... THE MAIN SCREEN --------------- This is where all the main operations are carried out. The information box on the upper section of the screen displays various details about your accounts, such as how many transactions you've entered, how many accounts you've got, the date when your file was last saved, and so on. The row of buttons on the lower half of the screen are used for the most common functions of the program. Pressing these enables you to enter new transactions, transfer money between accounts, and use common transactions and transfers - all of which are fully explained in the next few sections. CREATING AN ACCOUNT ------------------- If you press the right mouse button you'll see a row of pull-down menu's appear on the title bar at the top of the main screen. Move the mouse pointer up to the "Edit" menu, and select "Account details". A large window will appear covering most of the screen. Each box in this window represents the name of an account, the empty boxes being accounts that aren't being used yet. Here you can set up new accounts, or change the details of accounts that you've already created. You can create accounts for virtually anything you want, some of the more obvious examples include cash, bank accounts, household bills, motoring expenses, and social activities. It might also be useful to set up an account for things which don't fall into any of the other categories, like birthday presents and such. To set up a new account, all you have to do is move the mouse pointer over one of the empty boxes and then press the left mouse button. You'll see that the cursor has appeared in the box, now just type in a name for the new account and press the Return key. A second window will appear on the screen, where you can enter a few more details (if required). Here you can give the new account an opening balance, a minimum amount and a maximum amount. The opening balance is simply to put an initial amount of money in the new account without having to enter a transaction to do it, so if you were creating a bank account then you could use this to enter your current bank balance. If you enter a minimum and/or maximum amount then the program will warn you if the balance for that account ever falls outside those limits. So, for example, you could use this to warn you if your bank charges you when your balance falls below a particular amount, or you could use it to enter the maximum limit of your credit card account. Like before, if you want to enter any of these then all you have to do is click the mouse inside the appropriate box and enter the required amount. When you're happy with everything, press the "OK" button to return to the first window. Here, you'll notice that the new account is now displayed as a button. Pressing this will let you edit the details for that account, or even completely erase it! If you want to create more new accounts then just click inside another empty box and set it up as before. If not then pressing the "OK" button will return you to the main screen. ENTERING A NEW TRANSACTION -------------------------- To enter a new transaction in one of your accounts, just press the "New transaction" button on the main screen. A window will appear for you to enter the details of the new transaction. Here, you can select which account to put the transaction in, enter a date and an amount for the transaction, type in a brief description of what the transaction was (for example, you could put "Paid the electricity bill" or "Bought a new dress") and, if you want, you can enter a cheque/invoice number as well. Like before, simply use the mouse to click in the required boxes and then type in the details of the transaction. Pressing the account button will show a list of all accounts, where you can choose an existing account by pressing its button, or create a new account by clicking in one of the empty boxes and entering the appropriate details. You'll notice that both the "Debit" and "Credit" buttons will stay ghosted until after you've entered all the necessary details to be able to enter the new transaction into your accounts. This is to stop you from trying to enter your new transaction when you've accidentally forgotten to enter an amount, or anything like that! Once you've entered everything, pressing either the "Debit" or "Credit" button will put the new transaction in the appropriate account - Debits are entered as negative amounts, and credits are positive. The window will then be cleared, enabling you to enter more transactions. After you've done, pressing the "Finished" button will return you to the main screen. TRANSFERRING MONEY BETWEEN ACCOUNTS ----------------------------------- Inevitably, sooner or later, it's likely that you will need to record a transaction which involves transferring a sum of money from one account to another. Withdrawing money from the bank is a common example of this, where you're actually transferring money from your bank account to your cash account. If you press the "Transfer money" button on the main screen, you'll see a window appear where you can enter the details for the transfer. Here, you can select the "from" and "to" accounts, the date of the transfer, and the amount. Simply enter the information as before, by clicking in the boxes and typing in the appropriate details. Again, the "Transfer" button will remain ghosted until after you've entered all the necessary details. Then, once you've entered everything, pressing the "Transfer" button will create two transactions - a debit to the "from" account and a credit of equal value to the "to" account. The window will then be cleared, enabling you to enter the details of further transfers. Press the "Finished" button after you've done to return to the main screen. STANDING ORDERS & TIMED EVENTS ------------------------------ A timed event is simply a transaction or transfer which is continually being automatically repeated on a regular basis. Standing orders are perhaps one of the best examples of this, allowing you to pay virtually anything from the gas bill to the mortgage using equal (often monthly) instalments. Timed events themselves, though, can go much further than this. Timed transactions, for example, can also be used for keeping track of money which is being received as well as spent - so if your wage packet always contains the same amount of money then this could easily be entered as a timed transaction. Likewise, timed transfers are simply transfers which are repeated on a regular basis. One of the most common examples is of a standing order used for automatically transferring money from a current account to a savings account. To set up and edit timed events, simply move to "Timed events »" in the "Edit" menu on the main screen and then select either the "Transactions" or "Transfers" sub-menu. Either way, you'll see a large window appear on the screen where (again) each box represents a timed event. Like before, to create a new timed event all you have to do is click inside one of the empty boxes and enter a name for the new event. A second window will then appear, where you can enter or change the details for this timed event. Just click in the appropriate boxes and type in the required details. Pressing the "Months" button will let you switch back and forth between weeks and months. For timed transactions, pressing either the "Debit" or "Credit" button at the bottom of the window will debit (or credit) that transaction into your accounts at the specified interval - for timed transfers you just have to press the "OK" button! When the program actually enters a timed transaction or transfer into your accounts, it will use the name of that timed event (with a "T" after it in brackets to show that it's a timed event) for the comment. VIEWING & EDITING TRANSACTIONS ------------------------------ To look through your transactions, select "Transactions » Normal" from the "Show" menu on the main screen. You'll see a window appear which contains separate buttons for each of your accounts. These buttons work a bit like push-button switches, if you press one then you'll turn it on, and pressing it a second time will turn it off again. All you have to do is choose which accounts you want to see by turning on their buttons, and then press the "OK" button. A large window will appear, filling the entire screen. This is where your transactions are displayed. You'll notice a grey box across the middle of the window, showing the position of the "current transaction". You can scroll up and down through your transactions by pressing the arrow buttons at the bottom of the window. The single-arrow buttons will move you up/down one line at a time, and the double-arrow ones move an entire screen at a time. If you prefer using the keyboard, you can scroll the display by pressing the cursor keys instead. If you want to edit a transaction then all you have to do is use the arrow buttons to move the required transaction into the grey box, and then press the "Edit" button (or the "E" key). Alternatively, if you can see the transaction that you want to edit, you can select it by clicking directly on that line with the mouse. You'll see the transaction window appear again, this time containing all the details of the current transaction. Like before, all you have to do is click in the appropriate boxes to change the required details. When you've finished, pressing either the "Debit" or "Credit" button will debit (or credit) the amended transaction back into your accounts, and pressing the "Erase" button will completely erase that transaction. You'll then return to the first window, where you can continue looking through the accounts and edit other transactions. After you've done, you can make a printout of the transactions by pressing the "Print" button at the bottom of the window (make sure that your printer is on line before selecting this!), or press the "OK" button to go back to the original window, where you can either select more accounts to display or return to the main screen. Alternatively, selecting "Transactions » Running totals" from the "Show" menu will display your transactions as above, except that the running totals for the selected accounts will be displayed as well (with the Chq/Inv column removed from the display!) Selecting only one account will calculate the running totals starting with that accounts opening balance, like on a bank statement, otherwise the totals will be started at zero. SAVING YOUR ACCOUNTS FILE ------------------------- Obviously, one way or another, you're going to need to save your accounts file onto disk. Move up to the "Files" menu and select "Save as". A file requester will appear for you to select the device, directory and file name to save your file under. Press the "Save" button when you've selected everything. A window will now appear asking you to enter a password. Because all financial details are highly confidential, this program saves its files using a special encryption technique which makes it impossible to load an accounts file without first entering the correct password. You can enter anything at all for the password, up to ten characters long, but remember that passwords ARE case sensitive and if you forget what your password is then you won't be able to load your accounts file. As you type, you'll notice that a * appears on screen for each character of your password - this is to prevent anybody from reading your password on the screen. If you're changing your password (or entering a new one) then you'll be asked to type it in a second time, to check that you didn't make any typing errors when you entered it. If you don't want to use a password at all then all you have to do is press the Return key without typing anything, and then when you next try to load your file it will be automatically loaded without asking you to enter a password. Anyway, after you've entered a password, your file will be saved to disk. COMMON EVENTS ------------- Common events allow you to pre-define the details of transactions and transfers so that, instead of having to re-type everything each time you use that particular kind of transaction, all you have to do is select the appropriate common event, amend the details (if required), and then everything else is automatically filled in for you. One example of this might be the weekly shopping: You could set up a common transaction where the account and comment are already filled in, and then when it comes to using the transaction all you have to do is enter the amount! Another example is withdrawing money from the bank, where you could set up the "from" and "to" accounts using a common transfer, and then when you make the withdrawal all you'll need to do is type in the amount! Simply move to "Common events »" in the "Edit" menu and select either the "Transactions" or "Transfers" sub-menu entry. You'll see a large window appear where, like before, each box represents a common event. Again, to create a new common event, all you have to do is click in one of the empty boxes and type in a name. A second window will appear - If you're setting up a common transaction then it will look the same as the window that is used for entering normal transactions, and if you're setting up a common transfer then it will look like the normal transfer window. Here, you can pre-define whatever details you want, and the information will be stored as a common event until you actually need it. You'll notice that the date box (and chq/inv for transactions) is ghosted, because it can't be pre-defined - the current date will simply be entered when you actually use that common event! After you've set up the details, press the "OK" button to store them. You'll then return to the first window where, like before, the new common event will be displayed as a button. Pressing this will re-display the previous window, where you can change the pre-defined details or erase that common event. USING COMMON EVENTS ------------------- After it's been set up, you can enter a common event in your accounts by simply pressing either the "Common transaction" or "Common transfer" button on the main screen. You'll see a window appear containing buttons for all the currently defined common transactions (or transfers!) Just press the appropriate button, and you'll see the normal transaction/transfer window appear containing your pre-defined details. Everything now works as if you had just entered those details yourself, so you can edit the details and add any extra information that might be needed. Pressing the appropriate button at the bottom of the window will then enter that transaction/transfer into your accounts. REMINDERS --------- Reminders can be used to make UltraAccounts remind you about important events, such as birthdays or bills that need to be paid. To set up a reminder, select "Reminders" from the "Edit" menu on the main screen. A window will appear where, like always, each empty box represents an unused reminder. To create a new reminder simply click in one of the empty boxes and enter a name. A second window will now appear. Here, the large box at the top of the window is for you to enter the message that you want to be displayed. You can also enter the starting date for the reminder, how often you want it to be repeated, and how many days advance warning you want. If you leave the "Repeat every (n) months" box empty, then the reminder will be automatically erased after it has been shown. Near the bottom of the window you'll see a button giving you the option of making this a "sticky" or "non-sticky" reminder. Non-sticky reminders will simply display a requester to remind you about the required event and then go away, but sticky reminders will keep popping up every five minutes or so to keep reminding you. This is to stop you from acknowledging an important reminder without actually doing anything about it - The consequences of ignoring a "Pay the income tax bill" reminder could be rather severe! Finally, if you've made this a sticky reminder then you'll see a button giving you the option of linking it to a common transaction. Using this will automatically cancel the reminder until it's next needed when you enter that common transaction. So, for example, you could set up a reminder telling you to add the CIX bill to the credit card account every month, and create a common transaction to enter the details. Then, when you use the common transaction, it will automatically cancel the reminder until its needed again the following month! After you've entered the required information, press the "OK" button to return to the first window. You'll see that the new reminder is now displayed as a button, pressing this will show the second window again, letting you edit (or delete) the details for that reminder. GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS ------------------ The "Graph" menu on the main screen contains a number of functions for generating bar graphs of your transactions, which can often be useful for forward planning, showing trends, or just for looking for odd peaks of expenditure. Select the appropriate menu item to choose which type of graph you want to display: Cashflow income will generate a chart that displays all the credit transactions in the selected accounts, letting you see how much money you've got coming in. Likewise, expenditure produces a graph of the debit transactions, showing how much money is going out. Or, alternatively, you can produce a graph which combines both the cashflow income & expenditure details on the same chart. You can also select a daily, weekly, or monthly period for the graph: Using a daily period will produce a chart showing the 14 days up to a selected date, a weekly period shows each of the 12 weeks up to the week ending on a selected date, and a monthly period will display a graph showing each month of the current year. All of the different charts use blue for displaying credit transactions, and red for debit ones - so, on combined income & expenditure graphs, the red bars tell you how much money you're spending, and the blue ones show how much you've got coming in! You'll notice that each bar is made up from a number of different patterns, each of which represents a specific account on the chart. By using the key displayed just to the right of the graph, you'll be able to instantly see exactly what proportion of any given total comes from each account. Pressing one of the arrow buttons shown at the bottom of the chart will scroll the graph either backwards or forwards. Any transactions beyond the current date will automatically be predicted using your timed events, and then displayed as an "outline" on the graph. LOG FILES --------- If you turn on the "Log » Enabled" function from the "Options" menu on the main screen, so that it has a check-mark (i.e. a tick!) beside it, then UltraAccounts will automatically record a time-stamped log of all critical functions. This might sound a bit daft but can actually be very useful, especially for backtracking. Suppose, for example, that you accidentally change or erase something without realising it, and then later discover that something is missing. All you'd have to do is look through the log file to find out what happened. For security reasons the actual amounts of the transactions aren't normally recorded in the log file. Under certain circumstances, though, this could make backtracking difficult, so if you want the amounts to be included then all you have to do is activate the "Log » Include amounts" function in the "Options" menu. The log file is written using standard ASCII text, and is saved using the file name "UltraAccounts.log" Selecting "Log » Clear" will erase the current log file from disk, and if the log is activated start a new log file under the same name. MENU FUNCTIONS -------------- The following menu functions are available on the main screen: PROGRAM... ABOUT Displays information about the program and its authors. QUIT Quit the program. Requesters will warn you if you've got any unsaved information in your file. FILES... LOAD Load a new file from disk. Use the file requester to select which file to load, and then enter the loading password. SAVE Saves the current file automatically using the previous file name and password, thus saving you from having to go through the file requester. SAVE AS Save the current file. Enter the file name using the file requester, and then enter your password - If you just press the Return key without typing anything then your file will be saved without a password. DELETE Use the file requester to erase a file from disk - but please remember that you can't undelete files! EDIT... ACCOUNT DETAILS Create & edit accounts. TIMED EVENTS » TRANSACTIONS/TRANSFERS Create & edit timed events. COMMON EVENTS » TRANSACTIONS/TRANSFERS Create & edit common events. REMINDERS Create & edit reminders. SHOW... TRANSACTIONS » NORMAL/RUNNING TOTALS View & edit transactions. CURRENT BALANCES Displays the current balance for each of your accounts. Press "OK" to return to the main screen, or "Print" for a printout (make sure that your printer is switched on before selecting this!) REMINDERS » DUE NOW Selecting this will make the program display all the currently active reminders (this is done automatically when a new accounts file is loaded). Sticky reminders that have been hidden won't be displayed. REMINDERS » ALL This option will display a list of every reminder entered into the program, together with the date when each one is next due to occur. OPTIONS... LOG » ENABLED If you turn this on then UltraAccounts will record a time-stamped log of all critical functions, which can be useful for backtracking and such. LOG » INCLUDE AMOUNTS Turning this on will make UltraAccounts record further information about transactions (such as amounts) in the log file. This can make backtracking a lot easier, but under some circumstances could potentially become a security problem, hence it is turned off by default. LOG » CLEAR Erases the current log from disk, and if the log is enabled it starts a new log file using the same name. DEFAULT FILE » ENABLED Most users will probably load the same accounts file every time they use this program. By turning this on, you can make UltraAccounts automatically load a file into memory whenever the program is run - Of course you'll still need to enter the password (if you've used one), but it'll save you from having to go through the file requester every time! DEFAULT FILE » SELECT If you've enabled the default file, selecting this will display a file requester for you to choose which file you would like to have automatically loaded. KEEP BACKUPS If this option is turned on, UltraAccounts will make a backup copy of your previously saved file instead of overwriting it by renaming it with ".bak" as a suffix. This is useful just in case your file somehow becomes corrupted - and hence is turned on by default. OTHER NOTES ----------- This program makes the assumption that time started on 1st January 1950, and that it runs out on 31st December 2049. Somehow I can't see this causing any problems, though, because hardly anybody will want to have a go at recording accounts that date back to before 1950, and, frankly, by the year 2049 we'll all have upgraded to something a little more powerful than the Amiga... All dates should be typed using the format DD/MM/YY. You don't have to use the slashes if you don't want to, if you enter any non-numeric characters then they'll automatically be converted into slashes! This program is unable to handle numbers any larger than nine characters in length. To be honest, I don't think that anybody who has numbers longer than nine characters in their home accounts will be actively involved in using PD & shareware programs anyway, so I can't imagine this being a problem! File names... It is officially recommended that you start a new accounts file for each financial year, and that you save your files using names such as "MyAccounts1996" for your 1996 records (or whatever). Each individual file is capable of handling up to 1000 transactions! Pressing the "Edit names" button at the bottom of the edit common/timed transaction & transfer selection window will let you edit their names. Simply switch on the "Edit names" button and then click on the button that you want to change. The cursor will then appear for you to change the name. THE TRADITIONAL JOKES --------------------- Yes, that's right, it's time for more of my favourite jokes... 1) What has one hundred legs but can't walk? Fifty pairs of trousers! 2) Why don't people play cards in the jungle? Because there are too many cheetah's around! 3) How do you make a cigarette lighter? Take the tobacco out! 4) Why did the turkey cross the road? To prove it wasn't chicken! Ha ha ha ha ha... Ahem! Er, perhaps that's enough jokes for now... HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED USER ------------------------------- I'm suggesting a standard registration fee of Ten (UK) Pounds Sterling, but don't worry if you can't afford to pay that much because I'm also willing to accept "poverty" registrations at reduced amounts. Alternatively, you could also register by sending me an interesting CD-ROM title, or something similar. Just write and make me an offer. Everybody who registers will receive a key file which will automatically register this and all future versions of UltraAccounts, making it possible to use the save functions. The address to write to is: Richard Smedley 257 Stoneyford Road Sutton-In-Ashfield Notts. NG17 3GJ England Or if you just want to have a chat, or tell me a joke, then feel free to email me at the following address: rsmedley@cix.compulink.co.uk VERSION HISTORY --------------- V1.0 Released 6th March 1995 - The first release. Thanks to Andy Eskelson the program has a usable GUI and, more importantly, it actually works... V2.0 Released 26th September 1995 - Pretty much re-wrote the entire program (the executable is now almost 50K smaller than the previous version!) - Transactions which have been entered from timed events can now be edited, modified, or even deleted without duplicate entries being created! - It's now possible to edit transactions while the running totals are turned on. - Transactions can now be erased. - When editing a transaction, trying to debit a transaction when it was originally entered as a credit (or vice versa) will now display a requester asking for confirmation of this. This also works when editing the definitions of timed transactions. - Added an option for UltraAccounts to keep a backup copy of your previous file when you save your file, useful in case your file somehow becomes corrupted. - Various general improvements to the GUI. - When entering new transactions and transfers, the Debit/Credit (or Transfer!) button now remains ghosted until after you've entered all the necessary information (eg. entering the amount) required to be able to actually enter it into your accounts. - Graphs are calculated and displayed a lot faster now. - Keyboard shortcuts are now underlined on buttons! - Buttons are now ghosted when they can't be used! - If you set-up a timed event which has a starting date *before* the current date, the program now creates all the transactions from the starting date onwards! - Making a printout (e.g. of your transactions) no longer exits the function that you were using when you pressed the "Print" button! - If you've got Kickstart 2.0 or higher then you no longer need to use any assigns to be able to use the program - the assign is only needed for using the program under Kickstart 1.3 now! - Plus numerous other minor (and not so minor!) bug fixes... V2.1 Released 6th March 1996 - Ultra Accounts now requires Kickstart 2.0 or better! - The GUI is no longer dependant upon the default system font, and instead explicitly requires Topaz/8. - Numerous MAJOR improvements in the functionality of the user interface: Pressing Ctrl-X will now clear string gadgets, the Tab-key now works to cycle the cursor from one gadget to the next, and you can finally click out of string gadgets with the mouse... - Reminders can now be set to repeat at any user-defined period, instead of restricting you to the pre-defined intervals used by previous versions of the program. - Plus numerous general improvements to the GUI, and a couple of extremely minor bug fixes... DISCLAIMER ---------- This software is supplied "AS IS" without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the results and performance of this software is assumed by the user. Should the software prove defective, the user (and not the author or anybody associated therewith) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. Further, the author does not warrant, guarantee or make any representations regarding the use of, or the results of the use of, this software in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise; and you rely on this software and the results entirely at your own risk. In no event will the author be liable for direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of this software even if advised of the possibility of such damages. The author reserves the right to make changes to this software at any time without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes. This program, and all associated software, files, programs and text, is the exclusive copyright of Richard Smedley 1994-1996, All Rights Reserved. Permission is hereby granted for this software to be freely distributed in its entire form only, providing all the original files remain fully intact and unmodified. The key file supplied to registered users must not be copied, renamed, lent, modified and/or distributed in any form, or by any means. This disclaimer shall supersede any verbal or written statement to the contrary. Your use of this software indicates your acceptance of this disclaimer.