PDA Software Library/pdasoftwarelib.iso/PSION/1997/923.ZIP/BANK.TXT

Text File | 1997-02-13 | 10.3 KB | 309 lines

                          "BANK" by Pete Sipple
         Written for the Psion Series 3 (February 1997)



BANK is a shortish procedure that I've been using for the last few years,
with the occasional re-write here and there. I've found it very, very useful
for keeping track of my bank and credit card accounts.

BANK allows the user to create up to five accounts, which can be either
BANK or CREDIT CARD accounts. It will automatically pay standing orders,
arrange inter-account transfers, and lets you print a statement to screen
or printer. It allows the user to verify a bank statement, and comes with
a basic password facility, to prevent casual prying.

An enhanced version of Bank is available for Series 3a users - BankPlus.
A version is also available for the Psion Siena. These are available
from usual shareware sources. Contact the author for more details.



Installation of BANK
====================


BANK was written for the Series 3. Series 3a users should use BankPlus.

To Install:

1. Copy BANK.OPA into the \APP\ directory

2. From the system menu, select Install Application, and select BANK.OPA


Note to upgraders. With v8.43.2 , the BANK.PRG file is no longer required.



Files included with this release
================================
BANK.OPA    The main part of the procedure.
BANK.TXT    This text file


Bank will create a datafile for each account specified. They will
be placed in a directory called \bnk\ on whichever drive has been specified
in the Settings menu.

A very small file called BANK.INI will be created in M:\BNK\ . If it is
removed, it will be recreated, as it is vital to Bank's operation.

Thanks to William Nightingale and Martin Packer for their help with
designing the BANK icons.




============================================================


BASIC OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS:
=============================

When you first run the program, you will be presented with a menu called
SPECIAL, from which you can specify a password if required, but more
importantly, to setup each bank account. Select 'Setup Accounts', and you
will be asked for a name for A/c:1. Type in a name, ie CURRENT, ACCESS,
etc, and select the type of account - either a BANK or CREDIT CARD account.
Press [Enter], and continue setting up accounts (max of five). Press [Enter]
or ESC to quit.

Once you've set up your accounts, you get the main system menu, which is
the business end of the program.



Menu Options
============

The File Menu Card presents a list of the accounts that you have set up -
Select an account to use.

Find - Search the selected account for an individual item - press <enter>
to scroll
New - To Enter a new item
Transfer - Transfer funds between accounts
Std Orders - Setup or edit standing orders

View - View a list of transactions/balances in date order (Bank statement)
Check - To match BANK data with your bank statement
Balances - today's balance on all accounts

Tidy - Tidy entries older than specified date (entries are deleted)
Print - Print a list of transactions/balances in date order (Bank statement)

Setup Accounts - Change / setup bank account information
Defaults - To change the currency symbol and decimal places
Password - change password (a blank field will disable password facility)



Explanation of "Clearing" & "Stmt"
==================================

By default, new entries are marked as "uncleared", which means that they
haven't appeared on your monthly statement from your bank. If an item is
uncleared, <u/c> is displayed alongside the entry.

The Balance shown on the main menu screen shows "Balance" (which includes
all transactions, cleared or not, as of today's date)

The 'Cleared' total shows the amount shown on your latest bank statement.

To adjust "cleared", use the "check" option from the statement menu. Press
[C] to confirm that an item is cleared, ie. has appeared on your statement.

Note that items with a transaction date greater than today's date will not
affect the current balance, until that date is reached.



Standing Orders
===============
There is no limit to the amount of standing orders that can be setup. When
Bank is run, it automatically pays any standing orders that are due in the
current month, or next month.





Viewing Bank Statements
=======================
Symbols used in the view/print statement options, are:
u = uncleared (printout only)
D after the balance indicates a debit
<< indicates the current balance (printout only)
current balances are highlighted in view



============================================================

History:
========


v8.0  - Major rework of code to include new menu layout and new file
structure. Significant changes to layout of most screens.

v8.1  - Now runs on Series 3 or Series 3a

v8.2  -International currency support added. Minor bug fixes (password /
print to file)

v8.21 - 'Check' option now searches in date order by oldest uncleared item.
New icons for Application versions. Checks for duplicate S/O names.
Now runs from \BNK\ directory on A: or B: as well as M:

v.8.22 - Several minor tweaks and bugfixes.

v8.23 - Trial Shareware release. Help added. Useful Info option added.
Enhanced error checking introduced.

v8.3 - Full shareware version. Cosmetic changes. Datafiles read from
default drive.

v8.4 - Several minor changes, including encoding of password, start/end
dates for standing orders, better handling of files on SSD's, and some
general fixes and cosmetic changes.



=========================================================================
Announcing BankPlus -

An enhanced version for the Series 3a.

This version includes a much more graphical interface, taking advantage of
the screensize and fonts. Provision is made for eight accounts. Improvements
 made to most functions, which could not be implemented into BANK due to
screen/memory limitations. The startup menu can be toggled with a view
of the last 10 transactions, and the View Statement can now be used to
edit/delete/clear items.

Bankplus is available as Shareware. The registration fee of 8 UK pounds
covers BANK and BANKPLUS. If you would like to receive the latest version of
either program, please email the author. A disk copy can be sent for
9 UK pounds, which includes registration, disk & postage.
==========================================================================



Notes:
======

Some users have commented that they are unable to close Bank using the delete
key from the Psion system. It IS possible to exit from outside Bank, but only
from the Bank main menu.
There's a reason for this. Each account's balance is saved to memory and
compared to the file, so that if the machine crashes, the balance is protected.
If the program is exited suddenly, there's the danger that the balance may
trash. To prevent that danger, I've made it impossible to exit from outside
the program unless the main menu is displayed. Using KILL runs the risk of
losing your data. be warned. The correct way to exit is from within the
program using the Exit option (Psion-X). Apologies if this causes problems,
but I don't want to get into improving the error checking for exits, or
running the risk of losing balance information.





Registering Bank
===================
From Version 8.23, BANK is Shareware, and if you find this program useful,
you are asked to register it. The current price is 5.00 UK pounds.
Cheques, made payable to P.Sipple, should be sent to the following address:

Pete Sipple
Flat 4, 17 Devereux Road
Southend-on-Sea,
Essex
SS1 1DR
England

1. Send a 5ukp note
2. Send a cheque drawn on a UK bank for 5ukp, made payable to "Pete Sipple"
3. Compuserve users can register online using SWREG - see below
4. Send a cheque drawn from your local bank, but payable in sterling, to "Pete Sipple"
5. Make payment by credit card (see below)
6. Contact a friend in the UK and ask them to forward payment in ukp.

If requested, you will be sent the most current version of BankPlus.



Please remember to include your email address (if appropriate), current
version number, and desired compression format (ie. ZIP, ARC). Files sent
by email will be UUencoded if sent over Internet.

If you cannot accept UUencoded email, or have no email account, a disk of
the latest version can be posted out to you, but please add 1.00ukp for disk
cost plus postage.


Compuserve
==========
Users of Compuserve can register using the Compuserve SWREG service. Type
SWREG at the GO prompt, and quote 7101 as the registration ID. A charge of
$10 will be applied to your CIS account, and you will receive your registration
number by email. If requested, you can have upgrades sent to your account,
providing that you accept that any mail charges levied by Compuserve for
file transfer. The author can be contacted via Compuserve at 100333,3266


Credit Card
=========
Payment can be made by Access or Visa. Please add a ú0.50 handling charge. For security
reasons it is advised that credit card details are sent via post rather than in email. Please
quote card name, number and expiry date. Please make sure that the amount (ú5.50 or ú6.50
for disk version) is quoted in sterling.



As well as supporting the Shareware concept, registration brings additional
benefits:

1. The latest versions of BANK will be  emailed to you as soon as they are
available, if requested.

2. You will be sent a registration number to remove the startup "nag" screen.

3. Wherever possible, your suggestions will be considered for future
releases.




=============




Comments, queries and bug reports are welcomed. I can be reached by email
at:

[e-mail]

(please state the version number that you are using!)

* PLEASE NOTE THAT TELEPHONE SUPPORT IS NOT AVAILABLE *


Disclaimers, etc
================
Although this procedure appears stable, I cannot accept any liability for
loss, or damage, as a result of using this procedure.


The procedures included with releases of BANK remain copyright of
Pete Sipple.
You may freely distribute the files to other users, but please make sure
that ALL files including this documentation are kept together. Distribution
of reverse-translated source code is not permitted.


Written by: Pete Sipple
            12 February 1997