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CheckMate -- Introductory User's Guide Version 1.04 CheckMate is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose. Contents Introduction.......................................3 Greetings Features Support Things You Need to Know............................6 The Bottom Line The Pull-Down Menu System The Help System Date Formats Editing in CheckMate Installing CheckMate...............................8 Hardware Requirements File Paths Running CheckMate..................................9 Setting Up Accounts Entering and Editing Transactions Generating Reports Financial Calculator Setup Final Thoughts....................................18 Appendix A........................................19 2 Introduction Greetings! Welcome to CheckMate, a full-featured, inter- active home accounting and financial program. CheckMate is designed to help you keep an accurate track of your personal financial activity... no more will you have to "guess" at your balance, or labor furiously to make your check- book match your bank statement. CheckMate will record and main- tain your transactions, with full editing capabilities at your fingertips. It will sort and print reports, search for selected items, help you reconcile your statements, and even print your checks for you. Your balances are automatically updated and re- ported, and your records are accurate to the penny... guaranteed! -- Features - Uses intuitive pull-down menu system - Supports up to eight accounts simultaneously (total number of accounts is limited only by disk space) - Supports Checking and Savings accounts - Up to 32,767 transactions may be active per account - Prints reports in standard format or in Borland Intl's Traveling SideKick (tm) format - Reports and Checks may be printed in PICA, ELITE or CONDENSED print - Transactions may be edited or printed and search criteria may be specified on ANY field in the transaction - Check printer supports continuous feed AND standard checks (YOU define the check printing in the Check Set-Up form and can use your own checks!) - Allows 100 predefined transactions that can be called up at a keystroke (such as mortgage payments, utility bills, etc) - Provides a financial calculator for quick figures on loans, regular deposit accounts, and compounding - Helps you reconcile your accounts when your statements arrive, and prints a complete report of outstanding transactions - Includes extensive, context sensitive on-line help CheckMate is very intuitive, and you should be able to use it effectively with this user's guide and the built-in context sensitive HELP. We suggest that you make good use of the HELP system by pressing the <F1> key (note that some help screens have multiple pages, use <PgUp> and <PgDn> to move back and forth through the message). Additional documentation is available, however, and may be obtained by registering. We hope you enjoy CheckMate! Tim Bougan President, Custom Technologies 3 -- Support CheckMate, like many other fine "shareware" products, has been released by its authors to the public. We allow and en- courage free copying and distribution of the program (in its un- altered original form). But much as we enjoyed producing Check- Mate, we can not afford to work for nothing. We will continue to improve and update CheckMate (and continue to provide the program free to all those who wish to use it) for as long as support is available. If you find CheckMate useful, you can support future development by sending $25.00 for registration. In recent years, there has been an explosion of "shareware" products introduced. This is understandable, since it costs nothing to include a shareware notice as part of an otherwise public domain program. Most of these products are relatively small tools or utilities. Unfortunately, many users have become flooded with requests for money and tend to ignore the shareware notices. This is unfortunate because some products are substan- tial efforts and have a legitimate need to recoup expenses from months or years of development. The user benefits from shareware in two ways: 1) he can test and evaluate a program before he expends any money and 2) shareware products always carry a lower price tag (due to reduced advertising and overhead costs). As long as the user is willing to support the legitimate shareware products, they will continue to exist and improve. If not, then a very good deal for us all will have to disappear. We at Custom Technologies sincerely thank those who have already registered and those who plan to. For registering you will be placed on our mailing list and will receive a complete CheckMate manual (which goes into great detail about the design and philosophy of the program). Besides comprehensive discussion as to the use and functions of CheckMate, the manual includes tips and hints for getting the most out of the system and has a special "technical" appendix. The technical appendix lays out CheckMate's file structures and details how you can manipulate the data with your own programs. We have a lot of ideas for future improvements and products, including adding graphics to CheckMate, providing routines to "port" CheckMate data to your favorite spreadsheets, and building a special "programming language" that will let you design custom- ized reports from your data files. (Special Note to Programmers: We solicit your ideas and efforts. If you see potential in an idea or product, we would be interested in hearing from you!) Make checks payable to Custom Technologies. Florida resi- dents please add 5% sales tax. Send your registration and all other correspondence to: Custom Technologies PO Box 10096 Panama City, FL 32404 (904) 763-5849 Also, we are planning the release of a new, fully functional 4 general ledger package suitable for both home and small business. This package looks like, acts like, and integrates perfectly with CheckMate, and will absolutely be the friendliest, most intuitive general ledger package on the market. Anyone who registers for CheckMate before November 15, 1986 will receive this package FREE OF CHARGE (anticipated price is $49.95) as soon as it is ready for release. Registrations after November 15th will still be offered a discount price. 5 Things You Need to Know This section discusses some of the "basics" of CheckMate's operation. -- The Bottom Line As you run CheckMate, the bottom line of the screen summer- izes the functions that are available to you. It is always pre- sent, and should speed your use of the program as you become fam- iliar with its many capabilities. Most of CheckMate's functions are activated by the PC's function keys. The bottom line ident- ifies the operation of these keys (and others). -- The Pull-Down Menu System CheckMate uses the popular "pull-down" menu system as its primary user interface. After your start CheckMate, you will see a row of five "choices" for you to choose from. You may select any of the choices in one of two ways: first, by moving the high- lighted bar to the item of your choice (using the left or right arrow keys) and then pressing "return" (which we will also refer to as <CR>), or, by pressing the starting letter of your choosing. Either method will instantly produce a secondary menu (with a bar that moves up and down instead of left to right). Select individual functions in the same manner. -- The Help System As mentioned earlier, CheckMate includes built in on-line help. Just press <F1> at any time while running CheckMate for instant help. Some help screens have multiple pages, so use <PgDn> and <PgUp> to move through the message. The help screens are contained in the file "CM.HLP" and this file must be present in the program file path at runtime. The program file path is set with CMINST.COM. -- Date Formats One of the most annoying aspects of many programs is rigid data entry, especially DATES. Our goal is to make life (comput- ing, at least) a little bit easier, so we built a "free-format" date entry into CheckMate. Whenever CheckMate calls for a date to be entered, you can key it in almost any fashion you choose. Dates like 7-12-84, 3/5/86, 12 Sept 82, and so forth are all valid. So long as you include some delimiter between the month, the day, and the year CheckMate should figure out what you mean. A delimiter can be a space, a dash, a slash, or virtually any non-number or non-letter. You can even leave all or part of the 6 date out, and CheckMate will use defaults (the DOS date). -- Editing within CheckMate All data entry fields within CheckMate are fully "editable." The following control-key combinations are defined within Check- Mate: Control Key Alternate Key Function ----------- ------------- ----------------------- Control-D right-arrow move one character right Control-S left-arrow move one character left Control-F move one word right Control-A move one word left Control-E up-arrow move up one field Control-X down-arrow move down one field Control-G DEL delete character at cursor Control-T delete word right Control-K delete field right Control-Y delete entire field Control-H BACKSPACE delete character left INS toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE Notice that the control sequences closely resemble those of MicroPro's WordStar (tm). We chose these combinations because of WordStar's popularity. For your convenience we have also imple- mented the PC's standard editing keys as alternatives. 7 Installing CheckMate -- Hardware Requirements CheckMate will run on an IBM PC/XT/AT/jr (or compatible) with at least 256K of memory and 1 DSDD floppy disk drive (2 recommended). It supports all IBM compatible displays including the EGA. -- File Paths You can specify the files paths for which CheckMate will look for its overlay and data files with CMINST.COM. If you are using a hard disk, you can put CheckMate's program and overlay files in one directory and its data files in another. If you include the program file path in a DOS "PATH", you can run CheckMate from any drive or directory. If you are using a floppy disk system, you should put you data files on drive B and your program files on drive A. (You can use CheckMate on a single drive system, but you will have limited space for data files. You should remove all unnecessary files from your working disk, like CMINST.COM and perhaps even CM.HLP). If you are using floppies but have a good sized RAM disk, CheckMate's performance will increase significantly if you copy its program files to the RAM disk. Run CMINST (make sure that CM.COM is in the default direct- ory first) and set up your paths. CMINST will first display the current default paths and then prompt you to enter new ones. In order to save disk space, CMINST is a simple program and does not include CheckMate's editing features. Note that entering only a <CR> at the prompts will cause CMINST to clear the file paths (and CheckMate will use the default directories when run). Before you do run CheckMate, make sure that the paths you select- ed are valid (you may need to create them). 8 Running CheckMate -- Setting Up Accounts The first pull-down menu includes five functions associated with setting up and maintaining accounts. They are described below. 1) Enter Accounts -- Here is where you set up your accounts. The first field holds the full name of the account. The next field is for a shorter name that will appear on the menu. The account type can be either Checking or Savings, with checking the default. (You will find that virtually any type of account can fit in one of these two general categories). Enter your account number and the opening balance. If the account is checking, you can enter the number of the next check that you will write. When you are satisfied with your entries, press <F10> to save the account. You can create up to eight accounts. 2) Edit Account -- You can modify account data with this function. The <F3> key will pop-up a menu with all your accounts listed. Choose the account you want to change and proceed as you did when you created it. Use <F10> to save your changes. If you modify the opening balance, CheckMate will automatically update the entire data file. 3) Delete Account -- This is a drastic step. The data and index files for the account are gone forever. Use the <F4> key to delete. For safety, you will be prompted to confirm your intention. 4) Select Default Account -- Use this function to select the account you wish to use for transaction entry and for the reports. Note that the first account that you enter will automatically be selected at start-up, so enter your most active account first. 5) Rebuild Account Files -- There are two reasons that you may want to use this function. The first one is to condense the data file after a significant number of deletions (ie after purging old transactions). Deleted records will be reused automatically, but you may want to use this function anyway to make back-up files smaller. Another reason for using this function is to repair corrupted files. Abnormal shutdown (such as a power loss) can cause files to be improperly closed. Other problems 9 can occur for a variety of reasons. If your files seem improper or CheckMate reports an error, try this function. It should fix most problems. A <CR> will start the process, <ESC> will abort the function. -- Entering and Editing Transactions The next pull-down menu list the four functions associated with maintaining the transactions within the accounts. 1) Enter Transactions -- When you select this function, you will immediately see another menu asking for the type of transaction you wish to make. Select the type, and press <CR>. The screen that appears next is based on the type of transaction that you are making and the type of account you are using. Fill in the blanks accordingly. The "Account Number" field is not for the account you are using, but rather a reference for the transaction (such as your VISA credit card number if you are writing a check to VISA). You can direct the check printer to print this number anywhere on your check (more on this later). The "Tax Flag" is simply a boolean value you can use to mark checks that are tax deductible. "Printed" and "Cleared" are used by CheckMate and will automatically be updated as appropriate. You should set the "Printed" field yourself if you are not going to use your printer to print your checks or if you are entering old transactions. You can mix use of your printer and writing by hand to your heart's desire (Personally, I hate writing checks!). The "Cleared" field is to help reconcile your accounts. Mark this field ONLY if your the transaction already appears on your bank statement. At any time while entering transactions, you can bring up a menu of frequent transactions by pressing <F2>. You set these frequent transactions up in the Set-Up menu. This is a powerful timesaver, and one that you will really appreciate. The <F3> key brings up the Transaction Type menu so that you can change types (as you enter multiple transactions). The <F10> key will add the transaction. If the trans- action is entered out of sequence, the transaction file will be updated to reflect the change. Transactions are always stored chronologically. The default date will remain the same as the last transaction that you entered (for those of you who enter checks in "batch"). For writing checks, the check number is incremented after each transaction. You can change the number and write them out of sequence, but keep a close eye on 10 the check number since CheckMate has no way of knowing what you are doing. 2) Editing Transactions One of CheckMate's most powerful features is your ability to edit any transaction quickly and without reverse entries. Selecting the Edit Transactions function will take you to the last transaction that was entered. You can edit this transaction or move from transaction to transaction with the <F7> and <F8> keys. You can make changes to any field, and you can even pop-up your frequent transactions menu just as you can while entering transactions. You save your changes to disk with <F10> (CheckMate will prompt you first for confirmation). As always, CheckMate will update the entire file to reflect the alterations. To help you quickly find a particular transaction, we have provided a robust "search" utility. Press <F5> to activate the search window. Here you can specify criteria that must match any transactions to be edited. Of particular use is the EXACT MATCH versus the ANY MATCH function. With ANY MATCH you can look for key words within any field. For instance, you may enter the word "gulf" in the Payto field and hit the <F6> key. You would match entries like "Gulf Power", "Gulf Coast Community College", or "Dr. Gulfman." CheckMate looks for any occurance of the string "gulf" (regard- less of case). You can use <F7> and <F8> to move through the different transactions that match your search specifications. You can also specify the type of transactions to search for using the <F3> key. The default is "All Types." SPECIAL NOTE: Since CheckMate's files are keyed ISAM, specifying the starting and ending dates can signifi- cantly increase search performance. CheckMate main- tains an index file based on dates, and limiting your search dates will decrease the file accesses that CheckMate has to make. 3) Deleting Transactions -- Select this function when you wish to remove individual transactions. This function is identical to Editing Transactions. When you want to delete an entry, simply press <F4>. CheckMate will prompt you for confirmation before proceeding, and then it will update the transaction file. 4) Purging Transactions -- You will use this function to remove multiple trans- actions, probably as you close out a year and start a new one. If you want to keep a backup, do it before you purge, as purged transactions CANNOT be recovered. 11 You may want to rebuild your account files (as des- cribed above) to reclaim the released space. -- Generating Reports The Reports menu has four options (for very different func- tions). They are described below, but first there are a few common features that should be discussed. All of the reports may be printed in any of three "pitches", which are PICA, ELITE, or CONDENSED. To use these pitches, your printer must be capable of supporting them. You must enter the control codes to configure your printer in the Printer Setup function (discussed later). You may specify a separate pitch for your checks and reports. With the exception of printing the checks, you can choose from two different "types" for you reports. The "Standard Type" is for 8.5x11 inch paper in a three ring binder. The alternate type is "Traveling SideKick." (Traveling SideKick is a trademark of Borland International). Selecting this option will generate reports in a style suited for inclusion in the Traveling SideKick binder. Borland International has been a breath of fresh air to the microcomputing world, and many of their products served as inspiration for CheckMate. Some of the reports offer a choice of format as well. The short format gives a one line, quick glance at the data. This is the default. The long format gives a comprehensive view of all available data (and consumes much more paper!). In addition to the above options, you may also specify where you wish the reports to go. You may channel them to the printer (default), to a disk file, or to the screen. If you specify a disk file, then you must enter a valid file name for the report to be written to. If you choose the screen or the printer, then you may choose between continuous printing or have it pause be- tween pages. You may abort any report at any time by pressing the <ESC> key. You may also supply an optional title to be printed at the top of your reports. 1) Transaction Register -- Here is where you generate lists of all your trans- actions. You may set any of the above options before you start. You may also "selectively" print trans- actions by invoking the same "search" window that was described in the Editing Transactions function. Only the transactions that match your pattern will be print- ed. Press <F5> to bring up the search window, and either <F5> again to find exact matches, or <F6> for the more powerful "any match" search. The short report format will generate one line for each transaction, while the long report includes all of the data. At the end of a transaction report, CheckMate will list totals for the transactions printed. 12 2) Print Checks -- Now for the best part -- printing the checks. With CheckMate, you can let your printer write your checks and you DO NOT have to buy expensive, computer form checks (unless you want to). Virtually any checks will work, and almost any printer. See the Check Setup function in the Setup menu. When you first invoke this function, you will see a search window appear. You must specify the starting and stopping dates for print- ing. The defaults are the beginning and end of the file, and it could be slow if the computer always has to start at the beginning to look for unprinted checks. Pressing the <TAB> key in the search window will bring up the DOS date. Press <F5> after you have specified the dates, and you will be ready to print. If you are using continuous form checks, you can print them all at once. If not, the computer will prompt you one at a time. As checks are printed, CheckMate will automatic- ally update the "Printed" field in the transaction. The <F7> and <F8> keys will move you back and forth through the available checks. When all the checks are printed, CheckMate will display a message and return to the menu. 3) Reconcile Account -- At the end of each month there is a day of reckoning. Its here that CheckMate can really help. When you enter this function, press <F4> to start the reconcili- ation process. CheckMate will prompt you, transaction by transaction, for all entries that have cleared on your current bank statement (you should have the state- ment in front of you). When you have marked all of the transactions, you generate the report with the <F10> key. (Remember to select your format and print options first). CheckMate will print a report listing all remaining outstanding transactions, your actual bal- ance, your outstanding balance, and what your statement balance should be. If there are no mistakes, this fig- ure will match the one on your statement. Most of the time they will match perfectly. If not, you can use CheckMate's report and editing features to find and correct the mishap. 4) Account Report -- Use this function to print general reports of all de- fined accounts. Again, you can select format, type and print options before you proceed. The long report for- mat generates a report similar to the one generated in the Reconcile Accounts function. -- Financial Calculator The Calc menu includes three popular functions that we be- lieve you will find useful. Although they have no bearing or 13 effect on CheckMate's data files, they provide helpful informa- tion to assist you making financial decisions. The functions are robust in that you can calculate any one variable by providing the others. For instance, you can calculate the interest rate on a loan by providing the monthly payment, the amount borrowed, the length of the loan, and the number of payments per year. Simple set the interest rate to zero and press <F4>. 1) Loans -- Calculate loans based on APR (annual percentage rate). This is the most popular and widely used method. To reemphasize, you may calculate ANY of the variables that you wish, but you can set only ONE variable to zero at a time. 2) Regular Deposits -- These are savings accounts, IRAs, etc. The method for calculating interest varies from bank to bank, so these values may be slightly different from the ones your bank generates. 3) Compounding -- This function is not widely used, but basically shows how a fixed sum of money will grow if left unused. -- Setup Perhaps CheckMate's strongest point is its flexibility. The following paragraphs describe the how you can configure CheckMate to suit your particular needs. 1) File Directories -- By selecting this function, you can view the file paths that CheckMate searches while looking for its program and data files. For logistical reasons, we chose to make manipulation of these paths available through a separate installation program (CMINST.COM). CheckMate fully supports the DOS 2.0 (and above) directory struc- ture. 2) Edit PayTos -- In this section you can pre-define checks that you write often (such as monthly bills). When first invok- ed, a menu appears. This menu lists previously defined PayTos. Note that although only ten items are display- ed, there are FIFTY that are available. The <PgDn> and <PgUp> keys will scroll through the five available pages. You may select any one to edit (if you select a blank entry, you are essentially adding a new PayTo). You can enter as many fields as you like, and they will be automatically inserted in your check when you select the item off the menu while entering transactions. This can be a tremendous timesaver. The <F10> key will save your changes to disk, while the <F4> key deletes 14 an entry. SPECIAL NOTE: On some items, the amount of the check will change from month to month (like your power bill). In these cases leave the amount blank, and the cursor will automatically jump to it when you select the item from the menu. 3) Edit Reasons -- This function is identical to Editing PayTos except that "Reasons" are used for deposits, withdrawals, debits, and credits instead of checks. You may, for instance, make an entry for your paycheck or an automa- tic IRA deposit. 4) Printer Setup -- The Printer Setup function allows you to select four options and designate six printer control strings. It is important to note that any changes made here are temporary unless you use <F10> to write the changes to disk. Saving the changes requires the presence of CM.COM on the program file path, and you must not change the name of the file! The first option is for the type of printer that you are using. You have two choices (IBM or generic). The only place where this choice will make a difference is in printing Traveling SideKick style reports. If you select IBM, the reports will use IBM block graphics for borders. The <F3> key brings up the menu. (Traveling SideKick is a trademark of Borland Int'l, IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines). The next option that you have is for the type of re- ports that you will print. You may select the standard style or the Traveling SideKick style (which is suit- able for inclusion in the Traveling SideKick binder). Pressing <F4> will pop-up the appropriate menu. The third option sets the pitch for printing reports. You have PICA (10 cpi), ELITE (12 cpi), or CONDENSED (17 cpi). To use this option you must specify the appropriate control codes in the Printer Setup strings (discussed below). The <F5> key brings up a menu for selecting the report pitch. The last option allows you to specify the pitch that you want your checks to be printed with. This is independent of the report pitch but just as above you must specify correct printer control codes in the Printer Setup strings. Press <F6> for the menu. The printer control codes can be found in your printer manual. You have six available strings that you can enter. The format for entry is \<decimal code>\<decimal code>\.... 15 The back-slashes delimit the codes. Below is an example: \27\85 This string represents an <ESC> 'U'. (That's an es- cape-capital-U). This is a popular means of defining printer codes. CheckMate comes pre-installed for an IBM graphics printer. The Half-Line Feed String should advance the carriage one half line. This string must be supported and pre- sent if you want to use CheckMate to print your checks (we have found this necessary to be able to effectively print single feed checks). The PICA, ELITE, and CONDENSED Pitch strings should configure your printer to the correct pitch. The Printer Setup and Exit strings are optional and pro- vided for your convenience. 5) Check Setup -- The Check Setup form allows 22 entries. Each entry has 4 parts, a Line Number, a Variable Number, a Column Number, and a Length. The Line and Column Numbers refer to the lines and columns on your checks. You will need to print out a template to determine these locations. Use the Print Template option on the SetUp menu to print out your template. The Variable Numbers are defined within CheckMate, and their definitions are listed in appendix A. In each entry, enter the line number of the variable, the vari- able number, the column number, and the maximum length that each variable can have. Note that you have the option of printing checks in several different pitches, and that these values will differ with the different pitches. Also note that line numbers are in increments of 1/2, so that the line numbers 1.5, 3.5, etc are valid. In fact, you will most probably need to define some variables on the check on these half-line bound- ries, and you MUST define a valid half line feed string if you intend to use the check printing feature of CheckMate. It is a good idea to experiment with some blank sheets of paper until you are satisfied with your check layout. You also need to indicate whether you are using contin- uous form checks or not, and you must indicate the length in lines of each check (regardless of whether or not they are continuous). The variable definitions are in Appendix A. Note that you may maintain a separate check definition for each 16 checking account that you have. Pressing <F10> saves the definition to disk (in your account data file, NOT in CM.COM!). 6) Print Template -- Use this function to print a template on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper (or continuous paper). You can then use the template to help you define your checks. The tem- plate will be printed out in the pitch that you select- ed to print your checks in, and you will insert your checks into the printer in the same manner that you inserted your template. 17 Final Thoughts -- We sincerely hope that you find CheckMate to be work-saving, friendly, and helpful. Please pass it along to your friends. Remember that you can help us improve CheckMate with your support (by registering) and with your comments and ideas. If you find any bugs or need assistance, do not hesitate to write or call us. We try to answer all our correspondence and are committed to making CheckMate everything that it can and should be. Happy computing! 18 Appendix A -- CheckMate Variable Definitions: Variable # Variable Format Example 0 Date MMM DD, YYYY May 4, 1986 1 Date MMM DD May 4 2 Date YYYY 1986 3 Date MMM May 4 Date DD 04 5 Date YY 86 6 Date MM 05 7 Date MM/DD/YY 05/04/86 8 Date MM/DD 05/04 20 Amount DD,DDD,DDD.CC 1,184,877.76 21 Amount DDDDDDDD.CC 1184877.76 22 Amount DD,DDD,DDD 1,184,877 23 Amount DDDDDDDD 1184877 24 Amount CC 76 25 Amount .CC .76 40 Balance DD,DDD,DDD.CC 1,184,877.76 41 Balance DDDDDDDD.CC 1184877.76 42 Balance DD,DDD,DDD 1,184,877 43 Balance DDDDDDDD 1184877 44 Balance CC 76 45 Balance .CC .76 60 Amount String (spelled out amount) 65 PayTo 66 For 67 Account Number (to be printed on check) 68 Comments 80 Tax Flag 'Tax Ded' 90 Check Number NNNNNNNN 1546 100 '.' 101 ',' 102 '$' 103 '(' 104 ')' 105 '*' 106 '-' 107 '+' 19