* * *                  SNAPSW/CMD                      * * *
                Copyright 1990 by Mel Patrick

Ever wonder why no one ever came out with a simple to use accounting
program for the TRS-80 Model 4? Me too. I've done my own basic home
and business accounting on Visicalc or Multiplan for some time but those
are great speadsheet programs. Not very useful when it comes to producing
reports or categorizing your income/expenses. We all reach a point in
time where you get so tired of doing things the long way that you'll
resort to desparate measures. In my case I'd had enough doing things
the hard way for the last few years and after trying a few BASIC
programs I started work on an idea of my own.

In a nutshell Snap is a standard checkbook style of accounting program with
a lot of extra features. First off is the fact that you can have over 100
categories which you can apply to transactions. A transaction being a check
withdrawal or deposit you make which affects your bank account. Up to five
categories can be applied to each transaction so that if you paid a credit
card you could categorize the parts of the payments accordingly. This
is the main function of Snap and the one you will use the most. A maximum
of 2000+ transactions can be recorded on a hard drive system and obviously
less on a floppy system. The shareware version is limited to
only 15 transactions. This is done to discourage people from abusing the
shareware concept by using it but not supporting it. I feel that it is
always unfair that the people who do support it are being taken advantage
of by those that don't. Snap will allow any number of accounts but only one
may be in use at a time. I haven't tried it with Radio Shack Double Duty to
see if more than one can be run at the same time.

Reports. This feature is what makes Snap your friend around tax time (or just
year end to see where all that money did go). All those categories you assigned
to the transactions can be reported to give you totals for any date limits
you want to use. So from Jan 1 to Dec 31 you can find out how much was spent
on say telephone, cablevision and computers. Plus if you require it, Snap
will allow you to flag a category as tax related. At year end or whenever you
decide it will report on tax only categories so you can enter the respective
amounts into your 1040 or CDN income tax forms.

So you say, "Yea well that sounds great for this coming year but what about
last year?" Snap is versatile enough in that simple fact that it does not
restrict you to using only certain date ranges you can start back at the year
January 1, 1900 and work comfortably up to the year of December 31, 1999.
Oh by the way, if you close the 1999 account and begin fresh with 2000 you
can continue using Snap for another 100 years. I'm sure the Model 4 will
survive at least that long.

All this sound too good to be true? It's not. Is Snap the answer to everyones
accounting problems? No. Well what won't it do... Snap was written for the
average person and small business to do their daily/weekly accounting. If
your business makes more than 2000 transactions a year, Snap isn't going to
hold a years worth for you. However for the average person, 50 or 60 entries
a month would be more than ample and it will fit their requirements very
nicely. I did my own accounting last year in Snap to find out what my own
requirements were and I used just under 300 entries for the full year. This
fits quite easily on a floppy disk (although I have it on a hard drive).
Another thing Snap doesn't do is check the validity of your transaction
dates. In order to be versatile enough and keep the program code small
enough it doesn't do any error checking on dates. Therefore if you entered
January 32 1990, Snap would accept it. I have been working on a set of routines
to check the date but they are just too large to put into the program. SO...
if you plan on making a lot of mistakes in date entry maybe Snap isn't the
one for you. Hopefuly when doing entries you don't make mistakes. Regardless
even if you do and you see them, Snap will allow you to edit them and correct
the error (unlike most accounting programs which will not let you change
the original entry but instead make an adjustment entry). Snap will not
use the fancy features on your printer (unless you can select them from
the printers front panel switches). It was written to work with any printer
you can plug into your TRS-80. Therefore its not fancy since we all own a
lot of different printers.

If you are interested in what Snap can do with numbers, it will handle
all ranges from -9,999,999.99 to +9,999,999.99 dollars. If you make more
or go in debt past those limits we'll probably read about you in the
Wall Street Journal and you'll need a lawyer or accounting firm not Snap.

In the past the source code to my work has always been available for those
who want to modify the work for their own purposes. Unfortunately with Snap
the source code is not available at this time. I doubt know when and if it
will be.

Now we get down the to kicker, or as some people call it, the BEG message.
I feel that I write useful software for the TRS-80 Model 4 and as an author
feel that my work is worth something. Instead of trying to find a company
to market my work, I choose to market it myself. This brings to light the
shareware concept. With out a doubt, FastTerm has been the best supported
shareware program I ever wrote. I have a filing cabinet with a folder full
of letters of support from people all over the world. I also have a very small
folder of complaints which I have tried my best to deal with directly and in
almost all cases have provided what I consider to be more than adequate
support. For my work I charge a price which even those with a limited budget
can afford. Snap is no exception to this. You can order the hard drive version
, floppy version, or if you have very special requirements write me to see if
they can be accomodated (please include .50 for return postage if you're in
the U.S.; Canadians include a SASE). By keeping my costs low I can afford to
provide you with support via my BBS (see the note at the end of this document)
and you'll get the program you want PLUS a fully illustrated printed manual.
I've never been one to believe in this "Manual on disk" idea for shareware.

The prices are as follows :

Floppy Disk Version - ...........................................$20.00
                            or
Hard Drive Version - ............................................$20.00

Shipping and handling............................................$ 4.00
                                                            ------------
                     Total for either version                    $24.00

If you purchase the floppy version and later update to a hard drive you
can update to the next version by sending back your Snap master disk and
$2.00 for return postage. If you start using the shareware version
and have a few transactions already entered, no need to start all over
since the reqistered version will continue using the same files.

There are two versions of Snap for different printers. One is for a printer
which will do a form feed command. Look in your manual for a formfeed command
being supported or use Basic to check it out. Like LPRINT CHR$(12) and make
sure the page is ejected. If not you'll need the special version which does
formfeeds differently. You'll get both of these versions for on your registered
disk if you decide to support Snap. However the shareware version assumes a
printer which will do a formfeed.

Technical Info

Floppy version will support the following ranges :

600 + transactions
100 + categories

Hard drive version :

1600 + transactions
200 +  categories

If you have special requirements for either version please write me directly
or contact me via my BBS to see if they can be included.

*****************************************************************************
*                       NOTICE!!! NOTICE!!! NOTICE!!!                       *
*                                                                           *
* I have moved! All mail sent to my old address will be routed to me for the*
* next three months but PLEASE make a note of my new address :              *
*                                                                           *
*  Mel Patrick, 8056 164A Street, Surrey, B.C., Canada, V3S 7S7             *
*****************************************************************************

          NOTE my BBS number has also changed! The number is now :

                           (604) 574-2072

         HOWEVER IT WIL NOT BE CONNECTED UNTIL FEBRUARY 15TH OR SO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah the end is in sight... to order your Snap (specify version PLS!) send a
check or money order directly to the address in the NOTICE box above and
then in about 2-3 weeks (depending on the "snail serivce") you'll have a fully
registered and working version of Snap. All orders are shipped as soon as
possible and include diskette (SSSD 40 track) and printed manual.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Thanks for your Support!

Short Instructions

Start up Snap and when prompted for a filename, enter the name of the account
name you want to use. I suggest you use a name which has the year in it. Like
CHK1990 or the like. DO NOT use any file extensions as Snap will apply its
own. You may optionally specify a drive number (0-7).

Snap will then ask you what kind of accounting you want (as it sets up the
default categories). Answer it and then Snap will create those files on
the drive specified.

From there all the main command menu options will work, but you will be
limited to 15 transaction entries.

There are many sub-menus used in Snap and try to notice when they change to
reflect new command options. Also the BREAK key I did not use as the sort of
"abort" function. Instead I used the F3 function key.

When entering dates you can use the numeric keypad totally (use the period in
place of the /). Also if you want, a date like 02/02/90 can be shortened to
2.2.90 (Snap will get it right). 

Try doing the category setup first to see your current categories and maybe
add one or two of your own (the max limit here is 40 in the shareware version).

Then use the Transaction option and ADD a couple of transactions, view them
using the check register function.

Give starting and ending dates in reports and see what you come up with.

Don't be surprised if you get lost by using a command. Without the manual
even my beta testers got lost once in a while. Some commands invoke rather
complex functions and without the manual you won't know what to do. But
do keep this in mind and give Snap a fair test.

I'm not even about to cover all the things and shortcuts that can be done
in Snap. But rest assured the registered owners will get a manual that can
answer every question they may have. In the manual is even a complete
tutorial on how to use Snap for those who haven't quite the grasp of these
types of programs (or those used to more difficult programs).

Once you have started a Snap account, you can call it up from DOS by using
the account filename after the program name. Like SNAP MEL1990 followed
by the ENTER key.

Enjoy!

Mel
