Accounts

  Creating a New Account 
  Opening an Existing Account 
  Saving an Account
  Closing an Account
  Refreshing the Accounts Container
  Editing an Account
  Deleting an Account
  Reconciling an Account
  Starting a New Fiscal Year
  Auto-opening Accounts
  Backing up Accounts
  Printing Accounts

Display

  Viewing Cleared Entries
  Viewing Memos
  Viewing Categories
  Finding Entries
  Using an External Calculator
  Working with Fixed Transactions
  Setting Colours
  Setting the Ledger Font

Entries

  Adding an Entry
	- Deleting Drop-Down Combo Box Items
	- Updating External Accounts
  Deleting an Entry
  Undeleting Entries
  Editing an Entry
  Sorting / Reordering Entries
  Entry Options
	- Saving payee/details Information
	- Saving memos
	- Beep on transactions

Known Bugs/Limitations

Warranty

Registration

Copyright Notice

Contacting the Author

Revision History




ACCOUNTS  Creating a New Account

	Select the 'New' item from the 'Accounts' menu and fill in the various entry fields.  There are four entry fields and two account options:

	1) Name
	2) Number
	3) Balance
	4) Date
	A) Chequing & Savings
	B) Credit Card

Entry field:
	#1 is the name which appears in
	   the Accounts container
	#2 is an optional account number
	#3 is the starting balance
	#4 is the starting date

NOTE:  the starting balance is essentially the ending balance until the account is reconciled (balanced) after which the ending balance will differ from the starting balance.


ACCOUNTS  Opening an Existing Account

	Drag the existing Account from the 'Accounts' container to the 'Ledger' container or double click on its icon.

	The currently opened account has the InUse attribute (cross-hatch).


ACCOUNTS  Saving an Account

	Rarely is it necessary to save the account, since many of the everyday activities are automatically saved to file.  Exceptions are:

	- editing entries
	- reordering entries
	- deleting entries

If you forget to save after any of these activities, E-Teller will notify you before the account is closed or E-Teller shuts down.


ACCOUNTS  Closing an Opened Account

	It is seldom necessary to close an account manually.  The exception to this is when you select either the 'New fiscal year...' or 'Edit...' items from the Accounts menu.

	Either click on the 'Close' item or press Ctrl-F4 to close an account file.


ACCOUNTS  Refreshing the Accounts

	The 'Refresh' menu item is used solely to reread the account *.clr files in the current directory rather than exiting and reopening E-Teller.  This is useful if you prefer to edit the account name, for example, manually rather than through E-Teller and want the changes to be reflected in the Accounts container or when you open such an edited account for crediting/debiting.


ACCOUNTS  Editing an Account

	Select this menu item to edit all but the starting balance of the selected account.  This can also be done manually by opening the *.clr file for the account.  The account information *must* be written in the following order:

	[Account]
	Account=My Chequing Account
	Number=123 456 7890
	StartingBalance=1.00
	Type=Bank
	Date=94/01/01
	ClearedBalance=1.00

Extra lines between each line are not permitted, and each line must begin with the appropriate key spelled exactly and followed by an equals sign.  If the data is not entered properly, E-Teller will inform you that an error has been found at location Account= for example, and it will cease reading accounts into the Accounts container.

NOTE 1:  Type= can be one of 'Bank' or 'CreditCard'.
NOTE 2:  Date= must adhere to the yy/mm/dd format.
NOTE 3:  StartingBalance= and ClearedBalance= must adhere to the two-decimal cent format.


ACCOUNTS  Deleting an Account

	Right-click on the account to be deleted or select the 'Delete' item from the Accounts menu.

	When right-clicking, the account upon which you clicked will be deleted (if you confirm the deletion in the subsequent dialog box).  When choosing the 'Delete' menu item, the selected (highlighted) account will be deleted.


ACCOUNTS  Reconciling an Account

	Either click on the scale icon or select 'Reconcile...' from the 'Accounts' pull-down menu (also available by right-clicking on the Accounts container). 

NOTE:  The scale toggle button will assume a 'balanced' position during the reconciliation process and the 'Reconcile...' menu item will have a checkmark beside it.

	To end the reconciliation process, click on the scale toggle button or uncheck the 'Reconcile...' menu item.

   To reconcile an account, proceed as follows:

	1) click on the scale button
	2) enter the new balance
	3) enter any interest payments/
	   charges
	5) enter any service charges
	6) click 'OK'
	7) double-click on the ledger entries
	   that are to be cleared
	8) click on the scale button

If the account has been balanced (based upon the previous month's ending balance, the current month's new balance and the cleared debits/credits), then you will be asked to confirm that you want to save the account to disk.  If you elect to save, only the uncleared items will be displayed.  If you elect not to save, then you will be prompted to save the account before leaving E-Teller.

If the account has not been balanced due to a discrepancy in totals, you will be prompted to select one of four push buttons in the Reconciliation Error dialog box:

	1) Yes
	2) No
	3) Cancel
	4) Ignore

where:
	#1 instructs E-Teller to present
	   you with the credit/debit window
	   where you will enter information
	   for the balance adjustment entry.
	#2 instructs E-Teller NOT to present
	   you with the credit/debit window
	   and to make no attempt at further
	   reconciliation (in other words, your
	   account will remain unbalanced).
	#3 instructs E-Teller to return to the
	   reconciliation process.
	#4 instructs E-Teller to fake the
	   balance, i.e. adjust the ending
	   balance as though the account had
	   actually been reconciled.


ACCOUNTS  Starting a New Fiscal Year

	This essentially erases all of the cleared entries from the account *.clr file. If you are certain you want to begin a new fiscal year:

	1) select the 'New fiscal year...'
	   menu item
	2) press the 'Proceed' button on 
	   the confirmation dialog box
	3) fill in the necessary data in 
	   the New Fiscal Year window
	4) press 'OK'

NOTE 1:  the balance is the ending balance for the account which becomes the starting balance for the new fiscal year unless changed. 
NOTE 2:  the *.clr data is deleted only when the 'OK' button is clicked.  Pressing 'Cancel' preserves the data in the *.clr file.


ACCOUNTS  Auto-opening Accounts

	If you would like E-Teller to open automatically the account that was opened when you last closed E-Teller, check the 'Auto open' menu item.  Otherwise, E-Teller will not open the account at startup.


ACCOUNTS  Backing up Accounts

	If the 'Backup on exit' menu item is checked, E-Teller will prompt you to insert a diskette into a floppy drive and to press a corresponding button labelled A: or B:.


ACCOUNTS  Printing Accounts

   Either click on the printer icon or select 'Print'.

   See the etprnhlp.txt file or press F1 while in Report Printer for more help with printing reports.


DISPLAY  Viewing Cleared Entries

	By default, cleared transactions are not loaded into the ledger in order to speed up the reading process.

	Cleared transactions can be displayed by selecting the 'Cleared' item in the 'Display' menu or clicking on the toggle button (with the asterisk).  To return to the default view, uncheck the 'Cleared' item or click on the toggle button.


DISPLAY  Viewing Memos

	By default, the memo field is hidden.

	If you want to view the memo field, check the 'Memos' menu item or click on the memo toggle button (the yellow sheet of paper).  To hide the memos once again, uncheck the menu item or click on the memo toggle button.


DISPLAY  Viewing Categories

	By default, the category field is hidden.

	If you want to view the category field, check on the 'Category' menu item or click on the category toggle button (with the ballons and house).  To hide the category field again, uncheck the 'Category' menu item or click on the toggle button.


DISPLAY  Finding Entries

	It is possible to search for entries.  Either click on the magnifying glass icon or select 'Find...' from the 'Display' menu.  Click upon the appropriate Field and Criterion radio buttons, fill in the search string, and click 'OK'.  Entries matching the selections will be displayed in the register.  To display all the records that were in the ledger prior to the search, click on the 'Undo' button. 

NOTE 1:  Searches are case insensitive.
NOTE 2:  When leaving the search window, all transactions are automatically displayed if they aren't already.


DISPLAY  Using an External Calculator

	Should you require the use of a calculator, either click on the calculator icon or select the 'Calculator' menu item.

	When you first select this item, E-Teller will attempt to locate pmdcalc.exe on its own.  If it is unable to find pmdcalc, then you will be prompted with a file dialog box where you will locate the calculator program.  Subsequent invocations of the calculator will load the originally specified program.


DISPLAY  Working with Fixed Transactions

	A fixed transaction is one in which the information, such as day of month, amount, etc., remains fixed from month to month.  If, for example, you habitually write a cheque to John Doe, your landlord, on the first of every month in the amount of $700, you need only fill out one cheque and click on the 'Fixed transaction' checkbox in the debit window.  That entry will be added both to the current account and to an external ini file named ET_Fixed.ini.  This and ET_Fix.ini (both of which *must* remain in the same directory as E-Teller) are processed by ET_Month.exe, a shadow of which should be placed in your startup folder.  

	What ET_Month does is look at any entries in the ET_Fix file.  If the day is either less than or equal to the current system day, then the entry date will be incremented by one month and the entry will be added to the appropriate account file and then moved to ET_Fixed.  On the first of the month, ET_Month.exe looks for any remaining entries in ET_Fix.  If it finds one or more, it processes them without incrementing the month, adds them to the account file, and renames ET_Fixed to ET_Fix.  For example,

	system startup on 94/05/15
	ET_Fix entries found for days:
	  01 05 10 16 25 31
	ET_Fix entries processed:
	  01 05 10

	system startup on 94/06/01
	ET_Fix entries found for days:
	  25 31
	ET_Fix entries processed:
	  25 31
	ET_Fixed renamed to ET_Fix
	ET_Fix entries found for days:
	  01 05 10 16 25 31
	ET_Fix entries processed:
	  01

NOTE:  One limitation to ET_Month is that cheque numbers are not incremented.  If the entry has a cheque attached to it, you will have to enter the appropriate number manually after it has been added to the account.

	You can also edit or delete the fixed transactions by selecting the 'Fixed transactions' item in the 'Display' menu.  The current account (if any) will be temporarily closed and replaced by the fixed transactions.  To delete an entry, right click on the ledger container and select 'Delete'.  To edit the entry, either Alt+Left-Click on the field you want to edit or double click on the entry.  When you are done editing/deleting entries, uncheck the 'Fixed transactions' menu item.  If changes have been made, you will be asked if you want to save the file.


DISPLAY  Setting Colours

	You can change the background/foreground color of the main window, account and ledger containers by selecting the 'Set colours...' item from the 'Display' menu.  Changes are saved when you exit E-Teller.  You can also use the system colour palette to change colours, but E-Teller will only keep track of colours for the three above-named objects.  Do to a VX-Rexx limitation (I believe), colour and font changes made to the menu bar or title bar cannot be preserved.


DISPLAY  Setting the Ledger Font

	Since the ledger container is in detail view, it fails to recognize any font change.  Because of this, a small secondary window exists in which you can drag a font selection to the displayed text.  Selecting 'Set' registers the font selection for the ledger container.


ENTRIES  Adding an Entry

	To credit or debit the account, either click on the $+ or $- (or credit card) push buttons, or select the appropriate item from the 'Entries' menu.  Fill in the relevant information in the credit/debit window, and press 'OK'.

	The Credit and Debit menu items change (along with their accelerators) if the account is a credit card account.  Credit becomes Charge with the + accelerator, and Debit becomes Payment with the - accelerator.  This is in done in order to reflect more accurately the type of transactions which take place with credit cards, + being more appropriate for charging a credit card than -, and vice versa.

	By default, data added to the 'Pay to...'/'Details' and 'Memo' fields are not saved for future retrieval.  The information is, of course, saved to disk along with the other data pertaining to the specific transaction, but not to the external .dat file.  You can set the default of saves by clicking on the appropriate item in the 'Entries' -> 'Save options' sub-menu.

   The external .dat files are as follows:

	c_number.dat
		credit number data
		(format: NUM~Info)
	d_number.dat
		debit number data
		(NUM~Info)
	b_credit.dat
		bank credit 'Details'
		(Info$Amnt~memo^cat)
	c_credit.dat
		c.card credit 'Details'
		(Info$Amnt~memo^cat)
	b_payee.dat
		bank 'Pay to...'
		(Info$Amnt~memo^cat)
	c_payee.dat
		c.card 'Pay to...'
		(Info$Amnt~memo^cat)
	
NUM is the three-character code/digit which appears in the 'Number' field.
Info is the payee/details information.
Amnt is the amount of the transaction.
Memo is the data entered in the memo field.
Cat is the category entered in the Category field.

ATM~Withdrawal would mean that selecting 'ATM' from the number drop-down combobox would automatically fill the payee field of a debit with the value 'Withdrawal'.

John Doe$700.00~first month^Rent would mean that selecting 'John Doe' from the payee drop-down combobox in the debit window would automatically fill in the amount of the transaction with the value '700.00', the category with the value 'Rent', and the memo with the value 'first month'.
John Doe$700~^Rent would do exactly as above but leave the memo field empty.

NOTE 1: values are not displayed until the object in which the selection is made loses focus (by tabbing or clicking on another field).
NOTE 2: if you manually edit the *.dat files, remember that there are no spaces on either side of the $ ~ and ^ characters.  Empty fields still require the separator character, e.g. John Doe$700~^.

	To cycle through the dates (up and down), press the PageUp and PageDown keys respectively.


ENTRIES  Adding an Entry

	-Deleting Drop-Down Combo Box Items

	You can delete unwanted items from comboboxes either by editing the file manually or by right-clicking on the appropriate combo box, selecting the item(s) you no longer need, and clicking the 'Delete' button.  Clicking 'OK' saves the new list to disk.


ENTRIES  Adding an Entry

	- Updating External Accounts

	Occasionally you will want to update another account when crediting or debiting the current account.  To do this, simply enter the name of the other account in the 'Pay to...' / 'Details' field.  E-Teller will do the opposite of what it is doing to the currently opened account, i.e. if you're debiting account A and enter account B's name in the 'Pay to...' field, then account B will be credited and the 'Particulars' field in account B will bear account A's name, enclosed within brackets, e.g. [Visa].


ENTRIES  Editing an Entry

	To edit an entry, Alt+Left-Click on the entry's field you would like to change.  Type in the new information and click anywhere on the ledger to register the change.  

	Alternatively, double click on the entry and the debit/credit window will appear, containing the entry's information.  Click on the 'OK' button once you're done editing, and you'll be returned to the ledger.


ENTRIES  Deleting an Entry

	To delete a transaction from a ledger, right-click on that transaction and select the 'Delete' menu item.

	The items aren't actually deleted - simply hidden.  This is a precautionary measure.  If you make an error, click on the Undelete menu item, and it will display all currently hidden items.  Double-click on those you would like to undelete.  When done, click on Undelete.

NOTE 1:  If you save the account after deleting entries, it is no longer possible to undelete transactions.


ENTRIES  Undeleting Entries

	The Undelete menu item is enabled only if there are deleted (hidden) entries.  Clicking on 'Undelete' displays all of the currently hidden (deleted) entries and hides all of the visible entries.  To undelete an entry, simply double-click on it and it will be hidden (restored).  When done, click the 'Undelete' menu item once again (which will remove the checkmark) and the ledger will return to its default status, e.g. deleted entries hidden and vice versa.

NOTE 1:  If you undelete all deleted transactions, you are automatically returned to normal operation and Undelete once again is disabled.


ENTRIES  Sorting / Reordering Entries

	You can sort the records (based upon the date field) by clicking on the 'Sort' item in the 'Entries' menu.

	If a checkmark appears next to the 'Sort' menu item, then all subsequent transactions will be automatically sorted by date.  To disable sorting, uncheck 'Sort'. 

	You can also drag an entry to another location within the ledger.

NOTE:  If sorting is on and you move a transaction, that transaction will be repositioned within its date range.  If sorting is off, the entry will be repositioned wherever you happen to drag it.
HINT:  for the move to be effective, ensure that a line appears *between* two entries.  


ENTRIES  Entry Options

	- Saving payee/details info.

	If you want payee/details information to be saved by default, check the 'Save payee/details' menu item.  When checked, the checkbox will be automatically checked in the credit/debit window once data is entered into the payee/details field.

	You can always overide the default in the credit/debit window by unchecking the 'Save payee/details' checkbox.

NOTE:  Regardless of the default, the checkbox remains disabled and unchecked as long as the 'Pay to...'/'Details' field remains empty.


ENTRIES  Entry Options

	- Saving memos

	If you want memos to be saved by default, check the 'Save memos' menu item.  When checked, the checkbox will be automatically checked in the credit/debit window once data is entered into the memos field.

	You can always overide the default in the credit/debit window by unchecking the 'Save memos' checkbox.

NOTE:  Regardless of the default, the checkbox remains disabled and unchecked as long as the 'Memos' field remains empty.


ENTRIES  Entry Options

	- Beep on transaction

	When checked, two beeps will sound whenever a transaction is added to an account or an edit has been registered.  To disable the beep, simply uncheck the menu item.

NOTE:  The beep cannot be disabled in the non-registered version.


Known Bugs/Limitations

	None that I know of - yet.

Warranty

	This program is supplied with no warranty whatsoever either expressed or implied.  Neither its author nor Watcom International can be held directly or indirectly responsible for any loss of data or damage caused by the use or misuse of E-Teller. All software and documentation is supplied AS IS. 

	If you use this program, you understand that you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Registration

	This product is released as Shareware.  You are granted permission to use E-Teller for a period not exceeding 30 days for evaluation purposes only.  If you decide to continue using E-Teller, you are required to register the program by sending $15 US ($20 CAN) to :

	Paul H. Caron
	c/o Mr. J-P Caron
	A10-420 Westmount Avenue
	Sudbury, Ontario  P3A 5V4
	CANADA

Registering E-Teller entitles you to free upgrades to every minor release.  You will also be given a $5 rebate on the next major release of E-Teller.  I will NOT mail upgrade diskettes, but I will notify you by e-mail when I upload minor upgrades and by snail-mail or e-mail when major upgrades are uploaded.  You are not entitled to charge a fee for the use of E-Teller.  Distributors are permitted to charge a fee not exceeding $5 US to cover media costs.

Copyright Notice

	E-Teller (c) 1994 Paul H. Caron
	VX-Rexx (c) Watcom International

Contacting the Author

   If you find a bug or have suggestions for improvements, feel free to contact me at G9026163@mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA.

Revision History

April 1994 (version 1.0) - Initial release.

April 1994 (version 1.1)
- Moved account information to the ledger container.
- Added push button hint text.
- Added accelerators to the Find and Calculator menu items.
- Fixed a bug when clicking on the 'Cancel' button in the Credit and Debit windows.
	(reported by Carl Graham on 1994-04-17)
- Removed some extraneous code and the essentially superfluous Credit Window (credits and debits now share the same window).
- Fixed a potential bug in the introductory window.

April 1994 (version 1.2 - never released)
- Added many error-handling routines in the hopes that unanticipated user-behaviour will not bring E-Teller to an unceremonious halt - like clicking on the 'Reconcile' button without an account being opened.
	(reported by Jacques Pignat)
- Added routines to disable and enable menu items and push buttons to prevent users from selecting an option that would otherwise have catastrophic results. 
- Changed certain mnemonics to avoid conflicts.
- Amounts are now saved to disk along with debit/credit entries - useful for consistant, recurring entries.
- Changed the accelerators for debits and credits to '-' and '+' respectively to prevent inadvertent {Ctrl}{Alt}Del when debiting the account. 
- Added new items to the 'Entries' menu - Edit, Delete, Undelete, Sort.
- Added popup routines to the Accounts and Ledger containers.
- The currently opened account now has the 'InUse' attribute.
- Main window state is now saveable - size, ledger and accounts colours, window font size/style, etc.  (I can't seem to get the ledger container to display and maintain a font size/style since it's in detail rather than icon/text view; the title and menu bars do not maintain a dragged colour or font - a VX-Rexx limitation, unfortunately.)
- Added a 'Printer setup' item to the 'File' menu in the report printer to select a printer.  If none is selected, then E-Teller will use the first one it finds, be it a fax modem or whatever. 
- Did away with the 'Update' container in the credit/debit window - caused too much confusion.
- E-Teller now associates 'Number' items with info. data
- Added the 'Fixed transactions' to the 'Display' menu.

April 1994 (version 1.3)
- Cheque numbers no longer appear in the Number drop-down combobox if the transaction is a credit.
- The data (if any) in the memo field is no longer automatically saved to disk.  Check the 'Save Memo' checkbox to do so.
- Fixed a potential bug in trying to read a non-account ini file.
- E-Teller tries to find pmdcalc.exe for the calculator on its own
- Next cheque number remains consistent even if a cheque # lower than the next cheque number is entered/edited.
- Moved hint text for credit/debit window to the credit/debit window rather than the main window.
- Moved status bar from top of main window to bottom.
- Added hint text to menu items.
- Limited entry in # field in credit/debit window to 3 characters which are automatically translated to uppercase.
- Added a 'Set colour...' item to the 'Display' menu.
- Added a workaround for changing the ledger default font.
- Moved some of the code out of the initialization routine and removed intro. window to decrease load time (only marginally succesfull).
- Numbers entered as cheque numbers that are less than three digits are automatically formatted with leading zeros.
- The memo drop-down combobox has been replaced by an entry field, and the contents are saved to disk along with the payee/detail information if the 'Save memo' checkbox is checked.
- The print feature now makes use of the find window to limit the entries that are to be printed.
- The date in the credit/debit window defaults to the current system date only on the first transaction.  Thereafter, it uses the last entered date.
- Added a 'Close' item to the Accounts menu.
- Added a 'New fiscal year...' item to the Accounts menu.
- Selecting 'Display cleared' would use the initial balance as well as the cleared balance in recalculating the running balance.  This has been fixed.
- If the two icon files bank.ICO and ccard.ICO are present in the current directory, they will be used to distinguish bank and credit card accounts in the accounts container.  Otherwise, a simple file icon will be used. 
- Fixed a glitch in the auto. date where sometimes a date would not appear, or the most recent date used was replaced by the last date entered, regardless of whether it was earlier or not (which should not have been the case).  Now the last date will reflect the most recent date entered.
- Added a checking routine when reading account ini files to exclude potential non-account files.  The intent is also to dispense with the nameless 'shadow' account which seems to appear. 
- Fixed an oversight on my part, whereby creating new accounts would use E-Teller's icon rather than the account specific icon.
- Added an 'Edit...' item to the Accounts menu to edit all but the starting balance of an account.
- User can now select which entry to undelete by double-clicking on the specific entry after selecting 'Undelete.'
- The status of the 'Memo' item in the 'Display' menu is now preserved between sessions.
- Fixed a problem whereby the 'Entries' menu when invoked by right-clicking on the Ledger container would not lose focus when dismissed, preventing one from using the accelerators to credit/debit the account.
- Added routine to prevent double-clicking on push buttons.
- Bank and credit card accounts now have their own 'Pay to...'/'Details' files, named b_credit.dat b_payee.dat for Bank account credits/debits respectively, and c_credit.dat and b_payee.dat for credit card accounts. - The memo field is now disabled unless the 'Pay to...'/'Details' field contains data.
- The updated external account now has the name of the account which caused the update in the 'Particulars' field, surrounded by brackets.

May 1994 (version 1.4)
- moved the print feature to an external .exe to cut the size of E-Teller and decrease load time further (see etprnhlp.txt for more info. on the printer feature and additions).
- moved the New account, Edit account, and New fiscal year window and code to an external .exe for the same reason.
- increased the efficiency of some code (still learning).
- changed the account file format from an INI to simple ascii files, *.clr and *.ldg which increased the speed in which accounts are read into the Accounts container by as much as 50%.
- added informational text when saving data and recalculating balances (in percentage).
- added toggle buttons for displaying memos, categories, and cleared transactions.
- changed the reconciliation push button to a toggle button.
- added a nag-screen (sorry) and a Beep on transaction menu item which can be disabled only in the registered version.
- increased the efficiency of reading and saving window settings on exit.
- changed the credit/debit menu items to charge/payment if the account is a credit card account.
- credit card charges no longer appear as negatives (nor does the balance).
- fixed what I think may have been a miscalculation in the reconciliation process.
- added a crude Rexx script to convert Quicken data files to E-Teller format (see the q2et.txt file for information on how to use it).  Not even sure if it works on large accounts.
- changed some of the help text for E-Teller to make not-so-clear operations a little more clear.
- move push/toggle buttons to the top of the window.
