Boldly Go Collection/version40.iso/TS/17A/CHECKS53.ZIP/MONO.DOC

Text File | 1992-09-09 | 23KB | 412 lines

                         THE TALKING CHECKBOOK - VERSION 5.03

                        By Charles Crawford and Donald Barrett

           Special thanks to Marshall Dudley for letting us use his
      "Send.exe" program to run these notes. Also to Eric Bohlman for
      his kindness in helping Charlie Crawford understand a really
      difficult Clipper routine for input error trapping, and to Donna
      Veno and Scott Marshall for their work on testing the programs.

           Most of all, special THANKS to you for using the program! We
      like it and hope you will find it as helpful as we have.

          While no formal documentation has been developed for the
      Talking Checkbook, here's some information that should help. The
      program has been written to be user friendly and should not be a
      problem to run without extensive documentation.

          1: What you need.

          If you have an I.B.M. or clone that works with DOS, and a
      printer and hopefully some money after you've bought all that
      stuff, then you are all set. A speech synthesizer is necessary
      for folks who do not see the screen, as the "Talking" Checkbook
      was written to work with speech synthesis. If you can see the
      screen, then your in good shape with our color selection menu
      option.

          2: Getting started.

          Just make a sub-directory on your hard disk or unzip the
      Talking Checkbook to a floppy and go there. Type "Checks"
      (without the quotes) and you are on your way.

           The Talking Checkbook has been designed to look for the
      files that it needs and will create them if they are not present.
      Also users of older version will not have their databases blown
      away by installing this version of the Talking Checkbook since we
      have created failsafe databases that can be used when first
      running the program or will serve as replacement new databases in
      case of alien attack of your computer.

          3: Menu options.

          The "Talking Checkbook" is completely menu driven. After a
      couple of questions and set up automatic functions, you'll be at
      the main menu. The set up questions are there to help you decide
      if you want to just see your balance and leave or to have your
      balance reported each time you bring up the main menu. It's nice
      to have the balance every time you get to the main menu, but it
      can drive you up a wall fast. Once you are in the main menu, we
      think you'll agree that the thing is pretty easy to understand
      and move around, but here's some hints.

          Option 1 is the heart of the program. What good is a
      checkbook that talks, but has nothing in it? Well, here's the
      menu option that lets you enter checks, withdrawals, credit card
      charges, deposits savings account info or fixed bills, etc. The
      most important thing here is to get your checkbook started with a
      deposit that will be your initial balance. That starting figure
      will become the figure against which all calculations are
      basically made. Figure out what you will start the checkbook with
      and go ahead and enter number one at the main menu and then pick
      the deposit option and put it in there. As you enter checks,
      deposits, credit card charges, Savings account transfers  (if you
      like) and the other options under the main menu option one,
      you'll see how some of the nifty questions asked save time and
      make your life easy. We also recommend that you enter your
      savings account balance as a deposit within the savings account
      menu option. This will ensure that you start with a proper
      checkbook and savings account balance for future entries to be
      seen against.

      Use the Personal Comments field for each record wisely.  You have
      75 characters to write down exactly the type of transaction you
      are entering.  This can be invaluable for tax or other purposes
      at the end of the year.  Whether or not you enter the information
      in this field in upper or lower case, it will be stored in upper
      case.  This is so that records can easily be found using this
      field even if you forget the case of your original entry. You may
      want to take a bit of time before running the Talking Checkbook
      and think about what comment lines you might be using. For
      example, if you were to use the personal comment line of
      "Food:Joe's Market" each time you wrote a check to the Market,
      then you'd be able to tell in an instant how much you spent at
      Joe's through our utilities that are in the checkbook program.

      We can't stop bankruptcy; but short of that, we try!

          Option 2 at the main menu lets you edit records that you may
      have made mistakes in entering. No problem for the Talking
      Checkbook to keep your records up to snuff. Version 5.03 now has
      a browse function where you can either edit or just browse
      through the checks and other entries. the Browser is written in
      the more database interface fashion where using your arrow keys
      or page-up and page-down buttons make the program work. If you
      would rather use the straight line oriented display mode, the
      Talking Checkbook still offers that as well.


          Option 3 gives you your balance and also lets you reconcile
      against bank statements. Once you've used the other menu option
      of verifying checks, then the balance should agree with your bank
      or maybe your bank has gotten into the S&L thing and the Talking
      Checkbook is trying to tell you something.

          Option 4 is great! It allows you to print out lists of your
      checks and so forth. Now if you are told that your check was
      never received, then you can print out a statement including that
      check you wrote. You can choose not to print out the listings in
      hard copy, but rather to create an ascii file of them. No problem
      for the Talking Checkbook. Say, don't we think of everything;
      probably not, but we work at it. Version 5.03 offers two new
      features that 1) let you choose a printer port in the event you
      have a braille printer and a regular one and 2) lets you list
      your ascii text file option in sequential lines of information
      that makes it much easier to understand. Say, we are getting to
      the point of thinking of everything, but we will confess that you
      folks have given us some great ideas to act upon.

          Option 5 gives you the opportunity to check out your fixed
      bills. This option helps folks who have a number of bills that
      have to be paid in the same amount on a fixed basis.

          Option 6 lets you verify your records against the bank
      statements. You simply take your bank statement and run the menu
      option and you'll be shown which checks, deposits and withdrawals
      have been entered in the database but not verified. If you find a
      match between the records that come up on the screen and your
      bank statement, then you can tell the program that the record can
      be verified and it will do that for you. When you later search
      for checks and so forth, it will be handy to know that the record
      was verified and you can easily say that the bank notified you
      that the check was cashed, the deposit made or withdrawal
      happened. It helps you know where everyone agrees and hopefully
      there will not be times when they don't.

          Option 7 brings up these notes. Many thanks to Marshall
      Dudley who wrote the Doorway.exe programs for letting us use the
      "send.exe" command program that allows us to write this long-
      winded rambling commentary and send it to you from within the
      program. If you like the way the program is sent to the screen,
      you can use the "Send.exe" program to do it with any ascii file.
      Simply type "Send" a space and the name of the ascii file on the
      command line and there it is. Thanks, Marshall for the great
      Doorway program and this little utility that does a lot for us.
      Also if you like reading this so much that you have a crazy
      desire to read it outside of the talking checkbook, then just
      type "Mono.doc" and press enter to read it in mono or "Color.doc"
      to read it in color with one of the self display .com files that
      run right from DOS.

          Option 8 gets you more information on the records in the
      database. It's fun and check it out. Version 5.02 of the Talking
      Checkbook now allows you to sum and display your credit card
      charges either as a whole or by credit card. Nifty, huh. You can
      also see the activity of your savings account transfers relative
      to your checkbook. Later versions of the Talking Checkbook will
      give you more data relative to your savings account itself.

          Option 9 makes writing checks fun again. Just go ahead and
      print out the checks and life is eezee! Well, you'll need to use
      option 11 first, since computers are really stupid and have no
      idea where to send the info to the check itself.

          Option 10 contains a number of utilities we have written to
      get displays of information and other pieces to a checkbook
      management program together. Check out the many utilities here.
      My favorite is the calculator and the ability to archival your
      checks into smaller database of chunks of time. If you take your
      checkbook over a period of three years, then it's a lot of stuff
      for the program to review each time it has to do that, so just
      archival your database into smaller yearly ones and your
      checkbook will run faster. You can always use the same program to
      bring back all the records into a massive database if you like.
      We also wrote the code to do the same thing for your savings
      account.

          Option 11 tells the computer where to write information on
      your checks. Not all checks were created equal and so the Talking
      Checkbook must get your help in setting up the printer settings.
      Fortunately you will only have to do this once if you use the
      same checks and printer.

          Option 12 lets folks with low vision or any vision to set
      screen colors that are most comfortable.

          Option 13 is for those of you who have not updated your
      Talking Checkbook since the first versions. I can understand that
      since I loved the "Doggy Dollars" field, but if you ever decide
      to update your database, then here's the program to let you do
      it.

          Option 14 is brand new. It's a security packing program that
      either saves current information in memory to your database each
      time you enter the option or saves the information every time you
      enter the main menu. I recommend that folks use the auto pack
      function here. If you keep archival data of your checkbook
      through the archival option within the utilities at main menu
      option 10, then this auto packing will be quick and afford you
      max protection. Say, does that sound like an advertisement or
      what!

          4: What programs should be in with the Talking Checkbook.

          Well, the older versions needed all kinds of stuff, but now
      here's what should be in your sub-directory and the rest you can
      forget:

          1. Checks.exe - the main program that operates the checkbook.

          2. Checkboo.dbf, savings.dbf and bills.dbf which are
      databases that you should have with older versions or will be
      installed by this one. Just keep any files with the extension
      ".dbf" for your new version unless you already have them from
      older versions. The Talking Checkbook will look for the proper
      databases and if found, then you move right along, but if not,
      then the Talking Checkbook will convert the failsafe database
      files that came with it. A new database called fs-save.dbf is
      included with version 5.02 which is copied out by the program to
      initialize the new savings account feature. These failsafe files
      will remain but they will also have produced what you need when
      you first run the Talking Checkbook. Don't worry about them.

          3. CB-notes.txt is this file and should remain in the sub-
      directory with the Talking Checkbook. It is accessed by menu
      option 7. You can also run it by typing "send cb-notes.txt" or
      "cb-notes" from the DOS command line. The file "CB-NOTES.COM" is
      the same file as this, but runs stand-alone in DOS.

          4. Send.exe is also necessary. It sends the notes to the user
      to the screen. If your type of DOS does not support the sending
      of the file from within the program, then the use of "cb-
      notes.com" will be necessary to see this file.

          5. You might want to keep the other files in the sub-
      directory as well since they can help. The one about Clipper is
      real necessary if the checkbook does not run. It deals with a
      memory environment statement that might be necessary, but I've
      only seen 2 cases of all users where that has been true.

          5: Other important stuff.

          Don Barrett and I wrote this program to be useful to us as
      users of speech synthesis. We release it to the public domain
      since it is a great program in our humble and prejudiced
      opinions. That does not mean that anyone or anything is
      responsible for the results of it's use except for you if you use
      it. We have had no problems with it, but can't be responsible if
      you or anyone else does.

          If you'd like to call me, Charlie Crawford about the program
      then please do so at area 617-727-5550 ext: 4503, or call the
      Massachusetts Commission for the Blind Bulletin Board at area
      617-451-5327. The BBS uses 8,n,1 and support up to 9600 BPS using
      a .32 standard or Hayes modem. slower modems work fine down to
      1200 BPS.

          Well, if you think that was long, then play around with the
      many options in the checkbook and see if we could have written a
      book about them. Feel free to upload the programs (as long as you
      don't change anything) to Bulletin Boards or send them to your
      friends. If you want to add your own information to the zip file
      to share with others, then fine. You might even write better docs
      than these. If you do write user information, then please send us
      the ascii file as well. You can write to:

      Charles Crawford
      The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
      88 Kingston Street
      Boston, MA 02111.

                                QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

          1. Can I crash the Talking Checkbook

      A: Yeah, if you like. Does not seem like the most productive use
      of time, but if you input a character rather than a number or
      character or don't use slashes when the program is looking for a
      date, then the program will not know what to do and exit to DOS.
      We will work on error trapping for these problems, but if you do
      it, then you'll have to re-enter the program and do what you were
      doing all over again. In the four years that I have used this
      program, I have not had that problem and suspect that you only
      would if you choose to crash it. In other words, don't worry if
      you seriously want to run the program since it will work fine
      with proper data entry.

          2. Do I have to pay for it.

      A: No, it is free of charge and released to the public domain
      without any liability to the authors, their families, dogs, cats
      and any other living thing or entity within the Universe.

           3. How come there are no environment variables to call the
      program from anywhere but it's default drive and subdirectory?

           A. We have given some thought to passing DOS parameters and
      really have not come up with much reason to do so. If you can
      suggest some DOS environment variables that you think are needed
      and would not be a problem for the average user, then send us
      your suggestions.

           One thing that the average user may want to consider is
      using a batch file to call the program up. Here's what you would
      write if your checks program and other files were in a sub-
      directory called "Checks" on your C:\ drive.

           First you go to the root directory by typing without the
      quotes "cd\" and press enter. Do this until you see the "C:\"
      prompt if you have your DOS prompt set to "prompt=$p$g".

           Next type "copy con:checks.bat" and press enter. This will
      set DOS ready to accept your information.

           Next type "Echo off" and press enter. This tells DOS not to
      babble away as it is getting your files up and running.

           Next type "cd\Checks"and press enter. This creates a second
      line of the batch file to change the directory to where the
      checks.exe and associated programs are.

           Next type "Checks" and press enter. This third line of text
      now tells DOS to execute the command Checks program.

           Next type "cd\" and press enter. this tells DOS to return to
      the root directory of the C: drive when it is done.

           remember not to use the quotes above when writing the batch
      since they were used only as a way of placing exactly what you
      will have to write on the appropriate lines. You don't have to
      write a batch file to get the program to run, but it might make
      some sense if you want to be up and running quickly from your
      root directory. I have a few lines in my batch that go to the
      sub-directory in which my speech program resides so I can run
      speech before running the checkbook.

           4. What is check verifying?

           A. When you get your banck statements and cancelled checks,
      then you can check your checks, deposits and withdrawals against
      the statement. You can verify what you've entered into the
      checkbook and add any interest you may have received or charges
      made against you. Once you've made the entries of any new
      deposits or withdrawals in the form of interest or charges from
      the bank statement within menu option 1, then use the verify menu
      option to mark your records as verified. This helps when you are
      browsing around and want to see if something really got cashed or
      whatever.

           5. I keep geting a different amount when I use the reconcile
      program than what is really the case with my bank. This was a
      great program a friend gave me, but the reconcile is not right;
      why?

           A. We had a case where a person received a copy of the
      Talking Checkbook from a friend and kept getting a mistaken
      reconciliation amount. The problem was that the memory variable
      used to check on what the bank amount was from his friends
      program never was erased and the current checkbook kept adding in
      that amount. The fix is to erase the .mem files from any copy of
      the talking checkbook you may get from someone else. We recommend
      that you type "del *.mem" if if you get the program from someone
      else. If you are using a Talking Checkbook for the first time
      with a brand new copy that nobody else has used or you are
      updating your own copy, then do not erase the .mem files!

           6. I run the program and after a bit, it dies. Why?

           A. This is not at all likely to happen and we have had no
      reports of it. However, some folks may be running exspanded
      memory managers or other memory resident programs that impact
      upon memory allocation. If you experience the Talking Checkbook
      simply stopping work, place the line "set clipper=E000" in your
      autoexec.bat file to keep Clipper from looking for expanded
      memory. Again, we have had no reports of any such problem, but we
      also know never to say never.

           7. the program is running along and I get a "Proc error at
      ... run time error" and it stops. You should never see this out
      of memory error with our new library routines. If you do, then
      get in touch with us.

      Good luck and enjoy your use of the Talking Checkbook in good
      health.


                             Talking Checkbook update:

          Well, wouldn't you know it! Don Barrett could not resist
      developing a print to printer or file utility that would provide
      information for tax purposes based upon your personal comments
      lines. OK Don, I think you really put something nice in here that
      will help folks out if they arrange their personal comments by
      categories that will relate to tax preparation time.

          The tax print utility is in the utilities menu option #10.
      Check it out.

           Also in this new version 5.03, Don has added the ability to
      place in a starting figure for retirement management to help
      those like me who are getting older by the minute.

           Enjoy and look forward to version 5.04 when I might even try
      to do some automatic budgeting information generation! If you
      have suggestions for program improvement, then please try to let
      us know and make you and everybody else happy!

      -Charlie Crawford: June 25, 1992.