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April 3, 1992 v2.52 C h e X Copyright (c) Rich Young, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992 CheX is an easy to use checkbook program for your IBM PC or compatible computer. It helps in balancing and can be used for credit cards, savings accounts, and other types of debit / credit bookkeeping. To START a new checkbook type "CheX" or "CheX <filename>" and press <Return>. Respond with a "Y" or "y" to create a new checkbook. Enter the date and the existing balance prior to your first non-posted entry. Then enter the rest of your entries that have not cleared the bank. Use <F2> to sort the items that appear on the screen. This keeps items in date order. Use <F7> to print your checkbook, and press <Escape> or <F10> to exit the program. Feel free to copy and distribute this program fully intact with this document. By using this program you accept full liability; there is no warranty stated nor implied. Please don't let this program result in an overdraft on your part due to an oversight on my part. . T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Screen Screen I. Control Keys....... 3.01 IX. Format Check Options.... 24.15 II. Function Keys...... 4.13 X. Graph & Total........... 27.18 III. Fields............. 9.14 XI. Password Options........ 31.16 IV. Balancing......... 13.09 XII. CHEX.INI Options........ 34.02 V. Startup Options... 15.18 XIII. Importing Data.......... 34.17 VI. Custom Options.... 17.17 XIV. Errors.................. 39.03 VII. Print and Audit... 21.14 XV. Backing Up.............. 39.18 VIII. Check Printing.... 23.09 XVI. Program Information..... 40.18 I. C O N T R O L K E Y S: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Ctrl-PgUp - Top of checkbook. | Right Arrow - Next character. | | Ctrl-PgDn - Bottom of checkbook.| Left Arrow - Prior character. | | Page Up - Up one screen. | Up Arrow - Up one line. | | Page Down - Down one screen. | Down Arrow - Down one line. | | Backspace - Back one space. | Home - Start of field. | | Escape - Exit. | End - End of field. | | Return - Next column. | Shift Tab - Prior column. | | Tab - " " | ^Left Arrow - " " | | ^Right Arrow - " " | Insert - Insert mode toggle. | | | Delete - "Eat" a character. | | | | | Alt-C - Copy item. Ctrl-K | Ctrl-Home - Top of screen. | | Alt-I - Insert line. Ctrl-N | Ctrl-End - Bottom of screen. | | Alt-D - Blank item. Ctrl-Y | Alt-P - Print check hot key.| | Alt-A - Auto copy. F6-A | Alt-D Alt-D - Delete item. | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- While entering numeric fields, the alphanumeric keyboard will emulate a ten key in the following manner: ----------- ------------ \ 7 8 9 \ \ 7 8 9 \ \ U I O \ same as \ 4 5 6 \ \ J K L \ \ 1 2 3 \ \ M . \ \ 0 . \ ---------- ------------ II. F U N C T I O N K E Y S: F1 - HELP. Displays this document, "CHEX.DOC". Available at any prompt. Press <F4> or "F" to search for a specific subject or string. Press <F5> or "N" to find the next occurrence of the string. You may modify this document to fit your needs. I use the QEdit editor with a right margin of 76. Maximum number of lines is 800. F2 - SORT items in date order that appear on the screen. For larger sorts use <F6-S>. [F3] - UNDO any changes made to the item the cursor is currently on. The old item will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Press "Y" to confirm. Undo limit is 40 items. Undo information is cleared when you go to a different checkbook, <F9>, or by deleting an item, <Alt-D> <Alt-D>. [F4] - FIND an alpha string. Starts at end and works back to the beginning of the book. FIND is not case sensitive. Use "|" for vertical lines. When a string is found you will have the following options: (E)nd find - return to checkbook. (G)raph - graph all occurrences. (see section X.) (M)ove to item - moves the cursor to the actual item. (N)ext item - search for next occurrence of string. (P)rint & next - print an item, display next occurrence, and print a total when done. [F5] - FIND NEXT occurrence of an alpha string. Used after F4, FIND. [F6] - UTILITY functions: (A)utoCopy - copy entries from the last month that has items with an asterisk or a colon at the beginning or at the end of the NOTE field. Items with a colon will have a zero dollar amount after the copy. The destination is the next month unless CHEX.INI file (see section XII) contains AutoCopyDate=yes, then the items are copied using the current date. This can be used for automatic or repetitive entries and can also be activated by pressing Alt-A. (B)alance - balance bank statement. (see section IV.) (I)mport - import a comma delimited, ASCII, or CheX file. (see section XIII, Importing Data) (L)ock - locks the checkbook so that posted items cannot be altered. Exiting the checkbook will do the same thing. (P)ost - move the cursor to the first non-posted item. (S)ort all - sort the last #### items in the checkbook in date order. (U)nlock - unlocks the checkbook for modifying posted items. [F7] - PRINT functions: (C)heck - print an individual check. Alt-P (section VIII.) (D)isk - print to disk. File suffix = .PRT (section VII.) (E)xport - create a comma delimited export file for Lotus, dBase or to import back into CheX. (section XIII.) (A)ll fields, file suffix = .PRN (N)umeric fields only, file suffix = .PNN (F)eedback - Display/print optional CheX FEEDBACK form. (G)raph - graph or display totals by month, by year, or by category. (see section X.) (P)rint - print checkbook to printer. (see section VII.) (T)ypewriter - use your printer as a typewriter. [F8] - OPTIONS settings: (C)ustom options - setup and color options. (see section VI.) (F)ormat check - custom check print formats. (section IX.) (P)assword options - passwords and encryption. (see section XI.) [F9] - OPEN NEXT checkbook: When CheX is started with a checkbook name, a menu of available checkbooks will be displayed. Use the tab or up/down arrow keys to highlight the desired checkbook and press <return> to select the book. By pressing F2 the directory display toggle's between name order and descending date order. New checkbooks can be entered at the command line. If CheX is used with checkbook numbers, the next sequential checkbook will be displayed. i.e. CHEXBK01.CHX, CHEXBK02.CHX F10 - EXIT directly to DOS. Clears the screen. ESCAPE - EXIT current checkbook or exit function. III. F I E L D S: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | TITLE | DESCRIPTION | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | P | POSTING CODE. Used by balancing to indicate items that have | | | cleared the bank. If an item appears on your statement, | | | enter the first letter of the month that the statement is | | | dated. These items will be highlighted. You also may | | | highlight non-posted items by entering an asterisk. | | | Valid entries are; J, f, M, a, Y, u, L, g, S, o, N, d, x or * | | | Y, U, L, and G are for May, June, July, and August. | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Date | DATE WRITTEN. Default is today or date last entered. May be | | | entered as DD, MMDD, MMDDYY, MM/DD, or MM/DD/YY. This is | | | CheX's primary sort key. Valid entries: 1/1/00 - 12/31/99. | | | The date can be changed to an international format, DD/MM/YY, | | | by pressing <F8> option "C" and changing #12 to a "Y". | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Ck# A/_ | CHECK NUMBER. Default is last number entered plus one if the | | | check is not future dated. Entering a zero will turn off | | | automatic check numbering. "Ck#A" in the heading indicates | | | automatic check numbering is on, "Ck#_" indicates that it | | | is off. Note: CheX print will display a warning message if a | | | check number is out of sequence. (max = 4 chrs) | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Debit | CHECK DOLLAR AMOUNT. (max = 99,999.99) | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Credit | DEPOSIT DOLLAR AMOUNT. (max = 99,999.99) | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | To: | ITEM DESCRIPTION. The person the check is written to or the | | | source of the deposit. (max = 20 characters) | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Note | NOTES. (max = 12 characters) | | | a. On item # 1, the note is used as a checkbook title on | | | numbered checkbooks. i.e. CHEXBK01, CHEXBK02, etc. | | | b. Can be used to continue an item description. | | | c. "-" or "=" in the first position prevents CheX from | | | printing the note field on checks. i.e. personal notes | | | d. "=" in the first position is an audit figure for the | | | running balance. | | | e. "*" in the first or last position flags the item as an | | | automatic entry. See section II, function key F6-A. | | | f. ":" in the first or last position flags the item as an | | | automatic entry using a zero dollar amount. See F6-A. | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Cat | ITEM CATEGORY. The first letter is converted to upper-case | | | and may be graphed by pressing F7 - "G" option "C". It is | | | preferable to use unique characters. (max = 3 characters) | | | The following list is what I use; feel free to change it. | | | | | | Asc - association Gro - groceries Ren - rent | | | Aut - auto Hom - home Sav - savings | | | BC - bank card Ins - insurance Tax - taxes | | | Cas - cash Job - job Ut - utilities | | | Com - computers Ln - loan Vac - vacation | | | Dre - dress Md - medical Wrk - Work | | | Exp - expenses Pay - income Yrd - Yard | | | Fun - fun/friend | | | | | | Note: CheX totals 88 category codes. Extra categories are | | | totaled together. See section "X. Graph & Total". | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Balance | RUNNING BALANCE. Computed. (-999,999.99 thru 9,999,999.99) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. B A L A N C I N G: F6-B To balance your bank statement, press <F6> and option "P". This will move the cursor to column "P" on the first non-posted item. The item will be highlighted. If the item appears on your bank statement, enter the first letter of the month you are posting. (Letters Y, u, L, and g may be used for May, Jun, Jul, and Aug.) The system will then move the cursor down to the next entry. Use the down arrow key to skip entries that do not appear on your statement. (I alternate between upper and lower case letters to help differentiate months.) Once all the posted items are marked, press <F6> and option "B". The system will prompt you for the ending statement balance. Enter the amount and press <Return>. The difference displayed should be zero, otherwise you have entered an item incorrectly or have marked/not marked an item in error. To change an item that is marked as posted, you must "unlock" the checkbook by pressing <F6> and option "U". In the event your checkbook is out of balance, CheX may locate a possible error. Please validate the suggestion prior to taking any action. CheX limits the search to a single "current item", so CheX will not always find an item posted in error. Also, multiple errors will not be found. If CheX is unable to locate an error, it will tell you if your checkbook is too high or too low. Use the following to know what to look for. If your checkbook is too high, check the following: 1. Debits that require posting. 2. Posted credits that should not be posted. 3. Posted debits that the amount entered is too low. 4. Posted credits that the amount entered is too high. 5. Entered statement balance is too low. 6. Running balance errors. (see section "XIV. ERRORS"). If your checkbook is too low, check the following: 1. Posted debits that should not be posted. 2. Credits that require posting. 3. Posted debits that the amount entered is too high. 4. Posted credits that the amount entered is too low. 5. Entered statement balance is too high. 6. Running balance errors. (see section "XIV. ERRORS"). V. S T A R T U P O P T I O N S Start CheX from DOS by typing in CHEX. As an option parameters may be entered. The CHEX command format follows: CHEX [drive:][path][checkbook name, number, or global] [/P] [password] DRIVE: Disk drive where the checkbook files are located. PATH DOS path where the checkbook files are located. CHECKBOOK: NAME Any valid DOS filename. The default file name suffix is ".CHX". Checkbook files may be renamed at any time. NUMBER Any number from 1 to 99. The number is used to create a file name of CHEXBK##.CHX. ## being the number entered on the DOS prompt. Pressing <F9> within CheX goes to the next checkbook file number. When this option is used CheX will add the ".CHX" suffix to old CHEXBK## files. GLOBAL Any valid DOS global wild card. Default is "*.CHX". /P Required the first time a checkbook password is entered. PASSWORD Only used when a checkbook is password protected. To password protect a checkbook, see section "XI. Password Options" Examples: CHEX CHEX BANKACCT CHEX 11 CHEX * CHEX *.CHX /P CHEX BANKACCT password VI. C U S T O M O P T I O N S: F8-C Options are stored by checkbook. You may use different options in each checkbook. Enter value to change and press <Return>. Use <Escape> to exit. A prompt will appear confirming your desire to save changes. Press "Y" to use the changes that you made. 1-5 Color codes - Use codes 0 through 255. Codes 128 through 255 blink. To the right of the selected color the highlighted version of the color is represented. Use the right arrow key to update this value. 6. Test disk & printer - (0, 1, 2, 3) Disk and printer test. 0 = Perform no tests. 1 = Test if there is enough disk space. This option will make CheX startup slower. 2 = Test if the printer is ready. 3 = Perform both tests. 7. Use ESC to exit CheX- (Y or N) Pressing ESC will exit the CheX program. Turning this option off will make F10 and ALT-F10 the only means of exiting the CheX program. 8. Form feed line # - Number of lines to do a printer page break, 0=off. There are 66 lines to a normal page. 9. Auto exit # minutes - If a key is not pressed after ### minutes, CheX will clear the screen, save all updates and exit your checkbook for safekeeping. This option can be turned off by entering zero. When turned off, CheX will require less resources in a multi- tasking environment such as Windows. 10. Save # minutes/chgs - Number of elapsed minutes or the number of changes between automatic full saves. A full save also occurs prior to any print operation that could hang the system. 11. Auto read # of items- (0 to 255) Number of items to be automatically read into memory. Auto Read works between key strokes. Use 255 to set to maximum items. The number to the right is the number of items that will presently fit in memory. Maximum is 6138. This does not affect CheX's checkbook maximum of 9,999 items. Note: When Auto Read is turned on the help file, CHEX.DOC, is also automatically read into memory. 12. International dates - (Y or N) If turned on, dates are entered and displayed in DD/MM/YY format. 13. Check print LPT: - (1, 2 or 3) Selects printer port that checks are printed on. This does not affect checkbook printing. (See section XII, CHEX.INI options.) 14. Assumed decimal - (Y or N) If turned on, a decimal point will be assumed on dollar fields unless a decimal point is entered. 15. Sound duration - (0 to 9) Zero turns sound off. 16. Size of cursor - Use <Page Up> and <Page Down> to change. Cursor size format is TTBB, where TT is the top scan line and BB is the bottom scan line. A cursor size of "3 6" is reset to a normal cursor when you exit CheX. VII. P R I N T and A U D I T: F7-D / F7-P <F7> is used to print a check or your checkbook. For check printing see section "VIII. CHECK PRINTING:" below. Checkbook printing is to paper or to disk. The format is similar to what appears on the screen. During the print process the running balance, audit entries, check sequence numbers, and item sort order is validated. Errors are indicated with a ">" on the printout and by a message at the end of the run. If the running balance is in error, the computed balance is inserted in the "To:" column of the item in error. This error indicates loss of data and should be reconciled. Data loss can be caused by turning the machine off while the checkbook is being saved. Audit entries are notes you insert that confirm the running balance. This is done by typing a "=" in the first position of the note field. Then the system will insert the current running balance for that item. If the running balance ever changes, the print process would flag the entry as an error. Sequence warning messages indicate that a check number was entered incorrectly or used out of sequence. I suggest that you try to use your checks in sequence so that the print process can help validate the integrity of your checkbook. Item sort sequence errors could indicate a date entered in error or that your entries are not sorted. This is just a warning and may not require any action. VIII. C H E C K P R I N T I N G: F7-C To print a check, move the cursor to the check you want printed. Press <F7> and option "C". Align your check to the date line and press <Return>. The check will be printed using the formatting information stored by checkbook. To help the alignment process, you may press "-", ".", or "_". These will be printed on the check document. Pressing the left and right arrow will move the carriage back and forth on some printers. This should not affect where the next print field will be printed. As an option you can press ALT-P as a print check hot key. This will print the check the cursor is on without pausing for alignment. If the name of the person you are writing the check to is longer than the "To:" field, you may continue their name in the note column. To do this, type over the vertical line between the "To:" column and the "Note" column. Check print will then print the note field as part of the name. Check formatting information may be changed by pressing <F8> option "F". For more information see section "IX. Format Check". IX. F O R M A T C H E C K F8-F If you plan to use the check printing feature, you may need to change the standard print format. Press <F8> and option "F" to change the standard print format. These options are stored by checkbook. You may use a different format for each checkbook. Enter value to change and press <Return>. Use <Escape> to exit. A prompt will appear confirming your desire to save changes. Press "Y" to use the changes that you made. 1 - 15 Enter formatting information for each field you want printed. Fifteen fields may be defined. Line feeds - Number of line feeds prior to printing the field. Note: Most printers use 6 line feeds to the inch. Micro line feeds - Since some checks are not typewriter spaced, you may need to do partial line feeds. Only use this if you know how to make your printer do micro line feeds. Use option #16 below to define the proper escape sequence for your printer. Note: Epson uses 12 micro feeds to a standard line feed. Spaces - Number of spaces to print prior to printing the field. Most printers use 10 or 12 spaces to the inch. CheX's default format uses 12 spaces to the inch. Field Code - Alpha codes "a" through "z" and "0" through "8". Used to define which field to print. These codes are defined on the right side of the Format Check window. Field codes 1, 2, and 3 send CHEX.ADx files. These files can be used for return addresses, logos, or graphic signatures. For laser printers, rename .PCL files to CHEX.ADx file name. 16 Escape sequence for micro feeds - The escape sequence your printer requires to do micro line feeds. The sequence needs to be followed with the commands to return the printer to a normal print mode. Each character is a decimal number from 0 to 255. Each character is separated with a "/". You may override this field with the CheckPrintMicro field in the CHEX.INI file. See CHEXINI.DOC file for options. Note: Check printing does NOT require the purchase of continuous forms. Most letter quality printers and some dot matrix will print checks on your existing checks. This makes it possible to print the envelope too. I used a SilverReed EXP 400 daisy wheel printer for check printing. X. G R A P H & T O T A L: F7-G GRAPH TYPE: (B)AR GRAPH - total debits, total credits, and average balance by month. (C)ATEGORY - plotting of net dollar amounts by category code. (N)UMBERS - display of actual values used by the above graphs. GRAPH CALCULATION: (BY MONTH or BY CATEGORY) (A)CTUALS - monthly totals of debits & credits. (S)UM TOTAL - cumulative totals. (T)HREE MONTH WEIGHTED AVERAGE - graph smoothing technique. (D)ETAIL - detail plotting of each item. BAR GRAPHS: Totals are by month. Each month graphed is indicated on the bottom of the screen. Up to sixty months can be displayed. Scaling is based on the highest value and the zoom factor. Press "+" or "-" to change zoom. Years are represented by different colors on the month line. Both total debits (checks) and total credits (deposits) are graphed together until one exceeds the other. Up arrows represent amounts that exceed the scaling. A single "B" is the average daily balance. Minus signs, "-", represent negative balances. Down arrows represent negative balances that run off the scale. The graph will not be accurate if the checkbook is not in date order. The far left margin displays the graph type. The far right margin contains the checkbook title, today's date and time. The checkbook title is the checkbook file name or, on number checkbooks, it is the note field of the first item . Three month weighted average is a graph smoothing technique. Each month is represented by taking the current month times three, the prior month times two and the month before that times one. Then the sum is divided by six. On color monitors, debits are graphed using the checkbook's heading color. The rest of the graph uses the detail line color. You also may graph selected items using the "F4 FIND" command. CATEGORY: By pressing "C", graphing is by category net dollar amount, category being the first character in the "CAT" field. Lower case letters indicate that more than one category was plotted. "@" represents extra or blank categories. By pressing the letter "B", the graph is returned to the standard bar chart format. By pressing "N", the numbers that make up the graph are displayed. On the right side of the screen the category percentage and six month average is displayed. Press down arrow key, the page down key, or the end key to display additional categories. A maximum of 88 categories are displayed. NUMBERS: For each graph, the actual values that are being plotted may be displayed. This is done by pressing the letter "N" at any graph prompt. Since this information will not fit on a single screen, the arrow keys are used to scroll through the results. In addition to the plotted values, computed totals/averages are displayed. If the computed number is larger than space available, the number is displayed in whole dollars or the display of the number is suppressed. XI. P A S S W O R D O P T I O N S: F8-P Passwords are optional. You may use different password options for each checkbook book. Enter desired fields and press <Return>. Use <Escape> to exit. A prompt will appear confirming your desire to save changes. Press "Y" to use the changes that you made. The first time you add password options, CheX needs to be started with the "/P" option; CHEX [filename or ##] /P. Once a checkbook is password protected, the password may be entered as the LAST parameter on the command line; CHEX [filename or ##] [/P] PASSWORD. When you create a new checkbook, password options will be turned off. 1. Primary password - Primary password for your checkbook. By entering a password you must REMEMBER one of your passwords. Enter a blank in each field to turn passwords off. Verification - Reenter the above entry for verification. Backup password - A second password in case you forget the first one. Both passwords should be entered each time you make changes. Both work the same. Verification - Reenter the above entry for verification. 2. Encrypt checkbook - (Y or N) By turning this option on, casual browsing of your checkbook file is discouraged. Since this option will only take affect for new information stored, you will want to update every item in your checkbook. An easy way to do this is to change the dollar amount of the first item in your checkbook. Then change it back to the correct amount. Be sure to perform the same operation after turning this option off. WARNING: Use the above options with caution. You could lose valuable information by forgetting your password or by damaging an encrypted checkbook file. Also note that the above routines are not very secure. XII. C H E X . I N I O P T I O N S: CHEX.INI is a file you create where advanced options are stored. Documentation and examples for this file are stored in CHEXINI.DOC. Available options follow: 1. Report printer LPT port number. Default is LPT1: 2. Special printer commands and initialization strings. 3. Number of checks on a page definition. i.e. Laser printers 4. Snow suppression option for CGA monitors. 5. Data entry option to not clear fields when the first key is pressed. 6. Option to default directory displays to name order. 7. Option to make AutoCopy, ALT-A, copy to the current date. XIII. I M P O R T I N G D A T A F6-I Importing data is to read a data file into a checkbook. This can be used to combine checkbooks, bring information from another program into CheX, or provides a method of editing CheX information using a standard editor. The import function can write over existing information and should be used with care. Three file types are supported: comma delimited, ASCII flat file, or CheX checkbook file. CREATING IMPORT FILES: Comma delimited file format can be created with a standard database package or by CheX. To create a comma delimited file in CheX, press <F7>, the letter "E" for export, and the letter "A" for all fields. CheX will prompt you for the starting and ending item number. The file created will have a file type of "PRN". Other software packages use different terminologies when referring to comma delimited files. Some of these follow: dBase - Use APPEND FROM <filename> TYPE DELIMITED to import. Use PRINT <filename> TYPE DELIMITED to export. EXCEL - Refer to the documentation on Comma Separated Values, (.CSV). 123 - Use (F)ile (I)mport (N)umbers to import. To create an ASCII flat file press <F7> and the letter "D" for disk file. CheX will prompt you for the starting and ending item number. The file will be created with a file type of "PRT". When the file is imported into CheX, the headings will be bypassed base on the following criteria: all records that start with either a dash, a formfeed, or a capital "P". IMPORTING DATA: To import a file press <F6> and the letter "I" for import. CheX will display the current directory and all the files that have a file type of "PRN". Select or enter a file. CheX reads the first record of the file to determine the file type. This determination is based on the following hierarchy: .CHX - The first four records have special CheX information. .PRN - The first record has at least six comma delimited fields. .PNN - The first record has at least four comma delimited fields. .PRT - The first record has at least 70 characters. CheX will prompt you on which record the import should start on. If the import is going to overlay existing information, CheX will request confirmation. IMPORT ERRORS: Each field is edited during the import function unless the input source is a CheX checkbook file. If an error is encountered and existing information is being overlaid, the import function will stop. If the import is into a new checkbook or was started at the end of an existing book, CheX will ask if you wish to continue. If you continue, any errors will be recorded in the note field. To see which records had errors, press <F4> and search for ERR|. Use <F5> to continue the search. To see the actual error, edit or view the import input file. Possible errors: DATE ERR - Date field was not a valid date. MM/DD/YY or MMDDYY Current date is used instead. * POSTCODE ERR - Invalid posting code. J,F,M,A,Y,U,L,G,S,O,N,D, x or *. * OVERFLOW ERR - Amount field made the running balance exceed CheX field limit. (-999,999.99 thru 9,999,999.99) * * See section "III. Fields" for more field information. NULL ERR - Record read contained no data. Fld.CountERR - Field count error. The numbers of fields on a delimited record was different than the first record in the file. ShortRec ERR - The ASCII import record length was less than 70 characters long. XIV. E R R O R S: To exit the program press <Escape> or <F10>. In the event that power is lost or the system hangs prior to exiting, the checkbook could have serious errors. Errors in the running balance will be flagged during the checkbook printing process, <F7>. The running balance may be corrected by reentering a dollar amount above the running balance error. See section "VII. PRINT and AUDIT" above. With the import or sort function it is possible to make the running balance exceed it's field limit. In this situation the running balance will display "OVERFL.OW". Use the delete function, ALT-D, to remove the items that cause the balance to overflow. XV. B A C K I N G U P To back up your checkbook, use the DOS copy command. If you made changes to the CHEX.INI file you may want to back up that file too. Samples follow: COPY *.CHX A: COPY CHEX.INI A: Though it is possible to separate each year into different files, it is better to keep the data in a single file. Reasons for this follow: - There are fewer files to keep track of. - If the data is damaged, it is more likely to be noticed. - Less files to convert if a new CheX program requires conversion. - Posting across years/files is complicated. XVI. P R O G R A M I N F O R M A T I O N: CheX will run in 350K but runs better in 450K or more. With more memory more items can be kept in memory. This minimizes disk access but has no effect on the size of your checkbook. A checkbook file may contain up to 9,999 items. CheX does not use extended or expanded memory. The CheX.EXE file is compressed using LZEXE. CheX's FILES: README. - Short description on how to get started. May be deleted. CHEX.EXE - Checkbook program: Date 4-3-1992 Size 84,203 B179:109C CHEX.DOC - This document. Used as a help screen. May be deleted. CHEX.FB - CheX FEEDBACK registration form. Please return. CHEX.AD1 - Your name and address for envelope print. May be deleted. CHEXINI.DOC - CHEX.INI options file documentation. May be deleted. CHEX.PIF - Used for running under MS Windows 3.0. May be deleted. CHEX.UPT - Updates or changes to the CheX program. May be deleted. CHEX252.ZIP - Library file containing all of the above. May be deleted. CHEXBK##.CHX - Checkbook. Created by CheX. ## = book number 01 thru 99. filename.CHX - Checkbook file. "filename" is user defined. filename.PNN - Export file that contains numeric fields only. F7-E filename.PRN - Export file for transferring to Lotus or dBase. F7-E filename.PRT - Created by CheX on print to disk. May be deleted. F7-D filename.OLD - Old copy of checkbook print. Temporary. Save this if you get a disk error while printing your checkbook to disk. CHEX.INI - Options file. CHEX.AD# - Free form text/binary files for check printing. # = 2 or 3 Can be used for signatures or logos. If you like CheX please send a $30.00 contribution. As an option you may send the CheX FEEDBACK form. Print form by pressing <F7> and option "F". Thanks to everyone who provided feedback, helped test, or helped distribute CheX. ---------------------------- | Rich Young | | 6060 Ashley Place | | Goleta, CA 93117-1773 | ---------------------------- (end of CHEX.DOC document)