Loadstar 128 15/q15.d81/t.budget boot

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 7KB | 140 lines

                           B U D G E T M E I S T E R

                                by Paul McAleer

     Budget.  It ranks right up there with "taxes" as one of the worst words
known to man.  Budgets can be painfully difficult to deal with if done with
paper and pencil.  That's why budgets are naturals for computers.

     Once you boot up BUDGETMEISTER you'll be presented with a window of 13
entries.  Also, in the lower quarter of the window is a sub-window.  This
window displays the current filename, total income, total debits, and
balance.  In general, use the CRSR or ARROW keys to move around the document
and RETURN to edit what is highlighted.  BUDGETMEISTER allows entries of up
to $999,999.99 and a total budget of up to $9,999,999.99, figures that
SHOULD handle your finances.  Since BUDGETMEISTER allows up to 150 entries
with labels, you'll have to scroll up and down to find the rest.  And best
yet, any -- or even all -- of these entries can be income or debit.

     It's like using a mini-spreadsheet.  Since income and debits are
similar to deposits and checks, you can even use BUDGETMEISTER as a
checkbook balancer.

     While the main BUDGETMEISTER screen with its hotkeys supports many
features, BUDGETMEISTER's drop-down menus do much more.  You can access them
by pressing ESC.  To select what's in the current menu, use CRSR UP/DOWN and
RETURN.  To select the next drop-down menu, hit CRSR LEFT or RIGHT.

     Here is what's available to you from the drop-down menus.

 BUDGET MENU
 -----------

 Declare as Income (Commodore-I): This will allow you to declare the current
entry as income.  This can also be accessed directly by pressing Commodore-I
over the desired option.

IMPORTANT:  In order for BUDGETMEISTER to load and save properly, you cannot
have your entries separated by (Empty) lines.  Start your entries at the top
and work down from there.  You can insert and delete entries, and declare
some of them as divider lines, but don't leave any (Empty) lines in the
middle of your budget.

 Declare as Debit (Commodore-D): This will allow you to declare the current
entry as debit.  This, by the way, is BUDGETMEISTER's default.  ALL entries,
unless marked as income, will be considered debits.  Declare as debit can
also be accessed with a Commodore-D.

 Delete Entry (CTRL-D): This will "pull up" your budget, erasing the current
entry.  This can (and should) be accessed directly with CTRL-D.

 Insert Entry (CTRL-I): This will "push down" your budget, inserting a space
in the current entry.  WARNING!  If you have all 150 entries full, entry 150
will be LOST!  This can be accessed directly with CTRL-I.

 Recalculate Budget (Commodore-C): You shouldn't have to use this feature
unless you're a wise (and/or rich) guy who insists on using numbers so large
that they cause the totals to exceed the PRINTUSING limit.  You can tell
when this happens because you'll see *********** for totals.  To get rid of
the asterisks, correct the entry that overloaded the program and
recalculate.

 Load Sample Budget: This option will load the file "SAMPLE" off of the
current drive.  You may want to configure the current drive number
beforehand (see below.)

 FILE UTILITIES MENU
 -------------------

 Clear Budget (Commodore-X): Select this to erase your budget and start from
the beginning.

 Load: This option will load a BUDGETMEISTER file.  If a file was previously
loaded, that file's name will be the default.  Enter the file to load and
press RETURN.  If you change your mind about loading, delete the name as far
as you can (to "bud.") and press RETURN.  Lastly, enter $ alone for a
directory of all BUDGETMEISTER files on the current drive.

 Save/Resave: This option will save the current file in memory.  If a file
was previously loaded, that file's name will be the default.  Enter the file
to save and press RETURN.  Note that the "bud." prefix cannot be deleted;
this is used to indicate a BUDGETMEISTER file in the directory.  Enter
RETURN with no filename to abort.  If the file chosen exists, you can
replace it if you wish.

 Format Disk: This will format a disk for saving BUDGETMEISTER files or
whatever.  NOTE: If you're using BUDGETMEISTER with RAMDrive or RAMLink,
this option can, and will, format the current partition.  BE CAREFUL!  If
you're using a 1571, it will format it as a 1571 disk.

 DOS Command: This offers a standard DOS shell prompt for commands like
Initialize, Rename, Copy, etc.  Enter the command to send to your drive and
press RETURN; or RETURN alone to abort.  After the command is sent, the
drive status will be displayed.  To see a complete directory, enter $.

 Current Device: Finally, this option will let you define the current device
BUDGETMEISTER uses for loading and saving.  You'll be asked if you want to
change it.  Drives 8-12 are valid.  The current drive is always shown when
the BUDGETMEISTER header is visible.

 PRINT MENU
 ----------

 Print Range: This option will allow you to print a range (entry # to entry
#) of your file.  But what if you know the starting entry #, but want to
print until the end of the file?  No problem.  Just enter 150 as your "to #"
selection, and BUDGETMEISTER will reselect that variable.  For example, load
up the "sample" file.  Choose Print Range.  For "from #", enter 1 <return>.
For "to #", enter 150 <return>.  Soon BUDGETMEISTER will display 16 - which
is the final entry.

 Print All: Prints all entries, from #1 to the end.

 QUIT MENU
 ---------

 Quit to LOADSTAR (Commodore-Q): This will let you quit to LOADSTAR 128.
You'll have to confirm it.

 Quit to Budget: Exits the drop-down menus to your budget.

 Quit to Budgetlinker: This option will allow expansion of BUDGETMEISTER.
The linker has not yet been written, but once it has, it will let you run
sub-programs.  It will be similar to Jeff Jones' Mind Your Business Linker,
published on LOADSTAR for the C-64.

ABOUT THE SAMPLE BUDGET: The sample budget is a quick demonstration of how
BUDGETMEISTER works.  It also uses "divider" entries effectively.  Divider
entries are the ones whose labels are just ----'s, with a value of 0.  The
two dividers in the sample budget separate the first half of the month, and
mark the end of file.  They aren't necessary, but divider entries can make
your budget easier to read.

     That's it for BUDGETMEISTER.  If you know how to use BUDGET BUDDY on
the 64, then BUDGETMEISTER will be easy to learn.  If you have any requests
for Linker programs, let me know.

PM
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