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JCSM Shareware Collection 1993 November
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JCSM Shareware Collection - 1993-11.iso
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cl020
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cam111j.lzh
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CHARGED.EXE
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CHARGE3.DOC
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1991-03-05
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Charge Account Management Program
Utilities
The Utility Menu looks like this:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Charge Account Management Program ║
║ (system name) Utility Menu ║
║ ║
║ ╔════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ ║ ║ ║
║ ║ (Q)uit ║ ║
║ ║ (1) Name Change ║ ║
║ ║ (2) Category Maintenance ║ ║
║ ║ (3) System Customization ║ ║
║ ║ (4) Find by Contents ║ ║
║ ║ (5) Sort Transactions ║ ║
║ ║ ║ ║
║ ╚════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ║
║ Enter your choice ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
When this first appears, the first option (Quit) is highlighted in reverse
video. Use the arrow keys to move up and down the list until the function you
wish to use is highlighted. Press <enter> to select that option. An alternate
form of selecting an option on this menu is to press the number which appears
inside the parentheses (2 for Category Maintenance, for example).
Quit - Return to the Main Menu.
Name Change - This option allows you to change the system name for this
account.
Category Maintenance - This option allows you to change every occurrence of a
specified category name to something else. The new name can be a
completely new one or an existing one. This allows you to readily change
misspellings, combine two categories into a single one, or change a name
to something more meaningful to you.
System Customization - This option allows you to customize the program to work
the way you want it to. Items which you may change include the colors the
program uses for a color monitor, allowing future dates to be entered,
defining a fiscal year to begin at a date other than January 1, and
redefining the number of printable lines per page.
Find by Contents - This option allows you to print or display all transactions
having some specified combination of characters in the detail line.
Sort Transactions - This option allows you to rearrange the order transactions
are displayed. Once sorted, the transactions cannot be placed back in
their original order. This sort is by the date entered on the
transaction.
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Charge Account Management Program
Name Change
This option allows you to change the system name entered in the
initialization process.
When this option is selected, the screen displays:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Name Change ║
║ ║
║ (system name) ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The current system name is displayed in reverse video. Make any changes you
feel are necessary to the name. When you are satisfied with the way it looks,
press <enter>.
The program will use the new name from now on. You will next see the
Utility Menu again.
Category Maintenance
This option allows you to change every occurrence of a specified category
name to something else. The new name can be a completely new one or an
existing one. This allows you to readily change misspellings, combine two
categories into a single one, or change a name to something more meaningful to
you.
When this option is selected, the screen changes to this:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║Category Maintenance ║
║ ║
║( 1) AAAAAAAAAA ( 4) DDDDDDDDDD ( 7) GGGGGGGGGG (10) JJJJJJJJJJ ║
║( 2) BBBBBBBBBB ( 5) EEEEEEEEEE ( 8) HHHHHHHHHH (11) KKKKKKKKKK ║
║( 3) CCCCCCCCCC ( 6) FFFFFFFFFF ( 9) IIIIIIIIII ║
║ ║
║Enter number of category being replaced (0 to stop) ___ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Your categories will appear on the screen in alphabetical order. The number
preceding each category name is its code number. Type the code number of the
category being replaced and press <enter>. To stop at this point, press <0>,
then press <enter>.
If you enter zero, you will return to the Utility Menu. If you enter a
valid number, the screen becomes:
Page 52
Charge Account Management Program
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║Category Maintenance ║
║ ║
║( 1) AAAAAAAAAA ( 4) DDDDDDDDDD ( 7) GGGGGGGGGG (10) JJJJJJJJJJ ║
║( 2) BBBBBBBBBB ( 5) EEEEEEEEEE ( 8) HHHHHHHHHH (11) KKKKKKKKKK ║
║( 3) CCCCCCCCCC ( 6) FFFFFFFFFF ( 9) IIIIIIIIII ║
║ ║
║Enter number of category being replaced (0 to stop) X__ ║
║Replace it with what? __________ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Carefully type the new category name. This new name can be a completely new
category or any of the existing category names. When it is complete, press
<enter>. If you change your mind and decide not to change it at all, press
<enter> or enter a string of blanks. In this case, you will return to the
Utility Menu.
Once you enter the new name, the screen becomes:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║Replacing...one moment please... ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The program is now searching your data file to find every occurrence of the
category you chose. Each occurrence will be replaced with the new category
name.
When all transactions have been examined, the screen becomes:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║Complete... X transactions found and changed. ║
║ ║
║Press <M> to continue category maintenance. ║
║Press any other key to return to Utility Menu. ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The X above will be replaced with the actual number of transactions having the
old category.
To replace other categories, press <M> and the first screen of this
section will reappear. To return to the Utility Menu, press any other key.
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Charge Account Management Program
System Customization
This option allows you to customize the program to work the way you want
it to. Items which you may change include the colors the program uses for a
color monitor, allowing future dates to be entered, defining a fiscal year to
begin at a date other than January 1, and redefining the number of printable
lines per page. Default values for these are:
Regular video: White letters on Blue
Reverse video: White letters on Red
Future dates disallowed.
Printable lines per page: 55.
Fiscal year begins in January.
When this option is chosen, the screen appears like this:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Charge Account Management Program ║
║ Customization ║
║ ║
║ Regular Print Background Example ║
║ Letters ║
║ ║
║ Reverse Print Background Example ║
║ Letters ║
║ ║
║ Future Dates Disallowed ║
║ ║
║ Number of printed lines per page? ______55 ║
║ ║
║ First Month of Fiscal Year? ___January ║
║ ║
║ Satisfied? X ║
║ ║
║ Press space to see other options. Press <enter> to select one. ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The current assignments for the various print colors will appear on the
appropriate lines. The two "Examples" will demonstrate the color choices as
you rotate through them. When in the field for number of printed lines per
page, type the new number, then press <enter>.
Use the following keys to navigate this screen:
<space bar> - Rotates the next selection for the cursor's field into view. If
changing colors, the appropriate Example will change to reflect the effect
of this color change.
<enter> - "Selects" the currently displayed value. When <enter> is pressed
while the cursor is in the box following "Satisfied?", the changes
appearing on the screen are incorporated into the program. The Utility
Menu reappears displaying your new colors. The choices are also recorded
in the file CHCUSTOM.DAT so that they will be in effect the next time you
run the program.
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Charge Account Management Program
<tab> - For most of the fields, the <tab> key operates exactly as the <enter>
key does. It selects the current value for the cursor's field and moves
the cursor to the next field. However, if <tab> is pressed while the
cursor is in the "Satisfied?" field, the cursor moves to the first field
on the screen (Regular video background).
Q,q - Leaves the screen and makes any changes appearing on the screen
permanent.
<back tab> - Moves the cursor to the previous field.
<home> - Moves the cursor to the first field (Regular video background).
<end> - Moves the cursor to the last field on the screen (Satisfied?).
<down arrow> - Moves the cursor to the next field.
<up arrow> - Moves the cursor to the previous field.
When the values on the screen are the way you want them to be, move the
cursor to the box following the word "Satisfied?" and press <enter>. This
exits the screen, writes the new values to the file CHCUSTOM.DAT, and activates
any changes. When the Utility Menu reappears, it will be displayed in the new
colors. If the program detects a monochrome monitor in use in monochrome mode,
the colors are ignored.
Find by Contents
This option allows you to print or display all transactions having some
specified combination of characters in the detail line.
When this option is selected, the screen becomes:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Enter search string _____________________________________ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Enter the string of characters you wish to search for. Up to 40 characters may
be entered (this is also the maximum size for the field being searched). You
do not need to enter the full forty characters. In fact, you do not have to
enter any complete words. Whatever characters you enter are the ones it will
search for.
If you enter ter as your string, possible matches would include
" terminal", "computer", "water", and "sternwheeler". However, if you had
entered a blank before the ter , only " terminal" would have matched, from the
same list of possible fields. Be careful of case, as water and Water will not
match.
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Charge Account Management Program
Once you have entered your string, the screen adds:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║List on the screen (S) or print on the printer (P)? _ ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Press one of three letters (case makes no difference):
S - Display the report on the screen.
P - Display the report on the printer.
Q - Return to the Report Menu.
If you press <P>, you have one more task before the report begins. The
screen adds:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ List on the screen (S) or print on the printer (P)? P ║
║ Press <enter> when the printer is ready at the top of ║
║ a page. ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Verify your printer is on and positioned properly, then press any key except
<Q>. If you have no printer, or if you decide to stop here, press <Q> and you
will return to the Utility Menu. If you have no printer and you press anything
but <Q>, your system will die and you will have to reboot.
Your report now appears, either on screen or on paper, depending on the
option you chose. It appears like this:
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Transactions for string: School ║
║ For (system name) 04/24/89 ║
║ ║
║ Type Date Details Category Account Amount ║
║ Charge 04/22/88 Service Merchandise - aud AUDIO VISA 323.15 ║
║ Charge 05/12/88 Radio Shack - supplies fo AUDIO VISA 114.10 ║
║ . . . . . . ║
║ . . . . . . ║
║ Total Payments: 0.00 ║
║ Total Charges: 437.24 ║
║ Total Credits: 0.00 ║
║ Total Interest: 0.00 ║
║ Press any key to continue ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
This is the screen version. It will pause after displaying 16 transactions, to
continue once any key is pressed. The printed version starts a new page after
55 transactions have been printed.
Heading explanations:
Type - The transaction type (charge, payment, credit, a interest).
Date - The date of the transaction.
Details - The first 28 characters of the detail line for this transaction.
Category - The category for this transaction.
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Charge Account Management Program
Account - The account for this transaction.
Amount - The amount for this transaction.
If there are no transactions in the data file with the requested string of
characters, the phrase xxxxxxx not found will appear (where xxxxxxx is the
requested search string).
Sort Transactions
This option allows you to rearrange the order transactions are displayed.
Once sorted, the transactions cannot be placed back in their original order.
This sort is by the date entered on the transaction. Making a good backup copy
of the data before running this option is highly recommended.
When this option is selected, the screen becomes:
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ This routine sorts all your transactions by date. ║
║ ║
║ This will take some time to accomplish. Once begun, ║
║ DO NOT INTERRUPT!! ║
║ ║
║ Are you sure you want to do this? (Y or N) _ ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The larger your data file is, the longer this process will take. If your
transactions are very scrambled (by date), this will also slow down this
process. It took ten minutes to sort a 1000 record file with records almost in
order. Once you begin this process, let it run UNINTERRUPTED to its
conclusion. If you interrupt it, it is extremely likely that your data file
will be unusable.
If you decide to stop the process at this point, press any key other than
<Y> and the Utility Menu will reappear. If you decide to proceed, press <Y>.
The message "One moment please..." will appear. An additional period will
appear at the beginning of each pass through the data file. When the file has
been completely sorted, the Utility Menu will reappear.
Page 57
Charge Account Management Program
Cursor Key Movements
This page describes the use of cursor control keys for most of the program.
Key Action
Qq When pressed in numeric fields, this will return you to the previous
menu.
A-Z,a-z These are the regular alphabetic keys. Unless you are in a date or
amount field, these will print as you expect them to.
0-9 These are the numeric keys. They will print as you expect them to in
most circumstances.
Other printable characters. These behave as the letters above do. If it would
print on a typewriter, it will probably print on the screen.
Backspace (the arrow to the left of the NumLock key) This behaves as you
might expect it to. Most fields, it will delete the character to the
left of the cursor and move the rest over to fill in the hole. There
are exceptions. Most of the exceptions refuse to acknowledge the
key.
Tab Move the cursor forward to the next field. If the cursor is in the
box following Abort, <tab> will move the cursor to the first field on
the screen. That is, it will "wraparound".
Shift-Tab Also referred to as Reverse Tab. It moves the cursor back to the
previous field. If the cursor is in the first field on the screen,
this will move it to the last. To use this key, hold down the shift
key and press <tab>.
Enter For most fields, this operates as the <tab> key does. It signals
that you are finished with the current field and want to move on to
the next one. Pressing <enter> in either of the last two boxes on
the screen has a different meaning. If <enter> is pressed while the
cursor is in the box following Satisfied?, the transaction is
permanently added to the data file in the form on the screen. If
<enter> is pressed while the cursor is in the box following Abort?,
the transaction is ignored.
Home Moves the cursor to the first field on the screen.
End Moves the cursor to the last field on the screen. In this case, the
box following Abort?.
Up Arrow Move the cursor to the field directly above the current field.
Down Arrow Move the cursor to the field directly below the current field.
Left Arrow Move the cursor to the left one position, but don't leave the field
it is currently positioned in. If the cursor is at the beginning of
a field, the key is ignored.
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Charge Account Management Program
Right Arrow Move the cursor to the right one position, but don't leave the
field it is currently positioned in. If the cursor is at the end of
a field, the key is ignored.
Insert Key Toggles the insertion status on and off. If the insertion status
is on, the next character will be inserted at the cursor position,
moving the characters following it to the right to make room for the
new character. Pressing <insert> one more time turns this ability
off.
Del Key Deletes the character at the cursor position. For most fields, the
characters remaining to the right of the cursor will move left one
space to fill in the blank.
<F1> Display a Help screen related to what is going on at the moment.
None of the other function keys are used by this program.
Play Suggestions
I strongly urge you to take some time and play around with this program
before using it for your real charges. This will give you a feel for how it
works and a chance to decide if you really want to use it.
Start out by answering the initialization question as it appears on the
screen. From here, the only thing you can do is enter transactions (the other
functions will tell you they have nothing to work with). You have two courses
you can take here. One is to just sit down and make up the transactions as you
think of them, and the other is to pull some records from a year or so ago and
work with them.
Try entering each of the types of transactions - charges, payments, and
interest transactions.
Once you have some transactions entered (I'd recommend 20-30 to start out
with), explore the other options. Try displaying and printing some of the
reports. Printing the first report will give you a hard copy of what you have
entered. This will come in handy on the Correction and Deletion segments, when
you must supply the date of the transaction to find the correct one.
Change the name of the system. It's easy with the Name Change option
(Utility Menu).
Try changing the information on some of the transactions, using Correct.
Try deleting an individual transaction.
Try deleting the first half of what you entered. You'll need a date for
that.
Page 59
Charge Account Management Program
Try changing some category names using Category Maintenance (Utility
Menu).
Try looking up some transactions based on the content of the detail line
using the Find by Content option of the Utility Menu.
When you feel comfortable with the program, delete the data files and
start over using real data. To delete the data files:
Return to the DOS prompt (A>).
Place the disk with the data files in drive A.
Type del *.dat and press <enter>.
That's all there is to it. Enjoy the program.
Transfer Data to a Hard Disk
1) Use the DOS COPY command to copy CHCONT.DAT and CHARGE.DAT from the floppy
diskette to the correct subdirectory you have chosen for the hard disk.
2) Make this subdirectory the current directory on the default drive.
3) Run the program. Since the file CHCUSTOM.DAT was not transferred, it will
begin with the question "Is default drive (where data is) a floppy drive?
(Y or N)". Press <N> then <enter>.
4) The program continues normally.
5) If you had customized the program, select System Customization (on the
Utility Menu) to reset these values.
Note: Do not transfer CHCUSTOM.DAT. Let the program recreate it. This is
the only way the internal flag for hard disk usage is set.
Multiple Accounts
It is possible to use this program with more than one set of charge
accounts. There is more than one way this can be accomplished.
If you are keeping your data on floppy diskettes, then use a separate
diskette for each set of accounts.
If you are keeping your data on a hard disk, then keep each set of
accounts in a separate subdirectory. The program can reside in the same
Page 60
Charge Account Management Program
directory as each set of accounts (giving you multiple copies of the program on
your disk, which will waste space), or you can keep the program on a floppy
disk and run the program with the command A:CHECKS, or you can use the PATH
command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to specify the full path leading to the
subdirectory containing the program file.
Special Tips
1) Regular backups of the data files are strongly recommended. It is vital
that three data files are kept together. If the files are small enough to
fit on a single floppy, then use this command:
COPY B:*.DAT A:
(Assuming your current data files are on a diskette in drive B:.)
If the files are larger (and you are using a hard disk), use this command:
BACKUP C:*.DAT A:
You may have to adjust the PATH command so that DOS can find your copy of
the BACKUP command. Refer to your DOS manual for additional details.
If you ever need to restore your backed up files, be sure to restore all
three of them, not just one.
2) If it is necessary to split a transaction between two or more categories,
this is the method I have used. Enter the transaction once with the
amount to be credited to the first category as if that's all the
transaction was for. Then enter the transaction again with the amount to
be credited to the next category.
Changes from Previous Version
1) Once an account name has been entered for a transaction, it is carried
forward to the next transaction being entered within the same computer
session.
2) New transaction type - credit.
3) New report - List Credits.
Page 61
Charge Account Management Program
Glossary
This is a glossary of some of the words used in this document that may
need defining.
Backup Copying the data and program files to another disk that can be kept
in another location. Then, if anything happens to the first disk,
the second can be used with a minimum of data loss. I recommend
backing up the data files every time you finish with this program.
Cursor The blinking line on the screen that shows where the next character
typed will appear.
Data Files This is where the information you enter about transactions is kept.
This program uses two primary data files named CHCONT.DAT and
CHARGE.DAT. If either is deleted, your information is lost. Please
copy these files to a backup disk every time you exit the program.
This is for your protection. Disks are not meant for permanent
storage and can go bad. This program also uses a customization data
file (CHCUSTOM.DAT). See System Customization for more details on
this.
<F1> Function key F1. The function keys appear to the left of the typing
keys on the IBM PC keyboard. F1 is one on these (they are marked F1,
F2, etc.). In this program, pressing <F1> will display a Help
screen. The other function keys are not currently implemented.
Future Dates - A date is considered to be a future date if it is later than the
system date (the date your computer thinks today is). The system
date is the date you enter when you turn the computer on or the date
supplied by a clock/calendar board when the computer is turned on.
The program does not allow you to enter dates later than the system
date unless you have changed this through the System Customization
feature.
Menu A choice of options. Just as a restaurant will present you with a
menu of the items they have available to sell, this program will
present you with a menu of the functions it can perform. You make
your choice on these menus by either highlighting the one you want in
reverse video or pressing the letter in parentheses.
Reverse video Most of the screen presentations will involve normal video
(white letters on a blue background for color monitors, green letters
on a black background for green monochrome monitors, amber letters
for amber monochrome monitors). Menu choices and data to be filled
in will appear in reverse video, that is, black letters in a field of
either green or amber, for monochrome monitors, white letters in a
field of red, for color monitors. Systems with color monitors have
the added option of changing these colors.
Transaction For this program, a transaction is any item dealing with the
account. This includes charges, payments, interest and service
charges, cash advances, etc.
Page 62
Charge Account Management Program
Valid date A valid date is one that can really appear on a calendar. April 31
is not a valid date as April has only 30 days. February 29, 1985 is
not a valid date, as 1985 is not a leap year.
Messages
This section summarizes some of the messages you may receive when running
this program. If you need further assistance, please contact:
Marilyn Price
M. P. Data
113 Foxport Dr.
Kingsport, Tennessee 37664
(615) 349-7744
1) Date in the future.
Unless disabled through the System Customization routine, dates later than
the system date (the date you told the computer when you turned the power
on) are not allowed.
2) Dates out of order.
Several of the reports require a range of dates. The first date entered
must be earlier than the second. You will be given the opportunity to
correct the situation.
3) Error in file CHCONT.DAT.
Once you have begun to really use the program, this message should never
appear. It should only appear before you have entered any data. Its
appearance means that at some time, you began the program, but it was
unable to complete the initialization process. This message would appear
the next time you attempted to run the program. To correct it, delete the
file CHCONT.DAT and begin again.
4) Invalid Date.
The date you entered cannot be found on a standard calendar. April 31
would be an invalid date as April only has 30 days. February 29, 1987,
would be an invalid date as 1987 is not a leap year.
5) More than 50 categories. Some will be omitted.
The function you are accessing sorts the categories into alphabetical
order. There is an internal limit of 50 categories for this. If this
number is too small for your purposes, please contact M. P. Data to have
it increased.
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Charge Account Management Program
6) More than one found. Indicate which you want.
More than one transaction meets the criteria you requested. Indicate
which one on the list displayed is the one you want. Enter 1 for the
first on the list, 2 for the second, etc.
7) Not Found.
The transaction you were looking for was not found. Please recheck the
transaction date and try again. If this appears in a report, it means
that no transactions met the report criteria.
8) Nothing to report.
There are no transactions which match the report criteria.
9) Real indefinite.
You are attempting to run the program with the data on a hard disk after
telling it that the data would be on a floppy diskette. The program is
attempting to determine the remaining disk space. Unless your hard disk
is very full, this number is much too large for the program to handle. To
correct, follow the instructions on page 62 for transferring data from a
floppy diskette to a hard disk.
Page 64
