═══ 1. Introduction ═══ E-Teller is a bank and credit card account management utility. E-Teller is not free. Please see the Registration topic for information on registering E-Teller. ═══ 2. Installation ═══ This section explains how to install E-Teller 1.8. If you are a new or 1.7 user, please refer to New Users. If you are a 1.5 to 1.6 user, please refer to Converting Files to 1.7. If you have a version of E-Teller earlier than 1.5, you have one of two choices: 1. Delete your account files and start afresh. 2. Find a copy of version 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, or 1.7a and use the scripts contained in the et_cmd.zip file to convert your accounts. Be sure to follow the instructions in the read.me file to the letter if you choose this option. ═══ 2.1. New Users ═══ New and 1.7/1.7a users have the easiest task of installing E-Teller. Just run the install.cmd script and select Skip when prompted to convert account and fixed transaction files. Note: If you are a 1.7a user, you can skip this note. If you used the installation/conversion utility to convert your account and fixed transaction files to work under version 1.7, you may have to alter your et_fixed.dat file manually, since there was a bug in the conversion program. Basically, et_fixed.dat holds fixed date-of-month transactions at the top of the file and fixed weekday transactions after, something like this: [01] <- date of month d:\e-teller\savings.ldg <- ledger filename NATM <- number PWithdrawal <- particulars T-100.00 <- amount L <- category S{ <- begin multi-cat. Groceries $70 Personal $30 } <- end multi-cat. ^ <- trans. separator <- end date-of-month [Weekdays] <- weekday header Friday <- day of week d:\e-teller\savings.ldg <- ledger filename N100 <- number PJohn Doe <- particulars T-700.00 <- amount LRent <- category ^ <- trans. separator The problem with the conversion utility concerns the [Weekdays] section which begins the fixed weekday transactions. The conversion utility may have omitted this line from the et_fixed.dat file. To repair the file, simply open it with a text editor and add it before the first weekday transaction. If you haven't got any fixed weekday transaction defined in et_fixed.dat, then ignore these instructions. ═══ 2.2. Converting Files to 1.7 ═══ The installation/conversion utility converts your files automatically for you. The only thing you have to do is to tell the installation utility to Convert the account and fixed transaction files when the time comes. With luck, the conversion process will go smoothly. If you would like to look over the various files for your own peace of mind, see the New Users topic where the file format is listed - account .ldg and .clr files follow an identical format as et_fixed.dat beginning with the date line. As the conversion takes place, your old *.clr files are copied to *.cbk, *.ldg to *.lbk, and et_fix*.dat to et_fix*.bak. If the conversion went without any difficulty and the accounts are properly formatted, these files can be safely deleted. The best way to verify the format of the new files is to load them into E-Teller. Note: If you have a copy of E-Teller earlier than 1.5, you cannot use the installation utility to convert you account files. See the Installation introduction for more information. ═══ 3. Working with Accounts ═══ This section describes the operations specific to the Accounts window. ═══ 3.1. Creating a New Account ═══ Select the New item from the Accounts menu to create a new account. When creating a new account, you supply a minimum of four pieces of information from an available six: o Name o Number o Balance o Date o Type o Icon Name (required) is the name which appears in the Accounts window and in the Report Accounts notebook page. Number (optional) is an optional account number Balance (required) is used by E-Teller when you first reconcile your account. Before the account is first balanced, your starting Balance is, in fact, the Ending Balance. Date (required) is used by E-Teller in searching for transactions and in printing reports. Dates must adhere to the yy/mm/dd format which E-Teller uses in order to sort transactions. Type (required) is used by E-Teller to decide upon an appropriate action when crediting and debiting an account. There are only two types of accounts: o Bank o Credit Card Icon (optional) is an .ICO file of your choice which will act as a visual representation in E-Teller's accounts container. This .ICO file can reside anywhere on your hardrive. For simplicity's sake, an \Icon directory was created beneath E-Teller's if you used the installation utility. Note: The only limitation is the Fixed Transactions item in the accounts container. It uses the et_month.ico file (if it exists) and cannot be changed. ═══ 3.2. Opening an Existing Account ═══ To open an account, double-click on its icon in the Accounts window or select the icon and press . An opened account is denoted by the cross-hatch background. If you try to open an already opened account, you will be asked if you wish to refresh the account's ledger window. Selecting Refresh essentially rereads the transactions into the ledger. Note: In versions of E-Teller earlier than 1.6, users could drag the icon to the ledger container. Since, as of 1.6, each ledger has its own window, drag and drop is no longer supported. ═══ 3.3. Saving an Account ═══ Rarely is it necessary to save the account ledger data since many of the common activities, such as crediting and debiting accounts, are automatically written to file. There are two exceptions to this: o editing transactions o deleting transactions If you forget to save after any of these activities, E-Teller will notify you before the ledger window is closed or E-Teller shuts down. ═══ 3.4. Closing an Account ═══ It is seldom necessary to close an account manually. The exception is when you select either the New fiscal year... or Edit... items from the Accounts menu. Otherwise, all ledger windows will be closed when you quit E-Teller, but not before asking if you want to save the data if necessary. If you prefer to close the accounts manually, have only one ledger window opened, and that window has the focus, simply press F3 If the accounts window has the focus, then either right-click on the account icon and select Close or select the appropriate icon and click on the Close (Ctrl-F4) menu item in the Accounts menu. If more than one ledger window is opened and you want to close them all without quitting E-Teller, right-click on a blank area in the accounts window and select the Close or Close all menu items. Alternatively, select the Close all (Ctrl-Shift-F4) item if you haven't right-clicked on the window. In all cases, if a ledger needs to be saved, you'll be prompted before the ledger is closed. ═══ 3.5. Refreshing the Accounts Container ═══ Generally you shouldn't have to refresh the accounts in the accounts window unless you manually change an account's name or type in the *.clr file and you want the change to be reflected in the window, in which case you will click on the Refresh now item in the Accounts menu. If you edit an account through E-Teller, then the refresh will be called automatically for you. ═══ 3.6. Editing an Account ═══ To edit all but the starting balance of an account, click on the Edit... item from the Accounts menu. When you've done editing the account data, click OK and the changes will be saved to the account's *.clr file. If either the name or type of account is changed, then the change will be reflected in the account window. ═══ 3.7. Deleting an Account ═══ To delete an account from within E-Teller, right-click on the account's icon and select Delete from the popup menu. If you do not right-click on the icon, then the currently selected account will be deleted. In either case, you will first be prompted before the account files are actually deleted. ═══ 3.8. Setting Account Icons ═══ E-Teller uses external icon files for the various accounts. Two were supplied in the archive, namely bank.ico and ccard.ico. To have iconic (?) representations of your accounts, you must explicitly specify an icon (either one supplied or another of your own making/choice) by clicking on the Set icon... item in the Accounts menu of the accounts window or by selecting an icon when the account is first created . The *.ico file you select is saved to the account's .clr file in a section entitled [Icon]. Note: The Fixed Transactions icon cannot be changed. ═══ 3.9. Reconciling an Account ═══ Reconciling an account is simply balancing the ledger with a bank or credit card statement. To reconcile the account, either click on the toggle button or select Reconcile... from the Accounts pull-down menu (also available by right-clicking on the Accounts container). Note: The toggle button will assume a 'balanced' position during the reconciliation process and the Reconcile... menu item will have a check mark beside it. To end the reconcilation process, click on the toggle button or menu item a second time. To reconcile an account, proceed as follows: 1. click on the toggle button 2. enter the new balance 3. enter any interest payments/charges 4. enter any service charges 5. click OK 6. double-click on the ledger entries that are to be cleared 7. click on the scale button again 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: o Yes o No o Cancel o Ignore Yes instructs E-Teller to fill in the appropriate transaction entry fields where you may make any necessary changes for the balance adjustment entry. No instructs E-Teller to make no further attempt at reconciliation (in other words, your account will remain unbalanced). Cancel instructs E-Teller to return to the reconciliation process. Ignore instructs E-Teller to fake the balance, i.e. adjust the ending balance as though the account had actually been reconcile. ═══ 3.10. Starting a New Fiscal Year ═══ Click on the New fiscal year... item from the Accounts menu to begin a new fiscal year for a specific account. What essentially occurs when you select this option is that all of the cleared transactions in the *.clr file are deleted. If you are absolutely certain that this is what you want to do, then click on the Proceed button in the confirmation dialog box. If you change your mind while in the entry window, you can click Cancel to abort the operation. Once you click OK then the cleared transactions will be removed and the balance in the Balance entry field will become the new starting balance. Note: It is highly recommended that you not change the value of the Balance entry field, since this represents the ending balance of the last reconciliation process. ═══ 3.11. Auto-Opening Accounts ═══ Check the Auto open item in the Accounts menu if you want E-Teller to open the last closed account automatically when it starts up. If this feature is enabled, a checkmark will appear next to the Auto open menu item. The status of this feature is saved to e-teller.ini when you quit E-Teller. ═══ 3.12. Backing up Accounts ═══ If you would like E-Teller to back up all of the account and *.dat files before it shuts down, check the Backup on exit menu item in the Accounts menu. If this feature is enabled, a checkmark will appear next to the menu item and a dialog box will popup before E-Teller actually shuts down with three push buttons: A: backs up to drive A: B: backs up to drive B: Cancel skips the backup for this session The status of the checkmark is saved to e-teller.ini when you quit E-Teller ═══ 3.13. Printing Accounts ═══ For detailed information on printing a hard copy of your account(s) data, please see Creating Reports. ═══ 3.14. Quicken File Converter ═══ For instructions on converting Quicken (c) QIF files to E-Teller format, see the Converting Quicken Data section. ═══ 4. Working with Ledgers ═══ This section describes operations specific to the ledger window. ═══ 4.1. Field Order/Visibility ═══ By default, all ledger fields are visible and are displayed in the following order: Date Number Particulars Credit/Payment Debit/Charge Balance Memo Category Multi-Category Cleared To alter the field order/visibility of any field for a given ledger, select the Fields... item from the Ledger pull-down menu. A secondary window will appear which contains the available fields and their current status if they are currently hidden. To change the order of a the fields, click on the field name, press and hold the right mouse button, and drag the name to a different location within the list. To hide/unhide a field, double-click on its name. If you click on the Save button, the selection will be saved to the account's *.clr file. Clicking Set does not save the order to file, but it does hide/unhide the various fields. To return to the default, click the Default pushbutton. Note: In all cases, the field order is changed only when the ledger is opened again. The field visibility/invisibility is, however, immediately implemented. You can also hide/unhide the memo, category and multiple category fields on the fly, as it were, by clicking on the appropriate button along the top of the ledger. ═══ 4.2. Viewing Cleared Transactions ═══ By default, cleared transactions are not loaded into the ledger window when the account is initially opened in order to decrease the reading and formatting time. If, for whatever reason, you want to view and/or edit cleared transactions, either click on the toggle button or select the Cleared item from the Display menu in the ledger window. When you're done with viewing the cleared transactions and want to return to the default view, simply click on the toggle button or menu item a second time. The transactions in the ledger will be removed and the uncleared transactions read into the ledger again. Note: You cannot permanently enable the cleared display. Note: For obvious reasons, you cannot view cleared transactions in a fixed transaction ledger. ═══ 4.3. Viewing Memos ═══ If you would like to view or hide the memo field temporarily, either click on the toggle button or the Memos item in the Display menu in the ledger window. To set the visiblity of the memo field permanently, see the instructions contained in the Field Order/Visibility section. ═══ 4.4. Viewing Categories ═══ By default, the category field in the ledger is visible. If you would like to view or hide the category field, either click on the toggle button or click on the Categories item in the Display menu in the ledger window. To set the visiblity of the category field permanently, see the instructions contained in the Field Order/Visibility section. ═══ 4.5. Viewing Multiple Categories ═══ By default, the multiple category field in the ledger is visible. If you would like to view or hide the multiple category field, either click on the toggle button or click on the Multiple categories item in the Display menu in the ledger window. To set the visiblity of the multiple category field permanently, see the instructions contained in the Field Order/Visibility section. ═══ 4.6. Finding Transactions ═══ To search for a transaction or set of transactions, either click on the push button or the Find... item in the Display menu of the ledger window. For instructions on performing a search, see the Search Feature section. ═══ 4.7. Using an External Calculator ═══ To invoke an external calculator, click on the push button or the Calculator item in the Display menu in the ledger window. When you invoke an external calculator for the first time, E-Teller looks for the pmdcalc.exe program in the os2\apps subdirectory on the drive which contains your OS2.INI file. If it is unable to locate the program, you will be prompted to select a calculator program. Once a calculator has been found or selected, the path and anme of that program will be saved to e-teller.ini. ═══ 5. Working with Transactions ═══ This section describes operations specific to transactions. ═══ 5.1. Adding Transactions ═══ Crediting or debiting an account involves two procedures: 1. Entering the data in the transaction fields. 2. Appending the transaction to the ledger. Near the top of every ledger window is a series of entry fields, labeled: o Date o Number o Particulars o Credit/Payment o Debit/Charge o Memo o Category Once you are ready to append the new transaction, either press the Ctrl+Ins key combination, or click on the button. To abort the process (in other words, clear the transaction fields, etc.), press the Ctrl+Backspace key combination. Additional help is available for the following operations: o Adding Simultaneous Transactions o Income tax related transactions o Multiple categories For help on setting the default for various ledger options, select one of the following items: o Saving Particulars o Saving Memos o Save last date o Enter key tabs o Beep on transaction ═══ 5.1.1. Date ═══ Enter the date of the transaction in this field. The date you enter must adhere to the yy/mm/dd format (complete with forward slashes). If you mix the year and/or month and/or day, E-Teller will do its best to spot the error and inform you of the problem. If you substitute the forward slashes for any other character, E-Teller will notify you of the error. There are special keys which you can use while in the date field: PageUp scrolls the date forward one day at a time. PageDown scrolls the date backwards one day at a time. Ctrl+Home jumps to the current system date. ═══ 5.1.2. Number ═══ Enter an optional cheque number or character code, not exceeding five characters. Character strings are converted to upper-case, and those that exceed five characters are truncated. If the transaction is a cheque, the number will be written to e-teller.ini (provided it is not less than the one which e-teller.ini currently contains) and incremented by one the next time you write a cheque. Since numbers are limited to five digits, the maximum number permitted is 99999. Once you reach this number, E-Teller sets the next cheque number to 1. If the number field contains a code rather than a number, and if that code is not already in the number.dat file, it, along with the particulars data, will be added to the number.dat file. When the Number field first receives focus, E-Teller will fill a list box with the values contained in the number.dat file and display the listbox. The list contains four sections: [Credit] contains items relevant to a bank account credit. [Debit] contains items relevant to a bank account debit. [Payment] contains items relevant to a credit card account payment. [Charge] contains items relevant to a credit card account charge. If a next cheque number is found in e-teller.ini, the next cheque number in the sequence will be added to the [Debit] and [Payment] sections. To add/edit or delete items from the list, right-click on the list box. Selecting Add/Edit... from the popup menu invokes e.exe and loads number.dat. ═══ 5.1.3. Particulars ═══ Enter the optional description for the transaction in the Particulars field. This field is limited to 25 characters. Any string longer than the maximum will be truncated. If you wish to save the particulars, amount, and category data to the info.dat file for future use, click on the Save Particulars checkbox in the Transaction Options window that appears once you've appended the transaction to the ledger. If the data is saved to info.dat and you select the previously saved particulars from the container (see below), then the amount, category (if any), and memo (if any) data will be written to their appropriate fields. Note: Regardless of the user defined default setting, the checkbox is disabled and unchecked if the Particulars field is empty. For help on setting the default behaviour of the Save Particulars checkbox, see the Save Particulars topic. When the Particulars field first receives focus, E-Teller fills a container with the items contained in the info.dat file. The container is divided into four sections: Type contains the four sections described for the Number listbox in addition to one entitled [Accounts] if more than one account exists in the E-Teller directory. This section simplifies adding a transaction to two separate accounts simultaneously (see Adding Simultaneous Transactions). Particulars contains previously entered and saved particulars. Amount contains a previously entered and saved amount associated with the particulars. Memo contains a previously entered and saved memo associated with the particulars. Category contains a previously entered and saved category associated with the particulars. Double-clicking on any of these container items fills the appropriate fields with the values associated with the item. To add/edit or delete items, right-click on the container. ═══ 5.1.4. Amount ═══ Enter the amount of the transaction in the appropriate field. If the account is a bank account, the two fields will be labeled Credit and Debit respectively. If the account is a credit card account, these will be labeled Payment and Charge. You may add commas where appropriate if you like or let E-Teller add them for you before appending the transaction to the ledger. Do not enter a currency symbol. ═══ 5.1.5. Memo ═══ Enter an optional memo in the Memo field. By default, memos are not automatically saved along with the particulars, amount, and category data in the info.dat file. To save the memo along with the other items, click on the Save memos checkbox in the Transaction Options window which appears once you've appended the transaction. Note: The Save memos checkbox is enabled only if all of the following conditions are satisfied: 1. The Particulars field contains data. 2. The Save Particulars checkbox is checked. 3. The Memo field contains data. ═══ 5.1.6. Category ═══ Enter an optional category for the transaction in the Category field. If you would like to specify multiple categories for the new transaction, select the item from the list box and enter the relevant data in the Multiple Category window (see Multiple Categories section). Every new category you enter in the field is automatically saved to the category.dat file. Sub-categories are permitted. Thus, Computer: Hardware Computer: Software Computer: Training are all valid. E-Teller uses categories primarily in the report feature and can make use of such sub-categories in grouping categories based upon a common parent. This is accomplished by virtue of the fact that categories are first sorted alphabetically before being sent to the report. When this field first receives the focus, it fills a listbox with the items contained in the category.dat file and adds an extra item called . To select an item, double-click on it. If you double-click on the item, the Multiple-Category window will be invoked in which you associate more than one category for the transaction. To add or delete items from the list, right-click on the listbox. ═══ 5.1.7. Income Tax ═══ If the transaction is income tax related, check the Income tax category checkbox in the Transaction Options window which appears once you've appended the new transaction. The string will be appended to the category in the category.dat file and will appear in the Category field, as well, making it easy to a) detect an income tax related category and b) have the same category act as both an income tax related transaction and a regular transaction - useful, for example, if a "Charity" category is generally income tax related, but not in all cases. You can use the income tax related category to generate a report of transactions that must appear in your income tax return. Note: The checkbox is unchecked and disabled if the Category field is empty. ═══ 5.1.8. Multiple Categories ═══ Multiple categories are, essentially, different categories used for a single transactions. For example, if you withdraw $200 but would like a record of where various portions of that withdrawal has gone, you can select the item from the category list box and assign amounts to various categories, for example Groceries $30.00 Junk Food Groceries $100.00 Good Food Personal Expenses $50.00 Gifts $20.00 To enter multiple categories, click on the Multi... pushbutton which appears next to the category list box whenever the Category field receives focus. You can enter multiple categories in one of two ways: either by selecting a category from the list, checking the Tax related checkbox if necessary, entering an amount in the amount field, entering an optional memo, and clicking the Add button; or, by checking the Direct edit checkbox and entering the strings manually in the multi-line entry field. All multiple categories follow the basic structure: category [] $amount memo For example, Groceries $100.00 Charity $35.00 Local Charity Organization There are a few things you should be aware of if you enter the data manually: 1. The dollar sign ($) is mandatory. 2. A space between the category, optional string, amount, and memo is mandatory. 3. Negative symbols for amounts are not permitted. 4. It is up to you to ensure that your totals correspond to the base amount displayed above the multi-line entry field. Note: If multiple categories have been entered for a transaction, the Multi... pushbutton will appear with yellow text on a red background - useful when editing a transaction with the multiple category field hidden. Note: Multiple categories are not treated as individual transactions in the ledger, but they are in reports. Thus, the above Groceries and Charity example would appear as one transaction in the ledger but as four separate transactions in a report. ═══ 5.1.9. Save Particulars ═══ To set the default status of the Save Particulars checkbox in the Transaction Options window, click on the Save particulars item in the Transactions | Options menu. The status of this menu item is saved to e-teller.ini whenever it is clicked. ═══ 5.1.10. Save Memos ═══ To set the default state of the Save memo checkbox in the Transaction Options window, click on the Save memos item in the Transactions | Options menu. The status of this menu item is saved to e-teller.ini whenever it is clicked. ═══ 5.1.11. Save Last Date ═══ By default, E-Teller uses the system date for the first new transaction you enter and the latest date thereafter for every subsequent transaction during the current session. If you prefer that E-Teller use the latest date of the last session rather than the current system date, click on the Save last date item in the Transactions | Options menu of the ledger window. If checked, E-Teller will write the latest date of the current session to e-teller.ini and default to that date on the next invocation. ═══ 5.1.12. Enter Key Tabs ═══ The Enter key tabs item in the Transactions | Options menu in the ledger window is designed to alter the behaviour of the key when adding or editing transactions. If you habitually use the numeric keypad when entering transactions or would otherwise prefer to have emulate the key, click on the Enter key tabs menu item. If this item is checked, then pressing the keyboard or keypad will be equivalent to pressing The status of the item is saved to e-teller.ini whenever it is clicked. ═══ 5.1.13. Beep on Transaction ═══ If the Beep on transaction option in the Transactions | Options menu in the ledger window is set, then two tones will sound from the computer speaker whenever a transaction is added or edited. To disable the beep, uncheck the menu item. The default is checked. The status of the Beep on transaction menu is automatically saved to e-teller.ini whenever it is clicked. Note: The beep cannot be disabled in the non-registered version. ═══ 5.2. Adding Simultaneous Transactions ═══ To credit/debit two accounts simultaneously, enter the name of the account as it appears in the accounts window for which the transaction is to be appended in the particulars field of the transaction for the current account or select the account name from the Particulars container which drops down whenever the Particulars field receives focus. When E-Teller encounters a name of an existing account, it automatically adds the transaction to the named account, but the transaction is the opposite of what it is for the current account. For example, if you have two accounts, the first called Savings and the second Visa, and you were currently appending a payment transaction to Visa, you would enter in the Particulars field the string Savings. Thus, a payment would appear in your Visa account and a debit in your Savings account. If you then look at your Savings ledger, you will see that a transaction with particulars [Visa] appears at the end. ═══ 5.3. Editing Transactions ═══ To edit a transaction, either double-click on it, right-click on it and select Edit... from the Transactions menu, or scroll to the transaction and select press To confirm any changes made to the transaction, do as you would for appending a new transaction, i.e. either press the Ctrl+Ins key combination or click on the button. To abort the editing process (in other words, clear the transaction fields, etc.), press the Ctrl+Backspace key combination. You can also edit specific transaction fields by holding down that key and left-clicking on the appropriate field. The Balance and Clr fields cannot be edited in any way. Note: If you edit a cleared transaction, a dialog box will remind you that changing the amount may invalidate the ending balance for the account. ═══ 5.4. Deleting Transactions ═══ To delete a transaction from a ledger, either right-click on the transaction and select the Delete menu item in the popup menu, or scroll to the transaction and select the Delete item in the Transactions menu or press the Ctrl+D accelerator. Note: You cannot delete cleared transactions from within E-Teller. ═══ 5.5. Undeleting Transactions ═══ To undelete a recently deleted transaction or group of transactions, select the Undelete item from the Transactions menu and double-click on the deleted transactions displayed in the ledger. To terminate the undelete operation, click on the Undelete menu item again. You can undelete deleted transactions as long as the ledger is neither closed nor refreshed. closed nor refreshed. Note: The Undelete menu item remains disabled as long as the ledger does not contain any deleted transactions. Note: If you undelete all of the displayed transactions, E-Teller will automatically uncheck and disable the Undelete item. ═══ 5.6. Recalculate ═══ Generally it is not necessary to recalculate the balance column. Occasionally, however, and for reasons I haven't been able to discover, E-Teller does not always append a transaction to the end of the ledger as it should when there is a transaction dated later than the one being added. Although the balance is correct next to the newly created transaction, it, nevertheless, remains out of sequence. To force a recalculation, click on the Recalculate item in the Transactions menu. ═══ 5.7. Sorting/Reordering Transactions ═══ As of version 1.7, continuous sorting is no longer supported - it was causing too many unpredictable results when tabulating the running balance. In other words, clicking on the Sort item in the Transactions menu of the ledger window no longer toggles sorting for existing and future transactions. Instead, clicking on the Sort menu item sorts the displayed transactions, recalculates the balance based upon the new sort order, and then prompts you to save the sorted transactions to file. The order in which the transactions appear is the order in which they are saved and read into the ledger. You can also move transactions in a ledger by dragging them to a different location. Since automatic sorting is not an issue as of version 1.7, such transactions can be moved virtually anywhere within a ledger. Hint: For a move to be successful, ensure that a line appears in between two transactions (and not around one). ═══ 6. Working with Fixed Transactions ═══ This section describes operations specific to fixed transactions For help on creating fixed transactions, see the Creating Fixed Transactions topic. For help on editing fixed transactions, see the Editing Fixed Transactions topic. ═══ 6.1. Creating Fixed Transactions ═══ Creating fixed transactions is similar to creating regular transactions, except that they require one, possibly three, at most four extra steps. If you check the Fixed transaction checkbox in the Transaction Options window which appears after you've appended a new transaction, E-Teller will treat the new transaction as a fixed transaction and bring up the Fixed Transaction window after you click OK The fixed transaction window is where you specify whether the transaction is a Date-of-Month or Weekday one. If you check the Fixed date of the month checkbox in this window, then you need do nothing else. If you want E-Teller to prompt you for the next cheque number the next time ET_Month processes the et_fixed.dat file, then check the Prompt for Next Cheque checkbox. ═══ 6.1.1. Date-of-Month Transactions ═══ Date-of-month transactions occur on specific dates within a month. An example would be a rent cheque which is due on the first of the month. If the fixed transaction occurs on the same date of the month, such as the 1st, then click on the Fixed date of month checkbox in the Fixed Transaction window. Unchecking this checkbox creates a fixed weekday transaction. ═══ 6.1.2. Weekday Transactions ═══ Fixed Weekday transactions occur at specific intervals during a month. An example would be a pay cheque which is deposited into your account every second Friday. If this is the case, then uncheck the Fixed date of the month checkbox in the Fixed Transaction window. You must select a weekday upon which a transaction habitually takes place in addition to the frequency. The weekday automatically defaults to the current weekday reported by the system date, and the frequency defaults to Monthly. If either is incorrect, click on the appropriate radio button. There are four possible frequency settings: · Weekly · Biweekly · Triweekly · Monthly If, based upon the weekday and frequency settings, the transaction will reoccur more than once during the current month, then it will be added to both et_fixed.dat and et_fix.dat to be processed by ET_Month. In versions of E-Teller previous to 1.7, there was a potential problem in weekday transactions with a monthly frequency if there were five of a given weekday in a month. If such a transaction fell on the first of those 5 days, then a second transaction would be added to the ledger, which, of course, was incorrect. As of version 1.7, ET_Month ensures that only one such transaction is added to a ledger and verifies that the next transaction will, indeed, be added the following month when et_fix.dat is regenerated as opposed to the fifth weekday of the previous month. If it is not, then the number which ET_Month uses to calculate the transaction dates will be incremented by seven. ═══ 6.1.3. Prompt for Next Cheque ═══ This checkbox in the fixed transaction window instructs ET_Month to prompt you for the next cheque when it recreates et_fix.dat at the start of each new month or when it regenerates et_fix.dat after you've edited a fixed transaction. This is useful for post-dated rent cheques, for example. If ET_Month finds the string prompt next to a cheque number, then it will bring up a prompt dialog box in which will be displayed the payee and last cheque number. After you enter then next cheque in the series and click OK, the transaction will be added to the et_fix.dat file to be processed later and the cheque number in et_fixed.dat will be updated with the number just entered into the prompt box. ═══ 6.2. Opening Fixed Transaction Ledgers ═══ If either or both et_fix.dat and et_fixed.dat exist in E-Teller's directory when you first start E-Teller, then an extra account will be added to the accounts window, named Fixed Transactions. To open a fixed transaction ledger for editing purposes, double click on its icon as you would for any other account. Unlike regular accounts, editing fixed transactions is performed in a notebook, containing two pages, Daily File and Fixed File. For help on editing fixed transactions, see the Editing Fixed Transactions topic. ═══ 6.3. Editing Fixed Transactions ═══ The Fixed Transaction notebook contains two pages, Daily File and Fixed File The first contains the data found in the et_fix.dat file; the latter data in the et_fixed.dat file. In both cases, editing is done in much the same way as you would edit any text file. Each page has its separate Save push button. Clicking on that button saves the contents of the multi-line entry field to the appropriate file. Note: It is your responsibility to ensure that the format and data are correct since E-Teller does not verify that what you have entered is acceptable. For additional help on file formats, select one of the topics below: o Daily File Format o Fixed File Format At the bottom of the Fixed File page is a button labelled Regenerate. This button is enabled only when you've made changes to the file and clicked the Save button. Regenerate invokes et_month.exe and recreates the et_fix.dat file based upon the information contained in the newly saved et_fixed.dat file. It is necessary to regenerate only if you have made changes that would affect the automatic transaction inclusion for the remainder of the month, such as moving the date of a fixed weekday transaction back in order to have one such transaction automatically added to your account file. Note: It is recommended that, after you click the Regenerate button, you return to the Daily File page and click on the Refresh button to omit any transactions that should not be automatically added to your account file next time et_month.exe is invoked. ═══ 6.3.1. Daily File Format ═══ A typical entry for the Daily File page is: [01] d:\e-teller\savings.ldg NDEP PPay Deposit T1,000.00 LPay Income ^ All but the first two lines are identical to those found in regular account files. The first line represents the date of the month on which the transaction is to be added to the account file found on the second line. Thus, if the first line contains [01], then the transaction between the filename line, in this case d:\e-teller\savings.ldg and the transaction separator (^) would be added to the savings.ldg file. Note: You must ensure that the data in the Daily File is accurate, since E-Teller makes no attempt to verify its accuracy. ═══ 6.3.2. Fixed File Format ═══ There are two sections to most et_fixed.dat files depending on the options which were selected when the fixed transaction was first created. The first section is identical to that outlined in the Daily File Format with the exception that at the end of this first section, the string appears on a line by itself, for example [01] d:\e-teller\savings.ldg NDEP PPay Deposit T1,000.00 LPay Income ^ The second section begins with a line containing the string [Weekdays]. There are three exceptions to such fixed entries as opposed to those which appear in the first section: 1. Rather than a date of the month, the first line contains a day of the week. 2. The last line of every transaction contains a four-character code which must begin with either a W, B, T, or M, representing a Weekly, Biweekly, Triweekly, or Monthly transaction respectively. Following this one letter is an equals sign (=) and a two-digit date which represents the date upon which et_month.exe should begin calculating when it regenerates the et_fix.dat file at the beginning of the next month. In other words, the number must fall upon the day of the week for which the transaction is supposed to occur. It is pointless, for example, to assign a date of 14 to a monthly Friday transaction whose starting date should be 12. If you were to assign a starting date of 14, then the calculation for the next month would be incorrect, and the transaction would, in all likelihood, not fall on a Friday. 3. The section is not terminated by an string. A typical weekday section, then, may look like: [Weekdays] Friday d:\e-teller\savings.ldg NDEP PPay Deposit T1,000.00 LPay Income B=08 ^ Wednesday d:\e-teller\savings.ldg NWIT PMortgage Payment T-750.00 M=06 ^ ═══ 6.4. Using ET_Month ═══ ET_Month generally works independently and in the background. The exception to this is if it encounters a transaction for which you've requested to be prompted for the next cheque number. For ET_Month to be effective, it should reside in your E-Teller directory, and a shadow should be placed in your startup folder. If a shadow of ET_Month is located in your startup folder, then it will look in the et_fix.dat file for any transactions that require processing depending on the system date. If you haven't booted OS/2 in a few days, don't worry, because ET_Month processes all the transactions it finds with a date earlier or equal to the system date. As transactions are processed, they are removed from the et_fix.dat file so that they don't get processed more than once a month. At the beginning of the month, ET_Month looks in the et_fix.dat file for any unprocessed transactions. If it finds any, it processes them. It then regenerates et_fix.dat based upon the information contained in et_fixed.dat, first running through the date-of-month transactions and then the weekday ones. If you failed to boot OS/2 on the first of the month, don't worry, because ET_Month ensures that the date for both the et_fix.dat and et_fixed.dat files reflect the month reported by the system date. ═══ 7. Creating Reports ═══ E-Teller provides a fairly powerful report feature called E-Teller Report. This section explains how to use the report feature. Note: E-Teller Report uses an external text editor/printer for editing and printing the report. To define an editor, click on the Select editor... item from the Options menu. The editor you select is saved to the e-teller.ini file. If, at startup, E-Teller Report is unable to locate such an entry in the .ini file, the editor file dialog box will be automatically invoked. ═══ 7.1. Report Options Notebook ═══ The Report Options notebook is where you define the various aspects of a report, from the layout to category restrictions. There are four pages to the Report Options notebook: 1. Layouts 2. Accounts 3. Details 4. Search When defining report options, you must choose options in at least 3 of the 4 pages, namely Layouts, Accounts, and Details. When you have defined the report to your satisfaction, click on the Create report (Ctrl+C) item in the Options menu. The status text at the top of the window (beneath the menu) will keep you informed of what's being done. ═══ 7.1.1. Layouts ═══ The Layouts notebook page is where you select the layout you would like to use. Currently E-Teller Report supports two layouts, Transaction Ledger and Sorted Category. To select a layout, simply click on the desired name within the listbox, after which its name will appear in the notebook's status area. You may also wish to change the default Title for the report, and to exclude the printing of the account name and date/time in the title at this time. ═══ 7.1.2. Accounts ═══ The Accounts notebook page is where you select one or more accounts to be used in creating the report(s). You may also choose to exclude one of the two account files from the report at this time, either the cleared or uncleared transaction file. Obviously, at least one file must be selected to create a report. ═══ 7.1.3. Details ═══ The Details notebook page is essentially the primary formatting page, in which you select what information E-Teller Report should include in the report. Depending on the type of layout you have selected, the Include listbox will contain slightly different items. Select the items you want included in your report. Any item not selected will be excluded. In other words, if you aren't particularly interested in keeping a record of the Memo for all the transactions in the ledger, ensure that the item is not selected. If you have selected the Transaction Ledger layout, then the listbox will contain 6 items: o Date o Number o Particulars o Amount o Memo o Category Note: A MultiCategory item is not included because E-Teller Report treats multiple categories as individual transactions. In other words, whereas in the ledger you might have the following entry: Particulars Debit Category ----------- ----- -------- Junk Food 10.00 Questionable Food in a report, the above would look like: Particulars Debit Category ----------- ----- -------- Junk Food 3.00 Jelly Beans Junk Food 5.00 Chocolate Junk Food 2.00 Gum If you have selected the Sorted Category layout, then the listbox will contain 9 items: o Date o Number o Particulars o Inflows o Total Inflows o Outflows o Total Outflows o Balance o Memo Note: You will notice that there is no Category item in the list box. This is because a category report is governed by the an alphabetical list of categories rather than a sequential list of transactions. Note: Total Inflows prints a total of all of the Inflows per category, and Total Outflows prints a total of all of the Outflows You may also change the date range of the transactions which will be included in the report. There are three options: All transactions places no date restriction Current calendar year excludes all transactions which fall outside of the current calendar year Month range excludes all transactions which do not fall within the months you specify in the two spin buttons, the first being from, the second to. If you do not want column headings in the report, uncheck the Print column headings checkbox. Otherwise, column headings matching the names in the Include listbox are printed at the top of the report, beneath the title. ═══ 7.1.4. Search ═══ The Search notebook page permits you to specify exactly which transactions should be included in the report. For help in defining search criteria, see the Search Feature topic. ═══ 8. Search Feature ═══ This section describes how to define or build search criteria for both ledgers and reports. ═══ 8.1. Search Window ═══ Whatever appears in the Criteria multi-line entry field is what will be used to search for transactions in both the ledger and in reports. All search criteria comprise, basically, three elements: 1. Field 2. Operator 3. Value Field Specifies the field in which value is to be applied. Operator Is the operator to use when comparing value to field ? indicates that field contains value ! indicates that field does not contain value = indicates that field is equal to value > indicates that field is greater than value < indicates that field is less than value <> indicates that field does not equal value Value Is the value for which E-Teller should search. You can build complex searches using the AND and OR buttons. For example, CATEGORY ? "RENT" & CATEGORY ! "RENTAL" will find all transactions with a category which contains the string rent but exclude those which contain the string rental. Similarly, CATEGORY = "RENT" | CATEGORY ? "RENTAL" & CATEGORY ! "CAR" will include all transactions which equal the string rent or contain the string rental, but exclude those which contain car, such as Car Rental. If you are searching for a category but are unable to remember which category, click on the Categories... button to invoke a list of currently defined categories. Double-click on the one you are looking for to insert it into the Criteria multi-line entry field. For objects specific to the search window in ledgers and reports, see Ledger Searches or Report Searches. Note: In all cases, searches are case insensitive. ═══ 8.1.1. Ledger Searches ═══ There are two buttons which are distinct to a ledger search 1. Search 2. Undo Search First verifies the syntax of the Criteria multi-line entry field. If the syntax is correct, it will perform the search. Undo Undoes the search result. ═══ 8.1.2. Report Searches ═══ The Search notebook page in E-Teller Report contains a Syntax pushbutton. You must click on this button in order to verify the syntax and to confirm the search. Failing to do so essentially ignores the value contained in the Criteria multi-line entry field. ═══ 9. Converting Quicken Data ═══ This section describes how to convert Quicken (c) data to E-Teller format, using the q2et.exe conversion utility. Note: As of version 1.7 of E-Teller, account files follow a similar format to Quicken QIF files (but not identical). As a result, converting QIF files is significantly more reliable. ═══ 9.1. Creating a Quicken QIF File ═══ To convert a Quicken (c) data file into QIF format, follow these steps: 1. Start Quicken. 2. Open the account register you want to convert. 3. Select Export from the Print menu. 4. Enter a filename for the exported data. 5. In the Export window, ensure that ONLY "Export Transactions" is set to YES. All other options must be set to NO. 6. Ensure that the date range encompases all of the account transactions. 7. Select Continue. ═══ 9.2. Converting a Quicken QIF File ═══ Converting a Quicken (c) QIF file to E-Teller format is a completely automated process, unless a syntax error is detected. To convert the QIF file, follow these steps: 1. Select File | Import Quicken File... (Ctrl-I). 2. Select the newly created export QIF file. 3. Once the data has been read, Q2ET will automatically verify the syntax. If an error is detected, Q2ET will start epm.exe and display the line number beneath the 'Message' text where the error has occurred along with some kind of indication of what the error is. Use the line number in the status display in EPM to find the line and correct the error. Once corrected, save and close the file and select the Verify syntax item in the File menu. 4. Once the syntax has been verified and the q.tmp file found to be error free, Q2ET will automatically display the New Account window. Enter the relevant data which is not supplied in the QIF file, e.g. account number, and/or make any appropriate changes. 5. Click OK. Note: It is strongly recommended that you not alter the starting balance for the newly created account file. The amount displayed is, in fact, a total of all the cleared transactions which were found in the QIF file and which will be saved to the account's .clr file. ═══ 9.3. QIF File Format ═══ Quicken (c) QIF files generally follow these conventions: !Type:Bank D12/ 1/94 T1,000.00 CX POpening Balance L[chequing] ^ D 1/ 1/94 N123 T-700.00 CX PJohn Doe MFirst and Last LRent ^ D 1/ 2/94 T-130.00 PWithdrawal LGroceries SGroceries EJunk Food $-10.00 SGroceries EGood Food $-90.00 SPersonal $-30.00 .... !Type can be "Bank", "CCard", or any other type of account. E-Teller uses only two types, "Bank" and "CreditCard". Q2ET will attempt to identy the account type. If it is unsuccessful, it will inform you and default to type "Bank". D is the prefix identifying the date T is the prefix identifying the total C is the prefix identifying a cleared transaction. If the transaction has not been cleared, this line does not appear. N is the prefix identifying the cheque or code number. If the transaction has no number, this line does not appear. P is the prefix identifying the particulars. If the transaction has no particulars, this line does not appear. M is the prefix identifying the memo. If the transaction has no memo, this line does not appear. L is the prefix identifying the category. If the transaction has no category, this line does not appear. Q2ET takes the value of the first transaction as the account name. S is the prefix identifying a split category. If the transaction has no split category, this, the optional memo, and the amount lines do not appear. E is the prefix identifying the memo of a split category. $ is the prefix identifying the amount of a split category. ^ is the transaction separator. ═══ 10. Keys help ═══ Accounts Window Menu Ctrl+N Create a new account Ctrl+F4 Close the selected ledger. Ctrl+Shift+F4 Close all the opened ledgers. Ctrl+P Invoke E-Teller Report. Ledger Window Menu Ctrl+R Reconcile the account/ledger. Ctrl+S Save the ledger. F3 Close the current ledger. Alt+F4 Close all ledgers and exit E-Teller. Ctrl+F Find (search) transaction(s). Ctrl+C Invoke calculator. Ctrl+Ins Append a new transaction or confirm edit. Ctrl+D Delete selected transaction. Transaction Fields Esc Hides the list boxes or particulars container when adding a transaction and while in the Number, Particulars, or Category transaction field. Ctrl+Backspace Aborts a new transaction or editing process (clears transaction fields and hides the list boxes and particulars container). ═══ 11. Setting Digits ═══ By default, Rexx starts using exponents after 9 digits. If you're exceptionally wealthy or if, for whatever reason, you require higher numbers than 999,999,999.99, then you can pass a parameter to e-teller.exe, q2et.exe, and etreport.exe which instructs these programs to change the limit at which Rexx begins using exponents. Thus, passing a parameter 12 would raise the 999,999,999.99 limit mentioned above to 999,999,999,999.99. If no parameter is passed to any of these programs, then each will use the default. If you require larger numbers, open the Settings notebook for the appropriate application and enter the desired number in the Parameters entry field. ═══ 12. Setting Container Colours ═══ In versions earlier than 1.6 of E-Teller, it was possible to set the foreground colour of the accounts and ledger containers by using a secondary window. In amending E-Teller for 1.6, I tried to make it as compact as it could possibly be. As a result certain frills had to be trimmed or excised. I'm afraid the Set Colours window was one of those frills. In other words, only the background colour of the accounts and ledger containers can be changed. To do so, drag a colour from the System Color Palette to the container. The selection for the accounts window is saved automatically when you close E-Teller. This is not the case with the ledger window for various reasons. To save the new colour setting in the ledger window, you must explicitly instruct E-Teller to save the setting to e-teller.ini by clicking on the Save settings item in the Display menu, which also saves the current container font selection. ═══ 13. Setting Container Fonts. ═══ To change the font of the accounts container, drag a font selection from the System Font Palette to the container. The new font selection is saved automatically when you exit E-Teller. Because the ledger container is in detail view, it is unable to recognize a font selection dragged on to it. As a result, a work around has been implemented. To change the font, first click on the Set ledger font item in the Display menu. Above the progress bar will appear the text, Drag font here. Click 'Set ledger font'. Drag the font selection to this area of the window and click on Set ledger font a second time. You will then be asked if you want to save the font selection. Selecting Save saves both the font and the background colour. Cancel abandons the selection. ═══ 14. .DAT Files ═══ No more than five .dat files reside in E-Teller's directory at any one time. Two are reserved for et_month's exclusive use, et_fix.dat and et_fixed.dat, whereas the other three are used by E-Teller when crediting and debiting accounts, and one of those three is used by E-Teller Report. These are: o number.dat Both number.dat and info.dat have four sections: [Credit] [Debit] [Payment] [Charge] [Credit] contains items for bank account credits. [Debit] contains items for bank account debits. [Payment] contains items for credit card account payments. [Charge] contains items for credit card account charges. Note: These section headings are case sensitive. Category.dat contains, simply, a list of all the categories you have defined while creating transactions. ═══ 14.1. Deleting .DAT Items ═══ To delete items from number.dat, info.dat, and category.dat from within E-Teller, right-click on the appropriate list box or container within the ledger window and select Delete from the popup menu. To add or edit the file, proceed as above but select the Add/Edit... item instead. ═══ 15. Registration ═══ This product is released as Shareware. Your 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 a one-time registration fee of $25 US ($30 CAN) to: Paul H. Caron c/o Mr. J-P Caron A10-420 Westmount Avenue Sudbury, Ontario P3A 5V4 CANADA Please print the supplied registration form and send it along with your cheque or money order. Previously, upgrades to major releases of E-Teller required additional payments. As of version 1.7, this is no longer the case. Your registration fee is a one-time payment which covers all subsequent releases of E-Teller. Current registered users are not required to make any further payments. As a result of this change, the registration cost for E-Teller has risen by $5, which is still reasonable, I think. You are encouraged to distribute E-Teller as long as you maintain the integrity of the original archive and do not distribute any of the programs contained therein separately as individual applications. You may omit VROBJ.DLL on condition that you provide clear instructions as to where a potential downloader may find the latest version of the DLL, and that you make it clear that the DLL is required. Your are not permitted to charge a fee for the use of E-Teller. You are permitted to charge a small fee to cover distribution and/or media costs, as long as that fee does not exceed $5 US. ═══ 15.1. How Do I Register? ═══ To register E-Teller, fill out the attached registration form and send it along with your cheque or money order to the address appearing on the form. Once I've received your payment, I will e-mail or snail-mail your registration number to you, after which you will select the Product information item from the Help menu in the accounts window, click on the Register button, and enter the registration number provided into the entry field. Note: The registration number is written to e-teller.ini, so please keep a hard copy of the number. I will not provide replacement numbers. ═══ 15.2. Registration Form ═══ E-Teller v.1.8 Thank you for registering E-Teller. Your registration entitles you free upgrades to all future releases of E-Teller. Please take a minute to fill out the form below, and send it along with your registration fee (cheque or money order only, please) to: Paul H. Caron c/o Mr. J-P Caron A10-420 Westmount Ave. Sudbury, Ontario P3A 5V4 CANADA Name ____________________________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ______________________________ Prov./State _________________ Postal/Zip Code _______________________ Country _________________ E-Mail Address __________________________________________________ _______ Version Number _______ Number of copies _______ @ $25 US ($30 Canadian) _______ Enclosed payment If you have any comments or suggestions, please jot them below: ═══ ═══ Fixed transactions are those that remain constant from month to month or at a pre-defined period within a month, such as rent cheques, mortgage payments, or pay cheques that are automatically deposited into your bank account. There are two different types of fixed transactions: o Date-of-Month o Weekday ═══ ═══ Layouts are the way in which reports are written to file. Currently, E-Teller Report supports two layouts, Transaction Ledger and Sorted Category. ═══ ═══ Category restrictions limit or restrict the transactions that are written to file. In other words, any transaction which does not contain a category which you select from the restriction list is omitted from the report. ═══ ═══ The Transaction Ledger layout is similar to E-Teller's ledger in which each transaction is printed sequentially. What is printed depends on the various selections you make in the other Report Options notebook pages. Its purpose is primarily for a hard copy of your account(s) ledger(s). ═══ ═══ The Sorted Category layout is slightly different from the Transaction Ledger in that categories govern the final printed report rather than the sequential order of the transactions within the various files. It is useful primarily for budget and income tax purposes since transactions which share a category are grouped together. Categories are first sorted alphabetically. ═══ ═══ The cleared transaction file, which always has a .clr extension, contains, in addition to account-specific information, all of the transactions which have been previously cleared through the reconciliation process. ═══ ═══ The uncleared transaction file, which always has a .ldg extension, contains all of the transactions which have not been reconciled.