CheckWriter (c)1987 by Howard R. Cohen DESCRIPTION *********** CheckWriter is a shareware product. It is a ProDos* program that will print your checks and maintain a database of your transactions. There is a capacity for 500 transactions. The program will permit sorting by month, cleared or uncleared transactions, payee, category, or deposit. It allows production of a recurring transaction with a few key strokes. Reports can be seen on the screen or printed. Checkbooks are reconciled by the program. The payee's address is printed on the check and the check is mailed in a windowed envelope. Warnings are given for due or overdue bills. All categories are composed by the user and can be budgeted so outlays can be compared to deposited amount. Memos and/or Account numbers can be entered. The time and date are read automatically and entered by an AE Timemaster clock (?others). There are two separate versions. CW.128 is for a 128K Apple //e, //c, or Laser. CW.RAM is for a minimum 256K ram disk. Either version can be booted from any slot or copied to a hard disk. The ram version loads completely into ram and then runs without disk access. This program was written because I could not find one I liked in commercial software. This program has no icons, no mice, no graphics, and no double entry accounting. It only prints checks and keeps a database of them as simply and easily as possible. It is designed to use as few key strokes as possible and to be changed at the whim of the user because it is written in basic. With a ram disk and an accelerator, its response is almost instantaneous. I hope you like it. It has thus far entailed nearly a year's work. If you decide to use this program, a fee of $20 should be sent to: Howard R. Cohen 295 Tanglewood Drive E. Greenwich, RI 02818 The program has been extensively tested and used on an Apple //e with RamWorks, and on a Laser 128. If any problems are encountered please communicate with Howard R. Cohen at the above address or on Compuserve- 76246,572 or on Genie- H.R. Cohen (no spaces). The main working program is "CW". It will automatically read an Applied Engineering Timemaster clock and enter the date and display the time. Other clocks may be tried. Line 1000 finds the Timemaster clock. Date code for another clock can be entered at line 2000 and time code at line 2200. If you have no clock, you will be asked to enter the date manually. CAUTION ******* I have used this program for eight months with careful checking of its calculations. Errors which cropped up have been corrected. At this stage of development, there are no errors that I know of. However, I am not a professional programmer and inevitably, some errors will be found; but to the best of my knowledge at this time, all calculations are accurately performed by the program. Because of the serious consequences of financial miscalculation, careful checking is suggested as I can make no warranty regarding the accuracy or fitness of this program. DOWNLOADING & SETUP ******************* Download either the ram or 128k version as you prefer. For the ram version you will need to download two parts, CWRAM1.BQY and CWRAM2.BQY. For the 128k version you will need two parts, CW1281.BQY and CW1282.BQY. There are two ways to decode these files. The easiest way is to extract with Binary II Library Utility (BLU) by Floyd Zink, Jr. Alternatively, you may use Gary Little's BINARY.DOWN (BI2DWN). This will leave compressed files which can be identified by their .QQ suffix. These can then be unsqueezed with Don Elton's USQ2. After you have the decoded files, format two separate disks. One will be for the program and should be named /CW.128 or /CW.RAM as appropriate. The other is for data and should be named /CWD. ProDos* and Basic.System* files may be copied to the program disk to produce an autostart disk. Then copy the following decoded files to the designated disk: Program Disk Data Disk ------------ --------- Startup Recur.Trans Ram.Drive (CKWRam only) Ongoing.Data Basic.Copy Main.Data Basic.Copy.2 (CKWRam only) Cat.Data Data.Saver (CKWRam only) Recon.Bal.Data Data.Loc RT.Code.Data CW RPT CAT LP BAL CALC BUD Save a copy of the bare data disk for use next year or for a new account. Either disk can be renamed or run from a hard disk. Do not write protect either disk. STARTING ******** On initial startup, enter the current balance in your checkbook as a deposit in the first transaction. Then goto ew data in Main Menu. Enter the number of the next check you will write. Reconciliation Balance will take care of itself as described in alance. When booted, the Main Menu will appear. Most choices are obvious. There are two other key menus. They are the Reports menu and the Entry menu. Transportation is provided between them by a single key press. Main Menu: ========== Balance the books- Press "R" for those transactions returned by the bank. If you made beginning balance your first transaction you do not need to enter ew data to change reconciled balance. This will take care of itself automatically after all transactions encompassing beginning balance have cleared. An will take you to the next page. Recurring Transactions- Use three letters to identify the transaction. The code is case specific. I suggest the use of lower case here (i.e. pro or pgc for Providence Gas Co.). At due date, enter the next time transaction is due (i.e. 07-04-76). You may wish to retard the due date by a week if you want advance warning. For irregularly recurring transactions, press at due date and "irregular" will be entered. At frequency, enter the number of months between payments (i.e. 1 for monthly, 2 for every other month, 3 for quarterly, or 6 for semi-annually). When a recurring transaction has not been paid, you will be notified on boot-up or you can check through at Main Menu. Irregular transactions will obviously not be flagged for overdue. If a recurring transaction is a deposit, enter an asterisk (*) at Act#. To erase a Recurring Transaction, use Edit, then enter "\\\" for the code. Entries to CheckWriter- See Entry Menu below. Categories- Enter all your categories. Maximum 40. Maximum number of spaces 8. The program will pick up a category after a match is made (as in entry area). If entries are sufficiently different, it will be necessary to enter only one or two letters in the entry section. I suggest using lower case only. If removing a category, it must be merged into a new or existing category so the program knows what to do with the data. This will take a few minutes. A void category is present on your bare data disk. On board calculator. Maximum 20 entries per calculation. Load new data- This is for working on a second set of data without rebooting or for redoing a session without a reboot. Any unsaved data will be lost. You will be asked for your new path. New data- Can be entered here when beginning the program or starting a new year. This will allow the entry of certain ongoing data. Your current check # may be entered here. The check # you enter will be displayed automatically in the entry area. This will then sequence from this starting point. I suggest that you enter your beginning balance as the first entry into the program rather than entering it here. Current balance may be changed here but is not necessary if beginning balance is entered as suggested above. It should be necessary to enter this area only when using the program for the first time or at the start of a new year. Overdue- This option will check for overdue transactions. If there are any, they will appear in inverse on this list. Also, if there are overdue transactions, you will be notified on boot up.

Print Checks- Mark the checks to be printed with a "P". Use for next field. You cannot print a deposit or print a check recorded in a previous session. Only current transactions can be printed. Reports- See Report Menu blow. Save- Data must be saved or any entries will be lost. If you use the Ram version, you have a choice of pathways. If you use a hard disk, will save to it and can be used for a floppy backup. Budgets- Any category can be budgeted and the expenses compared to the budget. ntry Menu ============ Recurring Transactions- Recurring transactions are composed at in the Main Menu and stored for permanent use. They are then brought up here for data entry where they produce a full transaction without any further input. A three letter code must be used for each transaction (i.e. pgc- Providece Gas Co.). A is not necessary. The input is case (upper or lower specific. (I suggest use of lower case here). Press to see a list of your recurring transactions. After a recurring transaction has been brought up, it may be edited with a . Only the amount or memo can be changed (for those transactions where the amount changes each month). Pressing at memo will retain the memo already present, if any. To make an entry: date- will enter today's date. Any other date can be entered but must be in the format demonstrated (07-04-76). ck#- Any number may be entered but will enter the next check in sequence. Use ew data from Main Menu to initially start the sequence with the number you desire. Enter an asterisk (*) at check # for a deposit. amt- Any amount may be entered. No commas. It is not necessary to enter zeros for an amount with no cents. pay to- Maximum 35 spaces. 25 spaces will be recorded in saved data. Address lines, as you wish. cat- After you have entered your own categories from the Main Menu, you need only enter a few letters till the program isolates your category and enters it for you. Again, I suggest lower case only. If your categories do not use similar letters you will do less typing. Alternatively, up or down arrows will pass through the category selections. will then choose one. Categories are not printed on checks. act#- Account number or anything else you wish. These entries are printed on checks but not saved. memo- Whatever you wish. Memos are not printed on checks but are saved. will go back to beginning of Entry Menu. On board calculator. Maximum 20 entries per calculation.

To print your checks when entries are done. See

in Main Menu. To undo any misteaks. )I made one once(. This option will work only for a transaction done this session. There is another repair facility in the Reports section for undoing old errors. <`> or <~> enters data. Unentered data is dropped. Report Menu ============ Lots of choices. Self explanatory. You can fix an old transaction or void an old check here with . You cannot change the amount of an old transaction after it has been reconciled (for obvious reasons). When reporting by Payee, enter a sort code. All matches will be reported even if only one letter is entered. Again this is case specific. FILE DESCRIPTION **************** The following program files comprise this program. RAM.DRIVE is a SYS file. All others are written in Applesoft Basic. STARTUP- A short program run by Basic.System that directs next action. RAM.DRIVE- (Ram version only)- This is a program written by: Glen E. Bredon 521 State Road Princeton, N.J. 08540 This is found in ProSel and is used with Mr. Bredon's permission. This program installs a ram disk at slot 3, drive 1. BASIC.COPY- This program copies program files from floppy or hard disk to ram disk. It was written by: Dennis Doms and Tom Weishaar ProDos Inside and Out Tab Books Inc. Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 page 77 The program on this disk is a modification of that program and is used with permission of the authors. BASIC.COPY.2- (Ram version only)- This program copies data files from floppy or hard disk to ram disk. It is a modification of the same program as above. DATA.SAVER- (Ram version only)- This program copies data files from ram disk to hard or floppy disk. It is a modification of the same program as above. DATA.LOC- Contains Prefix necessary for the program to find its data disk. CW- This is the main body of the program. Other programs are chained from here. It is run from Ram in both versions. RPT- This is the Reports program. CAT- This is the category program. This is where categories are created or modified. LP- List & Print- This is where listing of current transactions is done. Line 15000 is the print check program. This is where changes in the check printing settings are made if you wish to use a different check. The program is set to use Deluxe Check #1065 and Envelope #1552. This check uses no receipts, but receipted checks or any check of your choice can be used if the appropriate changes at line 15000 are made. Check #1065 fits a standard 9.5 inch carriage. BAL- Reconciliation of the checkbook is done in this program. CALC- On board calculator. BUD- Budgets for any category can be created or consulted in this program. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following data files comprise this program: MAIN.DATA- This is where all transactions are stored. It is a random access text file. RECUR.TRANS- Recurring transactions are stored here. It is a random access text file. ONGOING.DATA- This sequential text file stores the data that is needed to begin the program, e.g. balance, check number, etc. CAT.DATA- Stores the data for categories. It is a random access text file. RECON.BAL.DATA- Stores reconciliation balance for next use. It is a sequential text file. RT.CODE.DATA- This random access text file stores the code data for recurring transactions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- * ProDos and Basic.System are copyrighted programs of Apple Computer, Inc. They can be obtained from: Apple Computer, Inc. 20525 Mariani Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 -----end of file