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Chapter 16 - User Settings
User settings are either values that are subject to change, such
as the holding period required for long term gain classification, or
values that customize Capital Gainz for a particular user, such as
reinvesting distributions.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
To change the user settings, you fill in the User Settings Form.
This form is called up by selecting User Settings from the Main Menu.
When a field requires a YES or NO value, then you'll see the current
value followed by the valid choices. Thus, if a field is set to YES,
you'll see:
Field:YES YES NO
To choose YES or NO, highlight your choice and hit Enter, or just hit
the Y or N key. The settings specific to the Graphics Program, are
described in Chapter 19, and can only be set from the Graphics
Program.
Function keys at the bottom of the screen are:
o Form Accept - accept all entries, the same as hitting Enter on each
field.
o Form Reject - exit immediately, the same as hitting Esc to back out
of the form.
o F2:Set Screen Colors - change the color settings for the screen
groups.
o F3:User Settings Report - print the User Settings Report.
o F9:Set Report Parameters - set parameters related to printing
reports.
16.1 Settings
16.1.1 Long Term Holding Period in Days
The holding period entry is the number of days shares must be
owned before they are classified as long term holdings. Depending on
the current tax codes, long term gains may be taxed less than short
term gains. Open shares are classified as long term if the current
date exceeds the purchase date by more than the holding period;
otherwise open shares are classified as short term. Gains or losses
from selling shares are classified as long term if the date of the
Capital Gainz Users Manual 16-1
sale exceeded the purchase date by more than the holding period at the
time of the sale; otherwise gains or losses from selling shares are
classified as short term.
===>>> When you sell shares, long/short term status is determined by
the current value of the holding period, and recorded in the record.
Changing the holding period has no effect on closed shares records.
This approach must be used to account for changes in the holding
period from year to year. To change long/short term status for closed
shares, change the records or execute the Apply Holding Period
function from the Closed Shares Log.
The default is 365.
16.1.2 Confirm Adds/Confirm Updates/Confirm Deletes
You can request that Capital Gainz ask for confirmation before
adding, changing, or deleting records. When a requested operation
affects many records, such as a stock split or a sale, confirmation
will always be requested, regardless of the confirmation settings.
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
If confirmation is requested, then before the operation is
executed the Confirm Form pops up. If you select YES, then the
operation is performed. If you select NO or hit the Esc key, then the
operation is not performed. This confirmation is a welcome safeguard
for some, and an annoying nuisance to others. This is precisely why
Capital Gainz leaves the settings up to you. Even if you don't care
much for confirmations, it still may be wise to leave them on for
deletions.
The defaults are NO for Add and Change, and YES for Delete.
16.1.3 Reinvest Distributions
You can have Capital Gainz bring up the Buy Shares Form to enter
reinvestment information after recording a distribution. This is
useful for mutual funds that automatically reinvest distributions.
The default is YES.
16.1.4 Redistribute Proceeds
You can have Capital Gainz bring up the Buy Shares Form to
redistribute proceeds after recording a sale. This is useful for
transferring funds into and out of a money market fund.
The default is NO.
16-2 Capital Gainz Users Manual
16.1.5 Include Commission in Basis for Gain/Loss%
By default, the gain/loss calculations in Capital Gainz do not
include commissions in the basis. Thus, you can actually have greater
than a 100% loss. The motivation for this decision is that the
commission amount is never actually used to purchase shares. Set this
value to YES to include commissions in the basis, resulting in
slightly lower absolute gain and loss percentages. The gain/loss
amounts are the same whether or not commissions are included in the
basis. See Chapter 20 for details on calculations used by Capital
Gainz.
The default is NO.
16.1.6 Use Short Sales
If you never use short sales, leave this value set to NO. Even if
you expect to use short sales, leave it set to NO until your first
short sale. When you execute your first short sale, this value will
automatically be set to YES.
You get slightly better performance when recording purchases if
you don't need short selling. The slower performance is caused by
searching the Closed Shares File for short sales to cover whenever you
record a purchase.
The default is NO.
16.1.7 Backup Command
You enter the DOS command to be used to backup data files. Since
most users already have backup or compression utilities, Capital Gainz
allows you to use tools that you are already familiar with. However,
only a single DOS command line can be entered, so to backup using DOS'
COPY command you would have to write a batch file, and specify that
file as the backup command.
Some examples of backup command entries would be:
o If PKZIP is available:
PKZIP -U A:CGDATA.ZIP *.DAT *.K01
o If the 4DOS shell is installed:
COPY *.DAT *.K01 A:
o If a batch file named BACKUP.BAT is used
BACKUP
Where the contents of BACKUP.BAT could be:
Capital Gainz Users Manual 16-3
COPY *.DAT A:
COPY *.K01 A:
===>>> As these commands show, the data files that must be backed up
are identified by the DOS wildcards *.DAT and *.K01. If you have
access to a data compression utility, use it to conserve backup disk
space and to speed up the floppy disk transfer.
This field is initialized to CAPGNZBU A. CAPGNZBU.BAT is a DOS
batch file included with Capital Gainz. It simply copies the data
files to a specified disk drive. Another batch file, CAPGNZRS.BAT,
restores the backed up files.
The default is CAPGNZBU A.
16.1.8 File Viewer
You enter the DOS command to be used to view reports sent to the
screen. If you leave this field blank, then the default internal file
viewer will be used. The internal viewer should be more than adequate
for most users, as it supports searching and jumping to specific
pages. However, you may want to use an external viewer that you've
become accustomed to.
Since Capital Gainz must save an image of its internal process and
shell out to DOS, an external file viewer takes much longer to bring
up. In fact, this penalty is so great that it only makes sense to use
an external file viewer if you defined a RAM disk as your temporary
directory at installation. For details on using RAM disks, see Chapter
23.
An example of an external file viewer is the ever-popular LIST
program. If you want to use LIST as your file viewer, and it's on your
DOS PATH, just enter the following in the File Viewer Field:
LIST
The default is blank.
16.1.9 Price File Read at Startup
You can automatically have Capital Gainz read a file to update
security prices at startup. If you update your security prices in the
PRICES file before starting Capital Gainz, then enter the following in
this field:
PRICES
It's not a problem if the same file is read in twice, as the entries
just overwrite existing entries. See Chapter 9 for more information on
using an ASCII file to update your security prices.
16-4 Capital Gainz Users Manual
The default is blank.
16.1.10 Form Accept and Form Reject Keys
You may want to change the Capital Gainz Form Accept key from the
default Ctrl-Enter value, or the Form Reject key from the default
Ctrl-Esc. A range of other values is available. Just erase the
displayed value and hit Enter to pop up the Keys Table, described
below.
Ctrl-Esc conflicts with DOS 5.0, which uses it to suspend programs
and swap them out to memory, and with Windows, which uses it to bring
up the Task List. The DOS or Windows keys can be remapped, but it's
easier to remap the Capital Gainz key.
The defaults are Ctrl-Enter and Ctrl-Esc.
16.1.10.1 Keys Table
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
The Keys Table displays a range of values that can be used for the
Form Accept or Form Reject keys. Highlight your choice and hit Enter.
The Utility Program and Graphics Program also use this setting.
16.2 Set Report Parameters
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
The Set Report Parameters key brings up the Report Settings Form to
set various printer related values. This form is also available from a
key on the Report Menu, and can be called up prior to printing a
report from a table. When called from the User Settings Form, any
values set in the Report Settings Form are not written to disk until
the User Settings Form is accepted. When called prior to printing a
report, the entered values are written to disk when the Report
Settings Form is completed.
Function keys at the bottom of the screen are:
o Form Accept - accept all entries, the same as hitting Enter on each
field.
o Form Reject - exit immediately, the same as hitting Esc to back out
of the form.
Capital Gainz Users Manual 16-5
16.2.1 Append Reports
You can choose to either append or overwrite files when you send
reports to a DOS file. If you choose not to append reports, existing
files will be overwritten without warning.
The default is YES.
16.2.2 Lines Per Page
You can specify the number of report lines printed on each page.
The default setting of 58 should work with most printers. For most dot
matrix printers, this value can be set to 66 lines per page, resulting
in some paper savings.
This value must be between 50 and 66, or be equal to 0. Setting
lines per page to 0 will cause Capital Gainz to not insert page break
characters, and to only print the page header on the first page. This
is a good way to save paper.
The default is 58.
16.2.3 Line Draw Chars
===>>> By default, Capital Gainz uses the extended ASCII line drawing
characters for borders and separators in printed reports. (These
characters are the same as those used in the displayed forms.) Most
printers can print these characters, but sometimes you have to flip a
dip switch in your dot matrix printer or load the appropriate font for
your laser printer. Otherwise, you'll see garbage or nothing where
separator lines should be. If you don't want to change your printer's
settings, select NO for the Line Draw Chars field. This substitutes
the - and = characters for the similar line drawing characters.
The default is YES.
16.2.4 Strip Trailing CRs
The underlying software used by Capital Gainz adds a CR (carriage
return) after every LF (line feed). This will cause some printers to
misalign printing, occasionally resulting in a blank page. By setting
this value to YES, Capital Gainz will strip these stray CRs from the
output before sending it to the printer. Of course, this will slow
down printing.
The default is YES.
16.2.5 Brief Formats
Several reports offer brief and long formats, as described in
Chapter 15.
16-6 Capital Gainz Users Manual
The default is NO.
16.2.6 Show Subtotals
Several reports print subtotals, as described in Chapter 15.
The default is NO.
16.3 Set Screen Colors
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
You get to the Select Screen Colors screen from a function key on
the User Settings Form. This screen lets you customize the screen
colors. Screens are grouped by type:
o Portfolio Screens, such as the Portfolio Table and the Portfolio
Form.
o Global Security Screens, such as the Global Security Table and the
Global Security Form.
o Broker/Investment Company Screens, such as the Broker/Investment
Company Table and the Broker/Investment Company Form.
o Local Security Screens, such as the Local Security Table and the
Local Security Form.
o General Activity Screens, such as the Activity Menu.
o Buy Activity Screens, such as the Buy Shares Form and the Open
Shares Log.
o Sell Activity Screens, such as the Sell Shares Form and the Closed
Shares Log.
o Distr Activity Screens, such as the Record Distribution Form and
the Distribution Log.
o Other Screens, such as the User Settings Form.
These screen types are further divided into screen kinds:
o Forms, such as the Local Security Form.
o Tables, such as the Open Shares Log.
o Other, such as the Activity Menu.
The screen types and kinds are displayed as a matrix on the Select
Screen Colors screen. This screen and the Pick Foreground and
Background Colors screen are always white on black, except where
Capital Gainz Users Manual 16-7
actual color settings are shown. The matrix on the Select Screen
Colors screen shows Form, Table, and Other in the currently selected
background/foreground colors for each screen type. To change the
colors for a screen type/kind, position the pointer and hit Enter.
This will bring up the Pick Foreground and Background Colors screen.
When you exit from the Select Screen Colors screen, you are asked
to confirm the selected colors.
Function keys at the bottom of the screen are:
o Form Accept - accept all entries, the same as hitting Enter on each
field.
o Form Reject - exit immediately, the same as hitting Esc to back out
of the form.
The Utility Program and Graphics Program use the Other screen
colors.
16.4 Pick Foreground and Background Colors
[[Screen not in online version of documentation.]]
The Pick Foreground and Background Colors screen is brought up by
hitting Enter for a screen type/kind on the Select Screen Colors
screen. At the top of the screen is an example of the currently
selected colors. Two rows of color blocks show the colors available.
To select the foreground or background color, position the pointer
under the desired color in the row and hit Enter. The example at the
top of the screen is updated to show what the color combination looks
like. To accept the colors, enter YES to Accept Colors. Otherwise,
enter NO.
Function keys at the bottom of the screen are:
o Form Accept - accept all entries, the same as hitting Enter on each
field.
o Form Reject - exit immediately, the same as hitting Esc to back out
of the form.
16.5 User Settings Report
The User Settings report is described in Chapter 15.
16.6 Example - Change User Settings
Say you want to change Line Draw Chars to NO, and the Form
Accept/Form Reject Keys to F11/F12.
16-8 Capital Gainz Users Manual
o Bring up the User Settings Form.
o Use Set Report Parameters to bring up the report settings, change
Line Draw Chars to NO, and hit Form Accept.
o Back at the User Settings Form, change the Form Accept/Form Reject
Keys to F11/F12, and hit Form Accept to write the new settings
record.
Capital Gainz Users Manual 16-9
