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Amiga MA Magazine 1998 #3
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1995-10-28
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*************************************************
Pay Advice Analyser 5.0
Original idea... Robert Hart
Design... Richard Smedley
Andy Eskelson
Programming... Richard Smedley
© Richard Smedley 1995, All Rights Reserved
Shareware version, Freely distributable
*************************************************
INTRODUCTION
************
A friend of mine once explained to me about how much he hated having to
keep several cardboard boxes in the bottom of his wardrobe, each of which
he was slowly-but-surely filling with the Pay Advice slips that he receives
in his wage packet.
He was wondering if there was any way of recording all his wage details on
his trusty Amiga, thus allowing him to throw out his dusty collection of
pay slips whilst still keeping a permanent record of all his earnings. Much
to his disappointment, I explained that unless he wanted to try using a
spreadsheet then there wasn't really any realistic solution.
Sadly, this idea didn't work out. My friend had been thinking more along
the lines of an easy-to-use database program which he could simply use to
enter all his wage details without having to do any awkward setting up or
fiddling about.
After spending many sleepless nights sitting in front of the computer, I
triumphantly produced a solution...
WHY BOTHER USING THIS PROGRAM
*****************************
Actually, there are a number of reasons for keeping a record of your wage
details on your computer. The most obvious, of course, is that you'll
finally be able to throw out all your old pay slips and still retain a
permanent record of their contents.
More importantly than this, though, it is advisable to keep a regular check
on your wages and how much tax your paying, to make sure that the tax man
(or, worse still, your employer) isn't fiddling you. Of course, when you
want to check your tax, you could always start sifting through boxes upon
boxes of paperwork to try and find the required pay slips, but it's a lot
quicker, easier, and more convenient to simply use the computer to find
those pay slips for you.
Additionally, even if you're only slightly curious about just how large a
slice of your hard earned cash ends up in the hands of the tax man, then
this in itself is a good reason for keeping a computerised record of your
wage details. It might surprise you to see just how all those "little"
deductions start piling up into something far more serious as you get
further into the year...
And, as an extra bonus, there is the added advantage that all your wage
details will be securely locked away on the computer where prying eyes and
inquisitive fingers can't get at them!
HARD DRIVE INSTALLATION
***********************
To install Pay Advice on a hard drive, all you have to do is create a new
drawer entitled "PayAdvice" (without the quotes!), and then use the mouse
to drag the program icon into that drawer.
And that's it, no additional files, assigns, or libraries are required! But
don't forget to copy any saved data files into the PayAdvice drawer...
CREATING A NEW FILE
*******************
After you've loaded the program, the first thing you'll be needing to do is
change the category names displayed on the left-hand side of the screen so
that they match the actual wage categories shown on your pay slips - to do
this, simply select "Edit titles" from the "Prefs" menu on the main screen.
After that, the only other thing to do is enter some details about yourself
and your employer - this is mainly just to clarify the information stored
in your file, and isn't actually essential for using the program!
Anyway, if you select the "Info" option from the "Project" menu, you'll see
a window appear which is used for both entering and displaying various
details about the current file. At the moment, the window will contain four
empty boxes, which are normally used to store the following information:
Name
Clock
Department
Employers name & address
All you have to do is move the mouse pointer over one of the boxes, and
then press the left mouse button. The cursor will appear, enabling you to
type in the required information, and then press the return key.
Then simply repeat this with the other boxes, entering the appropriate
details in each one. Obviously, if you don't use a clocking-on system then
you can just leave that box empty.
Don't worry if you make any mistakes, because you can easily re-click in
any of the boxes to change their contents.
Once you've finished entering everything, just press the "OK" button at the
bottom of the window to return to the main screen.
THE MAIN SCREEN
***************
This is where all the main operations are performed. You'll notice that the
screen is split into three distinct sections: Down the left-hand side of
the screen you'll see the current name of each individual category of your
wages, and beside them, filling most of the screen, is the area where the
actual wage details themselves will be displayed.
You can easily change the names of any of the wage categories, or add new
ones, by selecting "Edit titles" from the "Prefs" pull down menu at the top
of the screen.
The Pay Advice screen can be displayed in either interlace or non-interlace
mode. All the wage categories are still there in non-interlace mode, but
only the first five additions and deductions are actually displayed on the
main screen - the rest only appear in edit windows and such! Interlace mode
displays all the categories on the main screen, but some tv/monitors tend
to flicker a bit when using interlaced displays... Anyway, you can easily
change back-and-forth between the two at any time by just selecting one of
the options from the "Prefs/Screen mode" menu.
There are a number of buttons near the bottom of the screen. The "New"
button is used for entering new pay slips, the "Edit" button is for editing
them, and the arrow buttons move you around your file. These are all fully
explained in the next three sections.
As you enter your wage details into this program, you'll see that it
displays a summary of each wage packet on the screen. The "current" pay
slip, that is to say the one on which all operations will be performed, is
always highlighted using white text.
Finally, pressing LeftAmiga-A will switch you back-and-forth between the
Pay Advice screen and the Workbench screen!
ENTERING A NEW PAY SLIP
***********************
To enter a new pay slip, simply press the "New" button at the bottom of the
main screen.
You'll see a calendar appear asking you to enter the date of the new pay
slip. Just press the appropriate on-screen buttons until the correct date
is shown in the top-right corner of the window, and then press the "OK"
button.
The edit window will now appear: You'll notice that the name of your first
addition has been displayed, and beside it the cursor will have appeared
for you to enter a value. Just type in the amount, and then press the
return key.
One by one, this will now be repeated for all the other additions and
deductions to your wages until everything has been entered, when your net
pay will be displayed. Then, after a brief pause, the edit window will
disappear and a summary of the new pay slip will be highlighted on the main
screen.
Incidentally, if at any point you decide that you don't want to enter a new
pay slip then all you've got to do is press the ESC key to cancel it! The
new entry will then be aborted.
MOVING AROUND YOUR PAY SLIP FILE
********************************
There are three main methods for moving back-and-forth through your pay
slip file:
1) Pressing the single-arrow buttons at the bottom of the main screen will
move you back-and-forth through your file one pay slip at a time, and
the double-arrow buttons will move you an entire screen at a time.
2) If you prefer using the keyboard then the left/right cursor keys can
be used to move you one pay slip at a time, just like pressing the
single-arrow buttons, and the up/down cursor keys will move a screen
at a time.
3) You can use the mouse to click directly on a pay slip on the screen,
which will perform the equivalent of highlighting that pay slip and
then pressing the "Edit" button.
Additionally, the "Goto" pull down menu contains a number of options for
moving around your pay slip file.
EDITING A PAY SLIP
******************
Sooner or later, perhaps because you've made a mistake somewhere, you're
going to find yourself needing to edit one of your pay slips.
All you have to do is use the arrow buttons to highlight the appropriate
pay slip and then press the "Edit" button - or, if you prefer, if you can
see the required pay slip on the screen then you can just click directly on
it (as detailed in the "Moving around your pay slip file" section!)
The edit window will now appear, this time showing the current details of
that particular pay slip.
Simply click on the category that you want to change, and the cursor will
appear for you to enter a new value. Again, just type in a new number and
press the return key.
You can change as many numbers as you wish, and then when you've finished
just press the "OK" button to return to the main screen.
Pressing the "Print" button at any time will make a printout of the edit
window - make sure you've got your printer switched on before you select
this!
SAVING YOUR PAY SLIP FILE
*************************
Obviously, one way or another, you're going to need to save your pay slip
file onto disk. If you hold down the right mouse button, you'll notice a
number of menu's appear on the title bar. Move up to the "Files" menu and
select "Save as".
A file requester will appear for you to select the device, directory and
file name to save your file under. Press the "Save" button when you've
selected everything.
A window will now appear asking you to enter a password. Because all wage
details are confidential, this program saves its files using a password
system to prevent anybody from being able to load a pay slip file without
first entering the correct password.
You can enter anything that you want for the password, up to ten characters
long, but remember that passwords ARE case sensitive and if you forget what
your password is then you won't be able to load your pay slip file!
As you type, you'll notice that a * appears on screen for each character of
the password - this is to prevent anybody from reading your password on the
screen while you're typing it. If you're entering a new password then
you'll be asked to type it a second time just to make sure that you didn't
make any typing errors when you entered it.
Your file will now be saved to disk.
CHANGING THE USER-DEFINABLE CATEGORY TITLES
*******************************************
All wage packets are made up from various additions and deductions to your
earnings, such as basic pay, overtime, and tax. But, despite this, it is
highly unlikely that any two people's wage packets will consist of exactly
the same combination of additions and deductions.
There are a total of thirty user-definable wage categories available,
equally split into fifteen additions and fifteen deductions, which are
initially defined with the following titles:
ADDITIONS DEDUCTIONS
********* **********
Basic pay National insurance
Commission Pension
Overtime Tax
Special pay Union fees
Savings deduction
(The other categories are initially unused!)
The other four categories, namely "Period ending", "Total gross", "Total
deductions" and "Net pay" are all automatically created and dealt with by
the program, so there's no need to worry about them here!
If, by some chance, these default titles actually fit the categories on
your wage slip then you can ignore the rest of this section and start using
the program straight away. It's more likely, though, that you'll be needing
to change them...
Select "Edit titles" from the "Prefs" menu. A window will appear containing
a number of boxes which have been separated into two distinct sections, the
upper for additions and the lower for deductions. Each one of these boxes
represents a wage category, with the empty boxes being categories which
aren't currently in use!
To change any of the titles, all you have to do is use the mouse to click
in the appropriate box. When the cursor appears, use the delete key (or
press Ctrl-X) to erase the current title, and then simply type your new
title and press the return key.
If you make any mistakes, or change your mind, then all you've got to do is
just re-click in the appropriate box and edit it's contents.
After you've finished, just press the "OK" button to keep the new titles,
or hit the "Cancel" button to leave them as they were.
Either way, you'll return to the main screen, where the amended titles will
be displayed in place of the previous ones.
MENU FUNCTIONS
**************
The following pull down menu's are available from the main screen:
PROJECT...
OPEN Load a new file. Simply use the file requester to select
the appropriate file, and then enter your password.
SAVE Save the current file automatically using the last file
name and password used, thus saving you from having to go
through the file requester.
SAVE AS Save the current file, as already detailed.
PRINT Make a printout: Simply choose which categories you want
to print, and then enter the start & finishing dates. If
you select a total of eight categories or less then each
pay slip will be printed on a single line, enabling you
to fit a full year onto a single A4 page! Don't forget to
make sure you've switched your printer on before starting
the printout!
SAVE ASCII Save the current file in ASCII format, so (for example)
you can load it into a text editor and re-arrange the
layout before printing it. Just choose which categories
to save, enter the start & finishing dates, and then use
the file requester. Remember, though, that ASCII files
aren't password protected and they can't be loaded back
into this program!
INFO Displays information about the current file. You can edit
these details (if necessary) by clicking in the appropriate
boxes.
ABOUT Displays information about Pay Advice and its authors.
QUIT Quit the program. Requesters will inform you if you have
any unsaved information in your file.
GOTO...
BEGINNING Move to the first pay slip of the current file.
END Move to the last pay slip of the current file.
GOTO % Type a number into the box, and then you'll be moved to
that percentage of the way through the file.
COMMANDS...
TOTALS Enter the start & finishing dates, and then the program
will calculate and display the totals from between those
dates. If you click on the "Print" button then a copy of
the totals window will be sent to the printer (make sure
your printer is switched on first!)
FIND Press the appropriate button to choose which category you
want to search, and then enter the required value. The
program will then search from the current pay slip onwards
and, if it finds an entry for your value, will give you the
option of either stopping there or continuing the search.
ARRANGE DATES
Re-arrange the current file into date order. If you're
using a large file then this might take a minute or two!
DELETE ENTRY
Erase the current pay slip.
PREFS...
SCREEN MODE
Here, you can choose whether you want to use Pay Advice
in interlace or non-interlace mode. Although all the wage
categories are still available in non-interlace mode,
only the first five additions and deductions are actually
displayed on the main screen - the rest will only appear
in edit windows and such! Interlace mode displays all the
categories on the main screen, but some tv/monitors tend
to flicker a bit when using interlaced screen modes...
Of course, you can easily switch back-and-forth between
the two modes whenever you want to!
DEFAULT FILE
Many users always load exactly the same pay slip file
each time they use this program - so, by selecting this,
you can use the file requester to make the program load
a file automatically whenever you use it. You'll still
need to enter your password, of course, but it'll save you
from having to select "Open" and then go through the file
requester every time!
EDIT TITLES Change the category titles, as already detailed.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
****************
Pay Advice 5.0 was programmed in compiled AmosPro 2.0, and PayConvert was
written using compiled GFABasic 3.51
This program makes the assumption that time started on 1st January 1950,
and that it runs out on 31st December 2049. Somehow I can't see this
causing any problems because hardly anybody will want to catalogue any pay
slips that they might have lying around from before 1950, and, frankly, by
the year 2049 we'll all have upgraded to something a little more powerful
than the Amiga...
This program is unable to handle numbers any larger than nine characters in
length. To be honest, I don't think that anybody who has numbers longer
than nine characters on their pay slip will be actively involved in using
PD & shareware programs anyway, so I can't imagine this being a problem!
A word about memory: This program requires a large chunk of unfragmented
memory in order to work correctly. It'll work OK on machines with 1 meg or
more, so if you have less than this then I'd recommend booting your
computer and running this program without loading anything else in between.
This should cure most problems.
File names... It is officially recommended that you start a new pay slip
file for each financial year, and that you save your files with names such
as "FredBloggs1994" for your 1994 records while working for Fred Bloggs (or
whatever). If you do insist on keeping inordinately long files, then this
program will handle files up to 250 pay slips long (if you get paid weekly,
then that's about FIVE YEARS worth!)
File compatibility: This program is no longer capable of automatically
converting files which were saved using earlier versions of Pay Advice.
I've instead written a separate program called "PayConvert" which converts
the older files for you (this makes the main Pay Advice program smaller by
allowing me to remove all the old conversion routines!)
Remember that you can add new categories to the program at any time by
using the "Edit titles" function in the "Prefs" menu, so if a new addition
or deduction appears on your pay slip part way through the financial year
then all you have to do is use this to add the extra categories! Also, when
you edit pay slips, you'll find that you can click in unused categories and
put numbers in them, so if you get an extra addition/deduction but don't
want to create a category for it then you can still include it in your
file...
Instead of using Intuition, the Pay Advice screen is now generated directly
at the hardware level - Unfortunately, this means that you can't pull the
screen down using the title bar, and that it doesn't have a depth gadget
either! Don't worry, though, because you can easily switch back-and-forth
between Workbench and Pay Advice by simply pressing LeftAmiga-A.
THE TRADITIONAL JOKES
*********************
That's right, it's time once again for more of my favourite jokes...
1) Why didn't the skeleton go to the party?
Because he had no-body to go with!
2) What has two heads, four eyes, six legs and a tail?
A horse and rider!
3) How did the skeleton know it was going to rain?
He could feel it in his bones!
4) On which side does a chicken have the most feathers?
On the outside!
Ha ha ha ha ha... Ahem...
HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED USER
*******************************
This program is shareware. If you like and/or use it then please register
by sending FIVE (UK) POUNDS STERLING to this address:
Richard Smedley
257 Stoneyford Road
Sutton-In-Ashfield
Notts.
NG17 3GJ
England
Everybody who registers will receive a copy of the complete program, with
the enabled save functions.
As always, registered users can upgrade by simply sending a blank disk plus
suitable SAE to me at the above address!
VERSION HISTORY
***************
V1.27 Released 14th January 1993
The first public release of this program. After much consultation
with Andy Eskelson, the program has a half-decent user interface,
and, more importantly, it actually works...
V2.00 Released 19th July 1993
* A complete re-write of the user interface.
* Re-organised the pull down menu's into a sensible order.
* Added keyboard short-cuts for commonly used menu items.
* Completely re-wrote the Load and Save routines to incorporate
complete file encryption, instead of just partial encryption
as used in previous versions.
* Added a calendar, pre-set from the system clock, for entering
dates into the program.
* Incorporated a simple calculator for entering numbers.
* Improved number handling - Decimal places are automatically
checked, and all numbers are now right-justified.
* Wrote a "Save as ASCII" function, enabling you to load your
Pay Advice files into a word processor or text editor to
re-arrange the layout before printing them.
* Modified the screen display, so now the program uses the entire
screen to display your file instead of just the bottom few
lines.
* Added a "Delete file" function to the pull down menu's.
* Modified the colour palette: You can actually read the file
requesters now!
* The program will now warn you if you try to quit when there's
unsaved information in the current file.
* Added some new printer preferences routines and completely
re-wrote the printout function.
* Wrote a way, through the calculator, to cancel the input
sequence for entering a new pay slip (press "C" twice)
* Improved the screen update and button-handling routines.
* Plus numerous bug removals (too many to list!) and more...
V2.10 Released 5th August 1993 (Exclusive to registered users)
* It turned out that my new printout routines had a slight bug
in them which affected the last page of a printout. Corrected.
* Added an Iconify routine.
* Plus a few minor enhancements and modifications here and
there...
V3.00 Released 11th October 1993
* Er, don't know how to say this, but the "Delete file" function
never actually worked! Corrected this, plus a number of other
bugs.
* Looks like there was a problem with the "Save as ASCII" routines
used in V2.10 - the columns of numbers didn't line up properly!
Corrected this as well.
* Incorporated some program preferences routines...
* User now has the option of whether or not to use the calculator.
* The calendar can now be disabled, and if so, the user can choose
whether to type dates using the DD/MM/YY or MM/DD/YY format.
* Added an option to automatically load a Pay Advice file by
default.
* Drastically improved the screen update speed.
* Completely re-wrote the "Arrange into date order" function, so
now it'll re-arrange any size file in a couple of minutes or
so, instead of taking up to ten times longer than this! Also,
this routine will now automatically remove any blank lines from
the current file.
* Added some error handling routines - Now, if something goes
wrong, the program will tell you what happened instead of just
quitting with a meaningless error code.
* Wrote some nice single-button requesters, so you don't get any
more daft requesters appearing with two "Cancel" buttons beside
one another.
* When saving files, when asked to enter a password you can now
press return without typing anything to keep the last password
that you entered.
* If you've customized the file layout, the program will no longer
ask you to enter a number for any category which doesn't have a
name (you can still put numbers in these categories by editing
the pay slip in the usual manner)
* File loading and saving is now directed towards the AmigaDos path
PayAdvice: instead of the program guessing (often wrongly!) what
the current device and directory are likely to be.
* A minor cosmetic change: Designed a nice, 2.0-style icon to
replace the old Pay Advice program icon.
* Plus more...
V4.00 Released 24th December 1993
* A complete re-design of the GUI... The program now conforms far
more closely to the WB2-standard for user interfaces...
* The program now supports ten user-definable categories instead
of just six.
* Converted the Pay Advice doc file into AmigaGuide format.
* Incorporated a standard WB2 AmigaDos version string into the
program.
* Changed the main Pay Advice screen into a backdrop window, so
now you can't accidentally lose requesters and such behind the
main screen...
* Modified the error handling routines - Now, if something goes
wrong, the program will give you the option of attempting to
save the current file before quitting.
* To keep memory requirements down to a minimum, the maximum
number of pay slips allowed in each file has been lowered from
five hundred to two hundred and fifty (the extra categories
mean that you need more memory to store each individual pay
slip than in earlier versions)
* Modified the keyboard controls for moving through a pay slip
file: The left/right cursor keys now move you one line at a
time, and the up/down keys move you a screen at a time.
* Due to technical reasons, this program is no longer compatible
with files created/saved using V1.27 of this program - but it
still works fine with files saved from V2.00 onwards.
* Completely re-wrote the "Save as ASCII" function, and removed the
"With grid" and "Without grid" options. You can now choose which
categories you want to save, and can also select the start and
finishing dates for the save...
* Unless your printer requires a form feed after every printed
page, then you can now completely ignore the section about
setting up the programs internal printer preferences.
* The program now displays the current file name on the title bar.
* Added a "Printout" option to the "Display totals" function.
* Renamed the "Save" function to "Save as", and added a new "Save"
menu function which lets you save the current file automatically
using the last file name and password used.
* When editing a pay slip with the calculator turned on, the
program will no longer remove the value from any category that
you select in the edit window - Instead the number will now
stay where it is and the calculator will appear with a blank
display.
* Removed the "Do you wish to modify the file format" requester
from the "Create a new file" routine, and replaced it with an
"Edit titles" function in the "Prefs" menu. You can now change
the titles any time you want, and not just exclusively when
you're creating a new file...
* Added an "Exchange" function to the "Lines" menu, which lets
you swap information between categories, mainly for use with
the "Edit titles" function.
* When creating a file, or modifying the user-definable category
titles, the program will no longer automatically erase the
current contents of a box when you click in it to edit its
contents.
* Added a "Cancel" button to the "Search file" function.
* You can now cancel the input sequence for entering a new pay
slip even if you're not using the calculator: Type "C" (without
the quotes!) and press return when prompted to enter a number.
* It appears that the program would let you enter daft numbers
like "12.34.56" and actually accept them! Corrected this.
* Centred all the "Details for period ending..." titles in the
edit and totals windows.
* Modified the "Insert line" function so that it'll automatically
bring up the edit window for you to enter a new pay slip.
* Drastically reduced the delay by which the edit window remains
on screen after entering a new pay slip.
* The "Search file" function no longer stops at the first entry
that it finds - A requester will now appear telling you which
pay slip contains the required value and asking whether or not
you want to continue the search.
* Modified the "Iconify" routine to include a password option.
* The "Printout" routines will now let you specify exactly which
categories you want to print, and now includes an option to print
the totals for the selected categories...
* When you click on an entry to modify it when editing a pay slip,
simply pressing enter without typing a new number will no longer
clear the current value of that category.
* All main buttons in the program will now respond to keyboard
short-cuts, instead of just those on requesters...
* The Pay Advice preference files are now loaded and saved to
AmigaDos path "s:" instead of "SYS:s"
* Plus other minor enhancements...
V4.2 Released 20th October 1994
* Incorporated further refinements and improvements to produce a
more consistent user interface.
* The program now supports thirty user-definable wage categories,
equally divided into fifteen additions and fifteen deductions.
* Pay Advice now runs on an interlaced screen (this was the only
way to make enough room to display the extra categories!)
* The "Printout" and "Save as ASCII" routines now automatically
attempt to arrange output according to one of three possible
formats.
* Removed all the duff-looking "Please wait..." windows, and made
it so that the program instead uses a proper 2.0 busy pointer to
indicate when it's busy.
* Got rid of the roman numerals from the Pay Advice title...
* Passwords are no longer displayed on the screen - The program
now uses the traditional method of displaying *'s for every
character that is typed. This means that if you're entering a
new password then you'll be asked to enter it a second time to
make sure you didn't make any mistakes while typing it!
* The current file name is now displayed at the top of the main
screen, instead of on the title bar.
* Improved the colour palette, so now you don't have to squint to
read the old grey-on-grey pull down menu's any more!
* Removed the "Do you wish to create/load a file" requester which
always used to appear when the program was loaded, so now when
you load Pay Advice it'll take you directly to the main screen.
* The details that you would normally enter when creating a new
file (your name, department, and so forth) can now be entered
or changed using the "Info" function in the "Files" menu.
* When saving files, if you just press the return key (without
typing anything) when asked for the password then your file will
now be saved without a password. Use this wisely...
* Re-designed the calculator and put it in a normal window with a
drag bar and a close gadget, enabling you to move it anywhere
you want on screen. Pressing the close gadget now cancels the
input sequence.
* All windows (except the calculator!) are now opened as backdrop
windows...
* Removed the "Iconify" function - I honestly don't think anybody
ever used it!
* The "Re-direct output" option now re-directs printouts from the
totals window as well as the main printout function! Also, it
now appends the output to the end of the existing file instead
of overwriting it!
* Menu items now "ghost" themselves to indicate when they can and
can't be used. Also, the pull down menu's will only appear on the
main screen itself now!
* The "Display totals" function now correctly ignores any unused
categories.
* Added a "Cancel" button to the category selection window in the
"Save as ASCII" and "Printout" routines. Also, unused categories
are now switched off by default.
* If you "Save as ASCII" to an existing file then you'll now be
asked whether to append or overwrite it.
* Added a "New Entry" button to the main screen for entering new
pay slips.
* Removed the "Gross pay" and "Deductions" titles from the edit
window - they looked too much like category names and weren't
really needed anyway!
* If you've turned the calendar off then you're no longer forced to
uses slashes to separate the numbers when entering dates, using
any non-numeric character will do.
* The program no longer crashes if you try to save your file on a
write-protected disk!
V4.2a Released 1st November 1994 (Exclusive to registered users)
* Corrected a silly bug which affected the total gross/deduction
and net pay totals on printouts!
V4.2b Released 28th December 1994 (Exclusive to registered users)
* Improved the "Printout" and "Save as ASCII" routines: Selecting
a total of ten categories or less (including categories such as
"Total gross") will output one pay slip per line, useful for
fitting a whole year onto a single A4 page. If you select more
than ten categories then the details will now be "wrapped" down
onto the next line to minimize the amount of space needed for
each pay slip.
* Modified the names of a couple of items in the pull down menu's
on the main screen.
* When saving an ASCII file, the initial file name suggested in the
file requester now has the extension ".ascii" added!
* Moved the "New Entry" button into the button bar containing the
edit/arrow buttons at the bottom of the main screen.
* The busy pointer is now displayed properly on all Amiga's!
V5.0 Released 27th October 1995
* Completely re-wrote the entire Pay Advice program from scratch
using compiled Amos Pro 2.0
* You can now choose whether to use an interlace or non-interlace
screen for the display - and the screen itself opens using just
2-bitplanes now, instead of 4-bitplanes like before...
* Finally sorted out the potential stack overflow problems!
* No more sluggish buttons, and pressing Ctrl-X finally works to
clear the contents of string gadgets!
* Numerous technical improvements - the program runs quite a bit
faster now!
* The "PayAdvice:" assign is no longer required - the program now
automatically uses the drawer that it was loaded from!
* The prefs files are now saved directly in the Pay Advice drawer
instead of the using s: directory. Unfortunately, the format of
the prefs files has changed too - although since the old files
are all in the s: directory, they'll just be ignored anyway!
So you can safely delete them...
* Added a "Print" button to the edit window, so you can now make
printouts of individual pay slip entries without having to go
through the main printout routines in order to do it...
* Re-arranged all the entries in the pull-down menu's to make them
conform closer to the standard guidelines.
* Finally highlighted all the keyboard short-cuts by underlining
them!
* To make the user interface more consistent, the calendar is now
automatically turned on for entering dates, and the calculator
turned off for entering numbers.
* When the totals are used from either the Save As ASCII or the
main Printout routines, then the totals will now be printed
using the same layout as the actual wage details themselves!
* Pressing the ESC key now cancels all number & text entry
operations - e.g. pressing the ESC key while entering a new
pay slip will cancel the operation!
* The file format has completely changed, so a conversion program
called "PayConvert" is now supplied to convert the older files
into the new format.
* The search routines are now capable of searching all categories
for a value, instead of the search just being restricted to a
particular category...
* Pressing Ctrl-C, or sending PayAdvice a break signal, will now
automatically quit the program... Be careful, though, because
you won't get the "Are you sure you want to quit?" requester!
* Buttons now ghost themselves properly when they can't be used!
* Large numbers (bigger than 6-chars) no longer get the left-most
numbers chopped off on printouts!
DISCLAIMER
**********
This software is supplied "AS IS" without any warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties
of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as
to the results and performance of this software is assumed by the user.
Should the software prove defective, the user (and not the author or
anybody associated therewith) assume the entire cost of all necessary
servicing, repair or correction. Further, the author does not warrant,
guarantee or make any representations regarding the use of, or the results
of the use of, this software in terms of correctness, accuracy,
reliability, currentness, or otherwise; and you rely on this software and
the results entirely at your own risk. In no event will the author be
liable for direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting
from the use of this software even if advised of the possibility of such
damages.
The author reserves the right to make changes to this software at any time
without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or
changes.
This program, and all associated software, files, programs and text, is the
exclusive copyright of Richard Smedley 1992-1995, All Rights Reserved.
Permission is hereby granted for this "save disabled" version of this
software to be freely distributed in its entire form only, providing
all files remain intact and unmodified.
This disclaimer shall supersede any verbal or written statement to the
contrary.
Your use of this software indicates your acceptance of this disclaimer.
FINAL WORDS
***********
Well, that's about it...
It just remains for me to say "Hey take it easy"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Richard Smedley
