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PC-BILL MASTER USER'S GUIDE Version 3.02 copyright 1989 by John Davis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTRODUCTION PC-BILL MASTER is, plain and simple, a system that manages your checkbook for you. PC-BILL MASTER was written because the author wanted a system that was easy to use, had a regular checkbook register type display and could handle recurring payments. Many other public domain and shareware programs were examined before development was begun, but none met the author's needs exactly. Some features of PC-BILL MASTER - - Familiar easy to use register type display. - Ability to enter items as posted (immediately effecting. the balance) or unposted future items (totaled into an unposted balance). - Ability to merge multiple checkbooks, recurring payments can be maintained in one checkbook as unposted items and merged into the main checkbook when desired. - Easy bank statement balancing. - Reporting capability that allows retrieval of items from current checkbook or all checkbooks on disk, reports displayed on screen or sent to printer. - Reports use a search capability that allows retrieval of items based upon the contents of any field including a partial string search; items retrieved are also totaled. - Up to 500 items per check register with an unlimited number of separate registers. - Up to 100 ledger account codes and titles. SHAREWARE PC-BILL MASTER is being marketed under a unique scheme known as shareware. This software is not public domain and is fully protected by all federal copyright laws. You are encouraged to make copies of PC-BILL MASTER and distribute them to anyone that you wish. The only stipulation for making copies is that you do not charge for making copies (except for the cost of copying and distribution) and you copy all files on the disk. If you found PC-BILL MASTER to be usefull and plan to continue using it; it is to your benefit that you register your copy. By registering your copy of PC-BILL MASTER you let the author know that there is enough interest in the program to make future enhancements and changes. In addition, as a registered user you will be entitled to receive future versions for the cost of distribution (currently $5.00). To register your copy of PC-BILL MASTER, send $25.00 along with your name and address to (a handy form has been supplied on the disk for your use) - John Davis 1011 Brookgreen Dr. Cary, N.C. 27511 CHANGES IN VERSION 3.02 OF PC-BILL MASTER (April 1989) - The last item of the Utilities Menu now provides for the printing of all account codes and titles on a printer as well as displaying on the screen. - All print routines now print 60 lines per page and then send a form feed to the printer and reprint the page headings. - A bug was fixed in the program which would not allow check numbers to be changed. CHANGES IN VERSION 3.01 OF PC-BILL MASTER (March 1989) - A new display is now included which will present all 100 account codes and titles. This display is accessed via the last item on the Utilities Menu. - Several "bugs" fixed including - A blank type field is now changed to type "C". - A blank posted field is now changed to "N". - Non-posted items are now excluded when computing the statement balance in the statement routine. CHANGES IN VERSION 3.00 OF PC-BILL MASTER (February 1989) - Streamlined menus and operation, only one program module is now needed - BMASTER.EXE. The functions of the payments module have been incorporated into the main module. - Delete key will now delete any item; posted or unposted. - Insert key gives option for adding at end or after current record. - The Search function (function key 6) has been renamed Reports. Items can be selected from current checkbook or all checkbooks on disk. Items selected can either be displayed on screen or sent to printer (LPT1). Alternatively, pressing the print key displays the print function also. - Date and posted fields are automatically duplicated from previous entry. - Changing check number to 0 on item entry, does not change the check number that is duplicated for next entry. This is especially usefull for entering service charges, teller machine transactions, etc. - Checkbooks can now be merged. This is usefull for handling recurring payments. One checkbook can contain all recurring payments for a month as unposted items. At the beginning of each month, the amounts of the items can be changed for that months bills. The payments checkbook can then be merged to the end of the regular checkbook and the items posted as they are paid. - Checkbooks can now be selected from a menu rather than having to key the name into a field. - Pressing F10 saves the checkbook and exits you directly to DOS, rather than the main menu. FILES ON DISK README - Any last minute changes to the documentation BMASTER.DOC - This documentation BMASTER.EXE - PC-BILL MASTER program module REG.FRM - PC-BILL MASTE registration form TO USE PC-BILL MASTER 1) Boot DOS, 2) Insert PC-BILL MASTER program disk into disk drive, 3) Type "BMASTER" and PC-BILL MASTER will begin execution. Alternatively type "BMASTER /Q" to avoid the opening credits screen. A NOTE ABOUT MENUS A number of different menus appear within PC-BILL MASTER. When a menu appears, to highlight a menu item, simply press the up or down arrow. To select the highlighted menu item, press the enter key. To exit from the menu, either select the last menu item or press the escape key. PC-BILL MASTER MAIN MENU After the program loads and displays a credit's screen you will be presented with the main menu. From this menu you can load the default checkbook, specify a checkbook to load, specify the default checkbook or exit PC-BILL MASTER. It is important that you always exit PC-BILL MASTER by using this option rather than simply turning off your machine, as PC-BILL MASTER rewrites the configuration file while executing the last option. PC-BILL MASTER CHECKBOOK The first option on the main menu is to access the default checkbook. If this is the first time you have executed PC-BILL MASTER, an empty checkbook will be created for you. At the top of the screen on the very first line will be the account name and also the checkbook file name. On the next line the current account balance will appear; as will the total of all unposted items and the unposted balace (current account balance plus unposted items). Next the bottom most portion of the register will appear, with the last posted item in the checkbook being the last item on the screen. To scroll through the register simply press the up and down arrow keys. As scrolling takes place the current item appears highlighted. To scroll backwards and forwards a screen within the register press pgup and pgdown. To go to the beginning of the register press home and to go to the end of the register press end. PC-BILL MASTER actually uses two different types of displays. The initial display is the previously mentioned register display. If you press the escape key, the item display appears. The item display shows one item on the screen at a time, but at a greater level of detail. Where certain fields in the register display might have to be truncated, the item display shows the entire field. In addition, the item display gives a list of account codes and titles that are currently being used. The item positioning keys mentioned previously (up and down arrows, pgup, pgdown, home and end) work identically on the item display as they do on the register display. To return back to the register display from the item display simply press escape. At the bottom of either display appears a list of function keys that perform certain commands. Before describing the function keys however I wish to describe the various fields associated with each item on the screen. FIELD DESCRIPTION ----- ----------- Date Contains the date of the item, when entering if you press enter without keying anything the current date is taken as the default. It is advised that dates be entered as MM/DD/YY. That way you can do a search based upon MM and retrieve an entire months records. Type "C" for check, "D" for deposit. Number Sequential check number for the item, when entering if you press enter without keying anything the previous number is incremented automatically by 1. Payee Payee for the item. Amount Amount of the item. Memo Memo for the item. Code Ledger account code from 00 to 99. Code Title Appears to right of code on item display, does not appear on the register display. When adding a new item if the code has not been used before you will be prompted to enter a new title if desired, titles are optional though. Flag Can be used for any reason needed, for example a value of "T" could be used to flag tax deductions. Posted "Y" means item is posted, while "N" means item is unposted. Clear "Y" means item has cleared bank, while " " means item has not cleared. Balance Account balance when item was posted, note - this is not necessarily the current balance, it is only the current balance at the point the item is posted. It should be noted that regardless of which display is on the screen, the above fields for each item will be present; except for code title which appears only on the item display. The following is a list of all function keys that perform certain commands in PC-BILL MASTER. The function keys work identically from both item and register displays. FUNCTION KEY DESCRIPTION ------------ ----------- F1 Displays a help screen. F2 Enter a new item. A blank item display will appear. You should then key values followed by the enter key for each field on the screen. By pressing enter without keying a value within a field, the default value for the field will be taken. During entry (or changing) of an item, you can press the up and down arrows to position you at a field. If the field already has a value, the cursor will appear at the end of the value. Press backspace to delete the field and reenter or change the value as needed. To exit from entry (or change) mode, press the escape key. The entry (or change) menu will then appear. From this menu you can choose to accept the entry as keyed, abort the entry or to return to entry mode. You are also given the option of adding the item to the end of the checkbook or inserting the item after the current record. F3 Change current item. You can change any field except for three exceptions. First you can not change the amount for a posted item. Also you can not change the posted field itself. Nor can you change the type field. F4 Delete current item. F5 Post current item. The current item can only be posted if it is unposted. When posting occurs the posted field is changed to "Y", the current balance is changed to reflect the amount change, the balance field on the item is updated and the item is removed from the unposted items total. In addition, if the posted item had a blank date, the last keyed date is entered as the item date and the check number is incremented by one and entered as the item check number. Note, once an item is posted it can not be unposted. If you have made an error you will have to add a new item reflecting the correction amount. F6 Print reports. Search can be performed on most of the fields on the item display. The search is of the "AND" type meaning that if you have search values entered into two fields both searches have to be true for the item to be selected. A partial string search is allowed on all string type fields. For example to select all items entered during the month of November, simply key "11" in the date field. Note, the up and down arrow keys will position you at a field just like in enter and change mode. Once you have entered the search criteria, press the escape key and the search will begin. You will next be prompted if the search is to be performed on the current checkbook or all checkbooks on the disk. You will also be prompted if the results are to be displayed on the screen or sent to the printer. The PRINT key serves a similar function except the output is only sent to the printer and printing occurs for all items beginning at the current record. F7 Mark item as having cleared bank. This function key is used when you balance your bank statement. By positioning an item as the current item and pressing this function key, the item will be marked as cleared. A "Y" will appear in the cleared field on the screen. A subsequent press of this function key will erase the "Y". After you have marked all the items that have cleared on your statement, press function key 8 to display the statement balance. F8 Displays statement balance for use in bank reconciliation. After you have marked all items as cleared you should enter any bank charges that appear on your bank statement. The charges should be entered as posted and also be marked as having cleared the bank. Function key 8 will then compute a statement balance which should match the balance that appears on your bank statement. F9 Utilities menu. Will be explained below. F10 Save checkbook and exit PC-BILL MASTER. UTILITIES MENU Function key 9 will display the utilities menu. The various menu selections appear below. MENU SELECTION DESCRIPTION -------------- ----------- Registration Information Displays information on how to register your copy of PC-BILL MASTER. Merge Two Checkbooks Loads to the current checkbook all items from another checkbook. This function is very valuable for handling recurring payments. Display Checkbook Menu Displays a checkbook menu that is similar to the opening main menu. The current checkbook is saved before any additional actions take place. Set Screen Colors You can change colors for normal text, highlighted text and the background. Your color changes are automatically saved when the configuration file is written to disk. Change Account Name Allows you to change the account name of the currently loaded checkbook. This does not change the disk file name only the name that appears at the top of the register screen. To change the disk file name use the DOS rename command. Note though that all checkbook files must end with a ".REG" suffix. Change Accout Balance Allows you to change the current balance of the currently loaded checkbook. Zero Amounts Does just as it says, this is a very powerful function and should be used very carefully. I use it to zero the amounts in my recurring payments checkbook at the beginning of each month, before entering the amounts for the new month. Update Account Titles Allows you to update any of the account titles. Use the up and down arrows to position the account code desired. Then either enter or change the title as needed. Press escape to return to the menu. Displays/Prints Titles This option allows the user to display on the screen or print to the printer ALL account codes and titles. FINALLY I hope you find PC-BILL MASTER to be as usefull to you as I have found it to be myself. I would encourage you to register your copy of PC-BILL MASTER. The main advantage to registering is that you will be notified when future versions are available and have the opportunity to acquire future versions for a small distribution charge (currently $5.00). If enough people register version 3.02, additional versions will be forthcoming. Some changes I have been thinking about include an interface to Lotus 1-2-3 and a check writing function. Finally I would like to bring to your attention a new shareware program that I have developed. It is called "I FOUND IT". It is a database program written specifically for the home and small business. You would have to look far and wide to find an easier to use database program. It's appearance is very similar to PC-BILL MASTER. It includes both table and record views of your data, a powerfull search facility and reports in either record, labels or tabular report format. Reports can be printed for all records in the file or selected via a search criteria. Tabular reports include a facility for printing totals if desired. The database is composed of 19 fields with each field being of any length up to 70 characters. Fields can be given any field names desired by the user. "I FOUND IT" is available now, with a registration fee of $20.00. If you would like a copy, send me $20.00 along with your name and address and I will send you a copy. John Davis 1011 Brookgreen Dr. Cary, N.C. 27511 STATEMENT OF WARRANTY AND LIABILITY The author makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation, any warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. The author shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special or consequential arising from a failure of this program to operate in the manner desired by the user. In addition, the author shall not be liable for any damage to data or property which may be caused directly or indirectly by use of the program. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.