═══ 1. Introduction ═══ E-Teller is a bank and credit card account management utility which offers, among other features, the ability to print cheques using user-designed layouts, password protection, and an internal calendar. E-Teller is not free. Please see the Registration topic for information on registering E-Teller. ═══ 2. IMPORTANT NOTICE ═══ This is likely to be the last VX-Rexx version of E-Teller (providing I can convert the program to C++ as I would like to do). Exceptions are: my inability to convert E-Teller or bug fixes. ═══ 3. What's New ═══ ═══ 3.1. Version 2.12 ═══ New: 1. Q2ET is now a standalone C++ application which will not only convert QIF files to E-Teller format, but back to QIF format again. Note: I've learned that Microsoft Money (c) is capable of saving its files in QIF format. The only difference between a MS Money and Quicken QIF file is the line which denotes a cleared transaction. The former uses C* whereas the latter uses CX. Q2ET will recognize both when converting to E-Teller format, but not when it converts to QIF format. (Thanks go to Bojan Ivancic for this information). 2. Install is now a standalone C++ utility which no longer requires VROBJ.DLL. Fixed: 1. Field reordering was broken in version 2.11. (reported by Dick Orgass) 2. A syntax error occurred when adding a transaction under certain conditions. (reported by Graham Elliott) 3. A syntax error occurred when launching E-Teller for the first time and creating an account immediately. (reported by Wally Crapps) 4. Report feature was not permitting more than 5 chars./digits for the number field. (reported by Bojan Ivancic) 5. Q2ET wasn't saving the uncleared transaction from the QIF file to the .ldg file. (reported by Timur Tabi) 6. New non-taxable categories were not being added to the category list. 7. Express report wouldn't print after returning from the job dialog. (reported by Timur Tabi) Changed: 1. An empty .ldg file is now created when a new account is created. ═══ 3.2. Version 2.11 ═══ Fixed: 1. A persistent error when creating accounts whereby the new account files would be written to the root of the working drive rather than the working directory if an account directory value in e-teller.ini was not found. (reported by Richard Wooden) Changes: 1. The calendar is now run on a separate thread so that the user can continue to do other things with E-Teller while the calendar is loaded. ═══ 3.3. Version 2.1 ═══ New Features: 1. The code used to read transactions into a ledger and to recalculate balances has been significantly improved with the result that the time used to perform these operations is reduced by as much as 50% for North American users. For users whose currency format differs from the North American 1,000.00, please see the new International currency ledger menu it. 2. It is now possible to sort by date, number, particulars, credit, or debit column. 3. E-Teller now sports a calendar, accessible by clicking on the Display | Calendar menu item. 4. User can now set the next cheque number manually by clicking on the Options | Next cheque... menu item. 5. It is now possible to create a multi-category transaction without first having entered a credit or debit amount. The total of all multiple categories can be used as the credit or debit. (see the Multiple category topic). 6. E-Teller is now able to print cheques (never having printed cheques myself and never having used printable cheques, this version of the Cheque Printer may fall short of desired expectations, but it's not the final word). 7. Users can now get a balance of all accounts -- total of all bank account balances minus total of all outstanding ccard expenditures -- by selecting the Global balance... item from the account window's 'Utilities' menu. 8. User is no longer restricted to the yy/mm/dd date format. He/she can select one of three choices from the 'Options | Date Format | ' menu in the ledger window: 1) European (dd/mm/yy); 2) Ordered (yy/mm/dd); 3) US (mm/dd/yy). Note: I haven't changed any of the sorting code, since it seemed to work well the way it was in all 3 formats. If your experience is different, let me know. The program defaults to the Ordered format. 9. User can now enter new transactions directly in the ledger (by pressing Ctrl+N to initiate the process and or to manoeuvre between fields). (see the Create new... and Append new topics). 10. Ledger windows now show the account's icon above the system menu. 11. Added a 'Font...' item to the account window's 'View' menu, which invokes a standard font dialog. 12. Added a 'Font...' item to the ledger window's 'Display' menu, which invokes a standard font dialog. Note: there seems to be a problem with VX-Rexx 2.1. Sometimes, it mistakenly identifies the account container's font before destroying the window, in which case the selected font type/size is not restored at next invocation. To remedy this situation, the account container's font is saved whenever a font selection is made rather than before the window closes, and, as a result, the value is saved to its own key in the INI file, unlike previously, which means that the current 2.0 font selection will not be recognized. 13. E-Teller comes with its own calculator (in case the next version of OS/2 omits the calculator applet). 14. Limited password protection for individual accounts. 15. It is now possible to drag transactions from one ledger to another. 16. E-Teller now traps such things as syntax errors and the like by displaying some relevant information in a dialog box. If you get one of these, I would appreciate hearing about it, particularly the information contained in the dialog. 17. The button-bar icons have either changed or been made more visually appealing -- I think I've finally tapped into my artistic abilities. :) 18. A new Express report has been added to the Ledger menu which sends the contents of the current ledger to the printer (except for the memo, category, and multiple category columns). Fixes: 1. User-defined account icons were not being displayed. (reported by Glenn Davies) 2. ET_Month.exe was not regenerating the et_fix.dat file properly. 3. Recalculation would terminate when attempting to format a one-digit number in accordance with international currency settings. (reported Gordon McFee) 4. Returning from a cleared transaction display would not format the balance correctly. (reported Gordon McFee) 5. Cursor would not return to bottom of MLE when editing multiple categories directly in the Multi-Category Transaction dialog box (reported Timur Tabi) 6. The mini icon size menu item was not being checked during initialization if this option was selected. 7. When pausing a reconciliation and changing the credit/debit value, the balance would not be updated. (reported by Timur Tabi) 8. Fixed an error which would occur when calculating the balance after a Fees transaction was added prior to reconciliation. (reported by Roger Green) Changes: 1. Fixed Transactions are now created by selecting an existing ledger transaction. 2. Much of the initialization code for the main accounts window and the ledger window has been moved into separate threads. As a result, loading is a little snappier. 3. Moved the 'Options' item from the Transaction menu to the menu bar. 4. 'Ctrl+F4' accelerator in the accounts window to close opened ledgers has been changed to F3 in accordance with the similar accelerator in the ledger window. 5. Removed the 'Highlight' item from the 'Options' menu in the ledger window -- no longer relevant. 6. Removed the 'Auto dropdown' item from the 'Options' menu in the ledger window -- not longer relevant. 7. Removed the 'Enter key tabs' item from the 'Options' menu in the ledger window -- VX-Rexx accepts only the and keys. 8. Icons in ledger window have been made smaller. 9. The way in which a font is selected for the ledger (see above). 10. The calculator menu (clicking on it invokes the calculator from the ini file; clicking on the 'Select...' invokes a file dialog box.) 11. Account items in the particulars list are no longer preceded by an asterisk; rather they are enclosed within square brackets. 12. Auto-sorting has been re-enabled so appended transactions are automatically repositioned if the 'Sort' menu item is checked. Note: European format doesn't seem to want to sort for some reason, although both Ordered and U.S. do. 13. Increased the numbers limit from 5 to 10 (I received mail about one Eastern country having cheque numbers as high as 8, and soon to be 9). 14. The behaviour of the 'piggy-bank' button has changed -- click once to create a new transaction (equivalent to Create new in the Transactions menu); click a second time to confirm the addition or emendation. ═══ 3.4. Version 2.0a ═══ Fixes: 1. Two bugs in installation routine: 1) one of the macro files was not copied into the macros\ directory; 2) an error would occur when the final message about international currency support was to be inserted into the MLE. (reported by Timur Tabi) 2. Bug in the rebaccts.vrm macro-a new installation would go into an endless loop. 3. Bug when creating a new account. ═══ 3.5. Version 2.0 ═══ New features: 1. Resource icons contained in the new et_dll.dll file rather than being bound to the .exe. ET_dll.dll also contains some functions; and so it's as necessary as vrobj.dll. 2. E-Teller, the Report, and Budget utilities can now use their own user-defined directories-each has a Directories... menu item to allow this. 3. User can now change the column order of reports. 4. Reports now contain a clear/uncleared column. 5. Reconciliation pause toggle button for adding/editing transactions while reconciling. 6. It is now possible to have E-Teller display cleared transactions automatically for individual accounts by closing it while the cleared transactions are displayed. 7. International currency support for E-Teller and its utilities. In other words, users are no longer restricted to the North American $1,000.00 format. E-Teller now uses the values in the OS2.INI file to determine currency symbol/location, thousand/decimal separator, etc. So, DM 1.000,30; 1,000.00 $; $1 000.300 are all perfectly acceptable, as long as you've told OS/2 to treat currency numbers this way (in the System folder). The program defaults to $1,000.00 8. Cancel button in the ledger save prompt. 9. It is now possible to delete cleared transactions from within E-Teller. 10. If the date field is visible, but no date is entered when appending a transaction, E-Teller asks user if he/she would like to use the default system date rather than generate an error prompt. 11. Accounts window now keeps track of improperly closed ledgers, i.e. the cross-hatch is removed if the ledger's thread can't be found. 12. Some commonly/infrequently used routines moved to external VX-Rexx macros (in the \macros subdirectory). 13. New parameter switch for debugging those mysterious abrupt closures of ledgers-add the con switch to the parameter line and the VX-Rexx console will be active. 14. A small little utility called VX-Rexx Sleep that is intended to do nothing major except to preload vrobj.dll, which significantly decreases E-Teller's loading time. When the VX-Rexx Sleep window is active, the system date and time is displayed, and the time is updated every minute. When the window is minimized and another window is activated, VX-Rexx Sleep does what its name suggests. Right-click on the window for options. Fixes: 1. Clicking on the QIF converter item in the Utilities menu would generate a file-not-found error, even though the file was in the working directory. (reported by Timur Tabi) 2. Invoking the 'Category' window from within the Search dialog box before the contents of the 'Category' drop-down combobox could be filled resulted in an empty list box in the former. 3. Adding a new transaction would call on the budget update routine twice. 4. Some transaction values were set to NULL before creating a fixed transaction. 5. Bug in E-Teller Report when a tabulation was attempted on a non-numeric value (my type, not an accout error). (reported by Timur Tabi) 6. Bug in E-Teller Report if the user clicked 'Cancel' in the report-file exists prompt. 7. Bug in Sort menu item-clicking would have no effect where sorting was concered. (reported by Carl Graham) 8. Arithmetic error when reading cleared transactions. (reported by Kevin Quinn) 9. Bug when adding a fixed transaction from an editing session-some of the values were not being written to file. 10. Calculator was not getting the focus after invocation. (reported by Timur Tabi) 11. Double-clicking on a monthly budget item could halt the budget utility. 12. Date, Number, Particulars, Credit, and Debit entry fields are disabled if the associated ledger fields are hidden since these are useless if the ledger field is not visible. (reported by Timur Tabi) 13. Menu items and push/toggle buttons were not enabled after adding the first record to an account. Changes: 1. Minimize button in ledger to a Hide button. For some inexplicable reason, minimizing and then restoring the window would hide transaction records. Hiding and then restoring the window eliminates this problem. (reported by Timur Tabi) 2. Abort transaction accelerator to ESC from Ctrl+Backspace. 3. Moved pushbuttons from some windows to a menu (produces a less cluttered appearance). 4. Removed the warning message when editing cleared transactions. 5. Fixed Monthly checkbox in the Transaction Options dialog box is disabled if the date field is empty. 6. Transaction Options dialog box is now modal to prevent user from clicking on one of the ledger buttons or menu items. 7. A transaction date is no longer required. 8. Double-clicking on a hatched ledger icon no longer prompts user to refresh contents. Instead, it restores the window if minimized and sets the focus to the ledger container. 9. Removed 'Close all' item from the Accounts menu since it is redundant. ═══ 3.6. Version 1.9 ═══ New features: 1. Budget utility for building weekly, monthly, and yearly budgets. 2. Q2ET now builds a category.dat category list based upon the categories found during the conversion of a QIF file. 3. Added a Refresh now item to the popup menu for the Number, Particulars, and Category comboxes to refresh the contents of the respective lists after manually editing or adding to the file. 4. User-select descriptive text highlighting for the various transaction fields. 5. Pressing in the Number, Particulars, or Category field expands the entered prefix string to the first entry matching that prefix. 6. User can now turn automatic combo box drop down on and off by clicking on the new Auto dropdown item in the Transactions | Options menu. 7. Pressing from the Categories field now signals the routine for appending a new transaction. 8. Small error-checking routine for direct edits, in case a non-numeric value is entered in either the credit or debit column. Fixes: 1. Hint text for the piggy-bank button wrongly stated that the calculator would be loaded. (Reported by David Weston) 2. Display | Memos, Categories, and Multiple categories items were not initially checked as they should have been. (Reported by Timur Tabi) 3. Accounts | View item checkmarks were not being properly set (actually, my ignorance and not a bug). (Reported by Timur Tabi) 4. Cheque numbers weren't being properly incremented. (Reported by Carl Graham) 5. Ledger container was being repainted for every new balance when recalculating from the current transaction as opposed to the entire ledger. 6. A bug in E-Teller Report would cause it to crash if it didn't find any accounts at startup. Changes: 1. Put the system menu back for ledger windows. 2. Assigned 1.8's Alt+F4 for closing all ledgers and E-Teller to Alt+F3 (a result of the above change). 3. Number, Category fields (and their associated listboxes), and Particulars field (and its associated container) have been replaced by comboxes. 4. Field highlighting removed (see above). 5. Memo and Category fields are now on a separate line (allows greater room for displaying information). 6. Ctrl+Ins for appending new or confirming edited transactions changed to Ctrl+Enter. 7. Changed Print... item in the account window's Utility menu to Report.... 8. Changed the Ctrl+P accelerator for the Report... menu item in the account window's Utility menu to Ctrl+R. ═══ 3.7. Version 1.8 ═══ New features: 1. Improved report feature (easier to use with a more versatile search/report option). 2. E-Teller Report now treats multiple-category transactions as individual transactions. 3. Complex searches in E-Teller with and/or operators. 4. A Close (F3) menu item in the ledger Ledger menu to close the current ledger only. 5. An Exit (Alt-F4) menu item in the ledger Ledger menu to close all accounts and exit E-Teller. 6. Added the ability to change the order of the ledger columns (or fields) on a per ledger basis. 7. Added the ability to hide the various fields on a per ledger basis. 8. Removed the credit/debit window. Transactions are added directly from the ledger window in transaction fields. 9. Right-clicking on the Number, Particulars, and Category entry fields now brings up a menu for editing/adding or deleting items. The former invokes e.exe. 10. Added memo field to multiple-transaction window. 11. Added a View item to the Accounts menu to select either Icon, Name, or Text view, in addition to Mini or Regular icon size. 12. Q2ET now preserves split transaction memos which E-Teller can use. 13. New categories added to the multiple-category combobox are now saved as they are for regular transactions. 14. Tax related checkbox in the multiple-category dialog box. 15. Ability to edit multiple categories directly. 16. Multiple categories are no longer restricted to the string as the parent category. Fixes: 1. Intermittent problem in opening ledgers - stream would return NOTREADY. 2. A few inconsequential and not-so-inconsequential typos. 3. A few major and minor bugs in Q2ET. Changes: 1. Category, multi-category, and memo fields can now be made visible or invisible on a per ledger basis. 2. Removed the system menu from the ledger window. 3. Fixed transactions are now edited in two separate multi-line entry fields in one notebook. On-line help is available for syntax, etc. 4. It is now possible to select multiple transactions for deletion. 5. Refresh item in the Accounts menu changed to Refresh now. 6. Incorporated the Credit/Debit menu items and pushbuttons into one. Note: Both the menu item and pushbutton serve a different purpose in version 1.8 - they add a transaction rather than invoke a window. 7. Editing a transaction (either through double-clicking or direct manipulation) now recalculates from that transaction rather than the entire ledger ═══ 3.8. Version 1.7a ═══ New features: 1. Context-sensitive on-line help for virtually every aspect of E-Teller in a genuine OS/2 HLP file. 2. Added the missing entry in the Category selection listbox in E-Teller Report. Fixes: 1. A bug in the installation/conversion utility. Changes: 1. The No. field name in the credit/debit window to Number. 2. Reenabled the field check following a direct edit (Alt+left-click) so that editing the credit or debit field automatically invokes the recalculation (was disabled due to a bug in VROBJ.DLL 2.0a) ═══ 3.9. Version 1.7 ═══ New features: 1. User-defined account icons (E-Teller no longer defaults to bank.ico and ccard.ico) 2. Multiple categories for a single transaction and a corresponding SEND parameter in E-Teller Report. 3. Installation utility (required, since file format has changed to accommodate multi-category). 4. E-Teller Report automatically selects a script called default.fmt. 5. Save last date option in Transactions | Options (either use the current system date for first transaction entered in a new session, or the last, latest date of a transaction during a previous session). 6. ET_Month is now able to resolve five instances of a given weekday within a month thereby eliminating a second spurious weekday transaction with monthly frequency. Fixes: 1. Bug for tax-related transactions whereby would be added a second time if the transaction appeared in info.dat and was used again. 2. Ledger windows were not being properly cascaded when opened. 3. When closing the main window and a ledger required saving, E-Teller would close it anyway without waiting for the user's response. 4. When editing a fixed transaction with a single-digit date, that date would not be properly displayed in Begin on:. 5. Ledger container would not repaint when undeleting transactions. 6. A miscalculation when displaying cleared transactions. Changes: 1. Sort item in the Transactions menu is no longer saved to e-teller.ini (it was causing unpredictable results when recalculating). Instead, click Sort and the records are sorted, after which you are asked if you want to save the sort order to file, which is the order in which E-Teller will read the transactions in the future. 2. Fixed transaction checkbox disabled until amount is entered. 3. Menu structure in E-Teller Report to reflect more accurately the items contained in each. 4. Q2ET is now more reliable and automated. 5. Q2ET now calls upon epm.exe rather than e.exe for error correction (easier to locate line numbers). 6. Q2ET now preserves split category data when converting Quicken (c) QIF files. Important notice: Registration fee and payment schedule has changed as of version 1.7. Additional payments for subsequent major releases is no longer required. Instead, the initial registration fee has been raised to $25 US ($30 CDN) and represents a one-time payment which covers all subsequent releases for both current and future registered users. ═══ 3.10. Version 1.6 ═══ New features: 1. Moved ledger to separate window so that multiple accounts may be opened simultaneously. 2. Added checking routine to ET_Month to ensure that et_fixed.dat isn't processed more than once at the start of a new calendar month (in case the system is booted twice on the first). 3. Added a routine to ET_Month to ensure that et_fix.dat is generated for each new month, in case the user doesn't boot OS/2 (c) on the first of the month. 4. Added accelerators for the Reconcile and Delete menu items in the ledger window. 5. Added user-defined digits support (see Command line parameters). 6. INF-like help (crude, but effective) with semi-context-sensitive help. 7. Fields in the credit/debit window now change their background colour whenever a field has the focus. 8. User-defined behaviour for the key in the credit / debit window (either selects OK or tabs to next field). 9. Added an Income tax category checkbox in the credit / debit window. 10. E-Teller Report can now create reports of income-tax related transactions only. Fixes: 1. Potential bug in selecting balance adjustment in reconciliation if there is only one transaction in the ledger. 2. Typo in reconciliation dialogbox. 3. The reconciliation toggle button would not return to its depressed state when selecting Cancel from the discrepancy dialog box. 4. The fixed day-of-week transactions may have been inadvertently removed from et_fixed.dat when adding a fixed date-of-month transaction. 5. A potential et_month problem in updating cheque numbers on transactions which occur more than once a month. Changes: 1. Rewrote comma code to support unlimited commas. 2. Integrated progress bar into the ledger window (separate window was too obtrusive) 3. Cleared toggle button is depressed if user chooses not to save after reconciliation. 4. Removed the back/forecolor window. Neat, but took up too much valuable code real estate to warrant its existance. User can still set the background colour only of the ledger and accounts containers only. 5. Removed the set ledger font window, but it is still possible to set the font of the ledger container. 6. Cycling through the date in the credit/debit window now recognizes leap years. 7. Removed the window associated with et_month (messages went by far too quickly to be of any real use). 8. Changed the Entries menu item in the ledger window to Transactions ═══ 3.11. Version 1.5 ═══ New Features: 1. More intelligent and dependable Quicken (c) file conversion program (now an .exe). 2. Added comma support for amounts (stops at 999,999,999.00 since Rexx begins to use exponents after that). 3. Fixed transactions are now more intelligent and can be set for specific weekdays and one of four frequencies - weekly, biweekly, triweekly, and monthly. 4. ET_Month now keeps track of the last cheque (if applicable) and prompts the user to enter the next cheque number at the start of each calendar month if the Prompt for next cheque number checkbox is checked in the Fixed Transaction window 5. Added progress bar for reading, and saving transactions. 6. Added a Recalculate. item in the Entries menu to force a recalculation. 7. Added mnemonics to the accounts and ledger groupboxes for quick switching. 8. Various *.dat files are now reduced to three: number.dat, info.dat, and category.dat (unchanged). 9. Editing et_fix.dat and et_fixed.dat is now handled separately. 10. Added an error handling routine in case something goes wrong when reading account files.in 11. Dispensed with the transaction count when reading cleared and uncleared transactions to speed up the reading/formatting process. 12. The recalculation routine is called when reading uncleared transactions rather than having the running balance updated for each record read - speeds up the reading/formatting process. Fixes: 1. Fixed an erroneous (and harmless) message about an account not having a filename associated with it when saving the account after reconciling. 2. The balance column was not made visible after successfully reconciling the account. 3. If deleted transactions are displayed and user saves account, the undeleted transactions are first displayed (to prevent only the deleted transactions from being saved). 4. Fixed an error whereby the string 'day' would be saved for fixed transactions rather than the actual date. 5. Fixed a bug whereby coming back from undeleting would not recalculate the balance. 6. Fixed a mysterious bug in editing fixed transactions. 7. Think I fixed a mysterious lockup in credit/debit window 8. Fixed a buglet in the pre-reconcilition routine. (reported by S. John Banner) 9. Fixed a bug whereby bogus pay to.../details data would be saved to the number.dat file. 10. Tabbing from the Number combo-box in the credit/debit window now fills in all of the various fields with previously saved data. 11. The amount field in the credit/debit window now has the descriptive text 'Amount' attached to it, so pressing Alt+A moves user directly to that field. 12. The balance would not be recalculated when going from a non-sorted to a sorted display. 13. Routines have been added to ensure that multiple instances of the same window aren't loaded. ═══ 4. Installation ═══ This section explains how to install E-Teller 2.1. By now, it is assumed that previous users of E-Teller no longer require that their files be converted to work for versions 1.7 and up, and so no conversion utility is included in the installation utility. If you are a new user, simply run the install.cmd file which, in turn, invokes the _install.exe utility. The sole reason for install.cmd is to ensure that a VX-Rexx application is not run with two copies of VROBJ.DLL on the drive (VX-Rexx may get confused and perform unpredictably). In all cases, you are requested to enter a target directory. If you are a previous user of E-Teller and do not want to install over your existing copy, select a different directory. After installing in a new directory, you should copy your e-teller.ini file to the new location since it holds, among other things, your registration key (if you've registered), and the location of your account, report, icon, and budget files. A manual installation is possible. You must copy VROBJ.DLL to a location in your libpath statement; copy all but the *.vrm and *.vrw files to your proposed directory; and copy the *.vrm and *.vrw files to a directory named macros beneath the E-Teller directory. A complete list of all the files which should have been in the directory is contained in the read.me file. ═══ 5. Accounts Window ═══ This section describes the operations specific to the Accounts window and its various menu items. Available Accounts menu topics are: New Close Edit... Delete Password protect... Set icon... New fiscal year... Available Options menu topics are: Auto open Backup on exit Refresh now Date format Directories... Font... Icon size View Available Utilities menu topics are: Budget... Report... QIF converter... Global balance... Additional help is available for: Opening regular accounts Opening fixed accounts ═══ 5.1. 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: 1. Bank (bank book icon) 2. Credit Card (credit card icon) Icon (optional)is an .ICO file of your choice which will act as a visual representation in E-Teller's accounts container and as the icon above the ledger's system menu. 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. There are two ways you can specify an external .ICO file: 1. clicking on the Find Icon... pushbutton 2. dragging an .ICO file to the square next to the Icon: label Note: The only limitation is the Fixed Transactions item in the accounts container whose icon cannot be set. ═══ 5.2. Closing account ledgers ═══ Click the Close menu item to close all of the currently opened ledgers or, by right-clicking on a specific ledger, only that ledger from the account window. ═══ 5.3. Refresh now... ═══ Click the Refresh now... menu item to refresh the records in the accounts window. What this item does is, basically, delete the interpretable macro file (see below), fetch the account directory from e-teller.ini, and rebuild the macro file. A word of explanation is in order. E-Teller loads the accounts into the container by interpreting an external file which is located in the macros directory beneath E-Teller's. When the program is first started, it looks for this file. If it finds it, it interprets each line in order to save time in filling the container (otherwise, it would have to sniff out the data from each of the account *.clr files). If the lstaccts.etm file is not found, E-Teller builds it. This is fine if a user doesn't move his/her account files to a different directory manually, i.e. without going through the Directories... menu item. If a user does move the accounts manually, then the lstaccts.etm file is not updated as it should be, although it appears that the accounts have been successfully located. Problems begin when an account icon is double-clicked. E-Teller can't find the *.clr and *.ldg files, so it is unsuccessful in opening the account. In other words, if you move the account files manually, specify the new account directory by clicking on the Directories... item, delete the lstaccts.etm file, and restart E-Teller. This way, the program will be forced to look for the directory in e-teller.ini and to rebuild the interpretable file. ═══ 5.4. Date Format ═══ This topic explains the Date Format menu item. This menu item permits you to select one of three date formats from the accounts window. These are: o European (dd/mm/yy) o Ordered (yy/mm/dd) o U.S. (mm/dd/yy) Note: This menu item is disabled while a ledger is opened to prevent a user from changing the format without the ledger being notified. For further information on the date format feature, please see the ledger Date format topic. ═══ 5.5. View ═══ This topic describes the various options beneath the View menu item. This cascaded menu permits you to select one of three container views for the accounts window. These are: Icon Selects an icon view for the account container in which the account names are located beneath the icon. Text Display the container records without their icons. Name Selects a name view for the account container in which the account names are located to the right of the icon. ═══ 5.6. Edit ═══ This topic explains the function of the Edit menu item. The Edit item permits a user to edit all but the starting balance of an account. For a description of the various fields in the Edit Account window, see the New topic. ═══ 5.7. Delete ═══ This topic explains the function of the Delete menu item. Select the Delete item to delete an account, which essentially removes the account's .clr and .ldg files, as well as the account's entry in the e-teller.ini file. If you select this item from the pull-down menu, then the first selected account will be considered the one you want deleted. Alternatively, right-click on the account you want to delete and select Delete from the popup menu. Note: In all cases, a dialog box prompts you to confirm that the account is to be deleted. ═══ 5.8. Password protect... ═══ This topic explains how the password protection feature. When you click on this item and the account is not password protected, then a dialog box will be displayed in which you enter the new password for the account in one field and enter an identical password in the verification field. If both match, the account will be password protected, and will be opened only if the valid password is entered. If the account is already password protected, you can change its password by clicking on the Password protect... menu item. In order to change the password, you must first enter the valid old password. To clear an existing password, click on the Password protect... item, enter the valid password when prompted, and leave the Password and Verify fields blank. E-Teller will then ask you if you wish to clear the password for the current account. Once cleared, the account can be opened without the necessity of entering a password. ═══ 5.9. Set icon... ═══ This topic explains the function of the Set icon... menu item. All but the fixed transaction account can display a user-defined .ICO icon file. This menu item exists in order to permit quick changes to the account's icon. Alternatively, you can change the account's icon by selecting the Edit menu item. Note: If no icon has been selected, E-Teller will default to a bank book for bank accounts and to a credit card for credit card accounts. ═══ 5.10. New fiscal year... ═══ This topic explains the purpose of the New fiscal year... menu item. 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. ═══ 5.11. Directories... ═══ This topic explains the Directories... item common to some of E-Teller's applications. When you select this item, a dialog box appears containing four fields: 1. Accounts 2. Budgets 3. Icons 4. Reports Depending on the application from which the dialog was invoked, various fields will be disabled. For example, invoking from within the accounts window disables the Budgets and Reports, invoking from within the report application enables on the Reports field, and from within the budget application enables on the Budgets field. This is to prevent the given application from not knowing that its files have been moved in the event that it is opened at the same time as the one which has changed the directories. The only application which requires special attention is E-Teller itself. When you move the account files, you are, in essence, invalidating the file name lines in the et_fix.dat and et_fixed.dat fixed transaction files, which is why it is important that you edit the file paths in these files. E-Teller will automatically invoke the fixed file notebook for you when you've changed the directories so that you can make the alterations before proceeding on to other things. ═══ 5.12. Font... ═══ This topic describes the purpose of the Font... menu item. Clicking on this menu item invokes a font dialog box in which you may select a font type and size for the accounts container only. To change the font display for the ledger container, see the Font... topic. ═══ 5.13. Icon size ═══ This topic explains the function of the Icon size menu item. This cascaded menu permits you to select one of two icon size displays: o mini o regular ═══ 5.14. Auto open ═══ This section describes the purpose behind the Auto open menu item. If this item is checked when E-Teller exits, then the last closed account will be automatically opened the next time E-Teller is started. In other words, if you're concerned which ledger gets opened when you have Auto open enabled, then ensure that you close that ledger window last. ═══ 5.15. Backup on exit ═══ This topic explain the purpose of the Backup on exit menu item. If this menu item is checked when E-Teller exits, then you will be prompted to insert a floppy diskette into a drive and to click on it's corresponding button, i.e. A: or B:, after which all of the account *.clr and *.ldg files, in addition to the various *.dat files located in the accounts directory (see Directories...) will be copied to the diskette for backup purposes. If ever you need to restore a backup copy of these files, simply copy them from the floppy diskette to the accounts directory. ═══ 5.16. Budget... ═══ This topic explains the purpose of the Budget... menu item. Clicking on this menu item invokes E-Teller Budget, a utility which permits a user to defined weekly, monthly, and yearly budgets. For additional help on the budget feature, see the Creating a Budget topic. ═══ 5.17. Report... ═══ This topic describes the purpose of the Report... menu item. Clicking this menu item invokes E-Teller Report, a utility designed to create reports which currently accept only two formats (I'm still waiting for suggestions on other formats). For additional help on the report feature, see the Creating Reports topic. ═══ 5.18. QIF converter... ═══ This topic explains the purpose behind the QIF converter... menu item. Clicking on this menu item invokes the Q2ET utility which converts Quicken (c) QIF files to E-Teller format. For additional help on the QIF converter utility, see the Converting Quicken Data topic. ═══ 5.19. Global balance... ═══ This topic explains the purpose of the Global balance... menu item. Clicking on this menu item invokes the global balance feature of E-Teller. What this feature essentially does is sniff out the balances of all the account .clr and .ldg files in order to arrive at a net worth. Simply put, all bank account balances are added; all outstanding credit card balances are added; the latter is subtracted from the former, e.g. Bank Accounts - CCard accounts = Global Balance ═══ 5.20. Opening accounts ═══ This topic explains how to open an account (or ledger). To open an existing account, double-click on its icon. If the account is password protected you will be prompted to enter the account's password. ═══ 6. Ledger Window ═══ This section describes the operations specific to the Ledger window and its various menu items. Available Ledger menu topics are: Reconcile Save Express report Fields... Close Exit Available Display menu topics are: Cleared Memos Categories Multiple categories Find... Calculator Calendar Item lists Font... Save settings Available Transactions menu topics are: Create new... Create fixed... Append new Abort new/edit Multiple category... Edit... Delete Undelete... Recalculate Sort Sort now by Print cheque(s)... Available Options menu topics are: Beep on transaction Date format International currency Save particulars Save memos Save last date Next cheque... ═══ 6.1. Reconcile ═══ This topic describes how to reconcile 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 the Reconcile... menu item. 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. You can pause the reconcilation at any time to add or edit transactions by clicking on the toggle button. To resume reconciling your account, click on the button. ═══ 6.2. Save ═══ This topic describes the purpose of the Save menu item. Clicking on this item saves the contents of the current ledger to the file. Ordinarily, it is not necessary to save newly created transactions, since these are save to file as soon as the Append new item is clicked (or Ctrl+Enter is pressed). There are two exceptions to this rule, however: 1. Editing a transaction 2. Deleting a transaction In both cases, the changes are not immediately written to file. If, after making extensive changes to the account, you forget to save those changes, E-Teller will prompt you before actually closing the ledger. ═══ 6.3. Express report ═══ This topic explains the function of the Express report menu item. When you click this item, the contents of the current ledger are sent to the printer, with the exception that the memo, category, and mulitple category columns are not included in order for the ledger to fit comfortably on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper. Because the length of the Numbers column has been increased from 5 to 10, both the Date and Numbers items appear on a line by themselves; all subsequent information is printed on the adjacent line. The purpose behind the Express report feature is primarily for those situations in which you want a quick hard copy of the ledger. Note: The temporary file is sent to the default printer, so ensure that your default printer isn't a fax modem or anything of that sort. Note: If you wish to omit a column from the report, simply hide it before clicking on the Express report menu item. For help on hiding columns, see the Fields... topic. ═══ 6.4. Fields... ═══ This topic describes the purpose of the Fields... menu item. When you click on this item, a dialog box is invoked in which are listed the various ledger field names in the order in which they are currently displayed for the current ledger, in addition to either visible or hidden To change a field's visible status to hidden, or vice versa, double click on its name. To change the field order, press and hold the right mouse button, and drag the field to a different location within the container. Once you are satisfied with the settings, click either the Set or Save item in the Order menu. Set merely sets the visibility attribute of the ledger fields for the current session; Save both sets the visibility attribute and saves the layout to the account's .clr file. To return to the default field order and visibility, click on the Default menu item. Note: Only the visibility will be immediately displayed. In order for the new field order to be displayed, the ledger must first be closed and then reopened. ═══ 6.5. Close ═══ This topic describes the purpose of the Close menu item. Click this menu item or press the corresponding F3 accelerator to close the current ledger. If you wish to exit E-Teller altogether, you may either click the Exit item or close the account window, which will then ensure that each ledger thread is notified that a shutdown request has been received. ═══ 6.6. Exit ═══ This topic explains the function of the Exit menu item. To exit E-Teller (that is, close all the currently opened ledgers in addition to the accounts window), either click on this menu item or press the corresponding Alt+F3 accelerator. Alternatively, double-click on the account window's system menu. ═══ 6.7. Cleared ═══ This topic explains the function of the Cleared menu item. By default, the cleared transactions (those contained in the *.clr) file are not loaded into the ledger container. You can display these transactions either by clicking on the Cleared menu item, or on the toggle button. To remove the cleared transactions from the ledger, either click on the Cleared menu item again or on the toggle button. If you close the ledger with the cleared transactions displayed, then the next time you open that ledger, the cleared transactions will be automatically loaded. ═══ 6.8. Memos ═══ This topic explains the function of the Memos menu item. You can hide or display the memo column easily by clicking on the toggle button. This, along with the category and multiple category are the only columns which can be easily displayed and hidden. All others must be set by clicking on the Fields... menu item. To display the memo column, click on the Memos menu item again or on the toggle button. ═══ 6.9. Categories ═══ This topic explains the function of the Categories menu item. You can hide or display the category column easily by clicking on the toggle button. This, along with the memo and multiple category are the only columns which can be easily displayed and hidden. All others must be set by clicking on the Fields... menu item. To display the category column, click on the Categories menu item again or on the toggle button. ═══ 6.10. Multiple categories ═══ This topic explains the function of the Multiple categories menu item. You can hide or display the multiple category column easily by clicking on the toggle button. This, along with the category and memo are the only columns which can be easily displayed and hidden. All others must be set by clicking on the Fields... menu item. To display the memo column, click on the Multiple category menu item again or on the toggle button. ═══ 6.11. Find... ═══ This topic explains the function of Find... menu item. Clicking on this item invokes the Search utility. For additional help on using this feature, see the Search feature topic. The search feature is also accessible by clicking on the pushbutton. ═══ 6.12. Calculator ═══ This topic explains the function of Calculator menu item. If you simply click on the Calculator menu item, then the currently selected calculator (if any) will be invoked. You can select a different calculator at any time by clicking on the Select... menu item beneath the Calculator item and by selecting the calculator applet in the file dialog box. The calculator is also accessible by clicking on the pushbutton. ═══ 6.13. Calendar ═══ This topic explains the function of Calendar menu item. A simple calendar is accessible at all times by clicking on this menu item or by pressing its corresponding Ctrl+L accelerator. The calendar is quite easy to use. When first invoked, it displays the current month with the current day highlighted in yellow. Pressing the button labelled  turns the calendar back one 'page';  advances the calendar one 'page'; and  jumps to the current month. ═══ 6.14. Item lists ═══ This topic explains the function of Item lists menu item. Number, Particulars, and Category lists are maintained globally, whereas, in versions previous to 2.1, each ledger had its own list. I strongly suspect that the case of the disappearing list items was partly due to this. The lists are all contained in one window which is accessible at all times from within any ledger window by clicking on the Item lists item or its corresponding F5 accelerator. To insert a list item within a new transaction or an existing one, you must have selected either the Create new or Edit items first; otherwise, double-clicking on the list item will have no effect. If you are currently adding a new transaction or editing an existing one (not by Alt+LMB), then double-clicking on a list item automatically fills the appropriate fields with the data displayed in the list. Althought the list items window contains a Save menu item, you need not save the lists whenever you've deleted, edited, or added an item. E-Teller automatically updates the appropriate file if it finds that the contents of any given list has changed. You cannot add items directly to the list. This is done automatically if the Save particulars and Save memo menu items are checked. If you enter a new category in a transaction, E-Teller will first prompt you if the new category is a taxable item. If it is, then the category will have the string appended to it, and then it will be added to the category list. In the particulars list you will find items enclosed within square brackets. These denote available accounts which appear in the account container. Selecting any of these items automatically adds a mirror copy, as it were, of the transaction to the other account. For more information on this feature, see the Adding transactions to two files topic. ═══ 6.15. Font... ═══ This topic explains the function of the Font... menu item. When you click this item, a font dialog box is invoked in which you select the font type and size for the ledger container only The value is immediately saved to the e-teller.ini file and is used for all ledger containers. To change the font of the accounts container, see the View topic. ═══ 6.16. Save settings ═══ This topic describes the function of the Save settings menu item. Because each ledger shares the same resources, it would be both impracticle and time consuming if each were to save such information as window size and container fore/background colour to the e-teller.ini file. For this reason, the Save settings menu item must be selected whenever you wish to save such information. Otherwise, the new ledger size, for example, will not be in effect the next time a ledger is opened. This is not the case for the accounts window, however. It saves its position, size, etc. automatically when it is closed. ═══ 6.17. Create new ═══ This topic describes the function of the Create new menu item. To add a new transaction to the ledger, you must either click on this item or on the button. It initiates the process by creating a new record for you and automatically opening the first visible field for direct editing. You then proceed to enter the data for the new transaction, upon completion of which you select the Append new item (or press the corresponding Ctrl+Enter accelerator or button). You can abort the new transaction at any time during its creation by pressing either the Abort new/edit menu item or by pressing the Esc key. IMPORTANT NOTE 1: To manoeuvre between fields, press either the Tab or Backtab keys. Occasionally, the program will fall out of direct edit mode. If the key prompt is still displayed in the status text area of the ledger, then E-Teller will still consider you to be in direct edit mode, and so pressing either the Tab or Backtab keys will bring you back into direct edit. IMPORTANT NOTE 2: Unlike previous versions of E-Teller, the number, particulars, and category lists may not appear to be available. In fact, they are by pressing the F5 key. For additional help on the list items, see the Item lists topic. p.Each transaction requires a minimum of two pieces of data, namely, a Date and an amount in either the Credit/Payment or Debit/Charge column. There are, as well, a few restrictions: o Regardless of the date format you prefer, you must separate the elements by a forward slash. o Linefeeds are not permitted in any of the columns with the exception of the multiple category column, because that one is handled differently. o Your Numbers item cannot exceed 10 characters (anything longer will be truncated). o Your Particulars item is not limited in size, but be aware that anything longer than 25 characters will be truncated in all reports. ═══ 6.18. Create fixed ═══ This topic explains the function of the Create fixed menu item. Early versions of E-Teller gave the user the option of creating a fixed transaction immediately after a new transaction was added to the ledger. Because the secondary window was found to be obtrusive, this is no longer the case as of version 2.1. Instead, to create a new fixed transaction, the user must first select the transaction which is to be added to the fixed transaction file and then select this menu item, which will invoke the Fixed Transaction dialog box. For additional help on creating fixed transactions, see the Working with Fixed Transactions topic. ═══ 6.19. Append new ═══ This topic describes the function of the Append new menu item. When creating a new transaction or editing an existing one, you must click on this menu item (or the icon or press the Ctrl+Enter key) in order to confirm the addition or emendation. Failing to do so is likely to have undesirable results. Although the menu says Append new the status of the Sort will decide the transaction's final placement within the ledger. If sorting is checked, then the transaction will be moved according to its date first. ═══ 6.20. Abort new/edit ═══ This topic explains the function of the Abort new/edit menu item. Depending upon the type of operation, clicking this item or pressing the Esc key has two different functions. 1. If you were in the process of adding a new transaction, aborting removes the newly created record and clears the status line. 2. If you were in the process of editing an existing transaction, aborting replaces the old field values and clears the status line. ═══ 6.21. Multiple category... ═══ This topic explains the function of the Multiple category... menu item. If you wish to assign various portions of a transaction's amount to different categories, then click on this menu item which will invoke the Multi-Category Transaction dialog box. If you invoke this dialog with an amount in either the credit or debit fields, then the base amount will be displayed, and each new category you specify with each new total will be subtracted from the base amount. If you invoke the dialog without any amount, then each new category and amount will be added to form the base amount which you can then apply either to the credit or debit fields. Creating a multiple-category transaction is fairly straightforward: 1. select a category from the Category combobox. 2. enter the desired amount in the Amount entryfield. 3. click the Tax related checkbox if appropriate. 4. enter an optional memo in the Memo entryfield. 5. click the Add button. If you have made an error, you can do one of two things: 1. click the Reset button or 2. check the Direct edit checkbox The first option will clear the list of defined categories and return you to the beginning. The second option will allow you to edit the defined categories directly. If you select this option, it is your responsibility to ensure that the totals are accurate. Once you're done editing, remove the checkmark from the Direct edit checkbox. To confirm the contents of the multiple categories, click the OK button. ═══ 6.22. Edit... ═══ This topic explains the function of the Edit... menu item. To edit an existing transaction, either select this menu item, double-click on the transaction, or scroll to it and press Enter Make the necessary changes, and click either the Append new item, or press the Ctrl+Enter key combination. To abort, either press the Abort new/edit item or press the Esc key. ═══ 6.23. Delete ═══ This topic explains the function of the Delete menu item. To remove transactions from a ledger, select them and either click on this menu item or press the Ctrl+D key combination. The transactions are not actually deleted; rather they are hidden to allow the user to undelete any or all of the deleted transactions. ═══ 6.24. Undelete... ═══ This topic explains the function of the Undelete... menu item. To undelete previously deleted transactions, click on this menu item, after which the current transactions will be hidden, and the deleted ones displayed. Undeleting transactions is simply a matter of double-clicking on those you want restored. When you're done undeleting, click on the Undelete... menu item once again, and the transactions will be displayed. The Undelete... menu item is disabled as long as there are no deleted transactions available to be undeleted. Note: Deleted transactions are available until the ledger is either closed or you click on the Cleared menu item to remove the cleared transactions from the ledger and to display only the uncleared transactions. ═══ 6.25. Recalculate ═══ This topic explains the function of the Recalculate menu item. Ordinarily, it isn't necessary to force E-Teller to recalculate the balance. This option is present only in the event that something wrong occurs (which isn't at all unlikely), and that your balance does not correspond to the debits/credits. ═══ 6.26. Sort ═══ This topic explains the function of the Sort menu item. If this item is checked, then all transactions which are added to ledger will be sorted after the user presses the Append new item. Sorting is done based upon the date alone. If the item is not checked, then appended transactions will be added to the end of the ledger. Note: For some reason, sorting isn't reliable on the European date format. I can't figure out why. If ever I do, I'll be sure to fix it. ═══ 6.27. Sort now by ═══ This topic explains the function of the Sort now by menu item. There are five sub-menus to the Sort now by menu item, and selecting one of them will sort the contents of the ledger in ascending order. The five sub-menu options are: Date Sorts the ledger based on the contents of the Date column (this is the default if no item is selected). Number Sorts the ledger based on the contents of the Number column. Particulars Sorts the ledger based on the contents of the Particulars column. Credit Sorts the ledger based on the contents of the Credit column. Debit Sorts the ledger based on the contents of the Debit column. Whenever a sort option is used, the Balance column is not automatically updated. If you want the balance column to reflect the new sort order, click on the Recalculate menu item. ═══ 6.28. Print cheque(s) ═══ This topic explains the function of the Print cheque(s) menu item. Clicking on this option invokes the cheque printer feature and passes to it the currently selected transactions. The cheque printer is still in its infancy, so it's not likely to meet with everyone's acceptance. Basically, this is how it works: The first cheque passed to the cheque printer is displayed in the fields. You can make any changes you desire at this stage. You must enter an amount in the field in which you would normally enter a written amount, i.e. one hundred fifty dollars & 0/00 When this field loses focus, it fills the remaining space with asterisks. Once you are satisfied with the appearance of the cheque, press the Ctrl+P key combination, at which point the cheque will be written to a temporary file and the next queued cheque will be displayed. Follow the procedure outlined above for every queued cheque. If you change your mind about printing a cheque, press the Ctrl+S key combination in order to skip the currently displayed cheque and to load the next one in the queue. Once there are no cheques waiting in the queue, you will be prompted either to print the cheques or to invoke the printer jobs dialog box. Once you elect to print the cheques, the constructed temporary file will be sent to the printer as is. You can also design your own cheque layouts. You do so by: 1. selecting the Design... item from the Options menu, 2. selecting the field either from the Field drop-down combobox or clicking on the field in the cheque window, 3. ensuring that the Print this field checkbox is checked if you want the field to be printed, 4. clicking on the Horizontal and Vertical spin buttons to move the fields to a new location, 5. specifying the linefeeds between cheques (if necessary), 6. specifying the top margin (if necessary), 7. clicking on the Save pushbutton. If you want to test the design of your cheque layout, click on the Print test button and one demo cheque will be sent to the printer. To select or edit an existing design, click on the Designs... pushbutton, and double-click on the desired design in the listbox. Note: The last design you used is the one the cheque printer will use when it is first invoked, so it is not necessary to select the design everytime you want to print cheques (unless you use multiple designs). You can determine which design is currently active by looking at the status area of the cheque window. ═══ 6.29. Beep on transaction ═══ This topic explains the function of the Beep on transaction menu item. When this menu item is checked, a double audible tone will sound from the computer speaker whenever a transaction is added to the ledger or an existing one is edited. To disable the beep, simply uncheck the menu item. Note: The beep cannot be disabled in the non-registered version. ═══ 6.30. Date format ═══ This topic explains the function of the Date format menu item. E-Teller accepts three possible date formats: European dd/mm/yy Ordered (default) yy/mm/dd U.S. mm/dd/yy If you select a different date format, E-Teller will ask you if you would like the dates in the ledger changed to reflect the new format. It is recommended that you load the cleared transactions before changing the date format, so that the new format will be applied to all of your transactions. Regardless of the format you select, you must use the same date format consistently throughout a ledger, and you must use forward slashes to separate the three elements of the date. Failing to comply to the former will result in unpredictable sorting if the sort menu item is checked; and failing to comply to the latter will result in an error message. ═══ 6.31. International currency ═══ This topic explains the function of the International currency menu item. This item is intended for users whose currency format differs from the North American thousand and decimal separator, i.e. 1,000.00. If your currency format uses a different format, for example, 1.000,00, then you must select this menu item in order to activate E-Teller's international currency support. A note of explanation is in order. Previously, the routine to calculate formatted monetary amounts dealt with the possibility that the user's currency format differed from the North American format; in other words, it took a few extra steps for all numbers, regardless of whether they used a different format or not. This resulted in a serious performance hit for everyone. In order to diminish the time required to load and calculate ledger entries, the International currency menu item has been added. If this menu item is checked, then E-Teller will assume that your decimal separator is a comma and not a period, and that your thousand separator is something other than a comma. This arrangement is mutually beneficial, since it significantly decreases the amount of time E-Teller requires to load transactions and recalculate balances by as much as 50% for North American users (I'm not sure what the benefits are for others, but I certainly would like to hear opinions). Note: This extra step for non-North American currency formats is necessary only in the ledger window ═══ 6.32. Save particulars ═══ This topic explains the function of the Save particulars menu item. When this menu item is checked then adding or editing a transaction by selecting the Append new menu item automatically updates the Particulars list to include the new transaction information, specifically the particulars, amount, optionally the memo, and the category items. If this menu item is not checked, then the above-mentioned data are not saved, and so the information is not available for insertion into future transactions. For additional help on the list items, see the Item lists topic. ═══ 6.33. Save memos ═══ This topic explains the function of the Save memos menu item. If this item is checked, and the Save particulars item is also checked, then the memo which has been entered in the memo column of a new or edited transaction will be saved in addition to the other data mentioned in the Save particulars topic. Otherwise, the memo will be excluded from the item list. For additional information on the item lists, see the Item lists topic. ═══ 6.34. Save last date ═══ This topic explains the function of the Save last date menu item. Ordinarily, when you first open a ledger and add the first transaction, E-Teller defaults to the current date reported by the system. All subsequent transactions use the last date entered. If you prefer to have the last date carried over between sessions, check this menu item. If the item is checked, then the first transaction of a new session will default, not to the current system date, but to the last, latest date of the previous session. ═══ 6.35. Next cheque... ═══ This topic explains the function of the Next cheque... menu item. Whenever a transaction with a numeric value in the Number column is added to to a ledger, if that number is greater or equal to the previous cheque number, then that number will be next cheque number in the Number list. This is fine if you cycle through all 99,999 available cheque numbers, which is unlikely. To reset the next cheque number, select this menu item and enter the next number in the prompt box. The value you enter will replace the one contained in the e-teller.ini file, and will become the starting number for subsequent cheques. ═══ 7. Miscellaneous Items ═══ This section provides help on miscellaneous aspects of using E-Teller Available topics are: Adding transactions to two files Command line parameters Setting container colours ═══ 7.1. Adding transactions to two files ═══ This topic explains how to add a transaction to two files simultaneously. Occasionally, it will be desirable to update a second ledger or its .ldg file when you add a new transaction to a ledger. There are two ways to achieve this goal: 1. dragging the newly created transaction to the other opened ledger 2. entering the name of the other account in the Particulars column of the current ledger. The first option adds a shared record to the second ledger, and does not attempt to convert any of the data. In short, rather than add a 'mirrored' copy of the transaction, this option adds a carbon copy. When you add a transaction to a ledger, E-Teller looks at the particulars value and looks at the account names in the accounts window to see if there's a match. If there is a match, the account's *.ldg filename is fetched and the contents of the newly created transaction are appended to the other file, except for two items. The particulars are not the value of the newly created transaction, but the name of the account in which the transaction was first added; the amount of the transaction is, in fact, mirrored in the second account file. For example, assume that the account to which you are adding the transaction is named Savings, and you are debiting that account to the amount of $100.00. In the particulars column of Savings, you enter the name of the other account, whose name is Visa. When you append the new transaction, E-Teller will locate the Visa account and add the transaction to its .ldg file, except that the particulars will not read 'Visa' as it does in Savings but [Savings]. Similarly, the amount will not be a debit of $100 but rather a credit of $100. If you have difficulty remembering the exact name of the external account, you can invoke the list items window and double click on the appropriate item from the particulars list. ═══ 7.2. Command line parameters ═══ This topic explains the available command line parameters. There are two command line parameters which you can add when launching E-Teller: o o con The is, in fact, a numeric value, preferably in increments of three. The purpose of this parameter is to delay the point at which Rexx begins to use exponents. By default, Rexx stops formatting numeric values after nine digits, e.g. 999,999,999. This is probably sufficient for the average (read impoverished) individual, but clearly is not for millionaires or those whose currency differs widely from the North American dollar. If you require a greater threshold, simply specify a sufficiently large number, for example, 18, which would expand the above number to 999,999,999,999,999,999. The con parameter is intended to activate the VX-Rexx console. Ordinarily, you wouldn't gain much by doing this. The purpose for this parameter is to identify abnormal program exits. If any of E-Teller's programs end abruptly, activate the VX-Rexx console, and replicate the error. The console should popup on the desktop and contain a brief description of what went wrong and where. You can then copy that information and e-mail me so that I can track down the bug and fix it. Note: As of version 2.1, E-Teller traps syntax errors and the like, so you may never have to activate the console. ═══ 7.3. Setting container colours ═══ This topic explains how to set the account and ledger container background colour. In both cases, you must open the system folder, select a colour from the Color Palette and drag it to the appropriate container. In the case of the accounts container, this is all that is required, since the colour is automatically saved when the window is closed. For the ledger container, however, you must select the Save settings menu item. ═══ 8. 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. ═══ 8.1. 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. ═══ 8.1.1. 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. ═══ 8.1.2. 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. ═══ 8.1.3. 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. ═══ 8.1.4. 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. ═══ 9. Creating a Budget ═══ E-Teller Budget allows you to create a weekly, monthly, and yearly budget to which E-Teller can refer when adding bank and credit card transactions to any account. Currently, only one budget is permitted for every account you have. This may seem odd to some, but E-Teller Budget is designed to make use of a your estimated income for every expenditure you make. If this still sounds odd, don't hesitate to complain; after all, this is version 1.0, so E-Teller Budget still has room to grow. There are four windows to E-Teller Budget: 1. Main window 2. Weekly Budget 3. Monthly Budget 4. Yearly Budget The budget is broken into three sections (weekly, monthly, and yearly) for your convenience, although you are not restricted to using all three or only one, for that matter. For help on creating global budgets, see the Global Budget topic. For the curious, whenever you charge a credit card account or debit a bank account E-Teller looks for the entered category for that transaction in the three files (weekly.bgt, monthly.bgt, yearly.bgt). If it locates such a budget entry, it adds the total of the new transaction to the amount already used for the given category. If the sum of your new transaction in addition to the amount already used is equal to the ceiling, E-Teller will inform you of the fact. If the sum of both exceeds the budgeted ceiling, you will be asked whether you want to Ignore Ceiling (update the used amount regardless of the ceiling), Adjust Ceiling (update the ceiling so that it matches the used amount), Ignore Budget (append the transaction without updating the budget's used amount), or Cancel the transaction, after which you can adjust the amount of the expenditure. E-Teller keeps track of the current day of the week, month of the year, and current year in e-teller.ini. When it first starts up, it checks the values contained in the INI. If it finds that the week, month, or year has changed, it recreates the appropriate budget file by resetting the used amounts to zero. ═══ 9.1. Main Window ═══ E-Teller Budget's main window is where you create your budget. When the utility first starts, it searches for the category.dat file in the current directory. If found, it fills the main window's list box with the values contained in the file. To specify a category, you can either double-click on one in the list box or enter it manually in the Category entry field. The Ceiling entry field is where you enter the maximum amount you are allocating for expenditures for the current category. The Used entry field is primarily for editing existing budget items, but it can also be used when creating a budget if you wish. This field contains the amount of expenditures already applied to the ceiling. Note: Do not use currency symbols or commas in any of the two above fields. E-Teller Budget will reject the value if it is not numerically valid. When you've entered the relevant data in the various entry fields, click on one of the three push buttons along the bottom of the main window. Click the Weekly button to add the new budget item to the Weekly Budget container or to update an edited item, the Monthly button to add the new item to the Monthly Budget container or to update an edited item, the Yearly button for the Yearly Budget container, or the Global... button to add the new or edited item to any or all of the three budgets. Note: The Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly buttons are disabled if their related window is not loaded. For help on loading or destroying the windows, see the topics on the various windows. ═══ 9.2. Weekly Budget ═══ Before adding to or editing any weekly budget item, the Weekly Budget window must first be loaded. You can load or destroy the window by clicking on the Weekly item in the Budgets menu. To create a weekly budget item, follow the instructions outlined in the Main Window topic and click on the Weekly push button. Adding or editing entries does not automatically update the weekly.bgt file. To update this file, click on the Save button at the bottom of the Weekly Budget window. Note: The button remains disabled as long as no changes have been made. To edit a budget item in the weekly container, double-click on the desired item. The category, ceiling, and used values will be transferred to the main window. When done editing, click on the Weekly button. You can also delete items from the budget by selecting them (one at at time) and clicking the Delete button. ═══ 9.3. Monthly Budget ═══ Before adding to or editing any monthly budget item, the Monthly Budget window must first be loaded. You can load or destroy the window by clicking on the Monthly item in the Budgets menu. To create a monthly budget item, follow the instructions outlined in the Main Window topic and click on the Monthly push button. Adding or editing entries does not automatically update the monthly.bgt file. To update this file, click on the Save button at the bottom of the Monthly Budget window. Note: The button remains disabled as long as no changes have been made. To edit a budget item in the monthly container, double-click on the desired item. The category, ceiling, and used values will be transferred to the main window. When done editing, click on the Monthly button. You can also delete items from the budget by selecting them (one at a time) and clicking the Delete button. ═══ 9.4. Yearly Budget ═══ Before adding to or editing any yearly budget item, the Yearly Budget window must first be loaded. You can load or destroy the window by clicking on the Yearly item in the Budgets menu. To create a yearly budget item, follow the instructions outlined in the Main Window topic and click on the Yearly push button. Adding or editing entries does not automatically update the yearly.bgt file. To update this file, click on the Save button at the bottom of the Yearly Budget window. Note: The button remains disabled as long as no changes have been made. To edit a budget item in the yearly container, double-click on the desired item. The category, ceiling, and used values will be transferred to the main window. When done editing, click on the Yearly button. You can also delete items from the budget by selecting them (one at a time) and clicking the Delete button. ═══ 9.5. Global Budget ═══ Global budgets allow you to create a budget item of one type (weekly, monthly, or yearly) and to apply that item to some or all of the above types. If, for example, you prefer to have your grocery budget represented globally, then you would first create an item, specifying a ceiling which is relevant to one of the types and click the Global button along the bottom of the main window. A secondary dialog box appears where you select the type for the Ceiling amount; that is to say, one of the three above-named types which E-Teller Budget will use in order to tabulate the budgeted amount for the other two types. After deselecting any of the budgets to which you do not want the item to be added, click OK and E-Teller Budget will convert the ceiling if necessary and add the item to the specified budget container. Note: If a budget window is not currently loaded, the related Apply to checkbox will be unchecked and disabled. ═══ 9.6. Estimated Yearly Income ═══ Selecting the Income... item from the Budgets menu invokes a dialog box in which you may enter your estimated or actual yearly income. E-Teller Budget uses the amount when you create a budget to warn you if your budget exceeds your estimated yearly income. There are three budget windows: Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly . For the first of these, E-Teller Budget divides the estimated yearly income to arrive at an appropriate total for weekly and monthly budgets. It then places the estimated amount at the top of the respective container. Obviously, this is not intended to be a scientifically accurate tracking mechanism, unless, of course, your estimated yearly income is, in fact, your actual income. Note: If you do not wish E-Teller Budget to compare budget expenses with your real or estimated annual income, then leave the entry field blank, in which case n/a will appear instead of an estimated income at the top of the containers. ═══ 10. Search Feature ═══ This section describes how to define or build search criteria for both ledgers and reports. ═══ 10.1. 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. ═══ 10.1.1. 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. ═══ 10.1.2. 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. ═══ 11. Converting Quicken Data ═══ Help for Q2ET is available from within the utility. ═══ 12. 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. ═══ 12.1. Creating Fixed Transactions ═══ To create a fixed transaction, you need only create a regular transaction if one has not already been created (see Create new...), select it and click on the Create fixed... menu item. When the Fixed Transaction dialog box is displayed, the Fixed date of the month checkbox will be initially checked, which means that the transaction will fall only on a fixed date of the month, for example, the first. If you uncheck this checkbox, you are, essentially, telling ET_Month that the transaction is, in fact, a fixed weekday transaction which reoccurs at specific weekday intervals throughout the month. At this point, the Weekday and Frequency comboboxes will be enabled, allowing you to select both the weekday for the transaction in addition to a frequency, either weekly, biweekly, triweekly, or monthly. Note: It is important that you select a weekday which corresponds with the date of the transaction for the current month. It is pointless to specify a Friday weekday, for example, if the date is actually a Monday for the current month, since ET_Month has no way of verifying whether the weekday you specify actually corresponds to the transactions date. The Prompt for Next Cheque checkbox is enabled only if the transaction has a valid, i.e. numeric, cheque number. If this item is checked, then ET_Month will prompt you when it regenerates the et_fix.dat file (typically at the beginning of the month) for the next cheque number, and it will do this everytime a fixed transaction entry is appended to the et_fix.dat file. In other words, if you've created a biweekly fixed transaction, and the fixed transaction is appended twice for the new month, then you will be prompted twice for the cheque number. This is done in order to ensure that the cheque number for the transaction is constantly updated in the ledger, particularly useful for post-dated rent cheques, for example. For more detailed help on creating fixed transactions, please see the following sub-topics. ═══ 12.1.1. 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. ═══ 12.1.2. 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. ═══ 12.1.3. 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. ═══ 12.2. 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. ═══ 12.3. 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. ═══ 12.3.1. 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. ═══ 12.3.2. 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 ^ ═══ 12.4. 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. ═══ 13. Known Bugs/Limitations ═══ There are no known bugs, but I'm quite certain there are a number of anonymous bugs. ;) ═══ 14. A Call for Suggestions ═══ I realize that E-Teller Report is still limited, particularly where layouts are concerned. If you would like a specific layout included in a later release, then send your suggestion to me. What I would need is: 1. A list of headings. If you have a heading which is not currently found in the two layouts, a somewhat detailed description of its purpose would be useful if not essential. 2. Some idea of how the data should be organized, i.e. columns, lines, etc. Ideally, a bogus report would be nice with a brief explanation for those items which are not self-evident. If your layout gets included in a future release, your contribution will be duly noted. ═══ 15. Warranty ═══ E-Teller and its accompanying software and documentation are supplied with no warranty whatsoever, either expressed or implied. Neither its author nor Watcom International can be held directly or indirectly responsible for any loss and/or damage to your data and/or system as a result of the use and/or misuse of E-Teller. All software is supplied AS IS. If you use this program, you understand that you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. ═══ 16. Copyright Notices ═══ E-Teller (c) 1994 Paul H. Caron VX-Rexx (c) 1993, 1994 Watcom International OS/2 (c) IBM Quicken (c) Intuit ═══ 17. Contacting the Author ═══ Should you find a bug or have suggestions for improvements, I can be reached at G9026163@mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA ═══ 18. 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. ═══ 18.1. 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. ═══ 18.2. Registration Form ═══ E-Teller v.2.12 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: ═══ ═══ 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 ═══ ═══ The uncleared transaction file, which always has a .ldg extension, contains all of the transactions which have not been ═══ ═══ 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