This application is designed to help you keep track of the balance of bank accounts.
While a spreadsheet or database can do this, it seems like overkill for the simple task of recording and adding a series of transactions.
Transactions are added by choosing “New Transaction” from the Edit menu. Fill in the dialog with the amount, deposit or withdrawl, type, date, and any comments about the transaction. Press save to add it to the end of the list.
The first transaction you add should be the opening balance of the account.
At the top of the document window is a running total that should reflect the balance in the account. Don’t forget bank, government charges and interest.
Transactions can be deleted by clicking once and choosing “Clear” from the edit menu. Double-click on a transaction to edit it.
The page up, page down, home, end and arrow keys all navigate through the list pretty much as you might guess. Pressing the ‘Return’ key will open the currently selected transaction for editing.
The document saves the print page setup info and the window position and size (it will be forced on-screen though). The currently selected transaction will come up selected and scrolled into view as well.
The full list of transactions can be exported to a tab-delimited text file for import into a spreadsheet or database program if you like. (I think it’s important for all programs to support some form of data exchange).
The width of the list is set according to the width of a page with the current printer. To get more width, choose “Page Setup” and scale it down to, say, 70%. If you don’t have a printer chosen on your Macintosh, the program won’t start up.
The list of transactions can be sorted by Date, Ammount, or Type simply by choosing from the sort menu.
Fields
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Amount fields: For dollars & cents (or whatever they are called in your country).
Deposit or Withdrawl radio buttons: make the amount positive or negative.
Date: Uses the short date format in your date & time control panel.
Type: A text field with a couple of suggested types in the popup.
My Ref: Reference value such as cheque number.
Their Ref: Their reference number such as invoice number.
Comments: Any comments you like about the transaction.
Bank Reconciled: Checkbox to turn on if the transaction was on a bank statement.
Technical
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“Account Manager” was written in c++ with several non-final development tools. MacApp 3.1b1 (from ETO 13) and the MetroWerks CodeWarrior Developer release 2 CD. As a consequence of this, there may be bugs that are not my fault. To save network and disk space, the application was compressed with VISE Compression Technology.
I have bought CodeWarrior Gold and so can build a PowerPC native version but I haven’t tried that just yet.
The date format used is the short date format as set in your “Date & Time” control panel.
Limits
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There is a limit of 32,000 transactions in any one file. It will probably get a bit slow before that point so it would be worth starting a new file for each account perhaps each year. The transactions are stored in memory.
ShareWare etc:
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You are free to distribute and use this application. No warranty is implied. If you have comments about its operation or additional features that might be nice (not too much) I’d really like to get mail from you. On the internet: peterm@jolt.mpx.com.au
Features I am considering are:
- Find…
- Select sets of transaction by date range or type.
- Import from tab-delimited text file
Version History
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1.0 Limited distribution to some testers. Thanks!
1.2 Posted to comp.binaries.mac
1.2.1 Removed build dependency on Colour Quickdraw.
1.3 Added My & Your ref fields & Bank reconcile.
1.4 Renamed from “Account Manager”. Improved the export format.
1.5 Fixed cancel edit transaction change polarity bug. Added big small function.
Thanks
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Thanks to tonys@jolt.mpx.com.au and cterrell@nyx10.cs.du.edu for their valuable feedback.
