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Precision Software Appli…tions Silver Collection 4
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Precision Software Applications Silver Collection Volume 4 (1993).iso
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CHARGING.TXT
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* * * My Little Realm, v2.0 * * *
- The Charging Routine -
____________________________________________________________________
General Information
____________________________________________________________________
Important
This is the evaluation version of My Little Realm's Charging/sa
routine. It is a full-featured, fully functional program.
The registered version of Charging comes with a Review program and
a menu driver. The Review program allows you to view your credit
card file in a scrollable window, query the file, and generate a
year-to-date summary for all of your credit cards. Review is a
powerful complement to your Charging program.
Thank you for trying the Charging routine!
____________________________________________________________________
Introduction
Keeping records may not be fun, but it is important to the
maintenance of a well run realm. To that end, Charging has removed
as much of the tedium of data entry as is feasible while maintaining
the accuracy and completeness today's realm requires.
When you run the Charging Routine, it builds the charge card screen
and generates the Viewing Window which contains the Quickeys and
their corresponding credit card names, the amounts outstanding for
each account, and the total amount outstanding for all accounts. It
then deposits you in the Options Window. From that vantage point,
you can choose which task you wish to perform, be it entering new
charges, paying off old charges, changing the contents of a record,
printing out your records or deleting old records.
Throughout your processing tasks, the Viewing Window is constantly
monitored and updated as you add to, update and change your credit
card file. So, if you ever need to know what your plastic debt is
at any given moment, you have but to up bring the Charging Routine.
____________________________________________________________________
The Interface
Windows.
Charging's screen consists of three types of windows: a Working
Window, a Viewing Window, and an Options Window. If you are using
a color monitor the Viewing Window is always green, the Working
Window red and the Options Window blue.
You select processes (like adding a record) in the Options Window.
You create records in the Working Window, and you find your Quickeys
in the Viewing Window.
----------------------------
Extended processing options.
Several processing tasks, called extended processing options or
EPO's, are not listed in the Options Windows, because they are
functions that only occasionally need to be performed. EPO's are
used to "extend" a program's power and functionality.
To find out what EPO commands are employed by Charging/sa, enter <?>
(the question mark) in the Options Window. The EPO's of Charging
are defined at the end of this document.
----------------------------
Quickeys.
The Quickeys in Charging give you single key access to the names of
your credit cards. Enter the names of your credit cards once and
forget about typing them in ever again.
____________________________________________________________________
Getting Started
Note: If you have a color monitor, press <#>, the pound sign in the
Options Window to install the color mode.
The very first thing you'll want to do with Charging is make the
program uniquely yours. To do that, you will probably have to
change some of the credit card names and Tax codes that come with
the Charging program.
Note: If you are already using MLR's Checking program, you
can put Charging in the same directory to let both programs
share the Tax code file. They do this automatically. If
you'd rather they used different Tax codes, you must put each
program in separate directories.
After you start Charging, enter the backslash, <\>, in the Options
Window. It's one of the EPO's for this routine. It allows you to
modify the Quickey list. Charging will ask which Quickey you want
to change. Enter the Quickey and your cursor will appear in the
Viewing Window. If you merely want to delete the name, press
<enter>, otherwise key in the name of your credit card and then
press <enter>. If you mistakenly press the wrong Quickey, press
<esc> while your cursor is in the Viewing Window and Charging will
resurrect the old credit card name.
After you've entered all of your credit card names, press <esc> to
advance to the next phase of this function, sorting your Quickey
names. If you've made letter assignments for your credit card
names (that is, if you've associated Quickey <A> with American
Express, <D> with Discover, and so on), tell Charging that you do
not want your Quickeys sorted. Otherwise, if you have more than
three or four credit cards, sort them. You'll find it easier to
spot the credit card name you're after if the list is in
alphabetical order.
The last phase of the Change Quickeys function is the Tax codes.
These categories are generally used for tax deductions, but can be
used to tally anything (like part-time income, home expenses, gas
expenses, etc.). If you're just starting out with Charging, you
might want to put this section off until you've had a chance to
think about how best to utilize these four categories. After you
have set up the Tax codes the way you want, press <esc> one last
time to return to the Options Window. And you're all set!
Charging/sa is a powerful program that can do a lot for you, but
you have to know how to make it work properly to get the most out of
it. Please read the rest of this documentation carefully.
____________________________________________________________________
Program Information
____________________________________________________________________
You have four processing activities at your disposal in the Options
Window of the Charging Routine:
________________________________________________________________
| |
| Please choose one of the following: __ |
| |
| 1 Enter New Charges 2 Pay Old Bills 3 Change 4 Print/Delete |
|________________________________________________________________|
There are also several EPO's available. See the section entitled
Extended Processing Options described after Option # 4 at the end of
this document.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ There is a shortcut entry to option <1> in the New +
+ Charges function. When in the Options Window, if you +
+ want to enter New Charges, simply press the Quickey for +
+ the first charge you wish to enter. By doing so, you +
+ automatically enter the New Charges function and enter +
+ your first Quickey at the same time. +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
____________________________________________________________________
Option # 1, entering new charges.
To process a new entry (either charge or refund), choose <1>, the
New Charges option. There are five fields to every record if you
have made use of the Tax codes; four if you've deleted them.
You can abort a New Charge entry at any time by pressing <esc> in
any field, and no record will be created. To return to the Options
Window after entering one or more charge records, press <esc> when
the cursor is in the Credit Card Key field.
~ Field Definitions ~
- Credit Card Key field (single character entry, required).
Charging will position the cursor at the top of the Working Window
after the Credit Card Key field label at which point you enter the
Quickey of the appropriate credit card. Each charge record requires
its own Quickey entry.
After you've input a Quickey, Charging will verify your selection by
printing the credit card name in the Verification Box directly below
the Credit Card Key field label. If you enter a wrong albeit
acceptable Quickey, press <esc> to return to the Options Window.
Then choose option <1> again and enter the correct Quickey.
You do not have to enter your new charge receipts in any particular
order, so there is no need to sort them by charge card or even by
charge (debit) and refund (credit).
If you have not made use of all thirteen Quickeys you will notice
that Charging does not illuminate those that are unused. On color
monitors the active Quickeys are those displayed in bright yellow,
on monochrome monitors the active Quickeys are listed in bright
white. The inactive Quickeys are displayed in standard white print.
Should you select an inactive Quickey when at the Credit Card Key
prompt, Charging will tell you that you have chosen an illegal
Quickey and ask for another. If you attempt a shortcut entry from
the Options Window by pressing an inactive Quickey, Charging will
simply ignore the keypress.
___________________
- Date field (required).
After Charging gets a valid Quickey it asks for the date of the
transaction, which is entered in the standard American format
mm/dd/yy. You do not enter the slashes, only the numbers
representing the month, day and year. As a matter of fact, you do
not even have to enter the year if the year Charging displays (the
current system year) is acceptable. You simply press <enter> after
you've input the month and the day. Note: The numbers representing
the month, day and year must be in double digits (e.g., 09/15/92).
Charging will accept dates for the current month and the two
previous months, so you have at least two months and as long as
three months to enter your charging records.
Charging will not let you enter future dates.
___________________
- Amount field (must be less than $10,000, required).
Charge amount entries must be positive amounts less than ten
thousand dollars. Do not enter dollar signs or commas, just the
numbers and the decimal point if it is necessary.
What if the amount is a refund (credit)? The <enter> key is a
toggle (i.e., a switch if you will) between the two amount fields
you see in the Working Window as long as neither field has an amount
in it. To get a feel for this capability try switching between the
two fields before you enter an amount ... just press <enter> a few
times while Charging is expecting an amount from you. You'll see
the cursor jump from the Charge field to the Refund field and back
again.
If you inadvertently enter non-numeric data in one of the fields,
Charging assumes you missed the <enter> key and pressed an alpha key
by mistake (as when you reach for the <enter> key only to press the
apostrophe and the <enter> keys simultaneously). So it erases your
entry and positions you in the other amount field, figuring you
simply meant to toggle to the other field anyway. Be aware of this
because there may be times when you didn't simply miss the <enter>
key, but rather entered indecipherable data.
There will also be times when Charging decides you've keyed in an
amount on a line incorrectly (e.g., when you type in too many
decimal points). In these situations, Charging will notify you of
your error, erase the amount you entered and request a valid amount,
leaving your cursor on the same amount line.
___________________
- Tax Code field (single character, optional)
Enter the number of the Tax code, if relevant, or press <enter> if
you want to skip this field. If you have deleted all of the default
Tax Codes and haven't defined any of your own, this field will not
appear in your Working Window.
When Charging comes to this field, it displays a field prompt of
your Tax codes at the bottom of the Working Window . If you created
three categories consisting of gasoline, charity and business
expenses, they would appear as:
1 Gasoline 2 Charity
3 Bus. Exp. 4
To tag a charge card record as an expense, for example, press <3>
when you're in the Tax code field. If you have undefined Tax
codes (as selection <4> is), Charging will not let you enter them.
You can use your Tax codes to track any kind of credit card expense,
be it groceries, professional expenses, part-time income, whatever.
If you wish to change Tax codes in mid-year, be sure you use the <+>
EPO to reset the Tax codes you want to change. For example, if you
had set up Tax code <1> to be business expense and later that same
year you decided to change it to charity, you would have to reset
Tax code <1> to blank before making the change. Otherwise, all of
those records with a Tax code of <1> which were business expenses
would be included with your new Tax code records that are charitable
deductions. Refer to the section entitled Extended Processing
Options for more information.
________ _________
Special projects and Tax codes
If you find yourself facing a large project for which you want to
track the costs, make one of the Tax codes "Projects". Let's say
you're planning to build a deck in the backyard, and you want to
keep track of the expenses, so you make Tax code <4> "Projects" (or
"Deck", if you wish). Then whenever you charge something related to
the deck project, you simply tag that record with Tax code <4>.
In this way you can monitor your deck expenses.
To move on to the next project you have to clear all of the records
that have a <4> in the Tax Code field. You can either go in and
manually change all of those records, or, when in the Options Window
of Charging, press the <+> EPO. It resets the Tax Code field of all
of the records with the Tax code you specify to blank. It affects
only those records that have a current year date.
___________________
- Memo field (20, optional).
General Use.
The Memo field, while optional, is nonetheless quite useful. For
example, if several members of the realm have the same charge card,
identifying the person who made a charge can be beneficial should
questions about the purchase arise later.
In other ways, the Memo field can be used to identify the store
where a purchase was made in the event a general card (like
Discover, VISA, or MasterCard) was used.
The Memo field is also handy if you purchase a product that is
covered by an extended warranty offered by the credit card issuer.
Numerous charge card companies now offer to double a manufacturer's
warranty if you charge an item on their cards. Use Charging's Memo
field to make a note of the warranty's expiration date, in addition
to the item purchased.
<+> Command.
If you plan to use Tax codes, described above, you can use the Memo
field to deduct a portion of the charged amount that is not relevant
for that category using the <+> command. If one of your Tax codes
is for business expenses, and you charged a purchase of business
items and a personal item, you must deduct the cost of the personal
item from the total amount of the charge. This is what the <+>
command does. It tells Charging to deduct a certain amount, called
an overage, from the amount of the charge.
<+> Command Example.
Let's say you bought some business items that cost $135.48 and a
personal item for $45.40. On that record's Amount (charge) line you
would enter 180.48 (the total amount of the charge), and on the Memo
line you would enter:
Memo: +45.4 birthday gift
which tells Charging that it should subtract that amount, $45.40,
when it calculates the Tax totals.
When you run the Tax Summary function, you'll find out exactly how
much you spent on business expenses because at the end of the Tax
Summary Report the final tabulations are listed in this fashion:
Groceries Bus. Exp. Bus. Inc. Charity
Tax totals: $2500.36 $650.55 $3021.33 $1002.00
Less deductions: $430.00 $45.40 $0.00 $0.00
Final results: $2070.36 $605.15 $3021.00 $1002.00
From the final tabulations you can see that the business expenses
totaled $650.55, but that $45.40 (the price of the personal item)
was deducted from that total.
Note: If a record does not have a Tax code (i.e., the Tax code
field is blank), Charging ignores any <+> command that
appears on that record's Memo line.
__________
To be sure you are getting the deductions you want, run the Tax
Printout function (option <4>, selection <3>). In addition to the
credit card name and the record number, Charging will print the Memo
line in toto and, in parentheses, any valid Memo line amount it
finds. If you aren't getting an amount in parentheses when you
expected one, you have probably entered the Memo line amount
incorrectly. If so, you can use the Change function in the Options
Window to correct the record. Remember, the record numbers appear
on the Tax Summary Printout so you can go directly to the records in
question if you need to make any changes. (Refer to Option # 4,
Selection # 3, Print Tax Summary Report, below, for more
information.)
Memo line amount rules summary:
1. Amount must immediately follow a plus sign (+)
2. Amount must be followed immediately by a space
3. Amount can appear anywhere on the line, along with
other notes you wish to append
4. Amount must be less than $1,000.00
5. Amount must be a positive number
6. Only one amount on a Memo line
7. Amount on Memo line must be <= the charge (debit) amount
8. Do not include dollar signs or commas in the amount
[Note: Memo line deductions are not allowed on credits. If your
entry is a credit (refund on a returned purchase), Charging does not
look for a deduction on the Memo line. In other words, Charging
will not subtract a Memo line amount, even a valid one, from a
credit when it comes time to calculate the Tax Summary Report.]
____________________________________________________________________
Option # 2, paying old bills.
Charging will want to know which credit card account you're paying,
so you have to enter the appropriate Quickey. Then Charging will
display your current outstanding records for that particular account
and ask if each charge or refund has been paid, that is, is it
listed on the statement account (which you should have in hand).
You respond yes or no by pressing <Y> or <N>. This is a single
character entry so don't press <enter> after your response. As a
matter of fact, <enter> is equivalent to <Y> with this query.
When you come to the last record in a given account, Charging will
tell you that you have reached the end of the file. If you wish to
peruse the outstanding records before you leave the Pay Old Bills
function, you can use the direction arrows, <home> and <end> to do
so. If you inadvertently mark a bill paid, use the arrow keys to
return to that record and when Charging asks if it has been paid,
respond <N>, and Charging will rectify the situation.
Once you leave the Pay Old Bills function, your master file is
updated. If you discover after leaving Pay Old Bills that you have
incorrectly declared a record paid, you must use the Change function
to correct it. You cannot access a paid record by invoking the Pay
Old Bills function.
You will note at the bottom of the Working Window that Charging
displays the record number of the displayed charge or refund. This
is the displayed record's placement in your master file. So even
though you know you have only three outstanding records for a
specific credit card, the first record number could be 182, the
second 201, and the third 206.
Reviewing your outstanding records.
You can use option 2 to view your outstanding records for a
particular Quickey. Use the arrow keys, <home>, and <end> to browse
through your file. When you're finished, press <esc> to return to
the Options Window.
____________________________________________________________________
Option # 3, changing the information in a record.
Charging will want to know which record you wish to change. If you
know, fine, enter the record number (or a close approximation) and
Charging will take you to it. If you're off by a few records or if
you didn't know the record number and pressed <enter>, you can use
the arrow keys, <home>, and <end> to browse through your file. When
Charging displays the record you want to change, press <Y> or
<enter> to select it.
After you select the record you wish to change, the fields you can
change are listed in the Viewing Window next to their corresponding
hotkeys. Make the necessary changes, and press <esc> when you are
finished with that record. Charging will ask you for the record
number of the next record you want to change. If you haven't any
more records to change, press <esc> once more to return to the
Options Window.
Reviewing all of your records.
If you need to see all of your records (outstanding and paid) for
all cards, you can select the Change function. Use the arrow keys,
<home>, and <end> to peruse your file. Press <esc> to return to the
Options Window.
____________________________________________________________________
Option # 4, printing and deleting the file records.
This is the final option in the Options Window, and it displays a
sub-menu offering several selections:
1. Print entire file
2. Print outstanding only
3. Print tax summary report
4. Delete records/compress file
5. Return to the Options Window
If you want to abort any of the above print functions (selections
<1>, <2> or <3>), press <esc>.
___________________
Selection # 1, print a comprehensive listing of your charge file.
This printout lists all of the data stored in each record in your
file in addition to the record number. At the end of the report,
Charging prints the total outstanding charges and refunds.
___________________
Selection # 2, print a report of the outstanding charges.
This function prints a one line banner for each credit card listed
in your charging Quickey file. Under each banner are listed the
records that are outstanding for that particular charge card.
Printed are: the date, memo, record number and the amount of the
charge or refund. If a card does not have an outstanding amount,
its banner is still printed, with a message indicating as much, so
you'll know that its records have been checked.
The outstanding report also prints the total outstanding charges and
refunds at the end of the listing.
___________________
Selection # 3, print tax summary report.
The Tax Summary Report prints each charge or refund under one of the
appropriate Tax codes that you created using Charging's Change
Quickeys function. If a record has no Tax code entry, it is omitted
from the listing. Those records with a Tax code and a valid amount
on the Memo line will have their Memo line amounts totaled and
deducted from the total amounts in each Tax code category.
If you did not define a Tax code, the message "No code ID" will be
printed in its stead in the Tax Summary heading, and Charging will
print a notice that it found a Tax code that is undefined. This is
merely informational; you need not define every Tax code.
If you define a Tax code, enter some records with that code, and
then delete said Tax code, Charging will warn you that you have
records with an undefined Tax code when you run this function. This
poses no threat to the integrity of your system or your data, but
you should be aware of this situation should you enter a new
category in that Tax code.
Should you decide to use that Tax code at a later date for a
different tax category, you must first reset all of the Tax code
fields on the older records that have that Tax code. For example,
if you start the year with Tax code <2> as Medical, you cannot later
change it to Charity without first resetting all of those records
that are listed as Medical records. To reset your Tax codes, use
the <+> EPO defined in the Extended Processing Options section
at the end of this document.
If you do not have any defined Tax codes, you will not be able to
run the Tax Summary Report function.
___________________
Selection # 4, delete old records and compress file.
To make the system easy to use, Charging does not require you to
delete each record separately because even with a simple <Y> and <N>
response, deleting hundreds of old records individually can be
tedious. Thus, Charging deletes all of the records in the file
whose year date is less than the current year date except those
which are still outstanding.
If you wish to keep your old credit card records, you can direct
Charging to dump the records to be deleted to floppy drive A: at the
time of the delete process. You don't have to save the deleted
records, but you might want to find some piece of information stored
on one. If you decide to save them, Charging will create a dump
file called SAVECARD.MLR on the floppy in your A: drive.
Note: If you purchase MLR's Charging/sa, the bonus program
is a Review routine that, among other things, lets
you view your credit card dump files.
If a record's year date is less than the system's year date and the
record is still outstanding, Charging will write out a copy of the
record to your floppy, while retaining the original copy in your
master file for you to update later on. The file sent to the floppy
is saved under the filename SAVECARD.MLR.
To keep your credit card file manageable this procedure should be
run once a year, ideally at the beginning of the year after most of
the previous year's charges have been paid.
You do not have to save the current year's deleted records on the
same disk that you saved the previous year's. If you do, Charging
notifies you that there is a previous dump file on the disk and asks
you to select an appropriate action from the following sub-menu.
1 Abort this function
2 Delete the old dump file
3 Replaced the floppy, try again
4 Rename the old dump file
If you decide you want to keep the old dump file, you must either
remove the floppy and put in another (selection 3) or tell Charging
to rename the old file (selection 4). Charging keeps the base name
SAVECARD and appends a unique extension. You can also direct
Charging to erase the older version of the dump file (selection 2)
and proceed with the Delete/Compress function or, finally, you can
elect to abort the D/C function altogether (selection 1).
[Note: Do not confuse the Delete/Compress function with
the <-> (Delete) EPO. The Delete EPO removes a specific
record from your file regardless of its paid status or
creation date. The Delete/Compress function removes your
old paid records (those with a year date that is less than
the current system year date) and compresses your file.]
One final reminder, if you need a copy of your Tax Summary Report
(option 4, selection 3 -- see above), be sure you print it out
before you run the Compress/Delete function.
Warning!
Potential problems await you if you do not keep your system's date
accurate, especially with this function. You risk losing your
entire file, for example, if you've allowed your system date to lag
a year or two behind and then correct it before running this
procedure. If, for instance, you've been creating records while the
system year date was 1991, when in fact the real date was 1992, and
then you correct the date prior to running this function, Charging
will delete all of the records that have a year date that is less
than the current year date that are not outstanding ... which in
this case could be most of your file. Please, keep the date
accurate.
If you find yourself with a date error, determine the extent of
the damage by viewing your records using the Change function. If
there aren't too many records with incorrect dates, note their
record numbers and use the Change function to correct them (after
you've corrected the system's date), then run the Delete/Compress
function. If there are a lot of bad records, put off running the
D/C function until next year.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Extended Processing Options
EPO Definition
<\> Change or delete credit card names in the Viewing Window.
Press the backslash key in the Options Window to invoke
this function.
Charging will ask you which credit card name you want to
change or delete. Press the appropriate Quickey, and
Charging will erase the name in the Viewing Window and
wait for you to enter a new one. To leave the Quickey
blank, just press <enter>, otherwise key in the name of
the new credit card account and then press <enter>.
If you press the wrong Quickey, press <esc> before you
leave the Viewing Window to restore the original Quickey
name. When you've finished updating your credit card name
list, press <esc>. Charging will then ask if you want
your Quickey list sorted. This is largely a matter of
taste. If you don't have many cards or if you've made
letter associations for your credit cards (i.e., <A> for
American Express, <B> for BanCard/One, <D> for Discover,
<E> for Exxon, and so on), tell Charging not to sort your
list. The sort is ascending alphabetic.
Credit card names must be unique. If you have AT&T's Visa
card and Ford's Visa card, for example, you could make the
former's Quickey name "Visa -- ATT" and the latter's
"Visa -- Ford". You cannot simply enter "Visa" twice,
however, because Charging needs to be able to distinguish
between the two credit card names.
You can delete credit card names from your active list
(those accounts that appear in your Viewing Window), but
Charging will not let you delete a credit card name that
has an outstanding balance. You can change the Quickey
name, but you cannot leave the name blank.
When you change the credit card name of an active account
that has outstanding records, Charging will also change
the credit card names on those outstanding records with
the old name to reflect the name change. The records that
have the old charge card name that have been paid are made
inactive, meaning you will no longer be able to change
them using the Change function. Charging will still
include them in the Tax Summary function of the Charging
Routine.
In general, you won't be changing the names of your active
accounts. If you've used all of the thirteen Quickeys
and you need to add another, select one that is little
used, wait until it has no account balance and then
change that Quickey's credit card name.
After you've replied to Charging's query about sorting
your Quickey list, it will ask if you want to change your
Tax codes. The list supplied with Charging is of a
general nature and includes: Medical, Charity, Child care
and Expenses. You can change any of them. Charging will
tally your expenses (or incomes, if you wish) for these
four categories when you run the Tax Summary Report. See
Option # 4, Selection # 3, Print Tax Summary Report, in
this document for complete details.
Note: If you have previously used My Little Realm's
Records of the Realm program to set up your credit card
Quickeys, they will be used automatically by Charging.
Once you have installed Charging, you will no longer
be able to use the Records program to change your credit
card Quickey file. You will have to use Charging's <\>
EPO function to do so. This is to insure the integrity
of your credit card data file. Please do not attempt to
thwart this protective measure. It is for your benefit.
Do not attempt to change your credit card Quickey file
by using a text editor. Always use Charging to make the
necessary changes. Charging not only oversees the
changes to your credit card Quickey file, but also makes
the requisite changes to your credit card data file
at the same time.
- - - - - - - - -
<-> Delete a specific record from your charging accounts file.
You must first select the record to be deleted, finding it
and selecting it the same way you do in the Change
function.
Charging will then highlight that record's contents and
ask if you are sure. Review the contents carefully. If
you are sure you want that record deleted from your master
file, press <Y>. You cannot press <enter> for <Y> for
this final query.
- - - - - - - - -
<+> Reset Tax code status in all records that have a specific
Tax code to blank.
For example: If you've set up one of your Tax codes as a
special projects code, you can reset the Tax code status
on all of the records with that Tax code to blank. Only
the records with a current year date are affected.
- - - - - - - - -
<$> Print an order form for My Little Realm's Charging/sa.
- - - - - - - - -
<?> Display the EPO symbols and definitions available for
Charging.
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+ The End +
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(c) Copyright 1991 - 1992 John L. Salisbury
