The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-386-Vol-2of3.iso/c/checks61.zip/TC-DOCS.TXT

Text File | 1993-01-31 | 33KB | 626 lines

                            THE TALKING CHECKBOOK

                   By Charles Crawford and Donald Barrett.

      Documentation for Version 6.01.

      Introduction and features:

           If you rely upon synthetic speech output to access and use a
      personal computer, then you've come to the right place for a
      checkbook management program.  Everything about this program
      relates to speech output while still usable by folks who do not
      need speech.

           The Talking checkbook was created originally by Charlie
      Crawford as a means to have a speech friendly checkbook program.
      Don Barrett got hooked on the program and wrote printer routines
      and since then has been a co-author of the program.

           the program is released to the public domain and nobody
      takes any responsibility for anything.  How's that for a quick
      disclaimer rather than all that stuff you usually read?

           Among all the options you'll read about a bit later, the
      Talking Checkbook features:

           o    Pre-authorized payments and transfers.  This option
                allows you to have amounts deducted or entered
                automatically when a given date is detected as being
                today or having passed by the checkbook program.  This
                is great for credit union deductions or whatever.  Also
                if you are paid electronically with a given amount each
                time, then this function will make your life easy!

           o    Hot key prompts.  Ever get tired of having to press the
                enter key every time you enter a response to a prompt?
                Well, the Talking Checkbook now features a single
                keystroke response when the information is being
                requested is a single letter or number.  Say you get a
                prompt called " So do you want a million bucks?  Y/N:
                " and you immediately want to say "N" for no since you
                like being poor.  Well in the past you would have to
                press the "N" key an press enter, but now you just hit
                the "N" key and the program moves on.  Of course if you
                enter something other then a "Y" or a "N" the program
                will prompt you for the right answer and wait for a "Y"
                or an "N".  the few times when the hot key is not set
                happens when the information you are to enter either
                potentially requires more than a single letter or
                number answer or is information you might want to
                correct before going on.

           o    Data entry Macros.  So you might be like Charlie
                Crawford and sometimes not get around to entering data
                for a couple of weeks.  Well, often you will pay the
                same place a number of checks like the grocery store
                and what if the name is "Joe, Frank, George, Jim, Judy,
                Ellen, Mary and all their cats and dogs groceries".
                Arrrg, that would kill your typing hands in no time!
                So a macro database has been created that allows you to
                enter an abbreviation for a particular name and then
                when you go to enter the check, all you do is type the
                abbreviation and the macro program searches for it.  If
                the abbreviation is found in the macro database, then
                your "pay to the order of" field is automatically
                filled out with the name match for the abbreviation and
                your comment field is also filled out.  Say, lazy but
                great!

           o    Automatic Backup of your databases.  If you ever have
                experienced loss of data on a hard disk that crashed or
                whatever, you'll fall in love the with the automatic
                backing up feature of the Talking Checkbook.  This
                simply allows you to set a path to where you would like
                an additional copy of your data sent in order to have
                it in case of a problem.

           o    Security Packing.  No, this is not a mission that you
                get sent away by the Central Intelligence Agency to do,
                but rather a nifty feature that allows you to have the
                program check and secure your data each time you return
                to the main menu of the program.

           o    Credit Card and Savings Account tracking.  The
                checkbook program tracks your savings account and does
                some credit card tracking as well.  This helps with tax
                reporting and keeps you mindful of these accounts.

           o    Browse editing.  If you like to browse through the
                checks, deposits and withdrawals using the arrow keys
                or page up and page down keys, then you'll love the
                browse features for checks, savings, macros and more!

           o    Tempo the talking cat.  Yeah, one of the nice features
                of the Talking Checkbook is meeting Tempo the talking
                cat in our own adventure game.  Here you get to play as
                opposed to having to be so serious all the time.  The
                game even has a casino where you an win or lose, but
                have a great time.

      Getting Started.

           The Talking Checkbook usually comes in a zip format where
      the files are compressed into a single package.  Use the
      PKUNZIP.exe program to unzip the files to a subdirectory on your
      hard disk or use a floppy.  If you use a floppy, then be sure to
      check on one of our utilities discussed later on that allows you
      to store older checkbook records into separate files to save
      space and make the program run faster.

           Once the files are located on your hard drive in a
      subdirectory of your choice, simply type "Checks" (the quotes are
      only to highlight what you type and so don't use them when
      typing) and you are on your way!  Simple as that.  The Talking
      Checkbook will automatically check your computer memory, see if
      the databases it needs to use are there and create them if this
      is the first use of the program.  Folks who have used the Talking
      Checkbook in the past will appreciate their databases not being
      overwritten by installing a newer versions.

           If you get a "not enough memory" message and returned to the
      DOS level, then you probably are using a "terminate and stay
      Resident" program or programs.  These are like communications
      packages that allow you to shell to DOS while keeping them in
      memory or other types of applications.  Be sure that you are only
      using DOS, your speech or large print program, and the Talking
      Checkbook.  Loading on networks is also a problem if the network
      takes a bunch of memory.  You might consider loading a number of
      programs high in DOS which can be done with newer versions of DOS
      if you are having a memory use problem.  Currently the Talking
      Checkbook runs using about 436 K of memory.  This is well within
      the range of availability for most DOS machines having 640 K of
      base memory to start.

      Running the Talking Checkbook.

           Now we get to the good stuff.  what happens and what do you
      do.  Let's do it.

           The first thing that happens when you load the Talking
      Checkbook is a memory report.  Nice for nerds lie Charlie
      Crawford who like to hear how much memory they have when they
      start, but has little to do with reality.  If you get the
      message, then you have enough memory.

           Next, the program looks to see if it can find the files it
      will use to store data.  If it finds them, then it will simply go
      on to the next step rather than overwriting the current files of
      folks who are upgrading rather than running for the first time.
      If it does not find the files it needs, then it will create them
      from failsafe files that come with the program.  If the failsafe
      databases are not found in the subdirectory where the program is
      running, it figures it is not a miracle worker and simply crashes
      to a lonely death on your hard disk.  The moral is to be sure you
      copy all the files that come with your talking checkbook to the
      same subdirectory.  WARNING:  Some folks are real nice and like
      the checkbook so much that they want to share it with friends.
      We suggest sending it to Congress and maybe solve the national
      debt, but on the serious side, be sure to erase any files with
      the extension ".mem" before sharing the program with friends.
      this is because the ".mem" files are information files for the
      checkbook program to read an act upon.  they include balance
      information, where to backup databases and color settings and
      more.  If you give your friend a copy of the program with the
      failsafe databases but have not removed the ".mem" files, then
      your friend might start sending you hate letters when they load
      the program and get colors they don't like, keep getting an
      incorrect balance report or colors that they can't stand.  this
      actually happened to a guy out west and so the best advice is to
      get a fresh copy of the Talking Checkbook from a BBS or calling
      Charlie Crawford to have one mailed.

           Now you get asked two questions before entering the main
      menu.  First, you are asked if you want to see your balance?  If
      so, then you get an instant balance report and you can either
      move on or go back to DOS. This is for those folks who simply
      want a balance without the time it would take to enter the
      checkbook main menu and get it and then exit.  OK, so we've got
      some busy folks out there.

           The second question asked is whether you want to see your
      balance each time you go to the main menu.  Well, some people
      like that although I (Charlie Crawford) never use it.  It slows
      down the program especially when lots of data is being accessed.
      Up to you, hey we are easy with it.

           Next you enter the main menu of the Talking Checkbook.  Yay!
      Finally there.  You get greeting with a message as to what
      version you are in and of course a little credit to yours truly
      and Don Barrett for having written the thing.

      MAIN MENU OPTIONS.

           E. Entry data menu.

           The first main menu option takes you to the data entry menu.
      This is the critical part of any checkbook program.  Once you
      access the data entry menu, then you can enter checks, deposits,
      withdraws, credit card information, savings account information,
      automatic payment and macro data.  Arrg, say that's a lot of
      stuff.  We will discuss the options later.

           B. Edit and browse option.

           Your second main menu option is to edit, delete or browse
      records within the Talking Checkbook database.  This is real
      important since sometimes we make mistakes in entering a check or
      whatever and want to fix or delete it.  No problem, this is the
      purpose of the menu option or you can simply use it to browse
      through your records.

           R. Get a balance report.

           Well this main menu option is pretty straightforward.  Yup,
      just calculates your balance an reports it.  In addition, you can
      run a reconciliation with your bank statement balance from this
      option.

           G. Generate a text file or print statement of records
      between certain dates.

      Well, this main menu option is real useful when someone says they
      never got paid by you or whenever you need a print or text file
      report of your checkbook records between certain dates.

           F. Check out your fixed bills.

           This main menu option takes you right to the world of those
      bills you pay every so often for a fixed amount.  A mortgage is
      an example of this.  It helps speed the process of payments and
      keeps track of those fixed bills.

           V. Verify Transactions.

           Well you get your bank statement and cancelled checks and
      verify them against your Talking Checkbook data.  This is an
      option that is real important to keep up.  If you do, then you
      can always rest assured that a check actually was cashed.  Real
      helpful when someone thinks that they never got paid or whatever.

           A. The Talking Checkbook Adventure game.

           Yeah, here's the main menu option to blast you away from all
      that boring checkbook stuff and take you to the land of adventure
      where you have to get your money back that has been stolen by X.
      The reason we say "X" is because the culprit changes as your
      checkbook records grow.  The game looks at your data and goes to
      the middle of the database and runs a villain from there.  Hence
      the more records you add, the further down the database it goes
      to find the enemy.  You'll love this game if you are into
      adventure.

           S. Sum and display records by category.

           Here's a great main menu option to give you information you
      can think about.  It gets the amounts you have paid or deposited
      or whatever by category and tells you the number of times you
      have done it, and the total amount involved.  Check out how much
      you spent at the grocery store and then the bowling alley.
      Interesting information can be found.

           P. Print checks.

           Say, this could not be more self explaining huh?  Sometimes
      you will want to print a check after you have entered it and done
      some other things.  No problem, here's your menu option to do
      just that.

           U. Talking Checkbook Utilities Pack.

           This main menu option is a good friend to have.  It gives
      you an array of choices to do important things like get a report
      of your last two weeks of deposits and withdrawals, do math
      calculations, see a summary listing of your records and more.
      Check it out.

           C. Set up your print coordinate Definitions.

           Main menu option C gives you the ability to enter printing
      coordinates for your printer to use when writing checks.
      Computers are really pretty stupid and need to know exactly where
      to send information like the date and who to pay and so forth.
      Here's where you do it and the program gives you a step by step
      guide on what to do.

           M. Make changes in Screen Colors.

           Main menu option M is great for folks who have partial or
      full sight.  The color contrasts of text to background can be
      critical in some cases and so the Talking Checkbook offers a way
      to set the colors the way the user wants and to always use them
      until a change is requested.

           T. Test your Checkbook knowledge with the Checkbook Mania
      Game.

           Well, there are some folks out there who are fanatics about
      knowing every little thing about their checkbook and amounts of
      money.  So main menu option M gives them a place to test their
      knowledge.  It's fun but the score is likely to be low for most
      folks including myself who got a 20 out of 100.

           Y. Your Security Packer.

           This main menu option Y simply allows the user to have the
      database checked and secured as often as they wish while the
      program is running.  It's a good idea to keep the database
      constantly monitored to protect against any errors.

           F10. Bail out of program.

           The F10 function key #10 is a way to get back to DOS in a
      hurry.  It will work from anywhere in the Talking Checkbook and
      will secure the databases and exit quickly to DOS. Don Barrett is
      responsible for this nifty feature.  Maybe he did not like my
      pretty or witty prose.

           X. Exit to DOS.

           Main menu option X is to tell the Talking Checkbook that you
      want to leave the program.  Once pressed, it will take you to
      some choices where you can either leave right away, go back to
      the main menu or bacjup your databases to wherever you would like
      additional copies sent.  We strongly recommend using the backup
      feature to avoid lots of tears if one day your data gets blown
      away or corrupted by something.  Not likely since I've not had
      that problem with the checkbook in four years, but better safe
      than sorry.RUNNING YOUR MAIN MENU OPTIONS.

           Remember a few years ago when you read about main menu
      option E?  Well, now let's take a look at what happens when you
      run the option.

           You press "E" at the main menu and get the main data entry
      menu.  Here you have 8 options to choose from and here the hot
      keys are also active where you don't have to press enter after
      making your selection.

           1. Enter a deposit.

           Entering a deposit is our favorite activity.  Yup, you get
      to put money into the thing rather than taking it out.  Your
      initial balance is a deposit because when you first run the
      Talking Checkbook, we hope you had some money with which to
      start.  You make that a deposit.  Then if you ever get any more
      money like bank interest, pay checks, dividends or whatever, then
      you also use this option to enter those amounts.

           2. Enter a check.

           Not much use for a Talking Checkbook if you don't have any
      checks.  Well, here's the place to enter them.  You'll be given
      two options when you select this function.  You can either get
      your balance displayed each time you enter a check or not.  Some
      folks like to see what there balance is before entering checks
      and so we put the two options in.

           Once you've selected the balance reporting option for the
      checks entry menu option, then you will see an automatic display
      of what your last check number was.  You then be able to select
      if you want the program to use the next highest number for the
      check you will be entering.  If yes, then the program does it, if
      no then you have to enter the number yourself.  In any event, the
      program checks to see if the number has already been used and if
      so, warns you.

           Next you are given a date option.  If you are really on top
      of your game then the "T" for today's date is made just for you!
      It automatically adds the current date to the date field of the
      check, but if you are like me and don't keep up with entries
      everyday, then you can add the actual date of the check yourself.
      Warning:  be sure to use slashes whenever entering a date into
      the Talking Checkbook.  An example of this is "12/25/99" for
      December 25, 1999 and hope you get good gifts.

           Next you need to let the program know how much money the
      check is for.  If you are paying ten dollars and 5 cents, you
      would enter "10.05" and press enter.  Warning:  this is a numeric
      entry.  Only numbers and decimal points will be accepted.
      Writing in a dollar sign would crash the program.  Yeah, we could
      write computer code to screen out that error, but we have not
      gotten to that yet.

           Next you will be asked for the name of to whoever you are
      writing the check.  Here you can either type in an abbreviation
      macro or the full name of who you are paying.  If you have
      defined "Joe's Grocery" as "JG" in a macro then typing "JG" here
      would later render "Joe's Grocery" in the pay to field.  If you
      have not done a macro then typing the full name of whoever is
      being paid is necessary.  Once you type the info in and press
      enter, the macro database will be searched for a match and the
      program will move on after evaluating the results of the macro
      search.

           Next there is what we call the personal comment line.  This
      is important since it provides you with the ability to categorize
      your checks, withdraws, deposits, credit cards, savings, fixed
      bills and whatever else in meaningful ways.  Not to cosmic
      proportions, but say you might want to have a personal comment of
      "Utility:Gas" which later can be summed and displayed at main
      menu option 8 where you can search by personal comment.  If for
      example, you have a personal comment line of "Utility:Electric"
      then you could use the main menu option S to display your total
      utility spending and then do it again with the gas utility and
      the electric utility and so forth.  Nifty way to get good
      comparative information.  You can also use the personal comment
      line for tax related information by establishing personal
      comments that could be searched for particular information.  The
      macro option discussed later can really help here.

           Next you will be presented with a Save or Reddo prompt.
      This hot key option will give you the opportunity to save the
      check entry you have made or do it over if you made a mistake.

           Next you will be given the option to print the check if you
      have defined printer coordinates and have a check ready for
      printing.  If you have not done the initial printer setup
      coordinates, then the Talking checkbook will let you know that
      you have to do that first and return you to the place you were.

           Next you are asked with a hot key prompt if you want to do
      another check.  Answer "Y" for yes or "N" for no.  Any other
      answer will bring up the same question.  Don't you wish some
      people were that direct?

           3. Enter a withdrawal.

           One thing we all do is take money out of the bank.  Yeah, we
      can't live on bread alone, but we do need the bread.

           This menu option is pretty simple.  Like the entering of a
      check, you will be asked a series of questions like the date what
      you want the comments field to be.  The question about the
      comment field is a hot key and if you answer "N" for "no, I'll
      write my own" then you'll be asked for what contents you want in
      the comment field.  Otherwise, a predefined comment line will be
      entered.  Again, entering the amount of money in your withdrawal
      is always just numbers and decimals.

           4. through 7. More record entries.

           These entries have to do with credit card, savings,fixed
      bill and auto pay information.  Check them out on your own, but
      they are important if you are tracking credit cards, savings,
      paying fixed bills and or doing pre-authorized payments.  They
      have explanations within them to help you.

           8. Macro creation.

           The macro functions of the Talking Checkbook are critical
      for lazy folks like me.  Entering this option will allow you to
      define abbreviations of longer names that you use as a "pay to"
      field and to define what the comments are.  If you pay "Save the
      Children" for example every month, you could use the fixed bill
      option or write a macro abbreviation of "STC" and your checks
      would automatically have the name and personal comment fields
      fully filled out by the macro when doing a check for them.  Just
      follow the instructions and you'll have macros in no time.

           Don't worry about upper and lower case stuff with the macros
      since the program converts it all to upper case and even if you
      enter mixed or lower case input when writing a check, the program
      will figure that out and deal with it.

           Also, the macro manager will check for duplicate macros,
      list your macros in a text file and even do global replacements
      of records within your checkbook database if you want.  Warning:
      When you use the global macro program, be sure that you want the
      same name in the "Pay to" field with the same comment line in
      every record.  If you pay Sam Jones often for differing things,
      then global replacement could screw up different comment lines.
      On the other hand, if you pay Sam Jones for only two or three
      different reasons, then write different abbreviations like "SJ1"
      and "SJ2" and "SJ3" where the "pay to" field will always be "Sam
      Jones" but the comment field will be different corresponding to
      the macro name.

      0. Back to main menu.

           Well can't get more definitive than 0 gets you back to the
      main menu.

      RUNNING OTHER MAIN MENU OPTIONS.

           There really is not much reason to go through the other
      options at the main menu except to ask you to test them out.
      combined with the information above, they are pretty self
      explanatory and you should not have a problem with them.  Future
      versions of this documentation may include more on them, but for
      now the best way to understand them is to run them.

      Questions and Answers.

           Q:  How much does this program cost to register?

           A. Thanks for asking, but it's free!  Yup, Don and I wrote
      it for our own use and if it works for you then great!  If not,
      then perhaps other programs will.  Of course, we nor anyone nor
      anything else takes any responsibility for the consequences of
      it's use.  If you really feel compelled to pay something then
      send a check to your favorite charity.

           Q:  I like the program, but it takes forever to get
      information from it.  Why an can anything be done?

           A. Yeah, slower machines like the old XT's can take a long
      time, but I have no problem with the faster 386 and 486 class
      machines.  Also you might consider how many records you have in
      the checkbook?  If you have not used the archiving option in the
      utility pack (main menu "U") then you probably have many records
      in your database and could easily increase your speed by storing
      older entries to an archived database and keeping only current
      ones active.  This has an enormous impact upon speed.

           Q:  I keep getting a "Not enough memory" message when I try
      to run the program and go back to DOS. What can I do?

           A. See if you have any other programs running at the same
      time.  Also load programs into upper memory if you can.
      Normally, the Talking Checkbook should work unless a lot of stuff
      is also taking up memory.

           Q:  Will the documentation ever cover all commands etc?

           A. Someday.  Right now the issue is my hands hurt from all
      this programming and writing.  If anyone who uses the checkbook
      would like to write docs, then that would be wonderful.  Also the
      program was written to be pretty much self documenting.

           Q:  What is the ultimate meaning of life?

           A. 42.

           Q:  What about multiple accounts?

           A. Good question.  I've looked at how to make the program
      work with a number of checking accounts along with others, and it
      would take a good deal of programming to make it work.  Hope to
      do it at some point, but adding the hot keys took 12 hours.

           Q:  Sometimes when I've run the Talking Checkbook in the
      past, I've gotten a "proc" something or another error and the
      program crashed.  Is there anything I can do to avoid this?

           a.  Sometimes folks will enter a letter when the program is
      looking for a number like at the "enter a check" screen asking
      for how much you are paying?  The computer code cannot handle
      this and drops dead.  The same sort of thing can happen if you
      not enter dates correctly.  Entering December 5, 1995 as "120595"
      without slashes would crash the program.  Hence always enter
      numbers for numbers using the decimal point if you need to and
      always enter the date with the so called "MM/DD/YY" format as in
      "12/05/95".  Other times, it's all our fault!  Yeah, bugs crop up
      especially when the programming happens late at night and the
      initial checks of the code show no errors.  We've taken care with
      version 6.1 to run as many options as we think should keep the
      thing bug free.  If you find one, then let us know, but we think
      we've gotten all clear now.

           Q:  Who is "Tempo" the talking cat?

           A. A happy little Kitty that exists in the mind of Charlie
      Crawford and jumped out into the code of the adventure game.  Has
      a nice ring to the name, huh?

           Q:  I got the checkbook from a friend and while the balance
      option gives me the right balance; it always reports wrong when
      first entering the checkbook?

           A. Your friend may have erased all the checkbook databases
      that relate to his or her checkbook, but forgot to erase all the
      files with the extension of ".mem" to them.  Simply erase those
      files and you'll be all set.  Type "del *.mem" at the DOS command
      line while in the checks subdirectory and they will be gone.  Of
      course if you have set options like where to backup your files
      and so forth, then you would have to reset the option from the
      checkbook program since those ".mem" files would be also deleted.

           Q:  Will you ever be doing DOS environment variables?

           A. Yes, I've been looking at them for the next version.

           Q:  Where can I get upgrades to the Talking Checkbook or
      have questions answered?

           A. Normally the Checkbook upgrades appear on various
      bulletin boards like Blink Link, The NFB BBS and the MCB BBS
      always has them first.  To reach the MCB BBS current number, call
      area (617)-451-5327 dialing at up to 14.4 BPS using 8,N,1
      parameters.  If you don't have a modem, then send a diskette to:

                The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
      88 Kingston Street
      Boston, Ma 02111
      Attention:  Charles Crawford.

           Include your return address and we will just copy it off to
      you.  Of course the Commission for the Blind nor the Commonwealth
      of Massachusetts take no responsibility either for the program or
      anything that happens as a result of it's use or non-use.

           You can call me at area (617)-727-5550 Extension 4503 with
      any questions you may have.  I may have to call you back since
      writing the Talking Checkbook or the calendar or the address book
      or the other programs I have written is not my job.  Just for
      personal use or fun.

      A FEW FINAL WORDS FOR NOW.

           Writing the code for the Talking Checkbook has been fun and
      a challenge for Don Barrett and I. We have poured many hours,
      days and weeks of time into developing it and it works well for
      us.  We sincerely hope that you can get as much out of it as we
      have.  Please contact me with any suggestions you might have or
      questions and we'll do our best to help out.

      * Just changed the main menu to use hot keys and so study it
      before running other options.  I think I properly changed this
      documentation to reflect all the changes, but be advised that the
      main menu was changed not more than 10 minutes ago.  You should
      have no problems as I ran each option to ensure that it worked.

      Charles Crawford - January 31, 1993.