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1991-04-28
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C H E C K K I N G
Rickenbacker Software
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Rickenbacker Software is a one-man, part-time enterprise.
Although I can not offer telephone support, I make every other
reasonable effort to support Check King fully. Should you
experience any problem with Check King, write me about it. If
you provide both your address and your phone number, I'll
normally get back to you within two weeks with either a fix or a
circumvention.
Second Edition, September 1987
(C) Rickenbacker Software
All Rights Reserved
Rickenbacker Software
Box 11662
Newington, Conn. 06111
Program and Manual Written by Tom Rickenbacker
CHECK KING OVERVIEW
Welcome to Check King.
Check King is an easy-to-use yet full featured checkbook
accounting system. The goal of Check King is to give you
virtually effort-free control of your checking account.
With Check King, you can,
- Record your checks electronically with a minimum of
effort.
- Predefine twenty-one payees for 2-stroke data entry.
- Track up to 97 categories of checks. (Twelve of your
categories may display on the check entry screen).
- Easily review your checks with a flexible variety of
requests.
- List all of the checks written between any two dates.
- List all the checks written between any two amounts.
- List the checks written to any one, two, or three
payees.
- List any combination of the above.
- List checks by category.
- List only outstanding transactions.
- Reconcile your checkbook to the bank's statement
without driving yourself to distraction.
- Clear transactions in a matter of moments.
- Receive help in finding discrepancies from the
Reconciliation Problem Finder. Discrepancies caused by
a single transaction error will often be explicitly
identified.
In short, Check King will help you to record, track, and
balance your checks. It does the types of things you hoped a
computer would do -- before you found out otherwise.
Check King should run on any PC or PC compatible machine with at
least 256K of memory and a floppy drive. The system was tested
on a PC AT, an Epson Equity III, a PC XT, and the various systems
owned by my friends. Should you find problems in running it on
your compatible, read the section on the Refund Policy. If you
bought directly from me, I'll gladly send you a refund. The only
conditions are that you bought the disk directly from me and that
you send me a short note telling me of the system on which Check
King failed.
USING THIS MANUAL
Alas, an on-the-disk manual can't show the screens which it
discusses.
I recommend that you:
a. print out the manual and
b. read it while seated at your computer. As you read
about a screen, call it up on your monitor. Following along
with the screen in front of you will make things clearer.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS MANUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Making a back-up diskette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Making a Working Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FLOPPY WORKING COPIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
HARD DISK SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SETTING UP CHECK KING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Program Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Data Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
YOUR FIRST SESSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
RESOLVING START-UP PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CHECK KING MENU SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
THE CHECK ENTRY SCREEN (CE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
THE CHECK UPDATE SCREEN (CU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Voiding a Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Return to the Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
THE DEPOSIT ENTRY SCREEN (DE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
THE DEPOSIT UPDATE SCREEN (DU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Voiding a Deposit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Return to the Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Specifying Selection Criteria (RS) . . . . . . . . . . 23
Category Breakdown Report (RC) . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Outstanding Transaction Report (RO) . . . . . . . . . . 26
BANK STATEMENT RECONCILIATION (P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Entering Service Charges and Interest Payments . . . . 27
Clearing Checks and Deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Computing Unrecorded Checks and Deposits . . . . . 28
Hunting Down an Out of Balance Condition . . . . . 29
PAYEE SETUP/UPDATE (P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CLASSIFICATION SETUP/UPDATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
MISCELLANEOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Change Default Check Number (MC) . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Adjust Check Book Balance (MA) . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Future Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Why don't you provide the ability to print checks? . . 34
Why don't your screens just pop up instead of writing
themselves? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Why is the price so low? Is the product any good? . . 35
Can I avoid reentering my payee list and check
classifications whenever I open a new checking
account? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
How is this better than a spreadsheet? . . . . . . . . 37
My screen got garbled? What should I do? . . . . . . . 37
When is the next update and what will it contain? . . . 38
I make a lot of cash withdrawals from an Automated
Teller Machine (ATM). Does this make Check King
useless for me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
How many checks can Check King handle? . . . . . . . . 40
CHECK KING'S FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
THE FUNCTION KEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
REGISTERING CHECK KING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
LEGALITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Page 1
INTRODUCTION
Why another checking system? I became intrigued by a statement
of a friend. He said, "I just wrote myself a little checking
system. It's coming along fairly well. Now it's almost as easy
to use the computer system as it is NOT to use it."
Automated checking systems are on the receiving end of several
jokes. "I don't need a computer to balance my checks" is true.
You also don't need your car to get to work. It just makes it a
heckuva lot easier.
How often have you searched through your check register to see
whether you had indeed paid a check? How often, in frustration,
have you adjusted your balance because you couldn't find an
error? And, if you've ever tried to track your expenses, do you
believe that your check register was easy to use?
Check King does require an extra step on your part. You must
enter your checks and deposits into the computer.
CHECK KING, HOWEVER, WORKS WITH YOU TO MINIMIZE THE TIME IT TAKES
TO ENTER DATA.
It provides:
- a built in macro feature for entering payees.
- sensible defaults throughout its screens which
require just the press of the RETURN key.
- liberal and consistent use of the function keys.
- help screens where they are needed.
It avoids making you read more than you need to by:
- providing uncluttered, layered menus (which may be
bypassed by the advanced user).
- minimizing the need for error messages by minimizing the
opportunities for error.
SO, on average, a check entry consists of around nine keystrokes.
A deposit averages seven strokes plus any memo entry you elect to
enter.
In exchange for those keystrokes, Check King transforms your
electronic check register into a powerful data base. What did
you spend on your utilities in the last year? What percent of
Page 2
your total expenditures went to entertainment? Why does your
bank statement not balance to your register statement?
Look at that last question again. Check King will do a lot to
provide its answer. A difference caused by a single recording
error will usually be explicitly identified at reconcilement
time. And, for differences caused by multiple recording
errors, Check King's "Reconciliation Problem Finder" will
prove indispensable.
In short, Check King is a time-saving tool for your check book
accounting. And, if I've succeeded in my sub-goal, it's almost
fun to use -- easy, efficient, and slick.
-------------------------------------------------------
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS MANUAL
This manual will show you:
a. how to get started with Check King
and b. the fine points of the program.
(Also "c.", you may find some portions of it entertaining. You
may not. But, you may.)
Every user of the program should read the section on how to get
started with the program. It takes less than 15 minutes and
avoids problems at the end of the month when the first
reconcilement takes place.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Terminology
___________
CLEAR - Checks and deposits are either OPEN or CLEARed. An open
check is one which has not yet been returned to you by
the bank. A CLEARed check, then, is one which has been
returned to you by the bank.
When you first write a check or deposit, CHECK KING
assumes that it has NOT been cleared. Normally, you
will record whether a transaction has been cleared at
the time that you reconcile it to your bank statement.
(CHECK KING also permits you to CLEAR checks and
deposits via the check and deposit update screens. You
may find this ability handy at some time or other.)
CREDIT - An accounting word not used in this documentation.
Page 3
DEBIT - The spouse of CREDIT. Also not used in this
documentation.
RECONCILEMENT - This is the process of balancing CHECK KING to
your monthly bank statement.
STATEMENT - This is sometimes used in lieu of "BANK STATEMENT".
The bank statement is the listing of all your
transactions and of any service charges and/or
interest payments which have been made.
Page 4
GETTING STARTED
Getting started consists of:
1. Making a back-up diskette.
2. Making a working copy of CHECK KING.
3. Deciding where you will keep your data files.
4. Getting off to a clean start (i.e. balancing your
check book BEFORE transferring it to Check King).
Making a back-up diskette.
-------------------------
If you have been using computers for a while, you are already in
the habit of backing up the software which you value. If you are
not in the habit, this is as good a time to start as any.
a.) Format a blank diskette to receive the back up.
In your A drive, put your system diskette -- the one
which contains FORMAT.COM.
If you have two diskette drives, place the blank diskette
in your B drive. (If you have only one drive, keep
reading. At the appropriate times, the operating system
will prompt you to change diskettes.)
Enter:
< FORMAT B: >
NOTE: Throughout the manual, I shall place what
you should enter between a "<" and a ">". The
"<" and ">" themselves are not to be entered.
b.) Enter:
< VERIFY ON > (not strictly necessary, but a
darn good idea.)
Page 5
c.) Enter:
< DISKCOPY A: B: >
Label the backup diskette and store it away from the
original.
Making a Working Copy
---------------------
Your working copy of CHECK KING will either be on a floppy or on
a hard disk.
Be sure to follow along within the right section.
FLOPPY WORKING COPIES
Making a working copy is similar to the procedure for making a
backup copy.
Again, you will need a blank diskette.
With the system diskette in your A drive (i.e. a diskette with
a copy of FORMAT.COM), enter:
1) < FORMAT B: /S >
NOTE: The '/S' is not needed if you do not want
CHECK KING to be a system diskette. I
recommend, however, that you do make it a
system disk just for convenience.
2) Leave the diskette just created in your B drive. Place
the Check King master in the A drive. Enter <INSTALL F>.
This will copy over the files which you need to the
working copy.
That's it! Skip to "SETTING UP CHECK KING".
Page 6
HARD DISK SYSTEMS
Put the Check King master diskette in your A drive. Change the
default drive to the A drive by entering: <A:>
Enter: INSTALL H
That's all there is to it. This will create a subdirectory
called CHECKING and copy all the necessary files to it.
If you do not wish a CHECKING subdirectory, then copy the files
yourself. The files that you'll need to copy are: CK.COM and
all of the .CHN files. (I do not recommend copying over
ELITE.COM, the batch files, or the manual itself since they will
not be necessary.)
Page 7
SETTING UP CHECK KING
CHECK KING consists of:
a) program files and
b) data files.
Program Files:
The program files are CK.COM and several .CHN files. These must
ALL be on your default drive (i.e. the drive represented by the
letter before DOS' ">" prompt) and in the current subdirectory.
In other words, if you have a hard disk system, you must be
pointed not only to your hard drive (normally the "C" drive) but
also to the subdirectory containing the CHECK KING program files.
Be sure that your prompt points to the proper drive. Enter
the CD command with no operand and see what directory you are
pointing to. If it is not the directory with CK.COM, use the CD
command to change the directory. (Refer to your MS DOS manual if
you do not know how to change directories).
Data Files:
The data files may be either on the same drive as your program or
on a separate drive. Paths are not supported.
For all systems, I recommend a separate and dedicated floppy for
each checking account you use with CHECK KING.
CHECK KING has predetermined the file names of your data files.
Like most design decisions, this one has a Good News / Bad News
aspect. The Good News is that you do not have to keep track of
file names. The Bad News is that only one checking account per
directory is possible.
So, if you wish to use CHECK KING for multiple checking accounts,
the most straightforward method is to give each account its own
floppy.
I recommend a dedicated floppy for a very excellent reason.
CHECK KING does NOT have any error handling routines for a full
disk. WHY NOT? There's only one honest answer. Laziness. If a
dedicated floppy is used, there will be no problem. The program
does indeed warn you when you are approaching its limits (1000
checks and 500 deposits). Use a dedicated floppy (top cost for
a blank floppy is $1.25 unless you still buying from your local
computer store) and you will have no problem.
Page 8
YOUR FIRST SESSION - Getting Started Properly
O.K. You've made your backup. You've made your working copy.
You've made your decision on where you will place your data
files.
There is one more thing to do. Before you start with Check King,
you must balance your check book to your last bank statement. If
you can't balance it(!), you may use either of my pre Check King
methods.
1. The Close-the-Account-And-Open-A-New-One Method.
2. The Make-the-Blind-Faith-Adjustment Method.
The first is what it says. It consists of withdrawing most of
the money from your existing account and opening a nice new fresh
account.
The second consists of the act of making an entry called "FUDGE"
or "ADJUSTMENT" to bring your balance to what the bank says it
is.
The most important part is the clean start. If you to get the
most from Check King, start with a balanced check book.
- Enter <CK> to start Check King.
- Press the RETURN key (the bent arrow) when requested.
- Respond to Check King's question about which drive your
data files are to go on.
- When asked for a starting balance, enter the BANK
STATEMENT's balance -- not your check book's balance.
Why?
Statement Balance a. We start here
+ Unrecorded Deposits b. Then enter these
- Unrecorded Checks
-------------------
= Book Balance c. and check on
ourselves by making sure
we end up here.
- Enter, as the starting check number, the next check
number which is available to your check book.
- Now, you should be on the Main Menu screen. (If not,
press the RETURN key.) You may use the arrow keys and
space bar to cycle through the options. Or, you may
simply enter the option's first letter.
Page 9
- Enter your outstanding deposits via the Deposit Entry
screen.
- Enter your outstanding checks via the Check Entry screen.
(You may type over the default check number if it is not
the check number desired.)
- After you enter your last unrecorded check, YOUR BALANCE
SHOULD BE THE SAME BALANCE AS SHOWS IN YOUR CHECK BOOK.
If not, read the next section. It'll work.
Remember the advice from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy -- DON'T PANIC.
Page 10
RESOLVING START-UP PROBLEMS
Is the balance shown by Check King the same one shown in your
check book? If so, you may skip this page.
O.K. You've got the following tools to help you: this page, the
Outstanding Transaction report, the Check Update Screen, the
Deposit Update Screen, and -- should all else fail -- the
Adjustment Screen which is available via the Miscellaneous sub
menu.
First, get a hardcopy of what you've entered via the Outstanding
Transaction report.
What happened? Here are the possibilities:
1. You made a clerical error in entering the unrecorded
checks or deposits. (Use the report to find the error.
Use the appropriate update screen to fix it.)
2. If Check King's balance is higher than your check book's
balance:
a. you failed to record a check. (use Check Entry
screen)
b. you entered a deposit twice. (void from Deposit
Update screen)
c. you entered a check with too low an amount. (fix via
Check Update Screen)
3. If Check King's balance is lower than your check book's
balance:
a. you failed to record a deposit. (use Deposit Entry
screen)
b. you entered a check which was on the bank statement.
(void it via the Check Update screen)
c. you entered a check with too high an amount. (fix
via Check Update Screen)
Another possibility is that the arithmetic in your check book was
wrong. If so, Check King has begun to earn its keep.
Still another possibility is that you incorrectly recorded the
Bank Statement Balance when you started. (Here is the only truly
legitimate reason I can come up with for using the Adjustment
Screen of the Miscellaneous menu.)
Finding the discrepancy may take some time. So be it. Again, a
clean start will pay dividends. Put in the time now, not later.
Page 11
CHECK KING MENU SCREEN
The menu screen provides you with eight choices:
Checks
Deposits
Reports
Bank Statement
Reconcilement
Payee Setup/Update
Klassification Setup/Update
Miscellaneous
Quit
When you enter the screen, an arrow will be pointing to Checks.
Should you press the RETURN (i.e. the ENTER key -- the big key
with the bent arrow), you will see a sub-menu offering a choice
of:
Enter Checks
Update Checks
Return to Main Menu
The sub menu is the active menu when it is on the screen. The
active menu is always the bottom most menu -- the one which is
highlighted.
Using the spacebar, the arrow keys, or the Tab key you may
move among the choices. You may activate a choice by pressing
the RETURN key.
ALTERNATIVE: Did you notice that Klassification is spelled with
a "K" instead of a "C"? (Rhetorical question.)
The reason is that you may also select a choice by simply
entering its first letter. Since CHECKS expropriated the
letter "C" for itself, "CLASSIFICATION" became
"KLASSIFICATION."
When the first-letter method is used, the RETURN key
does not need to be pressed. For example, you can get to the
Check Entry screen by simply entering:
<CE>
"C" for "Checks" (Main Menu) and "E" for "Enter
Checks" (Sub Menu).
THE CHOICES
"Checks" - Select if you wish to "Enter Checks"
or "Update Checks"
Page 12
"Deposits" - Select if you wish to "Enter Deposits"
or "Update Deposits"
"Reports" - Select for:
a. Specifying Selection Criteria (build your own
report)
b. Category Breakdown Report (Coming soon)
c. Outstanding Transaction Report (See just
the deposits and checks which remain outstanding)
"Bank Statement Reconcilement"
Select if you wish to balance Check King to your bank
statement. (Normally, run this once a month.)
"Payee Setup/Update"
Select to enter/update payees. (This is the same
screen which is also available from the Check Entry
screen.)
"Klassification Setup/Update"
Select to equate names to your first 20 check
categories. (Check King allows 97 categories --
from 1 through 97 -- but only keeps track of the
names of 20.)
"Miscellaneous"
Currently, the active miscellaneous selections enable you
to change your default check number and to Adjust the
Check Book balance.
Page 13
THE CHECK ENTRY SCREEN (CE)
This screen provides a method of entering checks into the system
with a minimum of keystrokes. From the main menu, CE takes you
here.
The Check Entry screen is divided into three sections:
1. a list of twenty-one payees which may be entered by
just hitting the Alt key plus a letter;
2. the list of the meanings of classifications 1-20;
and 3. the check entry section in the form of a replica of
a check.
The payee section shows the first twenty-one characters (of a
possible 40 characters) which you may define by the Payee Entry
Update Screen reachable either from the Check King Menu Screen or
by pressing F6 on this screen.
Check King assumes that you will want to issue the next check in
sequence and that you will not care to classify it. So, it fills
in the check number (i.e. "CK NO:") for you and provides a
default classification of 20 (which, initially, is set up as
"Unclassified").
For each new check, then, you are initially positioned on the
third field, "PAYEE:". You may either type in the payee or press
the ALT key plus the letter of the payee which you wish to enter
from the top third of the screen.
NOTE: Once you begin typing, the ALT-key combination is no
longer available. To use an ALT-key combination after you've
already begun to enter a payee, you must leave the payee field
and then come back to it.
Cycling through fields
-------------------
You may leave a field in one of four ways:
a. by pressing the RETURN key. (This will bring you to
the next field in a clockwise direction.)
b. by pressing the Down Arrow key. (This will bring
you to the next field in a clockwise direction.
This may seem strange when you are positioned on the
Amount field because the Down Arrow will bring you
"Up" to "DATE:" while the Up arrow will bring you
back to "Payee:")
Page 14
c. by pressing the Up Arrow key. (This will bring you
to the prior field -- in a counter-clockwise
direction.)
d. by completing the field.
An ALT-key combination for the payee field completes the
filling in of that field and automatically advances the
cursor to the amount field.
The cursor will also advance off of the amount field without
the RETURN key being pressed if you try entering a third
digit after the decimal point or too large a number. (Check
King has restricted any given check to a limit of $50,000.)
Entering the fields
-------------------
PAYEE: Either type it in or press an ALT-letter combination
from the top third of the screen.
Again, the ALT-letter combination is temporarily
disabled once you jump into the routine which accepts
typed-in payees by pressing a letter. (This is on my
To Do list for a future version.)
AMOUNT: Simply type in the amount. Commas are echoed but
ignored.
One decimal point is accepted. Letters and special
characters other than numbers are ignored.
DATE: The date field provides a default. It is either the
system's date or the last date with which you overrode
the system's date.
Although there is some basic editing done by this
routine when you enter a date, feel free to enter a
check for February 31st. Extensive date editing didn't
(and doesn't) strike me as much of a priority.
CK NO: This always defaults to the next available check number.
You may override the default. Check King will accept
check numbers from 1 through 9999 provided that they are
not already in use.
If you attempt to write a check with a check number
which is already in use, Check King will show you the
check which already has in its claim to the check
number.
Page 15
In case of a foul-up, use the Check Update screen to
straighten things out.
CLASS: You may enter classes from 1 through 97. Check King
will keep track of the names assigned to classes from 1
through 20. You will have to keep track yourself of the
meanings of classes 21 through 97.
Classes 0, 98, and 99 are reserved for Check King's
present and future internal use.
WARNING: Classes, not their equated names, are kept on
file.
To change the meaning of a class after a
check has been written under the old meaning
is to invite confusion.
For example, let me assume that you are a
greengrocer keeping track of how much you
spend on bananas. So, you assign Class 14 to
"Bananas" and use it whenever you pay for
bananas. Let me further assume that you
decide that you are receiving too many
tarantulas in your banana shipments. So, you
drop bananas from your inventory.
Look out. If you reassign Class 14 to
"Apples," what will you be doing if you run
the Category Breakdown Report for Class 14?
You guessed it. You'll be mixing Apples and
Bananas. (Sorry! I couldn't resist.)
"Entering the Check" (F10)
Entering the check into the system is achieved by pressing <F10>.
At this point:
- Your balance is updated. (Note the upper left-hand
corner of the screen.)
- The Check Number field (i.e. CK NO:) is updated to
reflect the next available check number.
- The CLASS field is reset to 20 (for Unclassified). - The
payee field is blanked. - The amount field is blanked.
The above are Check King's verification to you that the
check has been added.
Page 16
"Keeping your Place" (F7)
The last five add transactions, whether from deposit entry or
check entry, may be viewed by pressing <F7>.
This ability to review your last five transactions is especially
useful if you've lost track of where you are due to an
interruption.
Just press <F7>.
"Updating Payees" (F6)
After you've finally paid off your bookie and breathe a sigh of
relief that all your limbs made it through unbroken, you vow
never to do business with him again.
You may safely reassign his code to another payee. I say
"safely" because the payee entry, not the payee code, is kept on
the file. So, if your bookie was ALT-B "Friendly Jim," then
"Friendly Jim" is hard coded in all the checks written to him.
You may now reassign ALT-B to "Gambler's Betting on a Cure"
without fear of retroactively messing up checks already written
to "Friendly Jim".
"Help" (F1)
What is there to say? Help is available via the F1 key. Either
you understand it or it's not helpful.
"Exiting the Screen" (F3)
Since F10-Process leaves you on the Check Entry screen so that
you may enter more checks, I figured that you might just like a
way to leave the screen. (Brag, brag, brag.)
Press <F3> and you will be returned to the Check King Menu
Screen.
NOTE: F3 does NOT update the files with whatever was on the
screen when you pressed it. To record the last check you
wish to enter, be sure to first press <F10>. THEN, after
the last desired check is recorded, press <F3>.
Page 17
THE CHECK UPDATE SCREEN (CU)
This screen, arrived at from the menu by <CU>, is used to correct
mistakes, to VOID checks, and as an alternative method to the
Bank Statement Reconcilement screen for clearing a check.
The highlighted line under the "Check Number:" line is to
indicate that you may not change the key for the record.
Cycling through fields
-------------------
You may move the cursor from one field to another by:
a. pressing <RETURN>.
b. using the Up arrow to go to the prior field.
c. using the Down arrow to go the next field.
Entering the fields
-------------------
Date: The format is MM/DD/YY.
If you insist, you may enter some invalid dates such as
February 30.
Class: Enter the classification code desired for the check. If
you enter a value from 1 through 20, you will see the
legend which you entered on the Class Entry Screen (i.e.
"Klassification Setup/Update from the Check King Main
Menu) after you enter this field.
Payee: Called "Payee," this field may be used for any memo
entry desired -- up to 40 characters.
Amount: The amount of the check. If you increase this amount,
the increase will be deducted from your balance. If you
decrease the amount, the amount of the decrease will be
added to your balance.
Cleared?: "N" - The check has not cleared.
"Y" - The check Has cleared.
"Updating the Check" (F10)
Updating the check is achieved by pressing <F10>. At this point:
- Your balance is updated. - You are returned to the Check
Menu screen. (The assumption is that you will usually
only be updating one check.)
Page 18
"Voiding a Check" (F4)
When you VOID a check, the following occurs:
- The check's amount is added back to your balance.
- The check's amount is changed to 0.00.
- The Payee field is changed to "VOIDED from the Check
Update screen on mm/dd/yy" (where mm/dd/yy is the
system's date).
- You are returned to the Check King Main Menu.
The check number of a VOIDed check does NOT become available
for other checks. If your intent was to change the information
for a given check, then do just that from the Check Update
screen.
"Return to the Main Menu" (F3)
F3 is always the "Bail Out" option in Check King. To press F3
is to cancel any changes which you have made and to return to
the Check King Main Menu.
"Help" (F1)
Again, there is nothing to add. Either the help is clear and
useful on its own or its useless. Explaining a help screen is
like showing an overhead transparency of an overhead projector.
QUIZ: Why is an overhead transparency of an overhead projector
absurd?
Page 19
THE DEPOSIT ENTRY SCREEN (DE)
This screen, arrived at from the Check King Menu Screen by
<DE>, allows for the entry of deposits.
The top part of the screen sections off the Deposit Number and
Balance from the rest of the fields since these fields may not
be directly changed by you.
The deposit number is assigned by Check King as its means of
identifying deposits. You may find it useful to use the Memo
field for your own means of keeping deposits separate.
The DATE field must be entered in MM/DD/YY format if you do not
like the default of the system date.
The Memo field is for your own use. If you've some use for
grouping deposits, you might find it useful to include codes in
the memo field to identify those groupings. Then, you will be
able to use the "Specify Selection Criteria" option of the
"Reports" sub menu to select just the deposits which contain
that code. (If this seems like nonsense to you, then you
probably have no need to group deposits and may safely ignore
this tip.)
The Amount field is the amount of the deposit. Unlike your
bank, Check King immediately credits the deposit to your
Balance.
If you're run your check book without much of a buffer amount,
learn your bank's policy regarding the crediting of deposits so
that you don't overdraw your available balance. (The balance
shown by Check King is your Total Balance which may well be
higher than what your bank considers your Available Balance.
Well, to be more precise, the balance shown by Check King is
the net effect of the checks, deposits, and adjustments which
you make to whatever you entered as your beginning balance when
you first opened a Check King account. That may, therefore, be
either your Total Balance or your Fictional Balance.)
Page 20
THE DEPOSIT UPDATE SCREEN (DU)
This screen, arrived at from the menu by <DU>, is used to correct
mistakes, to VOID deposits, and as an alternative method to the
Bank Statement Reconcilement screen for clearing a deposit.
The highlighted line under the "Deposit Number:" line is to
indicate that you may not change the key for the record.
Cycling through fields
-------------------
You may move the cursor from one field to another by:
a. pressing <RETURN>.
b. using the Up arrow to go to the prior field.
c. using the Down arrow to go the next field.
Entering the fields
-------------------
Date: The format is MM/DD/YY.
Memo: This field may be used for any memo
entry desired -- up to 40 characters.
Amount: The amount of the deposit. If you increase this amount,
the increase will be added to your balance. If you
decrease the amount, the amount of the decrease will be
deducted from your balance.
Cleared?: "N" - The deposit has not cleared.
"Y" - The deposit has cleared.
"Updating the Deposit" (F10)
Updating the deposit is achieved by pressing <F10>. At this
point:
- Your balance is updated. - You are returned to the Check
Menu screen. (The assumption is that you will usually
be updating only one deposit.)
"Voiding a Deposit" (F4)
When you VOID a deposit, the following occurs:
- The deposit's amount is deducted from your balance.
- The deposit's amount is changed to 0.00.
- The Memo field is changed to "VOIDED from the Deposit
Page 21
Update screen on mm/dd/yy" (where mm/dd/yy is the
system's date).
- You are returned to the Check King Main Menu.
The deposit number of a VOIDed check does NOT become available
for other deposits.
"Return to the Main Menu" (F3)
F3 is always the "Bail Out" option in Check King. To press F3
is to cancel any changes which you have made and to return to
the Check King Main Menu.
Page 22
REPORTS
Check King provides a number of ways of reviewing your checks:
a. You may specify the selection criteria for the checks
you wish to see according to:
1. an amount range (i.e. all checks between Amount A
and Amount B).
2. a date range (i.e. all checks written between Date
A and Date B).
3. whether the check is cleared.
4. whether all payees are to be included in the
selection (if not, then you may specify up to three
payees which you do wish to include).
b. You may view checks by category.
c. You may view just the outstanding transactions.
d. You may get a report on what takes place at
reconcilement time.
In short, your reporting options are many and flexible. The
following sections will review each of them for you.
Page 23
Specifying Selection Criteria (RS)
-----------------------------
This screen, available via <RS> ("Reports" from the main menu
options followed by "Specify Selection Criteria on the sub menu),
allows you to combine selection criteria according to your
preference.
-------------------------------------------
| Amount | | Amount |
| Exceeds | AND | Less Than |
| | | |
| $ -.01 | | $99,999.99 |
|-----------------------------------------|
| Date | | Date |
| Exceeds | AND | Less Than |
| | | |
| 01/20/50 | | 12/31/99 |
|-----------------------------------------|
| Include cleared checks? Y |
|-----------------------------------------|
| Include all payees? Y |
|-----------------------------------------|
Don't be misled by the deceptive simplicity of the screen. It
provides you with considerable flexibility and power in reviewing
your transactions.
The screen's defaults produce a listing of all the checks on the
system. If you wish just to review the open checks, change
"Include cleared checks?" from "Y" to "N".
Finagle with the defaults to come up with what YOU want.
Say that you want to check on whether you ever got around to
writing that $15 check to the programmer of that shareware you
planned to pay for. You change "Amount Exceeds" to 14.99 and
"Amount Less Than" to 15.01. If the check for $15.00 was
written, then you will see that check on the report -- along with
all the other checks which you may have written for that exact
amount.
Or, let's say that your dentist, Dr. Smiley, sends you a bill for
$47 for a filling. You may become curious about how many times
you've been charged over $35 for a few minutes of drilling and a
mouthful of cotton. So, you change "Amount Exceeds" to 35 and
"Include all payees?" to "N". As you enter the "N" under
"Include all payees?", you will see a question box open up. (See
the next page for a representation of that box.)
Page 24
-------------------------------------------
| Amount | | Amount |
| Exceeds | AND | Less Than |
| | | |
| $ 35.00 | | $99,999.99 |
|-----------------------------------------|
| Date | | Date |
| Exceeds | AND | Less Than |
| | | |
| 01/20/50 | | 12/31/99 |
|-----------------------------------------|
| Include cleared checks? Y |
|-----------------------------------------|
| Include all payees? N |
|-----------------------------------------|
-----------Select if the payee contains:-------------------------
| Smiley More? _ |
| |
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter "Smiley." (You could enter "Dr. Smiley," but that will not
match "Dr Smiley" since the latter does not have a period after
the "r" of "Dr".)
Then, you will be asked, "More?". In other words, do you want
payees other than "Smiley"? Come to think of it, why not find
out how many of Dr. Hugo Spade's bills exceeded the same amount?
So, enter "Y" to the prompt and "Spade" to the "OR".
-----------Select if the payee contains:-------------------------
| Smiley |
| OR Spade More? N |
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enter the "N" for the "More?" prompt and the cursor will go back
to the amount under "Amount Exceeds" in case you want to make
some changes.
If you are satisfied with your selection criteria, press <F10> to
print out the report. (Further prompts will ask whether you wish
to see the report on the screen, on the printer, or both.)
In our example, you would now see all the checks exceeding $35
which were issued to either Dr. Smiley or Dr. Spade.
Page 25
NOTE: Once you leave the payee selection box, the cursor will
not return to it unless you reenter the "N" for "Include
all payees." At that point, your prior payee selections
will reset. But, you will have the opportunity to enter
the payee selections you intended.
The searches of the payee fields are not case sensitive -- the
capitalization of your criteria does not need to match the
capitalization of the payee fields.
To get the report you desire, enter enough of the payee field to
make Check King's matches unique to your desired criteria. For
example, you may save keystrokes by entering "Amer" instead of
"American Savings Bank". It may work. But, if you have checks
written out to "American Express," they will print out along with
your "American Savings Bank" transactions. (Just for good
measure, your check to "Discount Camera" will also print. Why?
Because "amer" is part of the string found in "cAMERa.")
Category Breakdown Report (RC)
-------------------------
If you're looking for a thin excuse to buy a 386 machine, this is
the best that Check King has to offer. The setup for the report
may take up to six minutes -- depending upon your computer's
clock speed and the number of checks you've recorded.
You receive four choices on how to see the report:
- for all categories using all checks.
- for all categories using just outstanding checks.
- for 1 to ten select categories using all checks.
- for 1 to ten select categories using just outstanding
checks.
Each category selected appears on its own page(s) and is followed
by totals for the category.
The types of questions for which this report provides answers
are:
- How much did I spend on Medicine?
- What is the supporting detail for that amount?
Page 26
Outstanding Transaction Report (RO)
------------------------------
Nothing fancy here. This is a report of all checks and deposits
which have not yet been cleared via either the reconcilement
screen (the usual way) or one of the two update screens.
This report answers the following two questions:
What checks and deposits have not yet been cleared?
What is their total?
Page 27
BANK STATEMENT RECONCILIATION (P)
Few things are as frustrating as an out of balance checking
account. You can't see where you made a mistake. You can't see
where the bank made a mistake. So, you should be in balance, but
you are not.
No system can promise that it will forever relieve you of such
frustration. Even so, Check King does all that it can do to
minimize your difficulties.
The first thing which it does is to walk you through the
reconciliation process.
The steps are: a. entering service charges and/or interest
payments. (These appear in the bank's
accounting, but they have not yet been made
known to Check King.) Assignment: YOURS.
b. clearing checks and deposits. Assignment:
YOURS.
c. doing the arithmetic to compute the
unrecorded checks and deposits (AND to apply
them properly). Assignment: CHECK KING's.
d. hunting down the possible candidates for the
out of balance condition. Assignment: CHECK
KING's.
STEP A - Entering Service Charges and Interest Payments
Check King walks you through this by asking for one service
charge or interest payment at a time (there may be more than
one). This relieves you of having to do any arithmetic.
NOTE: Check King logs just the sum total of the interest
charges or interest payments from the last time
that they were entered. These are shown to you on
the top half of the screen so that you will not
have to wonder about what you did or did not
record.
STEP B - Clearing Checks and Deposits
Check King shows you up to 2521 outstanding transactions.
1 If you have more than 252 transactions outstanding,
process the first 252 with the first invocation of the
reconcilement screen. The transactions which you clear will free
up slots for a second invocation of the screen.
Page 28
You may use the cursor keys (i.e. arrows) to cycle among
them. "N" indicates that a transaction has not been
cleared. Change the "N" to "Y" if the transaction appears
on the bank statement.
Should you have more than 84 outstanding transactions, the
F7 and F8 keys will enable you to flip among them.
F3, at any time, will cancel the work which you've done
during a given reconcilement session. However, if you've
made it past the Service Charge/Interest Payment screens
before pressing F3, the service charges and interest
payments will have already been recorded. (You may use the
<MA> options from the Main Menu to bring you to the
Miscellaneous Adjustments screen to reverse the effects of
erroneous recording of interest or service charges.)
NOTE: A useful feature for clearing checks is the Alt-F4
feature. Alt-F4 reverses each checks cleared
status.
For example, if all but a handful of checks have
cleared, use Alt-F4 to change all the checks'
cleared status to "Y". Then, move over to the
outstanding checks and reverse their status to "N".
The files are not updated until you press <F10> to update
them. At any time before that, you may escape what you
are doing by pressing <F3>.
STEP C - Computing Unrecorded Checks and Deposits
Check King does all the arithmetic based upon the data which
you've entered and produces the "Reconcilement Balance
Sheet".
The Reconcilement Balance Sheet is divided into three
sections: Outstanding Checks, Outstanding Deposits, and the
Balance Sheet itself.
The Outstanding Checks and Deposits are listed individually 2
and totalled.
2 All of the checks are listed. If there is more than one
screen's worth of them, F7 and F8 will page through the screens.
Only the first 16 outstanding deposits, however, are individually
listed on the Reconcilement Balance Sheet screen.
Page 29
STEP C - Hunting Down an Out of Balance Condition
If the "Difference" field of the Reconcilement Balance Sheet
shows a zero, all is well and Check King doesn't have an
opportunity to strut its stuff.
If, however, there is a difference, Check King will:
a. Show you most solitary errors which could have caused
the difference. (By "solitary errors," I mean any
single error which might account for the difference.
No system can show all the possible "combinations"
which could account for the difference. Moreover, a
list of all possible combinations would not reduce the
problem -- it would enlarge it.)
b. List out other avenues for you to explore in balancing
the check book.
NOTE: Check King tries to avoid providing unsolicited
advice. So, if you wish Check King's assistance, you
must ask for it by pressing F1 when you are invited
to do so.
Finally, whether you are in balance or not, Check King gives you
the opportunity to receive a hardcopy report on your
reconcilement session -- by pressing F6.
If you have a printer, I recommend that you ask for hardcopy.
Today, the report already provides a useful audit trail. With
subsequent editions, I plan to beef the report up with still more
information -- some of which will not be available once you
return to the Main Menu. So, if you want the report, ask for it
from the Bank Statement Reconciliation session.
Page 30
PAYEE SETUP/UPDATE (P)
This screen allows for the creation of up to 21 macros for the
Payee field of checks.
Each macro may be up to 40 characters in length. On the Check
Entry screen, they will be truncated to 21 characters in order to
fit in the space available. But, all 40 characters will be
entered into the payee field of a check.
It is save to change the payee list at any time. You will not be
changing the payee field of checks which have already been
written.
WARNING: Be careful how you leave the payee screen.
<F3> will NOT update the payee file (PAYEE.FIL). Any
changes made prior to pressing <F3> will be lost.
<F10> does the updating. <F3> is there to give you
the chance to change your mind.
NOTE: If you maintain more than one checking account, you need
not reenter the payees for each account. Just COPY
PAYEE.FIL to the diskette of the second account. (You may
do this even after you've opened the account.)
Page 31
CLASSIFICATION SETUP/UPDATE
The classifications (i.e. categories) of checks provided as
defaults roughly correspond to Schedule B of the 1040. You may
well wish to open up other categories.
Categories 1 through 97 are available for your use. Only
categories 1-20, however, currently display on the Check Entry
screen. So, if you desire more than 20 categories, I recommend
that you write them out on a card or sheet of paper kept close to
your computer.
(Digression: My computer faces a wall. On that will, I used to
tack various notes to myself -- the syntax of
commands I can never remember and the like.
My wife, easily more organized than I, bought me a
simple cork board from Caldors or the like. It
hangs behind my monitor. You'll find such a board
an ideal place to keep categories 21 - 97 along
with a lot of other stuff you may find yourself
forever hunting for.
This Public Service Announcement is presented at no
extra charge.)
The category/class CODES, not their equivalent explanations, are
kept on the file. This has a very important implication.
DO NOT CHANGE A CATEGORY (I.E. CLASS) CODE'S MEANING AFTER YOU
HAVE USED THE CODE.
Why not?
Assume that you are a greengrocer keeping track of how much you
spend on bananas. So, you assign Class 14 to "Bananas" and use
it whenever you pay for bananas. Further assume that you decide
that you are receiving too many tarantulas in your banana
shipments. So, you drop bananas from your inventory.
Look out. If you reassign Class 14 to "Apples," what will you be
doing if you run the Category Breakdown Report for Class 14?
You guessed it. You'll be mixing Apples and Bananas -- the Moral
Equivalent of mixing Apples and Oranges which we all know is some
sort of sin. (Yes, I do realize that I perpetrated this same
example earlier. I just wanted to give everyone a chance to see
it since some folks merely skim manuals!)
Page 32
MISCELLANEOUS
The miscellaneous options are for the more rarely used functions
of Check King -- changing default check numbers, making flat
adjustments, and future enhancements.
While you will not often need to select from this menu, you may
find yourself glad that it is here.
Change Default Check Number (MC)
The default check number is set when you first set up a Check
King checking account. As you enter checks, it gets incremented
by 1.
If, for one reason or another, you find yourself having to
constantly override the default check number, you probably need
to reset it.
This screen permits changing the number. If the number you enter
is already in use, it will be set to the first available number
AFTER the one you provide. For example, if you have written
checks 2000-2150 and enter a default check number of "2110," it
will show up as 2151. Why? Because that is the first available
check number after 2110.
Adjust Check Book Balance (MA)
There ARE Those Times.
If you select this screen, read the advice on it before
continuing on to make the adjustment. Normally, you should be
able to find a better way to get into balance (i.e. by correcting
some data entry error?).
I put this screen in for two reasons:
a. for myself.
b. for the Check King customer who doesn't initially set up
Check King correctly -- either out of confusion from
unclear instructions on my part or out of impatience to
get started. Soon or later, this customer will confront
the error. A simple adjustment may be the best way to get
into balance.
c. for people who make stupid mistakes they don't want to
correct properly. For example, up above it says, "I put
this screen in for two reasons:". This is a third
Page 33
reason. This is also an adjustment to that sentence. So,
I put this screen in for three reasons. (Great, one error
corrected!)
Future Enhancements
This screen will tell you my ideas. If you'd like to see Check
King made more useful for YOUR needs, tell me your ideas. Who
knows? Your idea may be incorporated. (If you're first with the
idea, you will the upgrade containing it for free.)
Page 34
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
This section is to provide, in a question and answer format, the
information which is most commonly requested.
Why don't you provide the ability to print checks?
--------------------------------------------------
I wrote Check King to address the needs of the personal
checking account. My guide in deciding what to include and
what not to include was, "What would I find useful?"
As a user of Check King, I don't want to get into buying
pre-printed checks. I'll do anything to avoid changing
paper in my printer. For the number of checks which I
process each month (35), it certainly is not worth changing
forms -- especially since I seldom write all 35 checks at
one time.
Also, preprinted checks raise all sorts of questions about
coordinating the check number in the system to that of the
preprinted forms. I've worked with preprinted forms
professionally. I have little desire to work with them at
home.
And, I suspect, neither do you! If I provided the feature,
I'd have to force you into giving Check King more
information than it now requests. Documentation comments
which you may now enter into the "Payee" field would have to
go into a separate "Memo" field. Your record would be
larger. Your disk space more limited. And, to some extent,
the execution times would be slower.
After the novelty wore off, most of my targeted market would
stop using the preprinted checks. Some would throw the baby
out with the wash and stop using an automated check system
too.
As a programmer, I have little desire into getting into the
hassle of supporting umpty-ump printer standards.
In short, I am convinced that the ability to print checks is
more a marketing feature than a useful feature for most of
us. If I get over 1,000 paying customers and after I put in
a host of USEFUL features I have in mind, then and only then
will I be at all interested in turning my attention to the
it-prints-checks! gimmick.
Business accounts may find it useful. For personal
checking, it's truly fluff.
Page 35
Why don't your screens just pop up instead of writing themselves?
----------------------------------------------------------------
They did! They did!
Then, I found that they didn't work on all computers. The
ways in which screen memory is addressed vary. My compiler
resolves the addresses at compilation time instead of at
execution time! So I'm stuck with either writing the
screens out line by line or with maintaining several
versions of Check King for various computers.
I'm writing the screens out line by line, thank you.
On the other hand, is it really a problem? Really?!
Why is the price so low? Is the product any good?
--------------------------------------------------
Shareware is paid for on the honor system. I have no way of
knowing who is using Check King. Those who pay for it do so
only because of their integrity. So, it's to my benefit to
keep the price low enough to avoid tempting people of good
will into disregarding their consciences.
Also, Check King's price is low because my costs are low.
My investment of time was large, but my investment of money
is minimal. My costs consist of the mailing costs of
sending out the Thank You diskette. (I've long ago given up
on ever recovering the costs of my hardware and software. I
find it consoling to think of them as hobbiest expenses.)
You'll be the final judge of Check King's quality. I
consider it the equal of any checking system I've seen at
any price.
A final observation on costs and perceptions. I can't help
noticing that most people subconsciously value a product
according to its price. I used to give away Check King to
friends to receive feedback. They were always too busy to
get around to even trying it out! Then, I began selling it.
The paying customers I've heard from thus far both use and
love it.
The Moral: If you ever have a pet for which you need to
find a good home, don't offer the pet for free. For the
pet's sake, sell it!
Page 36
Can I avoid reentering my payee list and check classifications
whenever I open a new checking account?
---------------------------------------
Yes.
Create your new account just like you created your first
account (See Making a Working Copy).
Then, copy over to your new working copy the following files
from your existing checking account:
PAYEE.FIL
CLASS.FIL
Now, you are all set. You have a new checking account which
recognizes the work you've already done to set up your payee
file and your category files.
I edited CHECK.FIL with my editor ________________ (insert name
of some product or other) and made some changes by mistake. Now,
check king comes up with errors. What can I do?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Uh?! Use your backup.
If you don't have a backup, I can't help. The files of
CHECK KING are in its own format. There is nothing to be
gained by looking at them with your own editor -- including
trade secrets. (I don't have any trade secrets.)
If you change the CHECK KING files via your word processor
or DEBUG or whatever, CHECK KING will probably not be able
to process them properly.
Page 37
How is this better than a spreadsheet?
-------------------------------------
Few people have spreadsheets set up which make it easy to
enter 40 characters of documentation with each check.
Few worksheets provide context sensitive help. (Neither
does Check King. It provides screen-sensitive help which,
given the functional breakdown of the screens, is pretty
close to context sensitive.)
Few worksheets provide such easy and flexible inquiry
ability as the Reports of Check King.
Few worksheets work with you to solve your reconciliation
problems.
No worksheet has all the above advantages plus the ease of
use provided by Check King.
Check King, in the view of some, borders on fun due to the
elegant simplicity of its interface. Its combination of
power and ease of use make it almost enjoyable to "play"
with your checkbook.
My screen got garbled? What should I do?
-----------------------------------------
First, please accept my apology. I thought I had all the
screen garblers corralled, branded, and exterminated.
Chances are that the screen, not your data, is all that is
garbled. If the garbled screen has Help available from it,
press <F1> to call up the Help. This causes the screen to
be rewritten. Then, escape from the Help back to your
original screen.
If the garbled screen does not offer Help or if the above
did not work, then you must return to the menu by pressing
<F3>. Then, go back to the screen which was garbled. You
should be back in business with no loss of data.
If none of the above works, it may be that your computer
configuration is not compatible with Check King or that your
copy has gone bad. Try recreating your Check King disk from
the original. If that doesn't work, send for your refund.
Page 38
When is the next update and what will it contain?
------------------------------------------------
Check King contains over 8700 lines of code. The figure
which pops up in the programming courses is that the average
programmer can produce 10 debugged lines of code per day.
Granted, that sounds extremely low at first blush. But, the
point is that there is more to getting a working program
than coding. The figure is so low because it throws out the
lines of code which don't make it to the final product. It
throws out the lines which didn't work or which were
reworked.
The figure is low because a good deal of time is spent in
debugging, in documenting, in rewriting. And, when dealing
with a new language such as ZBASIC was, a good deal of time
is spent in working around bugs until one is finally able to
get an upgrade. (When I was finally able to get one sent to
me, the upgrade fixed the bugs which Zedcor never admitted
were there --at least not to me! Companies should stop to
consider that they might just be dealing with someone who is
promoting their product for them. Before the stonewalling,
I was singing the praises of ZBasic. Now, I am considering
a switch to Quick Basic or Turbo Basic. I want a built-in
full screen editor. Zedcor is promising one, but if Version
4 has bugs, will Zedcor again stonewall? Perhaps not. But,
Zedcor's charge of $19.95 for a quarterly 19 page house
organ is not a promising omen.)
Well, to return to the question, the effort to produce Check
King has already well exceeded one man year of spare time --
which translates into over eighteen month's of work. The
fun left the project some time ago. Then, it became a
compulsion rather than a challenge.
Now, Check King is at a stage of completion where I can sell
it with pride. It enters a crowded market and I am not
about to invest a lot in its advertizing. So, I may sell
close to none of these despite my efforts to ensure that it
is a useful product of professional quality.
Perhaps after all this preface, you'll understand why I have
no intention of beginning work on an upgrade until I see my
fiftieth paying customer. I simply need to get something
back for my efforts in order to recharge my batteries.
"When," then, is about three months after the fiftieth
payment arrives.
I can't make definitive promises on what will be in the
upgrade. My current (preliminary) thoughts are:
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- to add support for multiple checkbooks.
- to provide the ability to see more than 20
classifications on the screen by adding a scrolling
capability to the "Class" section of the Check Entry
Screen and to the Classification Entry/Update Screen.
- to expand Check King from a check accounting program
into a financial planning package by adding at least
one major new feature. (You'll like the one I have
in mind as much as you like the reconcilement aides
and the current flexibility of the reporting.)
- to include, as a bonus, some small utilities and "for
fun" programs with which I'll be amusing myself
during my vacation from Check King.
NOTE: IF I SELL ONLY 1 COPY OF CHECK KING, THAT ONE
CUSTOMER WILL FIND ME MORE THAN WILLING TO FIX ANY
BUGS WHICH MAY HAVE ESCAPED MY NETS. IT'S MY
WILLINGNESS TO ADD NEW FEATURES -- NOT MY WILLINGNESS
TO SUPPORT THE CURRENT CHECK KING -- WHICH HINGES
UPON ACHIEVING A MINIMAL QUOTA OF SALES.
I make a lot of cash withdrawals from an Automated Teller Machine
(ATM). Does this make Check King useless for me?
-------------------------------------------------
Not at all. I am a heavy user of ATMs myself. About 1/3 of my
transactions are ATM transactions.
A cash withdrawal is essentially the same as a check -- both
lower the balance of your checking account. So, what I do is
simply to assign each cash withdrawal a number which my checks
are not likely to use.
For example, my checks are being written in the 2000 series now.
So, I started a separate series for my ATM withdrawals in the 20
series. As long as I keep track of the next available check
number for the ATM withdrawals, I'm all set.
The point to keep in mind is that the available numbers for both
checks and ATM withdrawals extends from 0001 to 9999. (Check
King automatically assigns deposit numbers starting with 10000.)
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How many checks can Check King handle?
--------------------------------------
Check King can currently handle up to 1000 transactions. This
limit will be expanded with the very next version.
Check King handles amounts of less than $1,000,000 only. Those
of you who deal in millions will have to buy a more expensive
checking program. (Sorry!)
Because the average user of Check King is unlikely to
intentionally write a check exceeding $99,999.99, Check King
artificially limits checks to that amount.
It is advisable to open a fresh checking account every year.
This will keep Check King's performance up and ensure that you
will not overrun Check King's limits.
Page 41
CHECK KING'S FILES
All the following program files must be located in the current
directory of the current drive for Check King to operate
properly:
CK.COM - The entry point to Check King. This module
verifies whether the necessary files are
present, shows the copyright screen, and
transfers control to the main menu.
CKMENU.CHN - The module responsible for showing the Check
King Main Menu.
CHECKENT.CHN - The Check Entry screens
CHKUPDT.CHN - The Check Update screens
DEPENT.CHN - The Deposit Entry screens
DEPUPDT.CHN - The Deposit Update screens
CHKREPTS.CHN - The Report Selection Criteria screens
CKCLASS.CHN - The Classification Report screens
CHKSOUT.CHN - The Outstanding Transaction report screens
PAYEE.CHN - The Payee Entry/Update screens
CLASS.CHN - The Classification Entry/Update screens
CKRECON.CHN - The Bank Statement Reconciliation screens
CKADJUST.CHN - The Balance Adjustment screens
CKNEWNUM.CHN - The Check Number Adjustment Screen
In addition to the program files, Check King maintains several
data files. All the data files must share the same directory of
the same drive. They may or may not also share the directory and
drive of the program files.
WARNING: All Check King's files are in the vanilla ZBasic
condensed structure. They are tricky to decipher.
Unless you're debugging a ZBasic program which has
defied all other efforts to track down a bug, there
is no need to bother.
Any modification of the files from outside of Check
King may make it impossible for Check King to recover
your data correctly. So, if you want to look
Page 42
directly at the files out of curiosity, go right
ahead. BUT, be certain not to modify them from your
word processor or editor.
CHECKS.FIL - Contains all the checks and deposits. Also
contains, as its first record, the checkbook
balance and several control fields.
All of Check King's files are in a vanilla
ZBasic condensed structure. They are tricky to
decipher. Unless you're debugging a ZBasic
program which has defied all other efforts to
track down a bug, there is no need to bother.
PAYEE.FIL - Contains the payee list set up from the Payee
Entry/Update screen.
CLASS.FIL - Contains the classifications (or classes) set up
via the Classification Entry/Update screen.
ADJUST.FIL - Contains the interest payment and service charge
amounts last entered from the Bank Statement
Reconciliation screen.
The data files do not exist on the distribution disk of Check
King. They come into being when you first invoke Check King.
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THE FUNCTION KEYS
Check King is consistent in its use of the function keys. The
pattern to notice is:
F1 - HELP. Usually brings up a Help screen. On the last leg of
the reconcilement screens, however, F1 shows an analysis of
an out of balance condition -- another flavor of help.
F3 - Used to return to the main menu. Any work done since the
last press of F10 on the screen will be lost.
ALT-F4 - This is used just on the Check Reconcilement screen to
reverse the cleared indicators of every check shown on the
screen. I purposely made this a bit awkward to minimize the
risk of an unintentional clearing of all the checks.
F7 - Page Back. Where there is more than one screen's worth of
information, F7 pages back to the prior screen. If you are
positioned on the first page of a series, F7 "wraps" around
to the last page.
F8 - Page Forward. Where there is more than one screen's worth
of information, F8 pages forward to the next page. If you
are positioned on the last page of a series, F8 "wraps"
around to the first page.
F10 - Process. Pressing F10 records the work which you've done
on a screen.
Page 44
REGISTERING CHECK KING
Check King is a shareware product.
Public Domain software is a gift to the public. Such software
is, therefore, free.
Shareware is NOT Public Domain software. It is, rather, software
which is distributed on the honor system. Try it. Share it. If
you don't find it useful, you have lost nothing. If, on the
other hand, you do find it useful, then you are expected either
to pay for it or to stop using it.
The price of Check King is $15. It compares favorably with its
$40 competetion but I pass on to you my savings on advertising
and packaging.
As a thank you to those with the integrity to register, I have
prepared a Thank You Diskette consisting of my favorite Public
Domain/Shareware programs and utilities. The good news about the
Thank You Diskette is that it is packed with software and with
tips. The bad news is that, as a person of integrity, you'll
find on it still more software which you'll want to register.
Registered owners will be informed of any upgrades to Check King
and will be offered those upgrades at cost -- $3.00 as of this
writing. (The $3.00 includes the diskette, the mailer, the
postage, and a pittance for my time.)
LEGALITIES
Should you exercise reasonable care and judgment by regularly
backing up Check King and by regularly reconciling to your bank
statement, any program errors which may have made it past the
extensive testing will have very little opportunity to do any
serious damage. Regardless, Rickenbacker Software's liability
for Check King will in no circumstances exceed its purchase
price.