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▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀ ▒▒▄ ▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▀▀ ▒▒█ ▀▀ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▄ ▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒█▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▒▒█▀ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ - Version 1.0 - The Easy To Use Check Management Program - (c) Copyright 1991-1992 Rand Nowell - ╒═════════════════════════╕ │ RaLin Enterprises │ │ 40728 Sundale Dr. │ │ Fremont, Ca. 94538 │ ├─────────────────────────┤ │ (510) 651-0253 │ ╘═════════════════════════╛ ------- Manual Index -------- Legal Stuff.............................i Registration Benifits...................ii Overview................................1 Version Numbers.........................1 Program Keys............................3,4 Screen Blanker..........................4 Explanation: Menus-Tables-Forms.........5 <RV>....................................6 Main Menu...............................6 Entering Transactions...................7 Accounting Codes........................7,8 Deposits................................7 Uncleared Transactions..................7 Print Transactions......................8 Reports Menu............................8 Sample Reports..........................8 Setup...................................6,9 Dos Menu................................9 Sample Screens..........................9 Future Enhancements.....................9 Support.................................10 Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC The Legal Stuff Copyright: ChecTrak 1.0 is not a Public Domain or Free program. It is the Copyrighted (c) 1991-1992 work of Rand Nowell dba Ralin Enterprises. All rights are reserved. Copying, duplicating, selling or otherwise distributing this product except as noted in the Distribution Policy below is a violation of Federal Copyright Law. You are authorized to evaluate the program for a period of 30 days. If after 30 days you wish to continue using the program, registration IS REQUIRED. Please see REGISTER.FRM Distribution: 1. Feel free to distribute the Shareware version of this program as often as you like to any interested parties. Distribution to Electronic Bullentin Boards is encouraged. 2. Please do not distribute this program without all the original related files such as documentation, readme files, registration forms etc. 3. Please distribute ONLY the original authenticated ZIP format file. 4. Please obtain our written permission before including the program with any "bundled" software packages. 5. Please do not accept payment for the program; a copying fee of $5.00 per diskette may be charged by a non-profit user-group. 6. Please do not alter the program or documentation in any way. 7. Individuals, groups, vendors or other software distribution companies which market diskettes containg shareware or test-drive evaluation programs, for profit, must obtain written permission from RaLin Enterprises prior to distribution. DISTRIBUTION of the REGISTERED version of this program is in violation of the license agreement and copyright law. ************************* DISCLAIMER ***************************** This program is supplied "as is" without warrenty of any kind. The entire risk of using, and results from the use of, is assumed by you the user. You assume all costs of repair, servicing and corrections stemming from the use of this program. Rand Nowell and/or RaLin Enterprises, or any other associated company of the program author will not be held liable for any damages from the use of this program. No warrenties are expressed or implied. ******************************************************************** To the original licensee of the REGISTERD version of ChecTrak 1.0 RaLin Enterprises DOES warrant that the program disk(s) on which the program is recorded, be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of (90) ninety days from date of delivery as evidenced by your receipt. Our entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be replacement of the deffective disk not meeting the standards of this limited warranty. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ THE BENEFITS OF REGISTRATION │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ 1. Accounting Reports: Total Income YTD grouped by Income Codes Total Expenses YTD grouped by Expense Codes. Summary Report: Will show totals of Income - Expense and give averages for the year, and the gross profit after expenses. 2. Run two External programs from within ChecTrak and be able to Shell out to the DOS prompt. 3. The << UNREGISTERED >> message at the bottom of reports and on the Main Menu screen will be removed. 4. The capability to backup and/or archive your data to floppies. 5. Option of printing reports to a Disk File instead of printer. This allows you to import into a word processor program and enhance it. 6. Notification of MAJOR upgrades, also new program releases. 7. Discounted price on any MAJOR upgrade of the program. 8. Registered users can have the program modified to suit their needs. Personalization, extra reports, printer enhancements etc. See CUSTOM.DOC for more information. 9. Access number to our BBS, which we hope to have up and running in the next few months. Program support will be available, new programs as they are produced, and many general utilities. Registered users will be notified when the board goes up. All of the above, plus the good feeling of supporting the SHAREWARE CONCEPT Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Overview: Page 1 ChecTrak 1.0 was developed to provide a dedicated system to allow one to be aware at all times of how much you have received and how much you have spent. It does a good job, at a small cost. Shareware Limitations: When I set out to release my programs as Shareware, I was really not to sure what I should do as far as protecting my programs from un-registered use. After all, I have put in a lot of hours on this, its part of my income to feed my family, and how do I do that if people use my program without compensating me? I HATE crippled shareware, you can't really try a program thats all crippled up, and one that dies after 30 days is a real NO-NO. I had the option of limiting the amount of records that could be entered into the program, but I don't like that either. -------- I would rather work on TRUST -------- So...... ChecTrak 1.0 is NOT crippled, its NOT limited as to how many checks or accounting codes you can enter and maintain, and it has enough types of record viewing and reports to be a very useful program. BUT.... if you register it, it becomes even more useful. There are some extra handy things that are available in the registered version, that you won't have in the Shareware version. Some of these show on the Menus, but when called all you get is a message explaining what it will do, and that its available with the registered version. So..... Please Register ChecTrak 1.0 ! By the way... when you first start ChecTrak 1.0, before you get the Main Menu, you will be presented with one screen. It explains that the program is shareware, for evaluation, and use beyond the evaluation period requires that you register, and pay the small registration fee. Once you have reached the Main Menu, you will NOT see this screen again. Sorry....but I felt a little reminder was necessary. Version Naming: Our program version naming method is as such. Using version one as an example. ver 1.0 original and updated shareware versions ver 1.0R original and updated registered versions This would maintain with ver 2 - 3 etc of any program. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Program Keys: Page 3 Throughout ChecTrak 1.0, certain keys are used for major work in editing, viewing, entering information. They are explained here. They are also listed on the Help Screens, available from all thru the program by pressing < F1 > the Help Key. You will see references to Tables and Forms below, these will be explained a little further in the manual. < Enter > Menus: Enter runs the procedure which is highlighted by the cursor bar. The cursor bar may be moved one of two ways. Use the up and down arrow keys, or press the first letter of the menu choice. Once the highlite bar is placed, pressing enter gets the ball rolling. If there is more than one choice with the same first letter, successive presses of that letter will move to the next corresponding Menu choice. Forms: Forms are where you add or modify a records information. On all forms there is a message displayed telling you the changes about to take place, whether the record will be ADDED - CHANGED - DELETED. Pay attention. Pressing Enter on a field will accept that field and move on to the next. Once information is entered you can also press the down arrow key to accept and advance. Pressing Enter on the last field in a Form will save the record and exit. General: In general, the Enter key accepts information, or starts a procedure. < Ctrl-Enter > Control key + Enter From any Form the Ctrl-Enter keypress is an immediate save and exit. Say you are modifying a record, you modify a field that is half way thorough the form. Instead of having to enter your way to the last field, you can press Ctrl-Enter....save and exit. <Ins> The Insert key Tables: The insert key is your command to ADD a record to the file. Pressing insert will call up the new entry form. Forms: Whenever you are entering information into a form, or any field, toggling the insert key will change from insert to overwrite, as in most any other program you are used to. <Del> The Delete key Tables: Pressing Delete on a highlighted record will call up a Form showing all the information for that record, prompting you to press Enter to Delete. Be sure of what you're doing, one key press and that record is GONE.... <F10> Commonly calls the DOS Menu or Functions if available. Program Documentation ChecTrak 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Program Keys (con't) Page 4 Forms: The delete key (and the backspace key) work as they would in any other text editing program. <PgUp & PgDn> These keys work as they would in any program. About the only place the are useful is in a table, if you have more entries that are not showing, this will jump up or down. <End & Home> While editing a field, will move to beginning or end of line. <Esc> General: In general the escape key is your back-up key. If you are at a sub menu, pressing Esc will will exit back to the calling menu. If you are in a Table it will exit back to the calling Menu, unless the Table has a prompt field for searches, then it may back up to that field first, then exit to the calling Menu. In a form the Esc key will back out of a Form one field at a time until reaching the first field, at which time it will return to the calling Table. CAUTION: When using Esc to exit, NO SAVE IS MADE. <Ctrl-Esc> Control + Esc General: This works similar to the similar to the Ctrl-Enter key. This is a fast exit key. Pressing this key combination from any location in a Form or Table will immediately exit to the calling procedure. CAUTION: When using Ctrl-Esc to exit, NO SAVE IS MADE. This pretty much covers the General use keys in the Program. If there are any different keys, or actions for keys, they will be explained as they are come to. <Alt-B> This is the Screen Blanker. This key is available from All Menus, and most Tables and Forms. Pressing it will blank the screen to black on black to eliminate screen image burn-in, should you wish to leave the keyboard for awhile but don't want to exit the program. If you find that it won't work from where you're at, simply back up a step and try it again. <F1> This is the Help Key, it calls up a screen help system that covers the area you are in at the present. Basically a "context sensitive" Help Sysyem. If there is more than one page for the section, you will be shown a keypress for the next page. Online Help: hecTrak 1.0 is pretty simple to use. One time through this manual and you should have no problems. But we have included Help throughout the program, generally called with the F1 key. The following four key presses apply only to Tables. PgUp: Scrolls backward one page. PgDn: Scrolls forward one page. Ctrl-PgUp: Positions cursor bar on first record in Table. Ctrl-PgDn: Positions cursor bar on last record in Table. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Page 5 Menus-Tables-Forms: (An Explanation) * Menus: Menus are where you select the procedure to Run. There are two ways to choose your selection, using the arrow/cursor keys, place the Highlite Bar on your choice and press Enter. Or, press the first letter of the Menu choice, then press Enter. If there is more than one choice with the same first letter, press the letter again and the bar will move to the next item with that letter. Menu choices are not Quick Keys, you must press Enter to activate. The Highlite Bar will "Wrap" from Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top. * Tables: The Table is the viewing window, here the specified records will be listed, often in a sorted order, based on name,number etc. Some Tables will have a LOCATOR field. This allows you to search for a specified record, rather than scrolling, if your list is longer than the display area. It will say Find (the search key), you would then start typing in the name,number,code etc. that you wish to find. As you type in each letter or digit, the Highlite Bar will move to the first, the next matching entry. Once this entry is found you would then press the Action key for Edit,Delete or whatever you wish to do to this particular entry. Please refer to the Keys section for the Actions provided. Other Tables may have a Selection Field, where you would enter a particular name,number,code etc. Once this is entered, only the records matching that item will be shown. The first time you access this type of table, the field will be blank. Just press Enter for a list of choices. This will call up another Table, where you select the item you want to use, press Enter, and the item will be placed in the selector field. If you want to change the Selector item, you can either press Ctrl-End to erase the current entry, press Enter again for a list, or simply type in an invalid charector such as ] or / over the first letter, and press Enter. As this item dosen't exist, the list will be called for you to select your choice. * Forms: When you press an Action key on a highlighted item in a Table it calls up a FORM. The form is where information is Entered, Modified or Deleted. A message will be displayed on each form telling you what action is about to be applied to this record. The messages appear as such: RECORD WILL BE ADDED - RECORD WILL BE CHANGED - PRESS ENTER TO DELETE. If you are ADDING a record and you enter a value in a field that holds the Indexing item, and it already exists, you will hear a tone and see CREATES DUPLICATE KEY , you are not allowed to have duplicate index keys in the program. For instance, if the records are indexed on a persons name, enter a name that already exists will generate the above message. In this case, if you entered William Bonny, and it already existed, just change it to Bill Bonny, and the entry will be allowed. You can use the Insert key to toggle between Insert and Overtype mode while entering information. If you are modifying information, and you wish to change a field, you can press Ctrl-End to erase the field and then type in the new information. When entering notes into a memo field, the cursor will "wrap" to the next, when you reach the right margin. You do not have to press Enter at the end of each line. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Page 6 The Program: Certain features listed here are only available in the Registered version, they will be noted with <RV> at the feature name. We will start with the Main Menu and go through the selections and cover each module it covers. Main Menu: The Main Menu Selections follow, Transactions: Calls the Transaction Menu where you chose to Enter and view transactions. Accounting Codes: Calls the Accounting Codes Table where you view and enter your accounting codes. Print Transactions: Calls the Menu where you select the report to be sent to the printer or other device. Reports: Calls the Report Menu, which offers the Accounting Reports, the Transaction Reports, Report Destination and so forth. Setup: Calls the Setup Screen where you can enter your name, and describe the programs to be run from within ChecTrak. Quit: Exits ChecTrak From the Main Menu you can press F1 for Help or Press F10 to access the DOS Menu. Now we will cover each section called from the Main Menu and explain what they do and how they work. TRANSACTIONS: Enter Transactions: Calls the screen where you enter your checking transactions, this is also the screen which will show ALL the transactions you have entered. The transactions are listed in order by Transaction date. Also note, cleared transactions are marked in the far right of the display. The number of transactions is shown at bottom. At the top of the screen you will see a bright white cursor flashing in a black box, here you can enter a date, as you enter the date the cursor bar will move to the next corresponding date digit. Just below the scrolling portion of the screen you will see three dollar amounts. The Spend and Deposit columns are totaled at the bottom. To the left you see the Diff amount, this is the difference between you deposit amounts and your spend amounts. If you have spent more than you have deposited, this will show with a minus (-) sign in front of it. Below these fields are listed the keys for this window. The standard ADD MODIFY and DELETE keys. Also Esc to Exit. Pressing F2 will print all transactions without having to go to the Print Menu. F3 will call the Quick View Window <RV> which shows the transaction in a non-interactive window, no adding or modifying is allowed. This is the safest way to view an entry, with no chance of changing or deleting it. The Transaction Form: This is the form called when you choose ADD,CHANGE or DELETE. You will notice, under the windoe title a message is displayed informing you of the action about to be performed on this transaction. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Page 7 The first field you come to is the User Name, if this is a new entry it will be blank, just press enter and the name you entered in the setup window will be displayed. Press Enter again to accept. Next is the Date field, enter thr transaction date here. Next is the check number, if there is no check number leave it blank. Asterisks will be inserted. Then you enter the Accounting Code, if you can't remember the the code you want, press enter on a blank field, or type an invalid character, if you're changing (/\[) anything to make the code one that dosen't exist. This will call up the window where you can select the code you want to use, Codes will be covered further along. Once you enter the accounting code, the description of this code will be displayed, also the two fields in the upper right of the screen will be filled in. These simply show the type of transaction this is (I)ncome (E)xpense (C)ash, and whether it is to be include in the Tax Report. Next you choose (D)eposit or (S)pend to tell ChecTrak if this is a deposit or an expense. Then you enter the amount into the Deposit or Spend field. If you said it was a deposit, then enter it into the Spend field, a message will flash telling you to correct the error. The redundant actioin of marking it and entering into the same type of field, is just a safety feature to make sure a deposit IS a deposit and an expense IS an expense. Both Deposit and Spend fields are checked. Then you mark the transaction as cleared or not. You will be able to mark uncleared transactions from the Uncleared Transaction window. Next enter the name for who paid to or received from, then what for. You will be prompted to press Enter to accept the entry, or escape if you wish to change something. Show Deposits: Calls a window that only shows the Deposits you have entered. All the same action keys are available, same as the previous window. The number of deposits entered is shown, as is the total. You can print a list of the deposits by pressing F2 Uncleared Transactions: This window shows only transactions that have not been cleared. The editing of records here should be limited to marking the transaction as cleared, if it has done so. You cannot add or delete from this window, as the forn called up only affects the cleared field. Actually you can, but its NOT a good idea. Adding will just add a blank record,deleting may not be the action you wanted, and once its gone, its gone for good! So just use the Enter key, which will allow you to mark the transaction as cleared, F2 prints the Report, F3 is the Quick View <RV> feature. F1 is HElp. Specified or Selected Transactions: When you see this window, it will be blank. The cursor will be flashing in a box at the upper right. Enter the accounting code for the transactions you would like displayed. If you can't remember the code just press enter on the blank field and the Codes window will pop up for you to make your choice. Once the code has been entered, only the transaction that have been coded as such will be displayed. Number of transactions for this code, and the total amounts are displayed at the bottom. There are NO editing functions here, you can only view the listing, in the Registered version the Quick View <RV> window will be active. F2 will print the Report. If you would like to change the code and view other transactions, press Esc once. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Page 8 This will put you back in the code field, either erase the current entry (Ctrl-End), or type an invalid first character, a space will work, then press enter. Or you can enter the code yourself. Pressing Esc while in the code field will Exit from the window. Pressing Ctrl-Esc from the scrolling display will also Exit. Return: Will exit back to the Main Menu. ACCOUNTING CODES: This calls up the Accounting Codes window, this window displays all the Accounting Codes you have set up. You can ADD, MODIFY and DELETE with the Action Keys listed in the window. You may also print a reference list bt pressing F2. This list is printed on the left half of the paper, which makes a handy reference sheet to keep by your work area. The Enter/Modify form is called for all editing or deleting actions. Here you enter the Code, then enter its description, the description is used in other windows and in reports, so make it meaningful. Then you specify whether this code is for an (I)ncome (E)xpense or (C)ash type. Income and Expense are self explanatory, but Cash is not. Cash can be used many ways. You need to make your own decisions here. The next field specifies if this code is a tax item or not. If this income or expense or cash code is an item that will reflect on your taxes, then mark it (Y)es. If it will have no bearing on your Tax Returns then mark it (N)o. On the last two fields mentioned, you can either use the arrow keys to select your choice, the press enter, or just press the firat letter, or Y/N and the choice will be automatically entered. PRINT TRANSACTIONS: From this Menu you can print all the transactions that were available from the Transaction windows, plus one more. That one more is Transactions By Date: Here you will be asked for the date range to print, once these are filled in, the Report will only print those transactions that fall on or between the start and stop date. The Specific Transactions choice will also call up a date window, so you can narrow your report by both date AND code. This applies also to calling the report from the transaction window. NOTE: Once you have started a report, you cannot cancel it, pressing escape at any date window or printer/device prompt, will just skip that part and go right on to the report. Reports are a one way street. REPORTS: From this Menu you Access the Accounting Reports, The Transaction Reports (the ones just covered) And two other functions. Report Destination <RV> in the Registered version, you can specify that reports get sent to another printer, a com port or a disk file. You can set the Date range from this menu too. Accounting: <RV> This selection calls the Accounting Reports Menu. There are several reports here. Income YTD - Expense YTD - Cash and Summary. The Income and Expense selections call a sub-menu where you select either Tax Report or Non-Tax Report, a tax report will show all income or expense that has a code specified as a tax item, the non-tax report will show all that are NOT tax-item coded. The Cash report shows all transactions that were marked as cash, whether they are tax or not. The summary report lists ALL transactions tax and non-tax, grouped by accounting code. Reports give totals,averages, and the summary gives a Net Balance. From DOS print out the sample reports for examples of how these reports look. RPTSAMPL.001 - 004 Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Page 9 SETUP SCREEN: <RV> The Setup Screen is where you enter your name, which is used in the transaction entry windows and also printed in the Reports. You also enter the description of what the two supplied batc files will do when called from the DOS menu. In the Shareware version there is no Setup Screen, the name does not get used in the screens or the reports. The Dos Program functions are pre-defined to View and Print this manual. DOS MENU: <RV> The Dos Menu is where you can run two external programs, Shell out to the command prompt, view the current time, view system information, and Backup and Archive your checking records. The system information shows the available memory and information regarding your data files. Backup and Archive are as they seem, Backup will backup your data to a floppy, and Archive will back up the data then delete it from the directory, useful for end of year maintainence. These two actions are provided in batch file format so you can modify them to work with another drive or directory. The default is drive A: floppy. There are two menu choices you can make from the DOS Menu in the Shareware Version, View this manual or Print this manual, but thats it. ChecTrak is a simple program with some not so simple functions. I would be surprised if you arn't an EXPERT in about an hour. You can really run the program without refering to the manual at all. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS: Whats in store? Well, for sure in an upcomming version there will be a section for you to maintain your more commonly used entries for the paid to/received from and for what fields. You will be able to call up a table and select the information and enter with one key press. Am working on some more reports, and some more comprehensive view screens. And I am hoping to add some check "printing" functions for the more popular check formats in the near future. SAMPLE SCREENS: From the DOS Menu and the Report Menu, some sample screens from the Registered version are available to view. At the DOS menu pressinf F4 will bring up a representation of the Real DOS menu. Selecting Accounting, from the Reports Menu will show a sample of the Accounting Reports menus. Program Documentation ChecTrack 1.0 CTRAK10.DOC Page 10 In Closing: In closing, I would like to thank you for trying ChecTrack 1.0. Also to remind you, registering this program will gain you many more helpful and productive features. Features are being added all the time. You will likely get more than has be mentioned here when you register. Your comments are appreciated. If you can think of anything that may enhance ChecTrack 1.0, let me know. I do listen, and its a good chance your suggestion will be incorporated into the program. Read the CUSTOM.DOC explaining how you can have your Registered copy of ChecTrack 1.0 customized. Many things are possible. Please use the provided REGISTER.FRM to register ChecTrack 1.0. For unregistered users, support is limited. But if you have a problem while evaluating ChecTrack 1.0, I am willing to help. I can be reached several ways. Registered Users are a priority as to receiving help via mail,phone or electronic mail. Mail: Rand Nowell RaLin Enterprises 40728 Sundale Dr. Fremont, Ca. 94538 Phone: (510) 651-0253 If you get a recorder, please leave a message, if you are a registered user give your registration number. Leave a brief description of the problem, your phone number and best time to call. I will return registered users calls at my expense. Unregistered users, be prepared for a collect call. CIS (Compuserve) User ID: 76124,761 I check Compuserve 2-3 times a month. This is not the optimum way to contact me, but it will work. Net Mail: Send Net Mail to Rand Nowell @ 1:161/42 OR 1:215/777 NetMail is checked daily. Fido-Net Messages can be left in the Fido Shareware Echo. These messages are normally checked daily. BBS: I hope to have our Support BBS up and running in the next few months. All Registered Users will be notified by mail when this happens. And if the correct fields have been filled in on the registration form, they will be pre-registered for access on the first call. <eof> ChecTrack 1.0