Accounts Manager - User's Manual

	Accounts Manager
	User's Manual

Index

	Overview
	Installation
	Utilization
	Main Screen
	Icons
	Lists
	Menu
	Menu Options
	Process
	Navigate
	Options
	Editing expenses
	Recurrent Expenses
	Notes
	Help options
	Locking expenses
	Accounts catalog
	Editing accounts
	Descriptions catalog
	Editing descriptions
	Reports
	Graphs
	Purge
	Preferences
	Fix Database
	Security
	Global Find
	History
	Future releases
	Software costs
	A final word

Overview

Accounts Manager is a program to keep track of your expenses, you can handle as many account as you want, each account can have a lot of expenses recorded and each expense can have a description for its own.

For a better use of the application, there are a couple of concepts you have to be related to:

Concept	Description
Balance	The main concept of the application and in which the application work around, a balance is the amount of money you have in a certain point of time.
Actual Balance	Is the balance to this exact date and time.
Min Balance	The minimal balance you have had in a certain account through all its expenses.
Max Balance	The maximum balance you have had in a certain account through all its expenses.
Initial Balance	The balance of the first record of an account, no matter the first record has a future date and time.
End Balance	The balance of the last record of an account, no matter the last record has a past date and time.
Cleared Record	Is a conciliated expense.
Lock Record	A non-editable expense.
Cross Reference	Is a transaction between 2 accounts, you take money from an account to pay to another account (when you take money from a bank account to pay the credit card). Cross-reference transactions make a positive expense in one account and a negative expense in the other one.

Installation

Install the application like any other Palm® application, via HotSync® or receive it from another Palm User.

Utilization

After installing the application, it will appear in the Palm Application Launcher

Main Screen

When you launch the application you get the main screen where you have a summary of the expenses you have made (once you have register a couple of them).

In the main screen we have different kind of information such as:

A table with the next columns:

Date of the expense.
Description of the expense (an underlined description means a cleared expense).
Amount of the expense.

A list with the registered account.
A list with the different kind of available balances.
Buttons:

New - Create a new expense.
Edit - Edit an existing expense,
Delete - Delete an existing expense.

Note - If you write a text using Graffiti®, that text will be search within the descriptions of the current account. This is also valid for the Accounts catalog and the Descriptions catalog.

Note - The Edit and Delete buttons only are visible when an expense is selected.

Also, the description column shows more information via icons, these are:

Icon	Description
	With this record the account reach its min balance.
	With this record the account reach its max balance.
	Cross-reference record.
	Locked Record
	Recurrent expense.
	A note is attached to the record.

When you select an account from the list, the expenses of that account are loaded.	When you select a kind of balance, the respective value is displayed.

Menu

The application's menu shows three categories: Process Navigate Options

Menu Options

Process
New	Show the dialog to create a new expense (see Editing expenses).
Duplicate Entry	Clone selected expense, if it was a Recurrent Expense, the new will be a normal non-recurrent expense, and all other information will be the same.
Accounts	Show the Accounts catalog window (see Accounts catalog).
Descriptions	Show the Descriptions catalog window (see Descriptions catalog).
Reports	Show the Reports window (see Reports).
Graph	Show the Graph window (see Graphs).
Lock Record	Lock or unlock the selected expense (see Locking expenses).
Cleared Record	Activate or deactivate the Cleared status of the expense, only applies to the current actual account (see Editing expenses->Cleared).
Purge	Purge historic values of the accounts (see Purge).
Navigate
Go Top	Locate and activate the first expense of the current account.
Go Bottom	Locate and activate the last expense of the current account.
Go To Date	Locate and activate an expense with the indicated date of the current account if no record was found, this option shows the expense with the nearest date to the indicated.
Next Account	Shows the next available account. If we reach the last of the list, it shows the first one.
Options
Preferences	Shows a dialog to change program's preferences (see Preferences).
Fix Database	This option activate the fix process which try to fix some missing descriptions and accounts (see Fix Database).
About	Program's general information and credits.

Editing expenses
There are a couple of ways to reach this dialog such as:

Create a new expense via menu (Process->New).
Create a new expense via the screen button New.
Edit an existing expense.
Before deleting an existing expense.
As a result of a global find (see Global Find).

Note. If you are deleting an expense or if this screen is the result of a Global Find none of the showed information could be edited.

The showed information in the screen is:

Field	Description
Date	Is the date when the expense will be apply, could be in any valid date (past or even future). When this field is tapped, a date selector dialog appears.
Time	Is the time when the expense will be apply, could be in any valid time (past or even future from 0:00 hours to 23:59). When this field is tapped, a Time selector dialog appears.
Apply to	This is the main account for this expense and in which the expense will be counted. The expense will be applied directly to this account. A list is available to select any registered account.
From	This is a cross-referenced account for this expense. If this account is the same as the Apply to, only the Apply to account will be affected. If this account is different from the Apply to, a new transaction will be created in the From account creating a cross-reference, this is, if the expense is a positive operation, in the cross-reference account will be a negative operation (i.e. you take money from the bank to pay a credit card, this will create a negative operation in the Bank account and a positive operation in the Credit Card account). A list is available to select any registered account.
Description	This is the description of this expense. Any typed description will be registered in the Descriptions catalog. A list is available to select any registered description.
Amount ($)	This is the money used for this expense. If the expense is a positive or negative operation will be indicated with the sign at the right of the amount field.
Repeat	See Recurrent Expenses.
Cleared	This option indicate a conciliated expense and affect both accounts (Apply to and From in case they are different). This status will be useful when purging an account (See Purge).
Note	See Notes.

Two Buttons are available:

Ok - Accept the operation and return to the main screen. If creating a new expense or editing an existing one, the changes are written to the Database; if deleting, the record will be deleted from the Database with no other warning.
Cancel - Cancel the operation and return to the main screen.

Recurrent Expenses
Some expenses are made frequently; maybe each month or each week, for this cases is useful to create an expense that will be created automatically each period of time.

For this kind of expenses, each expense could be created with a recurrent status using the Recurrent Expense dialog (when you select the Repeat option of the Edit Expense dialog).

The possible options are:

Option	Description
None	This is not a recurrent expense.
Day	The expense will be repeated again after the indicated number of days.
Week	The expense will be repeated again after the indicated number of weeks (could be simulated with a 7 Day repeating expense).
Month	The expense will be repeated again after the indicated number of months. If the expense was created in a not usual day (i.e. 30 or 31 for February), the expense will be created at the end of the month for the required months.
Year	The expense will be repeated again after the indicated number of years.

Other information is:

Every - This is the number of days, weeks, months or years before a new recurrence of this expense.
End Date - If the expense has no end date, is recommendable to keep this field with the None value if this expense has an expiration day you can select it with this field. When this field is tapped, a date selector dialog appears.

If you are editing an expense and you change the Recurrent options, a confirmation dialog will appear when you accept the whole operation.

It will be common to have a Recurrent Expense with information for the future, to know the way this information will be handled you have to indicate an option in this dialog, options are:

Current - Changes will be made only to the actual expense and this expense will be a non-recurrent expense, no matter you specify different recurrent options.
Future - All future expenses will be deleted and regenerated.

Notes
It is a common task to add a note to better describe an expense (notes are also used for accounts and descriptions).

A dialog is used to add notes, in this dialog we have up to three options:

Ok - Accept any change made and return to the edit dialog.
Look Up - Find names in the Palm's address book.
Cancel - Cancel all operations and return to the edit dialog.

Help options

To make the editing expenses process a little easier, there are a couple of thing that come in you aid:

Trick	Description
Auto complete	When you are typing accounts or descriptions and a similar text is found, the field will be filled with the found text, as you type new texts, the search will be made again until you fount the correct one.
List auto location	If you type a text in the account or description field and you choose to show the list (using the popup trigger) the typed string will be selected in the showed list. Only if found in the existing information.
Field scroll	When you type an account or a description you can use the scroll keys to show the previous or next valid value. This option will make a cyclic validation (if you reach the last value the first will be shown next).
Accounts creation	If you type a new account, the application will show a dialog to confirm the auto creation of the new account.
Descriptions creation	If you type a new description, this will be add to automatically to the database.
Operation sign	If you type a minus sign (-) using Graffiti® the operation will be a negative operation. If you type a positive sign (+) using Graffiti® the operation will be a positive operation. This is only valid in the Amount field
Confirmation	When you type Enter using Graffiti® is the same as pressing the Ok button. This is only valid in the Amount field

Locking expenses
An expense could be locked when it is selected in the main screen, locking an expense avoid any editing operation on it.

If an expense is locked, the unlock process is the same as locking.

A locked record will not be a candidate for the Purge process (see Purge).

Accounts catalog
This window shows all the account you have register in the application.
Account could be created within this dialog or when creating a new expense (see Help options).

The accounts screen shows the next information:

A table with the next columns:

Description of the account.
Utilization of the account - if checked, this account is currently been used by the application.

Buttons:

Ok - Return to the main screen.
New - Create a new account.
Edit - Edit an existing account.
Delete - Delete an existing account (only accounts with no utilization could be deleted).

Note - The Edit and Delete buttons only are visible when an account is selected.

Editing accounts

There are a couple of ways to reach this dialog such as:

Create a new account via the screen button New.
Edit an existing account.
Before deleting an existing account.
As a result of a global find (see Global Find).

Note. If you are deleting an account or if this screen is the result of a Global Find none of the showed information could be edited.

The showed information is:

Account - Is the name of the account.
Note - See Notes.

Two Buttons are available:

Ok - Accept the operation and return to the accounts screen. If creating a new account or editing an existing one, the changes are written to the Database; if deleting, the record will be deleted from the Database with no other warning.
Cancel - Cancel the operation and return to the accounts screen.

Descriptions catalog
This window shows all the description you have register in the application.
Descriptions could be created within this dialog or when creating a new expense (see Help options).

The descriptions screen shows the next information:

A table with the next columns:

Text of the description.
Utilization of the description - if checked, this description is currently been used by the application.

Buttons:

Ok - Return to the main screen.
New - Create a new decription.
Edit - Edit an existing description.
Delete - Delete an existing description (only descriptions with no utilization could be deleted).

Note - The Edit and Delete buttons only are visible when a description is selected.

Editing descriptions

There are a couple of ways to reach this dialog such as:

Create a new description via the screen button New.
Edit an existing description.
Before deleting an existing description.
As a result of a global find (see Global Find).

Note. If you are deleting a description or if this screen is the result of a Global Find none of the showed information could be edited.

The showed information is:

Description - Is the name of the description.
Note - See Notes.

Two Buttons are available:

Ok - Accept the operation and return to the descriptions screen. If creating a new description or editing an existing one, the changes are written to the Database; if deleting, the record will be deleted from the Database with no other warning.
Cancel - Cancel the operation and return to the descriptions screen.

Reports
This screen shows summary information in 8 default views:

Report	Description
Actual balance	Shows the actual balance of each registered account (see Overview).
Min Balance	Shows the minimal balance of each registered account (see Overview).
Max Balance	Shows the maximum balance of each registered account (see Overview).
Initial balance	Shows the initial balance of each registered account (see Overview).
End Balance	Shows the ending balance of each registered account (see Overview).
Account-Description	This report takes each different description of each account and generates summary information for each combination.
Balance to date	Shows the balance reached by each registered account at a given date. When a date is selected, the date will be part of the name of the report.
Acc-Desc to date	This report takes each different description of each account and generates summary information for each combination at a given date. When a date is selected, the date will be part of the name of the report.

If you double tap the amount presented, you will be guided to the first occurrence of the presented Account or Account-Description (according with the active report).

When you double tap the description column of any report, a new report is showed, giving more detailed information for each account, in the next order:

Level 1. Default report's view (initial report, actual, min, etcetera).
Level 2. Detailed report for the selected account. This report is an Account-Description report for the selected account.
Level 3. Detailed report for the selected Account-Description. If there are more than 1 occurrence of this Account-Description combination all occurrences will be reported.

Note - To go up to the previous report double tap the name of the account. You can go up to the level 2 report.
If you double tap a description in a Level 3 report the same behavior will be seen as when you double tap the amount column.

Graphs
Use this option to view the behavior of each account graphically.

You can use the list to select the Account(s) you want to analyze.

The four arrows let you move the graph to better view the information.

A Zoom In and Out is available to view the information in detail.

When you tap within the graph area near a graph point, the description and balance of that specific point will be showed.

Purge
This option deletes historic information without loosing the balance values of the registered accounts.

The showed information is:

Date - All records with a date prior to this date are candidates to be purged.
Purge only cleared records - If checked, only the records with a cleared status will be candidates to be purged. If not checked, all record will be a candidate.
Generate summary records - If checked, a record per month will be created to store the balance of the account. If not checked, only a record will be created to maintain the balance of the account.
Purge all accounts - If checked, all the account will be processed, if not, only the actual account will be processed.

Note - This process will skip any locked record.

Two Buttons are available:

Ok - Accept the operation, purge the historical record with the indicated criteria and return to the main screen.
Cancel - Cancel the operation and return to the main screen.

Preferences
This screen let you configure a couple of special issues of the application.

Available configure option:

Repeat range - This option let you configure the foreseen number of days to consider when adding the recurrent expenses.
Password protected - Check this option if you want to add security to the application (see Security).
Reset password - If you want to add security but you are not sure of the password you previously set, check this option to set the password to blanks (see Security). This option is only active when the Password protected option is checked.

Two Buttons are available:

Ok - Accept the operation, change the preferences and return to the main screen.
Cancel - Cancel the operation and return to the main screen.

Fix Database This option try to recover missing accounts, descriptions and a couple of error that could appear when restoring different version of the database (specially when restoring a backup or when resetting the PDA). A confirmation of the operation is required. Once in progress a status windows will be shown describing the operation and giving a time estimate to finish the whole process. The result of the operation is the number of recovered record the application made.

Security
When you choose to activate the security options of the application (see Preferences), this screen will appear each time you start the application.

The first time this screen is shown, the password has no value; you could only press Ok to begin using the application.

Two checkboxes command the behavior of this screen:

Change - If checked, two extra fields are showed to let you change your password, if not checked, only the actual password field will appear.
Mask Password - If checked, any typed character will be change by an asterisk, if not checked, the passwords will be visible.

Type of fields:

Actual Password - Currently used password for the application. The first time or when you reset its value (see Preferences) will not have any value.
New Password - The desire new password.
Confirm Password - A confirmation of the new password, to ensure you type correctly.

Global Find

When you made a Global Find, using the Palm's build in buttons, the application will respond to the OS in three different ways:

Showing Account (in case one with the criteria was found).
Showing Description (in case one with the criteria was found).
Showing Expenses (in case one with the criteria was found).

When you tap a result you will be sent to the specific record you select, could be an Account, a Description or an Expense.

Note - If the security options are active, the application will be skipped from the Global Find.

History

Date	Events
Jan 16, 2002	Build 34. Final release. Severe bug of recurrent expenses fixed.
Jan 12, 2002	Build 34. Final release. Manual Complete.
Jan 11, 2002	Build 34. Candidate 3. Security added. Development finished. Manual in progress.
Jan 9, 2002	Build 32. Graph bugs solved. Other minor bugs solved.
Jan 8, 2002	Build 31. Candidate 2. Import option added to let other applications to interact with us.
Jan 8, 2002	Build 30. Candidate 1. English as default, Spanish supported in a new application.
Jan 7, 2002	Build 30. Beta 3. Graph's code rewrite. Minor bugs solved.
Jan 5, 2002	Build 28. Beta 2. First graph's options.
Dec 29, 2001	Build 24. Beta 1. Preferences. Full use of recurrence options. First reports. Old expenses application deleted. This is my new standard expenses manager application.
Dec 21, 2001	Build 16. Alpha 1. Purge options added. First repeat options. Math functions depured.
Dec 14, 2001	Build 9. First functional version of the application. No recurrence expenses, yet. Parallel tests with previous expense control application.
Dec 6, 2001	Development start.

Future releases

These are some new options you can expect to be integrated with the next release.

Support for different currencies and exchange rates.
Base currency configuration.
Set alarms and reminders for the expenses.
Export information to Memo Pad.
Customized reports.
Print support (via PalmPrint®).
Any other suggestion you sent me.

Software costs

This software is shareware, if you like it you could keep using it without any fee but you can go to www.palmgear.com, www.handango.com or www.tucows.com and pay a little amount to make a contribution to my development effort.

A final word

I hope you find useful this software, if you have any suggestion or comment please let me know.

Don't forget to send me an email to let me know your impressions about my developments.

My email addresses are:

Visit www.jltorres.com for news and other developments.