Gregory S. Gibson

October 16, 1988

Dear Mr.(s) News,

Enclosed is a description and copy of the program I would like to
market.  I call it "Full Screen Checking and Budgeting (FSCB)".  I
originally wrote this program on a Commodore 64 four years ago.  It has
been rewritten on the Atari St using GFA Basic.  This version of FSCB
runs on the Atari 1040st, Atari 520st or Atari Megas with a mono or color
monitor.  By selecting option L on the main menu, the mouse can be setup
to run on a color monitor.  If this program is deemed marketable, I will
port it for IBM pc's. 

FSCB was designed to make personal computer checking fast, easy, and
convenient.  It has many functions including:
 
     * Full screen editing.
       This allows the user to edit the transaction database in a "smart" word
       processor like environment.
  
     * Global database functions including: 
       database creation, date reset, date incrementing, check number reset,
       check number incrementing, sequencing, printing and viewing the
       checkbook, printing and viewing the budget.
  
     * Checkbook balancing.

     * Printing on perforated checks.
  
     * Mouse interface.

The budget portion of FSCB allows the user to flag desired expenditures.
It is useful for tracking a roommates or spouses monthly expenses.  The
flagged expenditures can be checkbook transactions or separate budget
entries.


The main menu in FSCB list the following options:
     
    A.  EDIT database.                I.  PRINT on perforated checks
    B.  DISPLAY budget                J.  SEQUENCE database
    C.  DISPLAY checkbook             K.  CREATE new database
    D.  READ database                 L.  SETUP file menu
    E.  SAVE database                 M.  GLOBAL database editing
    F.  PRINT budget                  N.  SAMPLE database
    G.  PRINT checkbook               O.  EDITOR commands
    H.  BALANCE checkbook             P.  QUIT

First select N for a sample database.  Option A selects the EDIT.  Option O
describes the EDITOR commands.  EDITOR commands are also selectable via
the mouse.  Option H will load database data with the check status flag set
to "O" for outstanding.  Some checkbook statements have checkbook balancing
guidlines on the reverse side of the statement.  To balance a checkbook,
requires a list of all the Outstanding checks and the statement balance.
The statement balance should match your checkbook balance.  My guest is, if
you understand how to balance a checkbook without this program, you will
understand how to balance a checkbook with this program.  By the way, I wrote
this paragraph today.  The rest of this letter was written 3 months ago.
To my surprise, there are actually people on the net interested in a checkbook
program.  I will probably, eventually also distribute the source after my
ego relaxes a bit more.  I thought about writting this program in C but I
decided writting GFA basic was easier since basic has an interpreter and
MWC has to be repeatedly compiled.  The database arrays have been dimensioned
to hold 300 transactions.

EDIT database is the most complicated main menu option.  The other options
are a little more self explanatory and easier to use.

BELOW IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE DATABASE EDITOR AND THE DATABASE:

The database consist of checkbook data including: deposits, withdrawals,
checks, check numbers, names, dates; and budget expense data including:
amounts, descriptions, dates, and a budget multiplier (described below).

A list of all the editor commands is accessible from the editor by entering
the help key or by selecting the option O from the main menu.  This is a
 "smart" editor.  It tries not to let the user enter bad data.  Option N on
the main menu will create a sample database.  New records are added to the
database by duplicating old records (via "Alt C" or "Esc C") and editing
the duplicated records.

Each database record has 9 words described below.  Some words are used 
only by the Checkbook portion of FSCB, some only by the Budget portion
of FSCB and some by both.

Word 1 is the record type flag.  It is 1 character wide.  Possible
characters are "NDCB". 

     N means NOT APPLICABLE.  This record shall remain in the database
     for later usage.  This record will be ignore by the Checkbook and
     Budget portions of FSCB.

     D means DEPOSIT when the amount value is positive or WITHDRAWAL if 
     the amount is negative.  This record will be used by the checkbook
     program.  If the budget multiplier (word 8) is not zero, this
     record will also be used by the budget program.

     C means CHECK.  This record will be used by the checkbook program. 
     If the budget multiplier is not zero, this record will also be
     be used by the budget program.

     B means BUDGET.  This record will be used by the budget program
     only. 

Word 2 is the transaction amount; the amount of the deposit,
withdrawal, check, or the amount of the budget item.  The amount word is
prefix with a "$".  It is 10 characters wide.  Possible characters are  
"+-. 0123456789". 

Word 3 is the transaction ID; the name of the person receiving the
check or words describing the deposit, withdrawal,  or budget transaction.
This word is 40 characters wide.  Possible characters are any printable
character except ";,".  (BASIC uses those characters as separators). 

Word 4 is the check number.  This word is used only by the
checkbook program when Word 1 is C.  This word is prefix with a "#".  It
is 5 characters wide.  Possible characters are " 0123456789".  If the value
of the check number word is greater than 50, the check program assumes
this is a absolute check number and the check has already been written.  If
the value of the check number word is less than 50, the check program
assumes this is a relative check number and the check has not been written. 
In this case, the check will be written when the main menu "Print on
Checks" option is selected.  At that time, the absolute check number will
be computed as the sum of the relative check number and the previously
written absolute check number.  Usually, the relative check number is 1. 
Therefore, the check number is incremented by 1. 

Word 5 is the transaction month.  This word is 3 characters wide. 
Possible characters are the month abbreviations.  This word is changed by
the editor when the user inputs a integer between 1 and 12 inclusive. 

Word 6 is the transaction day.  This word is 2 characters wide.  Any
digit is a possible character for this word. 

Word 7 is the transaction year.  This word is 2 characters wide.  Any
digit is a possible character for the this word.

Word 8 is the budget multiplier.  This word is 5 characters wide.
Possible characters are "0123456789.+- ".  The budget multiplier is used
to compute the budget amount.  The budget amount is the product of the
budget multiplier and the absolute value of the transaction amount. 
If the user wants his rent check to be included in the budget program,
he should assign the budget multiplier a non zero value.  If your roommate
pays half of your rent, the budget multiplier would be 0.5.  If you 
did not use a check to pay your rent, this becomes a "B" type transaction
instead of a "C" type transaction.  The transaction amount and budget
multiplier are the same in both cases.

Word 9 is the CHECK status.  This word is 1 character wide.  Possible
characters are "OR". 
     O means the check is "OUTSTANDING", i.e. this check has not been
     cashed by the bank.

     R means the check has "RETURNED", i.e. this check has been cashed
     by the bank.

The check status is used by the checkbook program to balance the Checkbook.

Goodbye and Good Luck.  By the way, i love MICRO EMACS.
GSGibson