                          "BANK" by Pete Sipple
              Written for the Psion Series 3  (January 1995)



BANK is a shortish procedure that I've been using for the last few years,
with the occasional re-write here and there. I've found it very, very useful
for keeping track of my bank and credit card accounts.

BANK allows the user to create up to five accounts, which can be either
BANK or CREDIT CARD accounts. It will automatically pay standing orders,
arrange inter-account transfers, and lets you print a statement to screen
or printer. It allows the user to verify a bank statement, and comes with
a basic password facility, to prevent casual prying. 






Installation of BANK
====================


BANK runs on either the Series 3 or Series 3a.

To Install:

1. Create a directory called \BNK\ on either A:, B:, or M: 

1. Copy BANK.PRG into the \BNK\ directory

2. Copy either BANK3.OPA or BANK3A.OPA into a directory 
called \APP\ on the same drive.

3. From the system menu, select Install Application, and select the
appropriate BANK application.



*Note to upgraders*

To install an updated program, simply copy both the the new .prg and .opa files
over the top of the existing ones.

Users of Bank v7.x should note that the file format changed with v8.0
A conversion routine is available from the author






Files included with this release
================================
BANK.PRG	The main part of the procedure.
BANK3.OPA	Application for Series 3
BANK3A.OPA	Application for Series 3a
BANK.TXT	This text file


Bank will create a datafile for each account specified. They will be placed in
a directory called \bnk\ on whichever drive has been specified in the Settings
menu.

A very small file called BANK.INI will be created in M:\BNK\ . If it is removed,
it will be recreated, as it is vital to Bank's operation.

Thanks to William Nightingale and Martin Packer for their help with
designing the BANK icons.




============================================================


BASIC OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS:
=============================

When you first run the program, you will be presented with a menu called 
SPECIAL, from which you can specify a password if required, but more 
importantly, to setup each bank account. Select 'Setup Accounts', and you 
will be asked for a name for A/c:1. Type in a name, ie CURRENT, ACCESS, 
etc, and select the type of account - either a BANK or CREDIT CARD account.
Press ENTER, and continue setting up accounts (max of five). Press ENTER or
ESC to quit.

Once you've set up your accounts, you get the main system menu, which is 
the business end of the program.



Menu Options
============

The File Menu Card presents a list of the accounts that you have set up - 
Select an account to use.

Find - Search the selected account for an individual item - press <enter>
to scroll
New - To Enter a new item
Transfer - Transfer funds between accounts
Std Orders - Setup or edit standing orders

View - View a list of transactions/balances in date order (Bank statement)
Check - To match BANK data with your bank statement
Balances - today's balance on all accounts

Tidy - Tidy entries older than specified date (entries are deleted)
Print - Print a list of transactions/balances in date order (Bank statement)

Setup Accounts - Change / setup bank account information
Defaults - To change the currency symbol and decimal places
Password - change password (a blank field will disable password facility)



Explanation of "Clearing" & "Stmt"
==================================

By default, new entries are marked as "uncleared", which means that they 
haven't appeared on your monthly statement from your bank. If an item is 
uncleared, <u/c> is displayed alongside the entry.

The Balance shown on the main menu screen shows "Balance" (which includes
all transactions, cleared or not, as of today's date)

The 'Cleared' total shows the amount shown on your latest bank statement.

To adjust "cleared", use the "check" option from the statement menu. Press 
C to confirm that an item is cleared, ie. has appeared on your statement.

Note that items with a transaction date greater than today's date will not 
affect the current balance, until that date is reached.



Standing Orders
===============
There is no limit to the amount of standing orders that can be setup. When 
Bank is run, it automatically pays any standing orders that are due in the 
current month, or next month. 





Viewing Bank Statements
=======================
Symbols used in the view/print statement options, are
u = uncleared
D after the balance indicates a debit
<< indicates the current balance



============================================================

History:
========


v8.0  - Major rework of code to include new menu layout and new file 
structure. Significant changes to layout of most screens. 

v8.1  - Now runs on Series 3 or Series 3a

v8.2  -International currency support added. Minor bug fixes (password / 
print to file)

v8.21 - 'Check' option now searches in date order by oldest uncleared item.
New icons for Application versions. Checks for duplicate S/O names.
Now runs from \BNK\ directory on A: or B: as well as M:

v.8.22 - Several minor tweaks and bugfixes.

v8.23 - Trial Shareware release. Help added. Useful Info option added.
Enhanced error checking introduced.

v8.3 - Full shareware version. Cosmetic changes. Datafiles read from 
default drive.



============================================================

Notes:
======

At present, it is not possible to exit the program from the Psion system 
screen using "Delete". There's a reason for this. Each account's balance 
is saved to memory and compared to the file, so that if the machine crashes,
the balance is protected. If the program is exited suddenly, there's the 
danger that the balance may trash. To prevent that danger, I've made it 
impossible to exit from outside the program. Using KILL runs the risk of 
losing your data. be warned. The correct way to exit is from within the 
program using the Exit option (Psion-X). Apologies if this causes problems,
but I don't want to get into improving the error checking for exits, or 
running the risk of losing balance information.



Registering Bank
===================
From Version 8.23, BANK is Shareware, and if you find this program useful,
you are asked to register it. The current price is 5.00 UK pounds.
Cheques, made payable to P.Sipple should be sent to the following address:

Pete Sipple
51 Eastwood Boulevard,
Westcliff-on-Sea,
Essex
SS0 0BY

If requested, you will be sent the most current version of BANK.

Please remember to include your email address (if appropriate), current 
version number, and desired compression format (ie. ZIP, ARC). Files sent 
by email will be UUencoded if sent over Internet. 

If you cannot accept UUencoded email, or have no email account, a disk of 
the latest version can be posted out to you, but please add 1.00 for disk
cost plus postage.

Users of Compuserve can have upgrades sent to their account, providing 
they accept that they will pay the mail charges levied by Compuserve.


As well as supporting the Shareware concept, registration brings additional
benefits:

1. The latest versions of BANK will be  emailed to you as soon as they are 
available, if requested.

2. You will be sent a registration number to remove the startup "nag" screen.

3. Wherever possible, your suggestions will be considered for future
releases.

4. Your name may appear in the "Hall of Fame" (!)




=============




Comments, queries and bug reports are welcomed. I can be reached by email
at:

psipple@cix.compulink.co.uk

(please state the version number that you are using!)




Disclaimers, etc
================
Although this procedure appears stable, I cannot accept any liability for 
loss, or damage, as a result of using this procedure.


The procedures included with releases of BANK remain copyright of 
Pete Sipple.
You may freely distribute the files to other users, but please make sure 
that ALL files including this documentation are kept together. Distribution
of reverse-translated source code is not permitted. 


Written by: Pete Sipple
            29 January 1995
