INVESTMENT TRACKER V1.4a (S3A Only)
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Following the success of my Home Accounts  program 
S3ABANK,  a number of people have  suggested that I issue 
some of the optional modules as standalone programs.  This 
is the first of these modules.  (The others are a fuel 
consumption tracker, S3AFUELx.ZIP, a Home Inventory 
program, S3AHOMEx.ZIP, an Expense Account Manager, 
S3AEXPx.ZIP, and a Financial Planner, S3APLANx.ZIP, 
where 'x' is the version number). This program allows you to 
keep track of the value of your  investments (Shares, Stocks, 
Bonds etc) but, in addition, it also allows you to keep a 
history file of their performance, which can be displayed 
graphically.

To Install the program :

1.	Put S3AINV4.APP in your \APP\ directory

2. 	If you want to use the optional On-Line Help (Highly 
recommended) put the file S3AINVH.OVL into an 
\APP\S3AINV\ directory.

3.	If you want to use the optional Print option put the 
file S3AINVP.OVL into the \APP\S3AINV\ directory and 
the file S3APRINT.DYL into an \OPD\ directory.  Note that 
this file is common to all my programs, so if you have more 
than one of them you only need one copy of this file.

4.	Install (PSION-I)

To start the program highlight the 'Invest' under the Icon.  
You can either use this as a Group name, in which case just 
press <Enter>, or use <PSION-N> to select your own name.

Now go into the program.  The 'nag' screens can be removed 
by registering the program, which will also allow you 50 
entries.  The unregistered version allows you just 3 entries, 
to see the capabilities of the program. Working through the 
MENU commands will show you the capabilities of the 
program.	The usual File Handling Commands are 
available for building and deleting groups, as well as the 
Password option.  The Edit Menu provides Enter, Update, 
and Delete options, plus a 'Move' option if you wish to 
manually reorder the entries, and an 'Update All' option 
(<PSION-L>).  I use this once a week to update every 
investment at once.  (See later for Currencies).  The 'Sort' 
menu allows you to quickly re-order the entries based on any 
of the fields. The 'Special' menu allows you to look at the 
History screen (see later), do all the printing routines, use a 
separate memopad (as in Agenda) and select the size of font.

The 'Set Preferences' menu allows you to specify the type of 
font, the date format, whether you wish to be prompted to 
include any updates in the History file, how many decimal 
places you wish  for each  column, configure the printer, 
decide if you want to stay in the 'Set Preferences' menu while 
setting up the program (instead of having to keep re-
selecting it) and define a foreign currency (see later).

Finally, there is a 'Help' screen which simply repeats the 
information in this file, and a diamond menu to show the 
ways of viewing the long-term performance of an investment.

To demonstrate the program, enter an investment (<PSION-
E>), specifying the start date, Company, how many shares 
and the present price.  Now update the entry  using <PSION-
U>, or <PSION-L>, or <TAB>.  When it has been entered 
say 'Yes' to  the 'Update History' question.  (This can be 
bypassed if a flag is set from the 'Set Preferences' menu) 
Now update it twice more, to generate a decent history.  
Now select the share and press  the Diamond key (or 
<PSION-V>) and you will see the history display.  The 
historical values are tabulated on the left, and a graph of 
performance is drawn on the right.   (While you are in this 
screen, you can amend the History file, set the X-Scale 
Factor (<PSION-S>) to <Auto) or to the number of 
pixels/day, and the Y-Scale factor (<PSION-Y>), to the 
max/min values of price or an automatic scaling).  In this 
mode, you can also define the gain/loss figure, delete the file 
or change the font size and Export the history (see later).

If you have more than one share, you can select them by 
either using the cursor keys or pressing the first letter of the 
title.  In the History view, you can switch shares quickly 
using <PSION-S> (unfortunately, because of the limitations 
of the Psion, only the first 31 entries can be switched this 
way) or use the right/left arrows to cycle through.  Also, as 
usual, CTRL-MENU switches the Status Window on and 
off.

If you want to use multiple groups of investments, simply use 
the <PSION-N> command to generate multiple groups.

If you want to use the foreign currency option in any of the 
Groups, select the 'Currencies' option from the Menu, and 
enter a symbol for the primary currency (i.e. US$) and for 
the second currency, and then the exchange rate.  The Group 
will now show the primary currency in the top right.   If you 
now want to use the secondary currency option, select 
'Foreign Currencies' in the 'Set Preferences' menu.  The 
secondary currency will now be shown in brackets after the 
primary currency and when you Enter or Update entries, you 
will offered the option of using either currency.  (The 
currency will default to the one you used last time)

Every time you do an update, the total value of your 
portfolio is stored, and the history of this can also be viewed 
using <PSION-T> from the menu. However, a word of warning.  
When you first start setting up your investments, the program 
will begin the total calculation from the value of the first 
investment entered.   Therefore, if you enter 4 investments 
immediately, the program will think you have made a massive 
gain !!  To sort that problem out, once you have initially 
entered ALL your investments, just go into the Total History 
screen, and delete the earlier lines, so that the first line 
represents a true starting value for your portfolio.

Finally, the History details can be exported in a <Tab> 
delimited format which can be imported in the built-in Sheet 
application.  To use this option, press <PSION-O>, and just 
specify the location of the output file (it defaults to 
\WRD\ INVEST.TXT). Now load that file into the Word application, 
highlight it all and then use the Bring function from within a 
spreadsheet to import the information.

If you find the program useful and wish to register it, please 
see the file REGISTER.TXT for up-to-date instructions on 
how to register.  Apart from giving you a 'warm' feeling, 
allowing  you  50 entries, and getting rid of the 'nag' screens, 
registering will give you access to full support and access to 
regular, free, updates.   If anyone has any useful suggestions 
for improvements, I will always try and include them in the 
next version.

Al Richey 
