FUEL CONSUMPTION MONITOR V1.5a (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 second of these modules (the others are the 
Investment Tracker, S3AINVx.ZIP, the Financial Planner, 
S3APLANx.ZIP, the Expense Account Manager, 
S3AEXPx.ZIP, and the Home Inventory program, 
S3AHOMEx.ZIP.  (where 'x' is the version number) 

This program allows you to keep track of the fuel 
consumption of up to 10 vehicles.

To Install the program, simply put S3AFUEL5.APP into 
any \APP\ directory and install as usual, using <PSION-I>.  

If you want to use the optional On-Line Help file, which I 
highly recommend, then put the S3AFUELH.OVL file into 
an \APP\S3AFUEL\ sub-directory.

If you want to use the optional Print option put the file 
S3AFUELP.OVL into the \APP\S3AFUEL\ directory and 
the file S3APRINT.DYL into an \OPD\ directory.  Note 
that this latter file is common to all my programs, so if 
you have more than one of them you only need one copy 
of this file.

Now highlight the 'Fuel5' under the Icon and press 
<PSION-N> to create a vehicle.  Go into the program, 
filling in the configuration details. The file name might be 
the type, and the number the registration plate details, but 
this is up to you.  Note that the number  can be changed 
later.  The 'nag' screens can be removed by registering the 
program, which will also allow you the full 10 vehicles and 
more than 10 entries.  The unregistered version allows you 
just 1 vehicle, and 10 entries, to see the capabilities of the 
program. 

Working through the MENU commands will show you the 
capabilities of the program.  The Vehicle menu allows you 
to add, subtract and renumber vehicles, and switch the 
screen display between vehicles (provided you have 
registered).  The Edit menu allows you to Enter, Update 
and Delete entries, (the <Enter>, <Tab> & <Delete> keys 
have the same effect) and an 'Edit Memo' feature, similar to 
that used in the Agenda, so that you can also keep track of 
servicing details, insurance numbers etc. 

Under the Special Menu the Set Preferences menu allows 
you to configure the printer (this is the same option as 
available from the main System screen), specify the date 
format, how many decimal places you want each column to 
display, whether you wish to display litres or gallons, and 
miles or kilometers, what you want as the fuel consumption 
units, switch between font types and specify if you want to 
stay in this menu while setting up the program.  Also under 
the Special menu there is an option to delete the history 
display, which will be explained later, the print routines to 
keep a hard copy of the details, the registration option, an 
option to change font sizes, and the exit option.  The 
Diamond menu accesses the History display and, finally, 
there is a 'Help' screen which simply repeats some of the 
information in this file.

To demonstrate the program, assume you have just filled 
the fuel tank (to make the fuel consumption logical, you 
should always start from the same baseline, and a full tank is 
probably the best).  Enter the details using <PSION-E> or 
<Enter>.  Input the cost (amount paid), and then the value 
field depending on your selection of method, i.e. number of 
gallons (litres) or the price/gallon (litre).  For the first entry, 
the distance figure must be the reading off the odometer, 
subsequent entries can either be the total mileage, taken 
directly from the odometer, or the elapsed mileage, 
depending on the selection.  The Remarks field is a free field 
which you can use for anything.  The first entry will display, 
although obviously no fuel consumption will be shown.  
When the second entry is inputted, the fuel consumption 
will be calculated.  At this stage, the 'Spot' and 'Average' 
figures will be exactly the same, as there is only one entry to 
work on.  Later entries will allow the running 'Average' to 
be calculated from up to the last 12 entries.  You can now 
Update <PSION-U> or <TAB> an entry, or delete a line 
<PSION-D> or <DEL>.  Add another line with some 
different values and you should see that the  Spot  and  
Average  values are now calculated.   Although the entries 
will nearly always be entered in chronological order, if you 
do forget, then you can still input an entry later, and it will 
be automatically sorted into date order.

Now select <PSION-V> or press the Diamond key to see 
the History display.  This will show the  Spot  consumption 
both in text and graphically.  The main program holds only 
the full details of the last 13 entries, (only 9 of which can be 
viewed in the larger font), but the history file can go on for 
ever.  The average fuel consumption, and the average price 
of a gallon/litre are also shown in this screen.  Again, use 
the MENU key to see the facilities available.  You will see 
that you can manipulate the history file itself in various 
ways, configure the scales of the graph, print the history 
out, and switch between vehicles (the right/left arrow keys 
also do this).  As usual, CTRL-MENU will switch the 
Status screen on and off.   There is also a 'Stats' screen to 
show you the overall figures.  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\ FUEL.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.

Once you register the program and enter the code, you can 
Add vehicles <PSION-N> and if required, subsequently 
delete them <PSION-->, or switch between them using <PSION-S>
or the L/R arrows, and have more than 10 entries for 
each vehicle.

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  10 vehicles, and getting rid of the 'nag' 
screens, registering will give you access to full support and, 
if you have an E-Mail address, notification of  regular, free, 
updates.   If anyone has any useful suggestions for 
improvements, I will always try and include them in the next 
version.

If you want to contact me, use the addresses in 
REGISTER.TXT, or I am available on CompuServe  
100023,543 or E-Mail on alanrichey@msn.com.

Al Richey












