F A S T - B A N K  Version 10.1   written 20th May   2000
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FASTBANK BRIEF:
Many times I had searched for a quick, nice and easy and 'straight forward to use' accounts tracker, but could never find one! So I decided to write FASTBANK.
Compared with similar programs that I have encountered, this one is by far the smallest, most straight forward, and easiest to use.
I think you'll probably agree when you have used it a few times.
For people who may have several bank accounts, possibly with monthly standing orders- (direct-debits) and who just want to quickly record an expense or income transaction and have the ability to check their account details anytime, THIS IS IT!

Version 10
==========
The user interface is now even easier to use!
The menu and hot-keys (psion+key) arrangement allow full access to all the various functions making ALL the features instantly accessible.
I have recently over-hauled the user interface and have corrected a minor problem present in earlier versions which was eating up 2k of system memory at regular intervals.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ACCOUNT FILES CREATED IN PREVIOUS VERSIONS
ARE COMPATILBLE WITH THE V.10 SOFTWARE.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

INSTALLING
==========
Copy "banker.opa" into your "APP" directory. Go to the system screen where you want FASTBANK installed and press <psion+I>. This will install FASTBANK onto your system screen.

OPENING THE PROGRAM
===================
Open the program by pressing <enter> on the FASTBANK icon on the system screen.
When the first (intro) screen appears you are prompted to open an existing file or to create a new file: which will then be opened as soon as it has been created.
The other option available on start-up is to exit the program.
When a file or "account" is opened the program will automatically check if there are "direct-debits" that need updating. (The DD's are covered in more detail later on.)
As the new file is opened, today's balance is presented in the right-hand window along with a display of how many entries are contained within opened file. In the top window the account name and the last time the file was used is displayed.

MAKING AN ENTRY
===============
With the 'main' screen present you can make an entry (enter your transaction details) quickly by pressing the <space> bar or using <psion+a>. Details stored are: the transaction amount (always a positive value), The transaction type-(income or expense),transaction I.D> (ATM, cash, cheque, etc), and the date of the transaction. The <tab> button may be used whilst the date display is highlighted to use the calendar view as is used in the agenda application.
To make a successful entry you must fill in these ALL of these details and then press enter.
Following this you may add a note/memo about the transaction or press escape if you do not require one.
Next, the entry details that have been entered are re-displayed and you are asked to confirm the entry details Y or N. 'Y' will add the new entry to the file and a brief message will notify you that the entry has been recorded.

Try and make your first entry the 'start entry'. This is not mandatory but it will aid referencing your whole account balance to. It is set as <-starting balance> in the transaction ID selection box. This will also help to reference with updating the direct-debits and will be taken in to account when you view an income or expense report summary. (See reports)

MENU OPTIONS
============
Use the <menu> button to view the full range of functions and the "hot key" associated with that feature.
The categories and included features within them are:-

FASTBANK: use this tab to: 1)Make a new fastbank file 2)Open a fastbank file 3)Delete a fastbank account 4)Exit fastbank

ENTRY: use this tab to: 1)Add a new entry-or (use <space> for speed) 2)Delete one or a range of entries 3)Sort the entries into ascending date order (for easier viewing in reports)

REPORTS: use this tab to: 1)View a 'full' report 2)View an 'income' report 3)View an 'expense' report. (The income and expense reports EXCLUDE the "starting-balance" entry so a true income or expense report can be generated)

DIRECT-DEBITS: use this tab to: 1)View all entered DD's for the current account 2)Create a 'new' DD 3)Remove a single DD 4) Update the current account with the DD's that have been set up.

OTHER
This option is just to display some details I wished to be included.

DIRECT DEBITS
=============
A special feature in FASTBANK is the direct debit feature. If you have "standing orders" of a fixed amount that are debited automatically from your account each month, they can be entered in as a "Direct-debit" (DD) and this will in turn add the "DD" expense entry to your account each month on the correct day of the month with the 'set' name/memo and debit-amount.
To set up a 'DD' select the 'create DD' option on the menu and enter the amount, debit-name and the day of the month the DD is to be debited.
When these details are entered you are notified as the display returns back to the main screen.
If you wish to 'remove' a DD, as with removing any entries, first view a report or "list" of the current entries and note the entry number of the item(s) you want to be removed. Use these entry numbers to select the items that you want removing.

Updating:
+++++++++
Updating is done automatically when any account file is opened. You may manually update the DD's using the "DD update" function at anytime- <psion+U>
When updating occurs it will take the first of the set-up DD's and search backwards through the account entries to find the last time a DD with the same name and on the same 'day-of-the-month' occurred and will then add a DD every month following to bring the account up to date. It will only update up until "today" and should not update further than that. If no matching DD's are found the user is presented with the option of when to backdate the DD's to. The update function then does exactly the same for the remaining DD's that have been set-up for the current account. If a "starting balance" has been created the updating procedure will be more consistent.
NOTE: The account file does NOT have to be in date-order to attain a correct DD update when the update function executes.

CLOSING PROGRAM
===============
When you want to close or exit the program, use the exit option. This ensures that the files are closed properly before the program finishes.

UNINSTALLING
============
To Un-install, make sure the program is exited properly, (as described above.)
Delete the 'banker.opa' file from your 'APP' directory. The program creates one directory in which ALL the related files are kept. This is the 'FBANK' directory in the root folder. Delete this and all within it to completely remove Fastbank from your PSION.

OTHER NOTES
===========
Do NOT attempt to rev-tran this program. As well as being illegal and destructive to my programming there is a chance that doing this may corrupt your PSION.
You may or may not believe this, but you have now been warned!

ANY QUESTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS (OR BUGS FOUND)?
Email me at: psion@thepigsty.freeserve.co.uk

Find the latest version and keep up to date by visiting the website at:

http://www.thepigsty.freeserve.co.uk/psion
