Welcome to RetireA Before using RetireA, read the following disclaimer clause: The author of this program does not make any claims about the ability of this program to improve the user's financial position, current or future. This program is merely a tool and the useful- ness of this tool depends entirely on the ability of the user to define, predict and interpret current and future financial factors. The author also disclaims any responsibility for damage to the user's data base or damage to any user's software or equipment. If you agree with the above statements and agree not to hold the author (or the distributor where you received RetireA) responsible for any losses incurred while using or because of using RetireA, then proceed. Otherwise stop now and do not use RetireA. __________________________________________________________________ Installation Note: RetireA is designed to run under Windows 3.1. It has not been tested under earlier versions of Windows. Since you are reading this file, it is assumed that you have extracted the files from the compressed file that you received from the library. (Compressed files with a .ZIP extension are un-compressed by using the PKUNZIP utility. Self-extracting compressed files, which have a .EXE extension, are decompressed by "Running" the file. Before doing either method, place the compressed file in a "RetireA" directory that you have created. Example - c:\RetireA ) After decompressing, you should have 11 extracted files. RETIREA.EXE Main Program RETIREA.HLP Help File TMCGDLL.DLL Author's Library COMMDLG.DLL BWCC.DLL README.TXT This file. SAMPLE.RET Data sets COUPLE.RET FAMILY.RET SINGLE.RET HOME.RET The 11 files will take about 600K bytes of disk space. Note: The compressed file is no longer necessary after the eleven files are extracted and it is suggested that it be copied to a backup diskette and deleted from the hard disk. RetireA icon It is also suggested that the RetireA icon be placed in an exist- ing Program Group (in Window's Program Manager). One way to do this is to: 1) Enter File Manager 2) "Click" the RetireA directory 3) Activate Window's "Task List" (Ex. Press CTrl-Esc keys) 4) Press "Tile" button - so that Prog Mgr. & File Mgr. are both displayed. 5) Then, using the mouse, hold left mouse button down and "drag" the RETIREA.EXE program from the File Mgr. directory to a Program Mgr. Program Group. The icon will materialize in the Program Group when the mouse button is released. RetireA can now be run by double clicking its icon. __________________________________________________________________ Note to RetireA version 1.0 users. First be aware that this is version 2.4. There is a change that affects the .RET data files. If you have developed .RET files using version 1.0, they will still be usable with version 2.4. The only problem (temporary problem) is when you use an "old" RET file the first time with vers 2.4. The Start Date of the 30 year period will be wrong. Correct this by doing the "Setup | 30 year start date" option. Vers 1.11 (and later) saves this information in the data set; Vers 1.0 did not. If you are creating new data sets, you should not have this problem. __________________________________________________________________ Changes from Version 1.0 to version 1.1. In addition to the Start Date for the 30 year calculation being saved in the data set (mentioned above), the following changes have been made: . key F1 activates the RetireA Help. . The flat vertical bar display in Report 2 is now a 3D display. Also, a 3 button tool bar has been added to make switching the 3 - 10 year periods easier (for Report 2 only). . The starting year range of incomes and expenses has been increased. The lower end is now the current year - 30 years and the upper end is the current year + 100. This also applies to the 30 year calculation. . The initial logo at start up is held for 5 seconds regardless of the machine speed. __________________________________________________________________ Changes from Version 1.1 to version 1.11. Very minor changes have taken place to move to 1.11. (The 100th position in the version number will be used to denote minor changes. . Report 2 changed slightly; the left border of the display given more breadth for increased 3D look. The Retired 'smoking man' added for a little extra color. . Limits placed on the font sizes used in the displays. The fonts used for numbers, titles, text on the report displays have been limited to the size that appear on a 640 X 480 display. The fonts will adjust to smaller sizes if the window size is decreased (if Auto Scale feature is ON) as before, but the max size of the fonts will be limited to the size that looks best on a 640 X480 display. This max size "may" look good on a 1024 X 768 or larger screen. If not I will have to increase the upper font size limits. This is a minor change programming-wise, but it may have a large impact on users with high resolution screens. . The "Gone Fish'in" icon added to the About dialog. __________________________________________________________________ Changes from 1.11 to 2.1 (2.0 basically not distributed) Additions (Highlights): . Toolbar . Reports 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b . Quick Edit . Expanded on-line Help . View | Report Font Selection (Video)... . Four new sort options Improvements (Highlights): . Report displays - Reports checked at 640, 800, 1024 - revisions made to provide proper scaling at these three resolutions. . Data Entry dialog is not closed if a data entry error message is issued. . Initial Logo set at 3 seconds. __________________________________________________________________ Changes from 2.1 to 2.11 . A serious bug has been corrected which existed in all previous versions. Data sets with > 50 items (total incomes & expenses) would cause unpredictable results, even cause the program to abort. Thanks to Bob Santos of Los Altos, Ca., for reporting this problem. Note: The max size is 100 items . The current 10 year button is highlighted in the the 3 view buttons in the Toolbar. __________________________________________________________________ Changes from 2.11 to 2.2 . A Restore button has been added to the Font Selection routine. This restores the initial settings for fontnames, sizes, colors. . An option to save the current fontnames, sizes, & colors across sessions. The setting are saved in C:\WINDOWS\RETIREA.INI. . Toolbar buttons "Press & pop" like standard Windows buttons. . Up arrow & Down arrow buttons added to ToolBar to increase /decrease the display character sizes for the variable length reports. This allows one to control of the # of lines displayed on a non scrolled screen. __________________________________________________________________ Changes from 2.2 to 2.3 . A 80 character Memo field has been added to each income/expense item. This addition is only effective in the registered version. A Windows environment utility is provided with the registered version to convert old data sets to the new data set format. The Max data set size for version 2.3 is 50 items (unregistered) and 60 items for the registered version. __________________________________________________________________ Version 2.4 Highlights: . Quick Edit feature changes. 1) - Q.E. now works with all reports - except 1 & 2. 2) - Besides editing, it can now Create, Delete and Reverse income/expense role status. 3) - Report items are highlighted with cursor prior to Q.E. . Reports 5b & 6b - Percentages added. . Display Mode option added - Transparent or Opaque. . Status bar for Toolbar activity. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ The first thing I recommend is reading the on-line help topics, especially the Overview, Quick Demo and the Tutorial. If you do not wish to execute RetireA at this time, read the RetireA help file (RETIREA.HLP) by double clicking it from Window's File Manager. If you have a printer, print the Tutorial help using the Help File | Print. Then, when you are ready to try RetireA, follow the Tutorial using the supplied test file SAMPLE.RET. __________________________________________________________________ If you need information about the product, contact me at (610) 353-0834 or CompuServe 71672,1203. Thank you for your support. Tom McGrath