---------------------------- | QUE ACCOUNTING | | QUERY AND REPORT WRITER | ---------------------------- The QUERY and REPORT WRITER module of QUE ACCOUNTING may be purchased as an add-on to QUE ACCOUNTING or as a separate stand-alone system. Please consult the ORDER.TXT form included at the end of this document for more detail. Registered users of QUE Accounting General Ledger receive the CALCULATOR, NOTEPAD and the QUERY portion of this system free with registration. QUERY and REPORT WRITER provides the ability to design files as desired and to add, delete, modify and display records using any valid boolean selection criteria. In a real sense, this product allows the user to create his own system by allowing user definition of field names, types and lengths. The QUERY option provides a selection window that effectively creates subsets of the data contained in a given file. The REPORT WRITER may be used to select the fields and the order in which they are to be printed. Additional functionality is the provision of desktop utilities such as a calculator, a calendar and a simple word processor. The MAIN MENU appears below: -------------------- | NOTEPAD | | CALCULATOR | | PHONE DIRECTORY | | CALENDAR | | QUERY / UPDATE | | DESIGN A FILE | | SYSTEM SETUP | | EXIT TO DOS | -------------------- EXIT to DOS: ---- -- --- This function simple exits the system and returns you to the operating system. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 2 NOTEPAD: -------- The NOTEPAD is a handy, mini word processor that will meet most of your word processing needs. It works most effectively with memo size files but may be used to access large manuscripts. Like many word processor it is limited by the size of available memory. Most typical users (640K) will not have a problem. However, it is a good precautionary measure to periodically save your file as you are typing. The NOTEPAD option may be activated from the menu or by pressing the F4 key from within any other screen. The following keys are active within the NOTEPAD window. Alt-A (A)ppend a file to current file and continue Alt-G (G)oto line number Alt-H (H)elp screen Alt-I (I)nsert line Alt-K (K)ill current line Alt-L page (L)ength for printing Alt-M change (M)argins Alt-N edit (N)ew file Alt-P (P)rint file Alt-Q (Q)uit but save edits Alt-R search and (R)eplace Alt-S (S)ave file & continue Alt-T (T)oggle wordwrap on/off Alt-W (W)rite to new file Alt-X e(X)it without saving Alt-Y change director(Y)/wildcard FUNCTIONS: EDIT WINDOW/STATUS LINE: when you enter the notepad, the edit window takes up nearly the full screen. There is a status line at the bottom, which displays the name of the file being edited, the current line and column position of the cursor, the left and right margins, and the status of wordwrap and insert modes (displayed when active as "" and "", respectively.) When a file has been edited, an asterisk will appear at the right side of the top row (next to the "Alt-H=Help" message). CURRENT DIRECTORY/WILDCARD - the notepad gives you the ability to change the working directory and/or filemask at any time. When you first enter the notepad, the current directory will be set to the default DOS directory, and the wildcard will be set to '*.*'. If you would like to change either the directory where the notepad looks for files or the wildcard used (e.g., "*.TXT", "*.PRG"), press Alt-Y and enter the new information. You do not have to enter slashes in front or back of the directory name UNLESS you include a wildcard. For example, to change the current directory to "\ACCT\", you need only enter "ACCT". However, if you want the notepad to look for all the .TXT files in subdirectory \ACCT\, you must enter "\ACCT\*.TXT". QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 3 If you enter just the wildcard, the current directory will remain unchanged. If you enter a directory name only, the wildcard will be reset to "*.*". If you press Enter without typing in anything, neither the current directory nor the wildcard will be changed. Examples: let's assume that your application is in a subdirectory named \WORKSTUF. The initial current directory/wildcard will be set to "\WORKSTUF\*.*". If you press Alt-Y and enter "*.TXT ", the directory/wildcard will be changed to "\WORKSTUF\*.TXT". If you wish to change to the ACCT subdirectory, press Alt-Y and enter "\ACCT ". The directory/wildcard will then be changed to "\ACCT\*.*". Suppose you then want to look at only the .TXT files starting with the letter P in the directory \ACCT You would press Alt-Y again, and enter "\ACCT\P*.TXT". FILENAMES: when you press Alt-N to edit a new file or Alt-W to write to another file, a scrolling window will appear containing all files that match the current directory and wildcard mask. The directory and wildcard mask will be shown at the top of this window for reference. Note that files with the following extensions will not appear in this directory, based on the assumption that there should be no need to edit binary files: .EXE .COM .DBF .NTX .DBT .NDX .OBJ. To select a file, move the highlight bar to it and press Enter. Also note by pressing a letter key, the first file starting with that value is highlighted. PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys are also available. INSERT and WORDWRAP: the start-up values for these modes is on. They may toggled off and on at any time by pressing Insert and Alt-W, respectively. The status of these modes appears at the right side of the status line. Additionally, the cursor size will change from large (insert) to small (overwrite) based on the current mode. MARGINS: the start-up margins are 1 and 80. However, you may change these margins at any time by pressing Alt-M and entering the desired values. When you change the margins, the on-screen display will adjust to reflect the new margins. You may use larger values for the right margin than would appear on the 80-column screen. In such instances, you should toggle wordwrap off and scroll to the right to display text beyond the on-screen right margin. The current values of the margins appear on the status line. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 4 PAGE LENGTH: the start-up page length for printing is 60 lines. You can change this at any time by pressing Alt-L. SEARCH AND REPLACE: you can search and replace for all or for only a specific number of occurrences of a character string. When you press Alt-R, you will be prompted first to enter the search string, then the replacement string. You will then be asked if you want to replace all occurrences of the search string. If you answer 'N', you will be prompted to enter the number of occurrences to replace. Please note that the search begins at the top of the file and continues either to the end of the file or until the specified number of occurrences have been replaced. PRINTING: you may print the current file at any time by pressing Alt-P. Printing may be aborted at any time by pressing Esc. The format of the printed page is determined by the current settings of the margins and page length. CALCULATOR: ----------- This is a useful calculator that includes all the basic operators: addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), and division (/). But it also has some other goodies, including exponentation (^), a paste function and a full-featured memory. Plus, whenever you press an operator ('+', '-', '*', '/', or '^'), the previous number is shown above the display window. This is handy for when you are processing a list of numbers and forget where you were. Also the calculator can be moved around the screen using the directional arrow keys. The maximum value that can be stored in the calculator is 99,999,999,999.9999. Active Keys: '+' -- addition '-' -- subtraction '*' -- multiplication '/' -- division '^' -- exponentation 'C' -- clear current number 'E' -- clear entry (does not clear previously entered number in pending operation) 'P' -- print (adding machine mode) 'M' -- Memory operations '=' or Enter -- process operation Esc -- exit Calculator QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 5 Calculator movement keys: UpArrow -- move calculator up one row DnArrow -- move calculator down one row LtArrow -- move calculator left one column RtArrow -- move calculator right one column Ctrl-LtArrow -- move calculator to far left (rows unchanged) Ctrl-RtArrow -- move calculator to far right (rows unchanged) Home -- move calculator to top left corner End -- move calculator to bottom right corner PgUp -- move calculator to top row (columns unchanged) PgDn -- move calculator to bottom row (columns unchanged) Memory Functions: To access memory functions, press "M", then one of the flashing function keys. The function keys are: 'R' -- recall number stored in memory 'C' -- clear memory (reset to zero) '+' -- add current number to number stored in memory '-' -- subtract current number from number stored in memory '*' -- multiply number stored in memory by current number '/' -- divide number stored in memory by current number PASTE function The paste function enables you to paste the current calculator value into a numeric field while adding or changing records in a file. However, erratic results may occur if the number of decimal places in the number to be pasted is larger than the number of decimals of the field described in your file. For example, suppose that you have just used the calculator to derive the result 75.2877. You wish to paste this number into an amount field on the screen prior to popping up the calculator. If the field is only 2 dec- imal places than the probability is strong that this number will be stored on-screen as 75.29 (although internally it will remain 75.2877). QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 6 PRINT - Adding machine mode By pushing "P" for Print, the calculator emulates an adding machine. This will be noted by a small "P" to the right of the number window. Each calculation will be sent to the printer (if it is on-line). After all, if you have invested several thousand dollars in PC hardware (and software), why bother spending more money on a ten-key adding machine? Press "P" again to leave adding machine mode. PHONE / ADDRESS DIRECTORY: --------------- --------- This allows you to maintain a phone database with names, addresses, and phone numbers of business and personal contacts. If you have a modem, you can dial any of the phone numbers in your database. You may also print mass mailings to some or all names in the phone file. The phone directory utilizes two files, PHONE.DBF and PHONE.NTX. You do not need to create these files; the application automatically generates them if it cannot find them in the specified subdirectory. The user interface is a browse-style window. You can view, add, edit, and delete records from the phone database. You can instruct the application to search a specific subdirectory for the database file by answering the prompt which appears when accessing the function. Otherwise, the current directory is assumed. Active Keys: A -- add a record to the database E -- edit highlighted record D -- delete highlighted record Up and down arrow keys -- scroll through the database Esc -- exit the phone directory F2 -- view/edit address information for the highlighted record F3 -- print listing of all names in the phone directory F4 -- mass mailing to selected or all names in phone directory. F5 -- dial highlighted phone number QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 7 ADDRESS INFORMATION Press F2 to view and/or edit address information for the highlighted person. A box containing that information will appear in the middle of the screen. You may enter information in these fields as desired. You can then press Ctrl-W to save your edits, or Esc to exit without saving. Either way, you will be returned to the browse window. REPORTS Press F3 to print a list of the names in your phone database. You will be asked to select the sort order: (1) by last name; (2) by company; or (3) by phone number. Pressing Esc at this prompt will abort the printing process. You may customize the heading on this report by entering the desired value at the prompt appearing when the function is selected. Note below for an example of this. MASS MAILING Pressing F4 enables the mass mailing feature. You will first be asked whether you wish to send letters only to selected names. (Names are selected if the field "MAIL" shows as "YES"). A list of files in the current directory will then appear, and you will be prompted to select one to use as the merge document. Once you have selected the merge document, you will be asked to enter the left margin (the default value is 10). If you wish to have the application look for files in a different directory enter the directory name at the prompt which appears. AUTO-DIALING Press F5 to dial the highlighted number (first, make sure that your modem is hooked up and turned on). The default communications port is 1; if you wish to configure the dialer to use a different port, change the value when it appears at initialization. In most cases this would be a 2 for COM2. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 8 Phone numbers that include area codes are presumed to be long- distance, and will be preceded by "1" as is the current norm. Phone numbers without an area code are presumed to be local, and are dialed as is. You may include letters as part of the phone number (e.g., "MU5-2512"); the dialer will convert any letters to their numeric equivalent on the standard telephone keypad. Phone numbers that begin with "9-" are presumed to be PBX numbers, and will be dialed with a half second pause between the 9 and the rest of the phone number. CALENDAR/APPOINTMENT TRACKER -------------------- ------- This is a pop-up calendar with an integrated appointment tracker. You can point and shoot on any date to add, edit, or view appointments for that date. You may also print or delete appointments for any date. When you first enter the calendar, the current month will be displayed along with the first two weeks of the next month. The current day will blink. Any days that have appointments will be displayed in reverse video. You can instruct the appointment tracker to search a specific subdirectory for the appointment database by changing the value that appears in the display during selection. If the directory selected does not contain the appointment file, it will be created automatically. The following keys are active within the calendar: Left-arrow Go backward one day Right-arrow Go forward one day Up-arrow Go backward one week Down-arrow Go forward one week PgUp Go back one month PgDn Go forward one month Home Jump to first day of month End Jump to last day of month Esc Exit calendar Enter Add/Edit/View appointments for current date F2 Print appointments for current date F3 Delete appointments for current date F4 Delete appointments for range of dates F5 Permanently removed deleted appointments (pack) QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 9 ADDING/EDITING/VIEWING Appointments Use the navigation keys to move to the desired date, then press Enter. A browse window will appear near the bottom of the screen showing the time and description of all appointments for that date. If there are not already appointments for that date, you will automatically be placed in Add mode. Press Ctrl-W (or Alt-R, if this is to be a recurring appointment) to save this new appointment, or Esc to exit back to the calendar. Appointments may be edited by highlighting the desired appointment in the browse window and pressing 'E'. You may also add a memo to each appointment by highlighting the desired appointment and pressing F2. You may return to the calendar by pressing Esc. Recurring Appointments - if you wish to add an appointment that will recur on a regular basis, press Alt-R instead of Ctrl-W when you are ready to save it. You will have the following options: i. Every day-of-week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) ii. Every other day-of-week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) iii. Every ... day of the month (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) iv. Every day v. Every weekday (not applicable to weekend appointments) Move the highlight bar to the desired frequency and press Enter. PRINTING Appointments Use the navigation keys to move to the desired date, then press F2. You will be asked if you wish to include comments on the printout. If there are no appointments for the selected date, you will get a non-fatal error message to that effect. DELETING Appointments You may either delete appointments for a single date or for a range To delete a single date's appointments, use the navigation keys to move to the desired date and press F3. The number of appointments for that date will be shown, and you will be asked to confirm your deletion request. As with printing, if there are no appointments for the selected date, you will get a non-fatal error message. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 10 To delete appointments for a range of dates, you will be prompted to input the starting and ending dates. The starting and ending dates will initially be set to the highlighted date, but you will certainly want to change them. As with deleting a single date's appointments, the number of appointments to be deleted will be shown and you will be asked to confirm your request. If there are no appointments in that range of dates, you will receive a non-fatal error message to that effect. PACKING the Appointments file Appointments are marked for deletion, but remain in the appointment database until packed. If you want to permanently remove them from the file (and thus recover additional disk space), you must "pack" the database file. To pack the appointments database, press F5. If there are no appointments in the file, you will receive a message to that effect. Otherwise, all deleted records will be permanently removed from the file. CHECKING Daily Appointments ("Tickler") Each time the system is accessed, the system checks to see if any appointments are scheduled for the current date. If some are found they will appear on the screen. This function may be toggled off and on by changing the CHECKAPP flag in the SETUP file. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 11 QUERY / UPDATE ----- - ------ This powerful utility allows you to create and save complex queries (filters) for any database file. All you need to do is have a database file open before calling this routine. All records meeting the condition may be displayed or printed. Displayed records also may be modified or deleting while new records may be added. If the desired file is not yet created use the DESIGN A FILE option to do so and then proceed to enter records by selecting the 'All Records for XXXXX' query automaticaly set up during file creation. Viewing and Selecting a Query When you enter the query builder, you will get a window containing descriptions of all available queries. The following options are available at this point: Up Arrow Move the highlight bar up one query Down Arrow Move the highlight bar down one query F9 View the criteria for the highlighted query F10 Create a new query Enter Run the highlighted query Esc Exit the query module If you attempt to move past the first or last query description, you will get a reminder tone. Pressing F9 will pop up a window showing the criteria for the highlighted query. You may use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the criteria. Press Esc to return to the query window. Pressing Enter will run the query on your database file. If no records fit the criteria, you will receive a message to that effect. Selecting a query that isn't associated with the selected file will display the appropriate error message. Creating a New Query A) Viewing Field Names and Descriptions Pressing F10 from the query window will bring up the criteria screen. A scrolling window containing the field names of the selected database will appear on the right side of the screen. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 12 The following commands are available: Enter Select the highlighted field Up Arrow Move the highlight bar up one field Down Arrow Move the highlight bar down one field Letters (A-Z) Move the highlight bar to the next field that begins with that letter If you attempt to move past the first or last query description, you will get a reminder tone. Once you grow accustomed to the field names, it is highly recommended that you use letter keys rather than the arrow keys to navigate through the fields list. B) Selecting an Operator Pressing Enter will bring up the operators window, which contains the following choices: a) Equal to b) Less than c) Greater than d) Less than or equal to e) Greater than or equal to f) Not equal to g) Contains h) Sounds like Use the up and down arrow to select the desired operator, then press Enter to continue. Note: if the selected field is logical type, the operators window will be bypassed. C) Selecting a Value When you have selected an operator, another window will appear beneath the operators window. This window will contain the field name and the operator. Type in the desired value for this field, then press Enter to continue. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 13 D) Selecting a Boolean Operator / Ending the Criteria When you have entered the value, another window will appear below the value window. This window will contain the following choices: a) 'Discard' b) ' .AND. ' c) ' .OR. ' d) ' .AND. (' e) ' .OR. (' f) ') .AND. ' g) ') .OR. ' h) '<>' Move the highlight bar to the desired selection and press Enter. You will note that options f) and g) will be unavailable to you until you already have embedded an open parenthesis in your query criteria (again, trying to think logically here). In the case of selecting 'All Records', a default description will automatically be created. E) Ending the Query When you have finished building the criteria for this query, select '<>'. You will then be asked to enter a description for this query for future reference. This description may contain up to 50 characters. Press Enter when you are finished entering the description, and you will be returned to the query window. F) Deleting a Query To delete a previously defined Query, Highlight the Query and press the minus (-) key. G) Display/Print/Modify After records have been found for a Query, they may be displayed to the screen in a table format or printed. If the printed option is selected the operator is shown a window of fields in the file. Similar to creating Queries, the fields to appear and the order to be printed can be determined. All numeric fields will be totaled and printed at the end of the report. If there are no records for the selected Query, A prompt is displayed asking if the operator wants to add more records. QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 14 H) Update Mode If the UPDATE flag is set to T in the SETUP file (SYSTEM SETUP) the ability to add, delete and change records is provided. The following commands exist: + Add new records - Delete records Modify current field ESC Return to the selection window PgUp Go back a page of records PgDn Go forward a page of records DESIGN a FILE ------ - ---- To create a file, enter the name, type and length of the fields desired. For example, assume the following fields were added: Field name Type Len Dec ---------- ---- --- --- ACC-NUMBER N 10 2 ACC-NAME C 20 ACC-AMT N 10 2 ACC-DATE D 8 EDITS: The name of each field must be unique to the file. The maximum length for any field is 99. Only numeric fields may have decimal places. Any Date type (D) fields will automatically be set to a length of 8 with MM/DD/YY format. By default, records entered or updated must match the edit criteria established when the file is created. Only numbers can be entered for (N)umeric type fields. Only valid dates for D type Any character for (C)haracter type. When done entering fields, leave the Name field blank. You will then be asked for the file name you wish to call the new file. If a file with the same name exists in that directory, you'll be asked to abandon operation or overwrite it. Records are added to new files by creating a 'ALL RECORDS' criteria and then using it to display the table entry form to the screen QUE ACCOUNTING QUERY OPTION - Page 15 SYSTEM SETUP ------ ----- This function allows you to set the appropriate flags to control operations and to protect system access with a password. CHECKAPP - toggle on/off whether the daily appointment check is done at start-up. UPDATE - toggle on/off whether or not the update mode is activated. PASSWORD - if a value is entered in this field than it will be prompted for when trying to access the system startup function. If you forget the value assigned delete the SETUP.DBF file form the directory and start over. SCRHEAD - the value to appear on the first line of the menu screens. PRTHEAD - the value to appear on the first line of the report option of Query / Update function. **** End of QBASE.TXT ****