PAINLESS ACCOUNTING/PAYROLL COMPANION TABLE OF CONTENTS I. DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE.......................... 1 II. DISCLAIMER-AGREEMENT............................. 1 III. ORDERING......................................... 2 IV. SUPPORT.......................................... 2 V. INSTALLATION..................................... 3 VI. MULTIPLE COMPANIES............................... 3 VII. GRAPH............................................ 3 1. Create Graph.................................. 3 2. Edit Graph.................................... 4 3. Generate Graph................................ 4 4. Recall Graph.................................. 5 VIII. REPORTS.......................................... 5 1. Create Reports................................ 5 2. Edit Reports.................................. 5 3. Generate Reports.............................. 6 IX. EXPORTS.......................................... 6 1. Create Exports................................ 6 2. Edit Exports.................................. 6 3. Generate Exports.............................. 6 X. UTILITIES........................................ 7 1. Color Parameters.............................. 7 2. Graph Printer Setup........................... 7 3. Report Printer Setup.......................... 7 4. DOS Window.................................... 8 5. Graph to .PCX................................. 8 i I. DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details. Some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs ar e of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specifi c group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. A nd because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. II. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of Painless Companion must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "Painless Companion is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for an y purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of Painless Companion." Painless Companion is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software i s to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using Painless Companion and continue to use Painless Companion after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $45.00 to Painless Accounting. The $45.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time, and you will receive a printe d manual. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. PAGE 1 Commercial users of Painless Companion must register and pay for their copies of Painless Companion within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Painless Accounting. Anyone distributing Painless Companion for any kind of remuneration must first contact Painless Accounting at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering Painless Companion immediately (However Painless Accounting must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of Painless Companion.). You are encouraged to pass a copy of Painless Companion along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the Painless Companion system, and a printed manual. Painless Accounting 4401 Birdsong Plano, TX 75075 III. ORDERING If you wish to register Painless Companion simply print the file REGISTER.TXT and fill in the requested information, or call (214)596-9164 anytime. We can send your program COD and we also accept American Express. As soon as your registration is received you will be sent the latest copy of Painless Companion, and a printed manual. You will also be notified of any future releases of Painless Companion, and any new products. IV. SUPPORT We provide technical support Monday-Thursday at (214)596-9164 from 6pm-9pm Central Standard Time. We can also be reached at R-Base 5000. This is a BBS that provides a forum dedicated to Painless Accounting. It operates 7 days a week 24 hours a day at 1 200-19200 baud. You may also reach Kendall B. Pierce on CompuServe at ID 70337,3337. PAGE 2 V. INSTALLATION To install Painless Accounting/Payroll Companion simply copy the disk into your current Painless Accounting Version 5.0 subdirectory, by typing the following command at the DOS prompt: COPY A:*.* C:\subdirectory name If this is the registered Version type the following command from your Painless Accounting subdirectory: PACOMP If this is the shareware version type the following command: PACOMP-D To run the program type PAG5 or PAG5-D depending on the Version. VI. MULTIPLE COMPANIES Press the number of the company to access or highlight the proper company by using the arrow keys and press enter. If you try to access a company and receive the error message that the company is not installed, you must run the install process to create the data files for the company. You could also receive this message if an invalid path is entered and the data file s are not found. VII. GRAPH 1. CREATE GRAPH Select this option to create your graph formats. You must first select the desired data file to graph. All the data files will be displayed on the screen. Highlight the file to graph and press enter, or press the letter or number corresponding to the d ata file you want to graph. Now you will be asked to provide a name for this graph. You may then enter a graph title, which will be printed at the top of the graph. You can also specify a X-axis an Y-axis title. The X-axis title will appear along the bottom of the graph and the Y-axis title will appear along the left side of the graph. PAGE 3 Next the fields from the data file selected will be displayed. You may then select the field description to sort by. Only alphanumeric fields will be displayed for sorting. When the graph is generated, it will be sorted by this selection. Next you must select the X-axis. It will only allow numeric fields for the X-axis. These will be displayed for each element graphed. For example, if you are graphing your expense accounts, and select account number for the X-axis, for each account graphed the account number will be displayed along the bottom. You can then select up to five Y-axis, these can only be numeric fields. For example, if you are graphing your expense accounts, and select this month balance and previous balance, these two balances will be graphed for each expense account. The only ex ception is if you generate a pie chart. In this case only the first Y-axis will be graphed. To save the graph press F10. 2. EDIT GRAPH Select this option to make modifications to any graph created. All graphs created will be displayed on the screen. Select the one you want to edit. At this point you may go through and make any modifications necessary. 3. GENERATE GRAPH Select this option to generate the graphs to the screen, printer, or to a file. All graphs created will be displayed on the screen. Select the graph you wish to generate. Next you can enter a low range and a high range to graph, you can also Press F4 a nd select individual items. You can specify if you want a legend or if you want hatching. The legend will appear in the upper right hand corner indicating the Y-axis fields selected. If you select hatching, when doing a bar chart, the bar will have lin es through it instead of just being a solid bar. You must also specify where you want the graph to be sent. You may send it to the screen, printer, or to a file. If you select screen the graph will be displayed on the screen. If you select printer, you can then select if you want to print the graph i n portrait or landscape mode. You may also specify the horizontal and vertical size of the graph to print. The default horizontal and vertical size is one, for the standard graph size. If you want the graph to be printed bigger enter in a higher number. If you want the graph to be smaller enter in a lower number. If you select file you will then be prompted to enter in the file name in which to save the graph. You may then recall the graph through the recall option. PAGE 4 You will then be prompted to select the type of graph to generate. Highlight the desired graph type or press the number corresponding to that graph type. The graph will then be generated. 4. RECALL GRAPH Select this option to look at a graph that has already been generated and saved in a file. All graphs saved will be displayed on the screen. Select the graph you wish to recall. You may then display the graph to the screen or send it to the printer. VIII. REPORTS 1. CREATE REPORTS Select this option to create your report formats. You must first select a data file. All the data files will be displayed on the screen. Highlight the file to use and press enter, or press the letter or number corresponding to the data file you wish to select. Now the fields from the data file selected will be displayed. You must then select the field to sort by. You can then enter up to 10 fields, and indicate whether to subtotal (S), total(T), or group(G) on the fields selected and enter in a heading for e ach field selected. The heading you input will be the heading printed above that particular column. Press F10 to save the report format. When you select a numeric field you have the option to group on this field. For example, if you select the accounts file and sort by account type, and enter the account type as a field to group on, and select to subtotal on the previous balance, each tim e the account type changes you will get a subtotal for the previous balance. You may only total or subtotal on numeric fields. If you opt to total on the previous balance, the total of all previous balances will be displayed at the end of the report. When you select to group on a field, every time this field changes, subtotals will be printed for any field you have chosen to subtotal. One thing to be aware of, is if you group on account number and subtotal on previous balance, you will get a subtotal for each account number. This is because each account number is different. You should only group on fields that are not unique. 2. EDIT REPORT Select this option to edit a report. All the reports created will be displayed. You can select the one you wish to edit. The report will be loaded and you can make any changes necessary. If you need to change field five, you must go through all the pr evious fields before you can change field five. Then you can Press F10 to save the change. PAGE 5 3. GENERATE REPORT Select this option to generate any report created. All reports created will be displayed, select the one you wish to generate. You may then specify condensed printing or normal printing. You may also enter a left margin. Next specify the range of item s to print or press F4 to select specific items to report on. You can then indicate if you wish the report to be displayed on the screen, sent to the printer, or stored in a file. If you display the report to the screen, after the report is displayed you will have the option to send it to the printer. If you selec t file you will be prompted for the name of the file in which to save the report. IX. EXPORTS 1. CREATE FORMAT Select this option to create an export format. Next select the desired data file to export. Then enter the export file name. You must then select the field to sort by. You can then enter up to 10 fields to export. 2. EDIT FORMAT Select this option to modify any export format created. All export formats created will be displayed, select the one you want to edit. You can then make any changes necessary. 3. GENERATE EXPORT Select this option to export data to a file. All export formats created will be displayed, select the one you want to generate. You can then enter a low range and a high range. You may also select specific items to export by pressing F4. Next you must indicate the type of delimiters desired. After this selection you must enter in the name of file to export the information to. PAGE 6 X. UTILITIES 1. COLOR PARAMETERS This option allows you to customize your screen color attributes. All possible color combinations will be displayed with a corresponding number. Just enter this number in the option you wish to change. Following is a brief description of each option available for change. Standard: This is the color of all menus and data entry routines. Enhanced: This will be the color of the fields currently available for input. Active: This is the color to the current field, i.e. where the cursor is located. Calc/Npad: This is the color of the pop-up calculator and notepad. Status: This will be the color of the status line displayed at the top of the screen at all times. Window: This is the windows that pop up for various input options. View: This will be the color of the screen when displaying lists of clients, vendors, etc. on the screen. Help: This is the color of all help panels. It will then ask if you want to set the intensity off. If you set the intensity off, the blocked cursor will no longer be in a blocked form. It will display the colors you chose and ask if these are the colors you wish to use. If you answer yes it will save these as your colors. If you do not like the colors you have chosen answer no and it will take you back to the color options and you may change them. 2. GRAPH PRINTER SETUP Highlight the printer type to use when printing graphs and press enter. Then select the printer port for this printer. If you are not sure which port your printer is connected select LPT1 and then try printing a graph. If this does not work select LPT2 and repeat the process until the graph prints. 3. REPORT PRINTER SETUP Highlight the printer type to use when printing reports and press enter. Select other if your printer is not on the list. This will allow you to enter in the decimal codes for normal and condensed printing. These may be found in your printer manual. PAGE 7 4. DOS WINDOW This option will allow you to exit to DOS. To return to Painless Accounting/Payroll Companion type in 'EXIT'. 5. GRAPH TO .PCX This option allows you to convert any graph generated to a file, into a PCX file format to import into other software packages that read PCX formats. Indicate the file name in which to save the PCX file in. PAGE 8