Bill Reminder V1.0 ------------------ The Bill Reminder is a utility for reminding you when Bills are due. This is a useful tool for allowing you to hold on to your money for as long as you can and effectively managing what you need to keep in your checkings account. This program requires Microsoft Windows. Setup ----- billrem.arc should contain the following: bill.exe readme.txt The program bill.exe can be installed anywhere. In the directory where it is installed, it will open a file called billxxx.dat that contains all the billing information. If the bill.exe file is moved at a later time to a different directory, this file should be moved as well. Controls -------- The controls are pretty straight forward. The mouse can be used to point to a bill for selected use. A single click makes the bill selected. A double click opens an edit dialog for the bill. Bills can also be selected using the up/dowm arrows. Pressing the enter key after a bill is selected also opens an edit dialog for the bill. There are both horizontal and vertical scrollers for the Bill Reminder main window. The mouse can be used to access these controls. The key puts you at the top of the bill list. The key puts you at the end. The and keys move you up and down through the bill list respectively. Usage ----- For bills that are mailed to you, simply record the bill (for the first time with the Add menu option) the date that it is due, and the amount in the labeled edit boxes. Dates must be specified in dd-MMM-yyyy format, i.e. 14-jan-1992. Amounts must be specified as valid numeric strings with or without a decimal point. If a date or amount is not specified, the bill is marked as paid. If an invalid date or amount is specified, an error dialog will be displayed. Otherwise, asuming that there is more than a week until the bill is due, the bill will be displayed in the main window as pending and colored black. When the bill becomes due within a week, it will turn color from black to blue. If the bill is not paid within a week, it becomes late and will turn color from blue to red (You don't need many of those). It also tells you how much you need to pay late, due, and pending bills. A bill can be paid in two different ways. By using the Pay Menu Option, the status of the bill will be toggled between paid and not paid, assuming that paid bills have valid data fields. The other way pay a bill is to do it via the Change Menu Option. When the bill appears in the edit dialog, check the Payed box. When the bill is paid, It will be listed as paid and grayed on the screen. It remains in the bill list, however, so that when it is received the next time, it can be reinitialized. For bills that are not mailed to you, i.e your mortgage or your car payment, simply enter it for the first time as you would a mailed bill. When you pay it, however, simply update the date in which it is due again to make it pending (It's always pending until you pay it off). Bills can be deleted using the Delete Menu Option (I wish they all would go away). The About menu option provides information about the Bill Reminder program and information on registration. Registration ------------ The author encourages you to try the program out and distribute it freely along with this documentation. If you find it useful, please register it. This can be done as follows: Send $5.00 to: Clester Keaton 741 Palm Drive Glenwood, Il 60425 This is one bill that the author hopes gets paid on time.