INVESTMENT TRACKER V1.4b (S3A Only) ---------------------------------- Following the success of my Home Accounts program S3ABANK, a number of people have suggested that I issue some of the optional modules as standalone programs. This is the first of these modules. (The others are a fuel consumption tracker, S3AFUELx.ZIP, a Home Inventory program, S3AHOMEx.ZIP, an Expense Account Manager, S3AEXPx.ZIP, and a Financial Planner, S3APLANx.ZIP, where 'x' is the version number). This program allows you to keep track of the value of your investments (Shares, Stocks, Bonds etc) but, in addition, it also allows you to keep a history file of their performance, which can be displayed graphically. To Install the program : 1. Put S3AINV4.APP in your \APP\ directory 2. If you want to use the optional On-Line Help (Highly recommended) put the file S3AINVH.OVL into an \APP\S3AINV\ directory. 3. If you want to use the optional Print option put the file S3AINVP.OVL into the \APP\S3AINV\ directory and the file S3APRINT.DYL into an \OPD\ directory. Note that this file is common to all my programs, so if you have more than one of them you only need one copy of this file. 4. Install (PSION-I) To start the program highlight the 'Invest' under the Icon. You can either use this as a Group name, in which case just press , or use to select your own name. Now go into the program. The 'nag' screens can be removed by registering the program, which will also allow you 50 entries. The unregistered version allows you just 3 entries, to see the capabilities of the program. Working through the MENU commands will show you the capabilities of the program. The usual File Handling Commands are available for building and deleting groups, as well as the Password option. The Edit Menu provides Enter, Update, and Delete options, plus a 'Move' option if you wish to manually reorder the entries, and an 'Update All' option (). I use this once a week to update every investment at once. (See later for Currencies). The 'Sort' menu allows you to quickly re-order the entries based on any of the fields. The 'Special' menu allows you to look at the History screen (see later), do all the printing routines, use a separate memopad (as in Agenda) and select the size of font. The 'Set Preferences' menu allows you to specify the type of font, the date format, whether you wish to be prompted to include any updates in the History file, how many decimal places you wish for each column, configure the printer, decide if you want to stay in the 'Set Preferences' menu while setting up the program (instead of having to keep re- selecting it) and define a foreign currency (see later). Finally, there is a 'Help' screen which simply repeats the information in this file, and a diamond menu to show the ways of viewing the long-term performance of an investment. To demonstrate the program, enter an investment (), specifying the start date, Company, how many shares and the present price. Now update the entry using , or , or . When it has been entered say 'Yes' to the 'Update History' question. (This can be bypassed if a flag is set from the 'Set Preferences' menu) Now update it twice more, to generate a decent history. Now select the share and press the Diamond key (or ) and you will see the history display. The historical values are tabulated on the left, and a graph of performance is drawn on the right. (While you are in this screen, you can amend the History file, set the X-Scale Factor () to ), to the max/min values of price or an automatic scaling). In this mode, you can also define the gain/loss figure, delete the file or change the font size and Export the history (see later). If you have more than one share, you can select them by either using the cursor keys or pressing the first letter of the title. In the History view, you can switch shares quickly using (unfortunately, because of the limitations of the Psion, only the first 31 entries can be switched this way) or use the right/left arrows to cycle through. Also, as usual, CTRL-MENU switches the Status Window on and off. If you want to use multiple groups of investments, simply use the command to generate multiple groups. If you want to use the foreign currency option in any of the Groups, select the 'Currencies' option from the Menu, and enter a symbol for the primary currency (i.e. US$) and for the second currency, and then the exchange rate. The Group will now show the primary currency in the top right. If you now want to use the secondary currency option, select 'Foreign Currencies' in the 'Set Preferences' menu. The secondary currency will now be shown in brackets after the primary currency and when you Enter or Update entries, you will offered the option of using either currency. (The currency will default to the one you used last time) Every time you do an update, the total value of your portfolio is stored, and the history of this can also be viewed using from the menu. However, a word of warning. When you first start setting up your investments, the program will begin the total calculation from the value of the first investment entered. Therefore, if you enter 4 investments immediately, the program will think you have made a massive gain !! To sort that problem out, once you have initially entered ALL your investments, just go into the Total History screen, and delete the earlier lines, so that the first line represents a true starting value for your portfolio. Finally, the History details can be exported in a delimited format which can be imported in the built-in Sheet application. To use this option, press , and just specify the location of the output file (it defaults to \WRD\ INVEST.TXT). Now load that file into the Word application, highlight it all and then use the Bring function from within a spreadsheet to import the information. If you find the program useful and wish to register it, please see the file REGISTER.TXT for up-to-date instructions on how to register. Apart from giving you a 'warm' feeling, allowing you 50 entries, and getting rid of the 'nag' screens, registering will give you access to full support and access to regular, free, updates. If anyone has any useful suggestions for improvements, I will always try and include them in the next version. Al Richey