To create a new account from scratch, choose Make New Account ... from the File menu. Enter the account name without any extension. (CBB will do this for you based on which file format you select.) This account name will become a category of the form [acct-name] description for use in transfers between accounts. Section 4.4 explains how transfers work. Next enter a description for this account. Now, choose whether this account will be saved in CBB (ASCII) format or dbm format. (I recommend CBB format.) When you satisfied with your name, description, and file format, click on the Create Account button and your new empty account will be created and loaded.
To create a new account based on exported Quicken data, create a new account from scratch as described in the previous subsection. Once the account has been created, Quicken data can be imported into it. Importing data from Quicken is explained in Section 4.10.1.
Setting an initial balance for an account is as simple as creating a first transaction with a credit amount equal to the initial balance.
At all times in CBB (except for those times when you are doing other things) you are either creating new transactions, or editing existing transactions. Other operations such as balancing may temporarily suspend the entry, but when the chosen function is completed, you are returned to your current edit or insert operation.
At any time you can abort the current edit or insert by starting a new edit or insert.
When you are satisfied with the current contents of the edit area, hit Return and the transaction will be updated. If you are creating a new transaction, it will be inserted. If if you are editing an existing transaction, it will be updated.
In order to facilitate data entry, several key bindings have been defined. Figure 1 shows a list of these key bindings. These are intended to be similar to the default Emacs key bindings.
Figure 1: General Key Bindings.
When the focus is in the check number field you can use the + and - keys to increment and decrement the number. CBB remembers the last check number you used, so when you are creating a new transaction, pressing + will insert the next check number. Figure 2 shows a list of these key bindings.
Figure 2: Check Number Field Bindings.
The + and - keys work as you expect when the focus is in the date field. They will increment or decrement the date. CBB does not try to keep track of things like leap year or even the number of days in a specific month. So, if the date is 2/28/95 and you press +, you will see 2/29/95 and 30 and 31. Hopefully this is not a major annoyance. Figure 3 shows a list of these key bindings.
Figure 3: Date Field Bindings.
The Splits function allows you to ``split'' the value of a transaction among several different categories. Caution: Even though you may click Dismiss in the Splits window, the transaction will not be updated. You need to hit Return again once the splits window is closed. Currently there is a minor focus bug in tk3.6. Opening the splits window steals the focus away from the main entry area. When the splits window is closed, the focus is never returned. To work around this ``feature'' you must click in one of the entry fields to tell tk3.6 where the focus should be. Once the main entry area has the focus back you can hit Return. I believe this focus bug is fixed in tk4.0.
CBB keeps a list of transactions sorted and indexed by description. When entering a typical transaction you would normally first specify the check number, then specify the date, then specify the description. If you have entered a similar transaction in the past, then you only need to type the first few characters of the description, hit Tab and the rest of the transaction is filled in for you. At this point you should make any necessary changes. Finally, you can update the transaction by hitting Return.
If you don't want your transaction completed (i.e. your transaction is being completed in an undesired fashion) you can type Meta-Tab in the description field to avoid the completion feature.
The transaction is auto-completed only once per transaction. In other words, your changes won't keep getting overwritten each time you tab through the description field. Also, this feature is only activated by Tabbing from the description field. Shift-Tabbing or pressing Return have the same effect as they do in any other field.
Note: You can turn this feature on and off from the File -> Preferences menu.
Categories are used to give each transaction a ``type.'' This is useful for reporting, since the report can be organized by category.
Adding categories currently can be accomplished by simply using them in a transaction. When the transaction is updated, and the category is unknown, you will be asked if you wish to insert the new category into the list. Simply fill in the category description and check the Tax Related box (if it is tax related.) Once you are satisfied, click on the Add button.
Alternatively you can manually edit the categories file. CBB stores the category file in the same subdirectory as the associated account file. Note, the fields are delimited by tabs. Have fun and be careful!
Categories can be viewed by selecting Categories -> Category List ... from the Functions menu. This brings up a list of categories. When the category list is open, double clicking on an category will paste it into the current entry. Alternatively, you can select a category and click on the Paste button.
Once the category list window has been opened (see Section 4.3.2) simply select a category and click on the Delete button and the category will be deleted.
When an account is created, a category of the form [acct-name] is also created. To create a transfer to another account, use the destination account name (enclosed in [ and ]) to specify the account being transfered to. When the transaction is inserted into the current account a corresponding transaction will be inserted in destination account. WARNING: currently when a transfer transaction is edited or deleted, its corresponding transaction will not be altered. This must be done manually. CBB will remind you of this whenever you edit or delete a transfer transaction.
Clicking on the Balance button will bring up a list of all ``uncleared'' transactions in a window. CBB already knows your statement beginning balance. It is simply the sum of all the cleared transactions. Verify your statement's beginning balance then enter your ending balance. At this point you can go through and check off all the transactions that are listed on your statement. CBB will keep a running total of the beginning balance + the transactions. When you are all done, this should equal the ending balance. If it doesn't, there is a discrepancy someplace ...which will hopefully be not too hard to track down. When everything matches, click on the Update button. This will ``clear'' all the selected transactions. When you balance your checkbook next month, only the ``uncleared'' transactions will be presented to you.
This technique makes it easy to spot and handle situations when some
idiot doesn't
cash your check for 3 months ...it is still in the system and easy
to spot. This way your idea of your balance stays in sync with the
bank's idea of your balance. And since it is entered into CBB and
subtracted from your running balance, you won't get burned when they
finally do cash it.
As of version 0.60a of CBB, I have completely reworked the reporting mechanism. Each report is actually a stand-alone, self-sufficient, executable perl script (although there is nothing magical about the use of perl.)
When you select a Reports ... you are presented with a dialog box. In this dialog box you can select the report you would like to print, the files you would like to include in the report, a date range, and report destination. If you wish to include all transactions up to a certain date, leave the Starting Date field blank. If you wish to include all transactions from a certain date on, leave the Ending Date field blank. To include all transactions leave both fields blank. Dates should be in the following format: mm/dd/[[yy]yy]. Valid dates are 5/19, 5/19/95, and 5/19/2095.
Reports can be printed to a variety of destinations. If you select Send to Screen the report will be displayed in a window. If you select Save to File or Pipe, enter a file name in the appropriate field and the report will saved to that file. If you specify a file name of the form | command, CBB will pipe the output of the report through the specified command. For instance, if you wanted to send the report to a printer, you could enter something like | nenscript -2Gr | lpr -d hp4L.
The first report is simply a list of all transactions. It looks remarkably like the contents of the transaction list box.
The next report displays all transactions sorted and subtotaled by category. It properly handles splits.
This report is similar to the Transaction List By Category report except it omits the individual transactions and only displays the sum of the transactions for each category. It also properly handles splits.
Also new to version 0.60a is graphing. Graphing is very similar to reporting. Each graph is actually a stand-alone, self-sufficient, executable perl script which creates a plot file and calls gnuplot. In order for graphing to work, you must have gnuplot installed in your path.
When you select a graph you are presented with a dialog box similar to the one presented for report printing. You can select a graph, group of input files, and a date range. If you wish to include all transactions up to a certain date, leave the Starting Date field blank. If you wish to include all transactions from a certain date on, leave the Ending Date field blank. To include all transactions leave both fields blank. Dates should be in the following format: mm/dd/[[yy]yy]. Valid dates are 5/19, 5/19/95, and 5/19/2095.
This graph is relatively lame. It is very simple minded and is intended only as an example of how to create graphs from within CBB. As time permits or as other contribute, you will see more graphs.
Currently, preferences need much work ...However, you can set a few things including fonts in your .cbbrc.tcl file.
All changes must be saved-or how could they be called changes-they are not really changes at all until they are saved-they are only proposed changes.
If you are using CBB (ASCII) format files you must save your work-just like you must save your work in vi or emacs. To do this, select Save Account or Save Account As ... from the file menu.
New to version 0.60a is an ``auto save'' feature. Your proposed changes are saved to a temporary file at regular intervals. (This interval defaults to 3 minutes and can be set in your .cbbrc.tcl file.)
As always, save early and save often!
If you have decided to keep your data in a dbm format file, there is never a need to save. For those who are paranoid about your dbm file becoming corrupt-I've never seen it happen-I would recommend periodically using the Save Account option from the File menu. This saves your file in the CBB (ASCII) format. For those that are really, really paranoid: a log file of all account transactions is created. In an emergency, it is possible that the account information could be reconstructed from this, although no reconstruction facility is currently in place.
CBB is capable of importing Quicken export files. These files are of the form <name>.qif. The transfer process is relatively simple.
CBB is also capable of generating Quicken export files. These files can be imported into Quicken. This process is also relatively simple.