TravTrac

	      VERSION 1.2

    (c)1993 Jean-Fran‡ois Davignon

This file contains the following:

1. Why Travtrac
2. Features
3. How to use TravTrac
4. Output
5. Tecnicalities
6. Permitted uses

1. Why Travtrac

Being on the road a good part of the 
year for my job, I often had to 
spend quite an amount of time to 
fill out expense claim forms and 
backtrack sales taxes from receipts 
that did not indicate the amounts 
properly.

I always wished I had a machine that 
could do this for me.  Well with the 
Port and Travtrac I finally have it.


2. Features

TravTrac is a simple and very small 
data base.  It will keep up to 20 
travel expenses in a file.  From 
experience, when I have more than 20 
items to claim its because I've 
waited to long to claim them 
already.  

TravTrac also enables you to deduce 
the amount of sales taxes contained 
in the total amount of a purchase.  
It does so for a single sales tax or 
for the double GST+PST sale taxes in 
Canada.

TravTrack also lets you take tips or 
other charges into account when 
calculating sales taxes or simply to 
keep a record of those charges.

New feature starting with TravTrac 
1.1 is a milleage reimbursement 
calculator.

TravTrac allows for two forms of 
output: 

- A claim form with tax totals and 
  personnal expenses deducted in an 
  ASCII text file that the 
  Portfolio's built-in editor can 
  read and print out(set left margin
  to 0).

- An ASCII text file in which the 
  data is stored in comma delimited 
  (separated) value format that can 
  be used by other word processors, 
  spreadsheets or databases.


3. How to use TravTrac

TravTrac is very easy to use.  To 
start simply type its executable 
filename at the operating system 
prompt followed by the name of a 
file:

	C>ttrac12 filename

<filename> can be an existing 
TravTrac file or a new file you wish 
to open.  New with version 1.1 the 
default extension is ".TRK". If you 
dont specify an extension TravTrac 
will add the .TRK extension. If you 
wish to specify a file without an 
extension you MUST type the `.' at 
the end of the filename. TravTrack 
will not affect a non TravTrac file.

Once opened the TravTrac screen 
shows the first record and is ready 
to receive information.  

Use the TAB key and SHIFT+TAB 
combination to move from field to 
field.  

Typing a character at the beginning 
of a field clears the field and the 
new text replaces the field content.  
Each field accepts a limited number 
of characters: 9 for the date, 25 
for the description, 4 digits before 
the decimal point and two following 
it. Pressing enter after typing the 
text confirms field content and 
places cursor in the following 
field. Typing characters instead of 
digits in the TOTAL, TAX/GST, PST 
and OTHER fields will result in them 
storing the value 0 when [Enter] is 
pressed.

Use the arrow up, arrow down, PgUp, 
PgDn, Home and End keys to move 
between records.

When you move between records the 
cursor is automatically placed in 
the date field.

The F1 function key calls the sales 
tax deducer.  The Fuji key does the 
same.  It offers three calculation 
modes, two of which prompt you to 
enter a tax rate.  Caculations are 
done on TOTAL less OTHER which is a 
field that can be used to put 
tipping or other non taxable 
charges:

- One tax.  Calculates the amount of  
  sales tax paid from the tax rate 
  you entered when prompted to do 
  so.  The result is stored in the 
  TAX/GST field and the PST field is 
  set to 0.00.

- GST+PST.  This mode deduces the 
  canadian double sales tax which is 
  the 7% federal goods and services 
  tax plus the provincial sales tax.  
  The PST is calculated on the cost 
  of a purchase plus GST.  Yes, 
  that's right, provincial 
  governments tax the federal 
  sales tax.  Makes you want to 
  throw-up.  You are prompted for 
  the provincial sales tax rate.  
  Results are stored in the 
  respective fields.

- GST only mode calculates the GST 
  on purchases that are not taxed by 
  provinces.  PST field is set to 
  0.00.

The F2 function key saves the 
records to file.  You can also save 
to file when exiting the program.

The F3 function key calls up the 
milleage refund calculator.  When 
starting on a buisness trip, press 
F3 and choose "a)Odometer start" by 
pressing the letter `a' or `A'.  The 
following prompt will appear:

Odometer start: xxxx.x Change? (Y/N)

If you are in a new file or you have 
not yet specified a starting 
milleage, `xxxx.x' will be `0.0'.  
Press `y' or `Y' to enter the 
milleage.  Once the starting 
milleage is entered press `n' or `N' 
to keep the milleage.  Remember to 
save the file before exiting or 
TravTrac will not remember your 
starting milleage.

When your trip is done, bring up on 
the screen the record in which you 
want to place your milleage refund.  
You then press F3 and choose 
"b)Calculate" by pressing `b' or 
`B'.  The following prompt will 
appear:

Odometer end:

At which you will enter the milleage 
indicated on your car's odometer at 
the end of your buisness trip.  Once 
entered you will be asked if you 
want to change the number you 
entered.  Press `n' or `N' to keep 
and `y' or `Y' to change.  The next 
prompt will be:

Cost per m/km?: $

you now must enter the rate at which 
your milleage is reimbursed in 
DOLLARS.CENTS (i.e. 0.29).  For 
example if you just enter 29 instead 
of 0.29 or .29, TravTrac will think 
you have entered a rate of $29.00/m 
or /km.

The following prompt asks you to 
specify the Odometer unit e.g. miles 
or kilometers.  TravTrac will then 
enter the milleage description in 
the record as well as indicate the 
amount you are owed in the TOTAL 
field.  If you have not indicated 
the date of this record yet, now is 
a good time to do it.

The F4 function key brings up the 
output menu.  See section 4 of this 
document for more details.

The F5 function key brings up the 
Copyright information and the 
Author's name and Compuserve mail 
address.

The [Esc] key lets you exit the 
program.  You are prompted to save 
or not the file and to exit or stay 
in TravTrac.


4. Output

In the original version of TravTrac 
you had to use TTRACOUT.EXE to 
produce output.  Now TravTrac 1.1 
does it by itself in almost exactly 
the same way than TTRACOUT.EXE did 
it before.  The only difference is 
that you do not have to specify an 
output file anymore: TravTrac uses 
the same filename but replaces the 
extension by .TXT for the claim form 
or by .CSV for the Comma Separated 
(delimited) Value format.

Output is very simple.  Just press 
F4 when you are ready to produce 
output and then just follow the 
lead.


5. Technicalities

"TTRAC11.EXE runs without hitch on 
both the 1.052 and 1.072 versions of 
the Portfolio's DOS."

WRONG, version 1.1 did not like being
run on ROM version 1.052.  It will
work properly if you run UPDATE.COM
but might crash the Portfolio after
its use.  However, it never did crash 
on me but it gave an annoying error 
message.  Version 1.2 fixes the bug 
but you still have to run UPDATE.COM 
(available from Atari or in lib 9 of 
the Palmtop forum on Compuserve GO 
PALMTOP).

TTRACOUT.EXE (not available with 
TravTrac 1.1 or 1.2) runs as is on 
version 1.072 but you need to run 
UPDATE.COM when in version 1.052.

The TavTrac(c) is a travel expense 
tracker designed for the Atari 
Portfolio(tm) but it also works on 
IBM PCs and compatibles, albeit with 
only a small portion of the screen 
being used.


6. Permitted uses

TravTrac is distributed as FREEWARE 
but I reserve all rights to this 
product.  You may make as many 
copies as you wish and distribute it 
free of charge.  

When distributing TravTrac make sure 
all the original files are included.  
They are TRAVTRAC.TXT (this file) 
and TTRAC12.EXE.

TravTrac may not be sold or 
distributed for profit without the 
express written consent of the 
author Jean-Fran‡ois Davignon, who 
solely owns all rights to TravTrac.

You may however request a maximum 
US$5.00 when distributing on a 
diskette or similar media, even if 
it contains other programs not 
written by the author.

Since this program is freely 
available, you use it at your own 
risk.  The author may not be held 
responsible for any and all damage 
that may result from the use or 
misuse of TravTrac, be it TTRAC.EXE, 
TTRAC11.EXE, TTRAC12.EXE, 
TTRACOUT.EXE or TRAVTRAC.TXT.

If you find any bugs, have any 
suggestions for improvement or have 
questions about this program, I can 
be reached on Compuserve, where I'm 
a regular of the Palmtop forum 
(Portfolio section), at CIS: 
71514,3244, by fax at (418)649-0579, 
or by regular mail at:

	Jean-Fran‡ois Davignon
	#2-251,22nd Street,
	Quebec city,QC
	Canada
	G1L 1X5

Atari and Portfolio are trademarks 
or registered trademarks of Atari 
Corporation.

IBM is a registered trademark of 
International Buisness Machines 
Corporation.

Enjoy.