by I am pleased to announce the first alpha release of ``cbb'', a check
book balancing program written specifically for Unix. It is
implemented in two parts. The data base ``engine'' is written in Perl
and the graphical front end is written in Tcl/Tk.
I consider this software still in the ``alpha'' stage. There is still
quite a bit of work left to be done, but since the package is advanced
far enough to be usable, I am releasing it to the net. Hopefully
others will be able to find it as useful as I do.
I embarked on this project primarily because I was incredibly sick of
having to reboot my Linux machine just to run windows and Quicken.
(Now don't get me wrong, Quicken is a fine program and is sold for a
fine price, but I hated having to stoop down to ``window's'' level in
order to keep track of my money.)
Since I am in the process of developing this software, I welcome all
questions, comments, suggestions, complaints, assistance, etc., etc.
I am including the ``README'' for those who are interested in further
details.
=======================8<====README=====8<============================
The Check Book Balancer -- by Curtis Olson.
The latest version is always available at:
ftp.me.umn.edu:/pub/cbb-[version].tar.gz
Note, this program requires specifically: perl 4.036 and wishx. (wishx
is the tclX interpreter -- i.e. extended tcl/tk) If you run
Linux/Slackware installing the perl (d-series), and tclX (tcl-series)
packages should satisfy this requirement.
So far I have been very encouraged by the results. Here's a quick
run down of the current features:
- Ability to import quicken export files.
- Ability to enter transactions. Automatically calculates the running
balance.
- Some input accelerators. i.e. +/- in the date and check # fields work
as in quicken. Category completion: type the first few characters of
the category, and the rest will be filled in from the category list.
- Simple, but functional undo.
- Ability to handle ``quicken style'' splits.
- Balancing: Ability to enter a statement starting/ending balance, select
uncleared transactions, verify start balance + transactions = end balance,
then clear all selected transactions.
Planned features (future work)
- Have a memorized transaction list ... to speed entry.
- A more sophisticated multilevel undo?
- Clean up a lot of things ... certain traditional interface things act
funny or aren't included yet.
- Include many more error/sanity checks.
- Interactive category editor ... right now you must use a text editor :)
- Generate various reports.
- Ability to ``handle'' recurring transactions.
- Work on increasing performance.
Things that would be nice but are far in the future (probably)
- Ability to manage budgets.
- Ability to handle recurring transactions
- ??? ... The possibilities are endless :)
INSTALLATION
============
Currently I haven't written an automatic install script. Fortunately,
manually installing is not too difficult. :)
1. Uncompress/untar the distribution file.
2. Copy ``cbb'' and ``engine.pl'' to some place in your path.
(i.e. /usr/local/bin)
3. Make sure they are both executable. (i.e. mode 755)
4. Make sure the first line of the file ``cbb'' specifies the location
of your wishx interpreter.
Likewise, make sure the first line of the file ``engine.pl'' specifies
the location of your perl interpreter.
5. Copy ``default.cat'' to someplace where ``cbb'' can find it (not
necessarily in your path ... i.e. /usr/local/lib/cbb/default.cat)
6. Find the line towards the beginning of the file ``cbb'' that reads
``set def_cat_path .'' Replace the ``.'' with the ``directory''
you used for the previous step.
``fantasy.cbb'' provides a *lame* example data file to help get you
going. Make sure you are in the directory where you unpacked the
distribution and type ``cbb fantasy'' (without the .cbb extension) to
start cbb and load the sample data file.
Curt.
--
.
Try Linux ... \__[0]__/
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