SpendThrift 1026a
26 October 2004

Read Me File

This is the second major Cocoa project i've ever tried.  Please be patient with me.  That said, as far as i know, this has been tested pretty hard, and found to stand up to daily use, or at least my daily use.  This is even the third or fourth revision after initial release, not that you could tell from my stupid version numbering scheme.  No crashes should be expected (at least not in Panther), no threat of data loss, and no weird behavior that i've run into.  But naturally, none of these things ever show themselves until other people use it.  So, like i said, go easy on me, but be sure to tell me.  If you're using this, or trying to, and it lets you down, drop me an email at rcolonna@blackllamafaction.org, and tell me about it.  

SpendThrift is Postcardware.  If you use it and like it, please send me a postcard at 
Rob Colonna
15 Mechanic St.
Newton, MA 02464

If you don't like it, tell me why, but you probably can save yourself the postage and do it over email.

Check out http://blackllamafaction.org/software/ or
http://versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23553 for updates.

--Version History----------------------------------------------------

Fixed in Version 1018a:
-Order of short date notation now adheres to system settings in System Preferences > International > Formats > Dates.  Select Customize, then change the order of the Short Date, then restart SpendThrift to change it to an international standard, such as day/month/year, if desired
-It is now possible to have recurring deposits, not just recurring expenses using the Recurring Transaction tool.  If the first part of the description is "Deposit", it will recognize it as a deposit, e.g. "Deposit from Paycheck"

Added in Version 1018a:
-There is a new Frequent Transactions palette under Tools > Frequent Transactions (Cmd-T).  Use this to store transactions that are not scheduled, but used often.  Drag a transaction from the main window to the palette to add it to the list.  Drag it onto any account window to add a new copy of that transaction to the account.  
-Drag and drop copying of transactions.
-It is now possible to export the account history, repeating transactions (for the current year), or both to iCal; use File > Export to iCal... and specify what is to be exported. 
-If the system Currency symbol (in System Preferences > International > Formats > Numbers) is set to the Yen (´) symbol, SpendThrift will automatically adjust the format of the currency columns in the main window to show no decimal places.  Decimal places may still appear elsewhere, however.  If a lot of people need this behavior, I will see that it is more thorough in the future.  
-There is a new preference for showing the account balance in the window title, so that it can be checked at a glance when in the Dock.


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Fixed in Version 915a:
-Autocompletion no longer breaks as soon as you type in a new Category. 
-Cells deselect automatically when adding a new record, hopefully ending any funny business that was happening with cell selection and editing.
-Added a bunch more ugly colors at the end of the color list for the graphs and charts, so they don't recycle or run out so soon, or, worse, cause the graph generation to fail.

Added in Version 915a:
-Hotkeys for adding and deleting Transactions: cmd-option-N for Add, and cmd-option-Delete for Delete.  
-A new Preference has been created for specifying whether or not to auto-select a cell in a new Transaction for editing after creation; it can be set to None, or any of the available columns in the table.  

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Fixed in Version 719a:
-Order of colors has been fixed to have the nasty grays come later.  
-Checks OS version a lot more thoroughly, with less risk of accidentally disabling table sorting.
-Assorted UI stuff.
-Properly disables combo box cells when the account is rolled back.
-Application is roughly half the size thanks to being built with Xcode.

Added in Version 719a:
-Line Graphs and customization thereof.
-Table column widths now save.
-Graph/Chart window positions now save.
-Balance field now displays negative balances in an alarming red color.
-A notation of [rollback] appears in the window title when the account is rolled back.
-Localization into (poor) French.  Please feel free to correct my rusty grammar.  
-Command-1, 2, 3, and 0 now open Bar, Pie, and Line graphs, and Reports, respectively.

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Fixed in Version 619a:
-No longer crashes on start in Jaguar
-Currency markers now respond correctly to system localization settings, allowing for use of Euro, GBP, etc. currency in addition to $USD.  

Fixed in Version 614a:
-Disabled annoying autoresizing of columns in main table
-Changed export and report saving default filename to be something a little less immature
-Icon is much improved
-Fixed Help so that the right helpfiles show up at the right times
-Adding new Transactions no longer drops the rollback slider down

Added in Version 614a:
-Pie Charts and customization thereof
-Importing of tab-delimited text files
-Pop-up combo boxes for Category cells, with auto-completion

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Initial Release:

What works:
-Account and Transaction management
-Dynamic category generation
-Account rollback
-Scheduled transactions
-Interest
-Bar Graph views
-Pie Chart views
-Line Graph views
-Report generation
-Printing
-Copying and pasting
-Drag and drop
-Tab delimited export
-Tab delimited import
-Help

What doesn't work:
-Nothing, as far as i know, but the Links > Files menu is pretty fussy as to what it'll open.  
-The UI behavior will be somewhat erratic in Jaguar.  Working on that...
-The line graph menu item should be grayed out in Jaguar.  If it isn't, don't click on it.  It will cause the program to crash.  

What's planned for the future:
-More verbose reporting
-More table-sorting options (okay, some)
-What are you looking for?  Email me with suggestions.


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-Read me Icon from "Phoenix's Classic Icons" - http://www.xicons.com/details/247.html
-The '.spht' file extension is a reference to Bungie Software's 'Marathon', and does not imply anything further than an opportunity to embrace my inner nerd.