Family Budget: the household on a tape

What is on the tape

BUDGET	The budget: 20 items, 12 months, 5 weeks a month
ACCOUNT	Accounts: up to 20 accounts, money in, money out and transfers
ADDRESS	Address book: up to 80 people

Type CLOAD and ENTER for the first program, or CLOAD "ACCOUNT" and CLOAD "ADDRESS" for the others. After OK, type RUN.

Before you start: a second tape

The data is kept in files on tape, not inside the program. Have a blank tape ready for the data, so you never record over the software. Whenever the program says PRESS <PLAY> AND <RECORD> it is about to save, and when it says PRESS <PLAY> it is about to read. Set up the recorder, then press ENTER.

The menus

In all three programs you choose a letter and then press ENTER. Answer yes/no questions with a capital Y or N. Anything else just asks again.

The budget (BUDGET)

S	First time only: names for the 20 items (up to 10 characters), then budget amounts
D	The list of items, and renaming an item
B	A planned amount: month, week, item number and amount. A new amount replaces the old one
A	An amount actually spent. A new amount is added to the old one
I	A week's income
W	Summary of one week
M	Summary of a month
P	Summary from one month to another
E	End and save

In a summary each item has three numbers: what was planned, what was spent, and what is left (FLOAT). After two screens of items come the totals: planned, spent, income, and the difference between income and the budget and the spending.

Each time you run it, the first menu choice reads the two data files from tape: IDATA (the item names), then BDATA (all the amounts). BDATA is big, and saving or reading it takes a few minutes.

Three traps

• Leave only with E. Saving to tape happens on the way out. Switch off before that and everything you typed is gone.
• Income on its own is not saved. E saves the amounts only if this run also took a budget (B) or spending (A) amount. If you only entered income, add one amount with B or A before you leave.
• Don't rush. While the program pauses between screens, a key you press is lost. Wait for the question mark.

Accounts (ACCOUNT)

S	Set up: a name, a number and a balance for each of the 20 accounts
A	A new account in a free place
T	A transaction: amount, details (up to 12 characters), from which account to which
X	An account statement: every transaction and the balance
R	Remove an account
E	End and save

In a transaction you can type INC as the source instead of an account, for money coming in from outside, and EXP as the destination, for spending. A transfer between two accounts updates both. Type the account name exactly as you set it up.

Address book (ADDRESS)

S	Set up: an empty file for 80 people
A	A new contact: first name, surname, four address lines and a phone number
C	Change an address
N	Find by the first letter of the first name and the surname
I	Browse everyone whose surname starts with a letter
E	End and save

If the program stops. In the copy found in the archives today, two lines of this program are damaged: one character in each changed when it was copied. If you see ?TM ERROR IN 340 or ?SN ERROR IN 490, retype these two lines and save the program as your own copy:

340 IF M$="E" THEN 1480
490 IF EOF(-1) THEN 600

This guide is in our own words, for Dragon owners who have the original program. We do not host the program or its original manual. We tried every step on an emulated machine with the same chips.