The DPBank Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

I've been getting the same questions, so I thought it would be a good
idea to make a file recapitulating common questions so that I don't have
to answer each one of you each time ;-)

Here goes:

Q)Does DPBank track credit card accounts?
A)Yes, it can do it. There is no special "bank/credit card" account
info. You would handle your credit card accounts the same way as a
normal account. Of course, you need to put your transactions as "debits"
instead of credits. This way you can also see your real total net worth.

The only problem that could arise is when you transfer back to Quicken,
as the account will be marked as "bank", but this shouldn't interfere
with Quicken if you've already set up your accounts on it.

Q)Does DPBank handle "Switch card" accounts (in the UK)?
A)Basically, a "Switch card" is only a direct debit card. If you want to
track your Switch account seperately, then set up a new account and
make the necessary transfer whenever the statement comes.

I usually keep those transactions in the same account as where the money
comes from, it's much easier. If you need to classify your expenditures,
use categories.

Q)Why do I suddenly get a "subscript or dimension error" when I start
DPBank?
A)Have you recently changed the decimal separator from "dot" to "comma"
(or the other way around)? If so, then you either have to set it back to
what it was, or re-enter your data. This is a problem with the Psion,
not DPBank (when it evaluates numbers).

Q)My data is out of order, what can I do?
A)Up to version 1.5 it could happen that if you were really short on
memory, DPBank would "hang" in the middle of "reconcile upto" operation.
This would result in a wrongly ordered data file. You can fix this
yourself by using either JBData or JBSort to sort the database file
(*.d*) on the FIRST field (the date in YYYYMMDD format).

Q)Can I use JBData to open the data files?
A)If you really must, yes. But please be extra careful with what you do
with the file! One wrong manipulation and you could find yourself with
corrupt data :-( Be sure to back up in any case first!

Q)Why can't I open the data file with the standard "Data" application?
A)The data files contain fields different from strings. Data cannot work
with such database files.

Q)Will the program continue to work after the 30 day limit without being
registered?
A)Should I really answer that??? Well, basically, yes, but be prepared
for some surprise! If you like the program, please register it.

Q)Why does DPBank get so slow when I have 50+ transactions in one
account?
A)Basically, DPBank keeps the transactions in order on the disk and not
in memory (that's why it takes up so little memory). Because of the way
Psion have implemented the database file format, you cannot update a
transaction (record) "in place". Instead, each time you update a record,
the Psion will erase the current one and append the updated record to
the end of the file. Since DPBank needs to have the transactions in
order, it needs to reorder the file manually. This takes quite some time
unfortunately :-(

Note: this is only valid for transactions in one account. You can of
course have one account with very few transactions (while another has
maybe 100 or more transactions) and with that one, DPBank will work very
quickly.