Forbes Computer Systems

CHAPTER	20
Technical notes

On old computer

Bring up a dos prompt by choosing start then run and typing the word command. Type the following :-

cd \forbes\protax
copy *.tax a:  

cd \forbes\clients
copy *.dbf a: 

exit

On new computer

Bring up a dos prompt by choosing start then run and typing the word command. Type the following :-

md \forbes 
md \forbes\protax 
copy a:*.tax \forbes\protax 
copy a:*.dbf \forbes\clients 
exit

Alternatively you could use start/search(find) to look for *.tax in your \forbes folder and copy these across using explorer. You could then copy the client database (clients.dbf) in the \forbes\clients folder.

browse.exe is a general purpose editor for .dbf files (dbase 3). It can therefore be used to edit the tempus time ledger (time.dbf) and invoice database (invoice.dbf).

With release 2003.1 we made the decision to group the many different Forbes icons into folders such as tax and company secretarial. We also added a web page style method of invoking the program. If you wish to revert to the old style icons :-

20.4.1 Introduction

This section covers creating shortcuts to our software. To create a shortcut, right click on the desktop and choose "New shortcut". The following sections detail what to fill in under target.

20.4.2 Form based software

All our form based software, e.g. tax returns and company forms is based on protax.exe. The shortcut target should be for example "c:\forbes\protax\protax.exe /F sa100_%d.frm". The "c:\forbes\protax\protax.exe" indicates the program. Amend this as necessary if your ProTax is installed elsewhere. The /F (forward slash followed by capital F) indicates you want a specific form loaded. The sa100_%d.frm indicates you want the sa100 for the current year. Other examples could be "sa800_%d.frm" or "ct600_%d.frm" or "p11d_%d.frm". It also possible, though not recommended to create a shortcut to a form for a particular year. For example putting sa100_05.frm after the /F would always load the 2005 return.

20.4.3 Clientbase

The shortcut target should be for example "c:\forbes\clients\clients.exe c:\forbes\clients\clients.dbf". The first part of the shortcut is specifying the program to run, e.g. clients.exe and the latter part which database to load. It is therefore possible to use the client database program with multiple databases.

20.4.4 Other programs

The other programs, the target is generally just the executable (.exe) file. for example

In VT choose Data then Export

In ProTax, bring up some self-employement or partnership pages and choose Edit then Paste boxes

20.6.1 Introduction

Each field on the form has a field name. These are used in Excel, OLE, ODBC and clipboard links and in the .tax file format.

20.6.2 Finding the field names

Click on a field then choose Help then Field Name. Alternatively, to view all field names on the printed form press CTRL ALT and F1 and select the Field names item from the menu. Print the return.

20.6.3 Special field names

The following fields do not correspond to boxes on the return

20.6.4 The .tax file format

The .tax file format is a simple text file that can be opened using notepad. The entries on the form appear one per line, field name followed by one or more spaces, followed by a value. Complete a tax return and open in notepad (or choose View then Source in ProTax).

There are three ways of transferring data between Excel and ProTax.

1. Clipboard 2. OLE automation programming. 3. Named ranges.

The first method is by far the simplest. Further information on the second method see section 20.8 Programming ProTax through OLE This document will concentrate on the first.

20.7.1 Clipboard method

Produce in some part of your excel spreadsheet a couple of columns that summarise the data as in the following example for self-employed income.

Highlight the block, select Edit then Copy. Go into ProTax, add a set of pages, in this case self-employment, using the multicoloured "add pages" button. Go to the edit menu and choose "paste boxes".

For further information on field names see section 20.6

An example excel spreadsheet is available here

20.8.1 Introduction

ProTax has an OLE automation (IDispatch) interface that allows it to be launched and controlled from languages such as VB or JavaScript.

20.8.2 Example in VB

Dim protax As Object
Set protax = CreateObject("Forbes.Form")
protax.ShowWindow
protax.SetForm("SA100_05.FRM")             
protax.SetField("name", "David Forbes")
protax.SetField("address_1", "38 Station Rd")
protax.SetField("Q10.15", "10000")
protax.AddPages("SE", 1)
protax.SetField("Q3.29", "50000")

20.8.3 Example in Javascript

<SCRIPT>
function Test()
{
var protax = new ActiveXObject("Forbes.Form");
protax.ShowWindow();
protax.SetForm("SA100_02.FRM");
protax.SetField("name", "David Forbes");
protax.SetField("address_1", "38 Station Rd");
protax.SetField("Q10.15", "10000");
protax.AddPages("SE", 1);
protax.SetField("Q3.29", "50000");
}
</SCRIPT>
<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE="Click Here For Demo" OnClick="Test()">

20.8.4 Field Names

Functions such as SetField and GetField require a field name as a parameter. The field names are defined in the technical note 20.6. Alternatively the names can be found using the OLE functions GetNumberOfFields() and GetFieldName().

20.8.5 Reference

By default, ProTax stores each tax return for each year in a separate .tax file, e.g. smithj99.tax, smithj00.tax. It is also possible to set ProTax to store all tax returns for all clients in a table in an ODBC compliant database. It is also possible to switch between implementations. ODBC drivers are available for a wide range of databases incluing Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL server, dBase, FoxPro, Oracle, Informix, DB/2. Typical by default the drivers for Access and SQL server will be installed. For other databases, refer to the database vendors documentation for instructions on installing a driver. Once you have the driver installed you need to create an empty database, or make an existing database available for ProTax to create tables in. For Microsoft Access users there is a suitable empty database called forbes.mdb in the c:\forbes\clients directory.

20.9.1 Setting up an alias, creating the tables

In order to use a database throught ODBC you need to set up an alias through the ODBC icon in control panel. This alias should be "FORBES". For most databases this step has been automated within ProTax. You will also need to create tables in the database. Again this step has been automated. If for any reason the automated setup has failed please contact technical support before attempting to set up the tables yourself. To start the setup, run ProTax. Once ProTax is up and running, press CTRL ALT and F1 at the same time. This will bring up the hidden advanced menu of ProTax. Towards the bottom of the menu, select the entry "Create ODBC tables". You will be taken step by step through creating the ODBC alias for your data source and the creation of the tables. Once the tables have been created you will be able to use ProTax exactly as outlined in the normal manual, however the open and save operations will now read and write to the ODBC datasource.

20.9.2 Settings in protax.ini

After you have set up the odbc link there are several ini file settings that you can alter.

[odbc]
open=1
save=1
dsn=FORBES

The settings shown above indicate that ProTax should load data from the ODBC source, save data back to the ODBC source and the ODBC source is called FORBES. By altering these settings it is possible to use more than one database (by changing the dsn line) or to import from the database and save to flat files (open=1, save=0) etc.

20.9.3 Structure of the data

The main table, TAXDATA, contains 4 columns. The first two, client code and year select the appropriate return. THe remaining two, BOX and VAL contain the data for the boxes on the return. The box names are defined in the technical note ProTax field names.

20.10.1 Intro

Adobe PDF format is a portable document format. PDF is a universal file format that preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Many documents are available in this format because anyone, anywhere can open a PDF file. All you need is free Adobe Reader software.

20.10.2 Viewing

To view these documents you can use the free Acrobat reader from Adobe. In all likelyhood this is already installed on your machine and you will probably have viewed pdf files before. If you think you need the pdf viewer, visit www.adobe.com.

20.10.3 Creating PDF files

To create PDFs you need more than just the basic Adobe viewer. PDF writers are available from many different companies, with varying degrees of quality of output. Adobe distiller, the seminal software, is availabe for around £195. There are a number of cheaper alternatives which are listed below. The pdf creator installs as a 'virtual' printer. This means that whatever software you are using, if it is capable of printing, it can produce pdf files. When you have completed your document, e.g. a ProTax tax return, or an excel spreadsheet, just go to file, then print, and select the pdf creator rather than your default printer.

See section 20.10 for more information of on Adobe PDF format. The pdf program described below, enables you to view a pdf file and then extract data using input masks.

ProTax supports an xml format for tax returns. They can be read simply by choosing File Open or passing the path on the command line.