$hopKeep
--------

Version 4.0
----------
Q. I've recorded and updated a purchase, but the in-stock quantities have not been updated.  Why?
A. The in-stock quantity for a product will only be adjusted when the Received By and Received Date fields are filled in.

Q. How do I avoid having to change a tax rate when the following message appears: "A Tax Rate could not be found.  Please select a Rate from the Tax % List."?
A. After click OK to make the message disappear, click on the record selector on the bottom of the form to change the record, then change back to the record (if necessary).  To avoid having the message appear again, don't click the Tax Rate % dropdown box(es).  Alternatively, if it's necessary to frequently use a tax rate (zero, for example), open the Taxes form (Forms menu > Taxes), add a record, and enter the tax rate in the Bottom Line Tax Rate field.

Previous to version 4.0
-----------------------
Q. How do I change the default currency sign ($)?
A. The currency sign/symbol that appears ON FORMS can be changed by selecting the Tables menu > Currency Symbol, and entering the desired currency sign in the grid that appears.  To change the currency sign that appears ON PREVIEWED/PRINTED invoices, receipts, reports, etc., open Windows' Control Panel > Regional Options, select the Currency tab, and select the desired currency symbol (you can also enter the desired currency symbol into the dropdown box; don't click the dropdown arrow, just enter the symbol into the text area), then click the Apply and/or OK button.

Q. When the Messenger form appears, the time does not seem to display correctly, and the AM/PM field is always empty.  What's up with that?
A. Please open Windows' Control Panel > Regional Options.  On the General tab, if your locale is NOT set to "English (United States)", it's probable that, on the Time tab, your time format is NOT "h:mm:ss tt".  This format means that your computer's clock is in the 12 hour format (as opposed to the military or 24 hour format), and uses/displays "AM" or "PM".  You DON'T have to change you locale setting to "English (United States)", but (on the Time tab) if this is not your Time format: "h:mm:ss tt", please copy this format (EXCLUDING the quotation marks) and paste it into the "Time format" dropdown box (yes, you can do this.  Don't click the dropdown arrow, just click in the text area, hold down the Ctrl key and hit the V key.  OR, just enter the format as it appears here: h:mm:ss tt), then click the Apply and/or OK button.

Q. Should I enter data in the grid views (under the Tables menu), or using forms?
A. For data entry purposes, only use the grid views for entering Shippers, Payment Method, and the Currency Symbol.  Use the form for entering all other data.  Besides entering Shippers, Payment Method, and the Currency Symbol data, the best use for the grid views is for sorting and filtering data.

Q. How do I easily get around on the grid on the Take Customer Orders, and Cash Register forms, using only the keyboard?
A. To move from a dropdown box to a cell on the grid, use the Tab key; to move from cell to cell, use the Arrow keys.

Q. How can multiple users use $hopKeep?
A.  1. Install $hopKeep on a system ("system1"); 2. MOVE $hopKeep's database (dmkm.mdb) and reports (.rpt files) to a shared location on the network that is accessible by other systems; 3. On system1, click the Windows Start button, then Programs menu, then (find and) right-click on the $hopKeep menu; 4. on the resulting pop-up menu, click the Properties menu; 5. In the $hopKeep Properties dialog box, in the "Start in:" field, type the path to the shared folder [e.g.: \\MyShare\$hopKeep (on Win2K systems), or, G:\]; 6. Install $hopKeep on other systems that have access to the shared network folder that contains $hopKeep's database and reports; 7. Delete the database (dmkm.mdb) and report files (.rpt files)  from the other systems (or leave them, if you want users to access their own local database at times); 8. Follow/repeat steps 3 to 5 on the other systems (to point the exe file on the other systems to the shared location).  Eh voila!  All systems will now access and update ONE database.

Q. How do I specify whether an employee receives commissions for sales, and commission percentages?
A. On the bottom of the Employees form (Forms menu > Employees), for the employee(s) you want to record commissions for, click the Record Commissions check box, click the Line Item and/or Bottom Line check box, and enter the commission percent.  For an employee to receive 3.5 percent of the EXTENDED PRICE of each line item associated with the employee's name (in the Ca$h Regi$ter form), click the Line Item check box, and enter 3.5 in the Percentage field (no % sign please).  

For an employee to receive 5 percent of the sub-total of a sale, if that employee is involved in the sale (i.e., the employee's name is associated with a line item), click the Bottom Line check box, enter 5 in the Percentage field (no % sign), and select Involved Sub-Total as the Scope.  For an employee (a manager, for example) to receive .25 percent of the total value of ALL sales, click the Bottom Line check box, enter .25 in the Percentage field, and select All Totals as the Scope.

Q. How do I designate a product as "Goods" or "Service", and the tax percentages associated with Goods, and Services?
A. In the Products form (Forms menu > Products), select the appropriate designation from the Product Type dropdown box.  In the Taxes form (Forms menu > Taxes), enter values for the Goods/Service tax rates.  For example, if the tax rate for a service is 8.5 percent, enter 8.5 (no % sign) in the Service Tax Rate field.  NOTE: It is only required to enter values for Goods/Service tax rates in ONE record.  In this one record, you can also specify default settings that will be used on the Ca$h Regi$ter form.

Q. How do I see records other users have added, deleted, or changed?
A. In a multi-user environment, the way to keep up with what other users are doing is to hit the refresh button on a form.

Q. How do I record a back-order?
A. On the Orders form (Forms menu > Take Customer Orders), select the product (name) to be back-ordered, then enter a NEGATIVE value into the Quantity cell.  In this form, you CAN list a product more than once (i.e. you can have more than one line items with the same product name), but it is expected that the quantity for the duplicate name(s) will be a negative value (indicating a back-order).  You can view back-orders by making a selection on the Orders Reports > Back Orders menu.

Q. Why is it that when I sort by Employee ID, a record with employee ID "you" comes before a record with employee ID "me"?
A. You probably have some employees with IDs such as "2" and "10" also.  Let me explain further: If you started off by giving your employees digits as employee IDs, then you changed to letters, or alpha-numeric IDs, the sequence that your records will appear in will depend on the type of ID in the current record when you select "Employee ID" as the sort order.  e.g. If "2" is in the Employee ID field when you select Employee ID as the sort order, the record with Employee ID "you" will preceed the one with "me", then, records with digits will follow ("2" will appear before "10").  If you select Employee ID as the sort order while "you" or "me" is in the Employee ID field, the record with ID "10" will appear before the one with "2", then the records with alpha-numeric (text) IDs will appear ("me" preceeding "you").  In short, BE CONSISTANT!  Plan what you want to do, and stick to it.

Q. How do I get a total of the "Added" or "Additional" taxes generated by the fulfillment of orders, or cash register sales?
A. Select the Queries menu > Select and Run...  In the list of Saved Queries you will find some that are directly related to displaying tax related data, such as Taxes Between Dates From Orders by Customer ID, and Total Taxes From Register Sales Between Dates.  When you click on the Saved Query, the SQL syntax will be displayed.  You may change the dates that appear to specify a period of time for which you would like to see tax information for (just remember to keep the date format as mm/dd/yy, and leave the # sign around the dates).  

NOTE: You may change the parameters in any of the Saved Queries, to specify dates, order IDs, etc. for which you would like to see information.  You may then click the Save button and update the query that's currently on file (i.e. save your changes to the query under the name that's currently on file), or (click "No" and) save the changed query under a new name.

Q. Can I only use a UPC in the Product UPC field?
A. No, you can use any product code you choose.  When entering the UPC in the Products form, you may place the cursor in the field and scan the code into the field.  Later, when using the Ca$h Regi$ter form, place the cursor in the UPC field before scanning an item (if you used another code, enter it in the UPC field).  Regardless of the code you enter in the Product UPC field in the Ca$h Regi$ter form, if the code is in the Products file, a line item will be added to the list, or, if you are entering the code again, the quantity of the corresponding line item will be increased.

Q. How should I enter Discount or Tax Rate percentages?
A. On the Take Customer Orders, or Ca$h Regi$ter form, if you want to give a discount of 50%, simply enter 50 in the % Discount column.  If the tax rate is 8.55 percent, enter 8.55.  Don't hurt your head with calculations, $hopKeep will put a hurt on the numbers for you.

Q. How do I delete a row (record) from a table/grid view?
A. To DELETE A LINE ITEM in the Take Customer Orders, or Ca$h Regi$ter form, or to delete a row/record in a grid: 1. Click in the LEFT-MOST cell (i.e. in the column that contains the black triangle) of the row you want to delete (the entire row will be highlighted); 2. Hit the Del(ete) key.  NOTE: It is NOT possible to delete a row/record in some table views.  Try deleting records in Forms, where additional coding takes care of related considerations, e.g. such matters as udjusting in-stock quantities when a Line Item is deleted from an order (i.e. removed from the Order Details table).

Q. How do I recalculate the balance for a particular date in the Sales Balances table/grid view?
A. Select Tables menu > Cash Register Sales, double-click on a row where the OrderDate field contains the date you want to recalculate the balance for; when the Cash Register form opens up, hit the refresh button.

Q. How do I change the name in the "Bill To:" field in an Order that has already been saved (the Update button was clicked)?
A. In the Take Customer Orders form, if, after taking and updating an order, you realize that the name in the "Bill To:" field is wrong, completely erase the "Bill To:" name, then select the correct name from the "Ship To:" list.  Even if the "Ship To:" field already shows the correct name, click on it again to repopulate the "Bill To:" fields.

When a name is clicked in the "Ship To:" list, the Orders table (database) is searched for the current Order ID and Customer ID.  If a record is found, the "Ship To:" fields are populated based on the previous data.  ONLY IF a record is NOT found in the Orders table are the fields populated from data in the Customers table.  If the data in the Orders table is not what you want, completely erase the name in the "Ship To:" field, then select the name in the "Bill To:" list.  Even if the "Bill To:" field already shows the correct name, click on it again to repopulate the "Ship To:" fields.