ExpensePlus Latest Updates

Changes and New Features

Recent Versions of ExpensePlus

Changes in version 1.2.5(this update is free for registered users of versions 1.2.0 through 1.2.4)

Palm software:

No changes to Palm software from version 1.2.4 to 1.2.5

Macintosh software:

No changes in version 1.2.4. Version 1.2.4 is still the most recent version for Macintosh users. Only the Windows desktop software changed recently for Windows users (see next paragraph.)

Windows software:

A problem witht the calculations of the Excel template "Weekly1" was inadvertently introduced in version 1.2.4. This was fixed in version 1.2.5. Anyone using version 1.24 on a Windows computer that also used the Weekly1 Excel template should definitely upgrade to version 1.2.5. If you submitted any expense reports using Weekly1 with version 1.2.4 on a Windows computer, please generate your expense report again using version 1.2.5 and compare your reimbursable totals. If they're the same, then you don't need to do anything else. But if they're different, then resubmit your expense report using the report generated by version 1.2.5 and notify your accounting department of the changes in your expense report that you resubmit for reimbursement. Version 1.2.4 only shipped for just a couple of weeks, so all users of version 1.2.4 on Windows computers were notified by email of version 1.2.5, and were sent the new Weekly1.xlt file.
New feature: A new Windows script was added that will automatically build an XML file. This new script will support Gelco ExpenseLink users with the file format that they can upload directly to their ExpenseLink service online. Other enterprise customers may also find some use for the new XML files that ExpensePlus generates as a new option in the Windows software. The XML file for Gelco ExpenseLink users is not currenctly available in the Macintosh version.

Changes in version 1.2.4 (this update is free for registered users of versions 1.2.0 through 1.2.3)

Palm software:

Fixed a problem that occurred only on Tungsten T5 and Treo 650 devices (Palm OS 5.4) where the Palm could crash or freeze if you treid to change expense reports, or to mark a report as already 'Submitted'. This crash was caused either by your batteries going dead on a previous occasion, or with a previous crash caused by some other software on your device. ExpensePlus version 1.2.4 can now seamlessly handle corrupted files that are a result of a previous crash on devices with persistant memory (such as the T5 and/or Treo 650)
Several screen updating routines were modified for improved performances on all Palm devices.
Fixed a section of code that might have caused a crash in extremely rare or unusual instances in the Account numbers preferences, and in the "Select expenses by Date" screen.

Macintosh software:

No changes in version 1.2.4.

Windows software:

The Business List form in Excel has been reformatted to use more of the printed page. You might need to manually change your Scaling in the Print dialog to 67% or lower if the printed reports don't fit on one page.
All the VB projects have been changed and recompiled using VB 6.0. All previous versions of ExpensePlus included source code and projects for VB 5.0 (allowing the maximum compatiblity for the most number of VB programmers that want to customize ExpensePlus.) So VB 6.0 is now required to open each of our VB projects that link the data to Excel if you wish to do your own customizing.

Changes in version 1.2.3 (this update is free for registered users of versions 1.2.0 through 1.2.2)

Palm software:

Fixed a redraw problem that first appeared on Tungsten T3 devices. When you changed dates within an Expense Slip on a Tungsten T3, then closed the date picker, the underlying Expense Slip was not redrawn properly. This has been fixed in version 1.2.3.
Several screen updating routines were modified for improved performances on all Palm devices.
Fixed a section of code that might have caused a crash in extremely rare or unusual instances
Fixed a redraw problem when tapping on a column header and moving the stylus out of the column header area before lifting the stylus off the screen.
New feature: tapping on a column header if the data is already sorted by that column will simply invert that sort in version 1.2.3. In older versions prior to 1.2.3, you would have to tap the "invert" button on the far right to invert the current sort. The invert button still works as before, you just now have an easier way to invert the sort by simply tapping twice on the same column header.

Macintosh software:

Modified the Totals column in the "Monthly" Excel template on the Macintosh version so that the number would display properly if the totals for any given date were between one thousand and 10 million home currency units.

Changes in version 1.2.2 (this update is free for registered users of versions 1.2.0 through 1.2.1)

Fixed a potential problem in 1.2.1: The "Lookup" button in the "Details" window would occasionally (on some Palm models) run out of stack space when launching the "Contacts" program to lookup up some names. This section has been improved so this feature should be more stable for those users that experienced problems with this in version 1.2.1 and 1.2.0
The software could potentially crash in a Lodging expense slip when the user enters multiple nights and running on Palm OS 4.x or 5.x. This has been fixed now in version 1.2.2.
New feature: If the new user is not based in the USA (based on the Palm's Preferences:Formats setting), then ExpensePlus will now default to the user's own home currency. All exchange rates of other countries will default accurately to the exchange rate for that user's home currency.
When the user enters their credit card number to purchase ExpensePlus, the software will now verify the accuracy of their credit card number directly on the Palm. This should reduce many of the errors that often delay unlocking the software via email.
If the user created an expense report file on their handheld with a file name that started with a space, then the Windows ExpensePlus Receiver would complain "File Not Found". This is been fixed in that the user can no longer create a file name starting with a space. The software automatically strips out any leading spaces from the expense report title.
Beaming an expense report from one device to another was not supported in versions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1. That feature has now been added back in to version 1.2.2 of ExpensePlus.
One customer found a potential rounding error in less than 0.1% of foreign currency expenses based on a particular (and quite unusual) currency conversion rate. Using this particular rate would result in the total expense amount in the user's home currency being off by one penny in the user's expense report in Excel. This has been fixed now so that the reimbursable total on the Palm should now always exactly match the reimbursable amount that appears at the bottom of any one of the ExpensePlus Excel templates.
New feature: If the user only has one or two expense reports (i.e. the user is just starting to use the ExpensePlus software), then a warning Alert appears if the user selects the "Submitted" button stating that the current expense report will not appear on the desktop after a HotSync session. This should make it more clear to beginning users that the Submitted button controls which expense reports appear during a HotSync session.
If the current expense report is marked as "Submitted', and the user created a new expense report, then the new expense report also showed the "Submitted" button as being already checked. This has been fixed so that the "Submitted" button is never checked by default when the user creates a new expense report.
The default currency conversion rates between all countries have been updated to reflect currency conversion rates in September, 2003.

We've saved the Excel templates in a new format that should eliminate the "Copy Method Error" that used to occur when users would accidentally save over their original Excel template by mistake. Unintentionally erasing over an Excel template should seldom (if ever) happen now in version 1.2.2.
The Weekly 2 form was not showing the month/day in the correct format for Europeans and other non-USA residents. This has been fixed in 1.2.2

When running under OS X, the ExpensePlus conduit could potentially crash when the user made changes to the conduit's settings then attempted to quit the Conduit Manager. This crash, which only happened in the older versions 1.2.0 or 1.2.1, never caused any damage or loss of data, but could be annoying if you changed your conduit settings often. It has been fixed in version 1.2.2.
ExpensePlus couldn't always find a valid copy of Excel v.X on a Mac running OS X. The algorithms have been improved so that this potential problem will be eliminated in almost every case for most users.
Non ASCII characters (accented vowels, etc.) entered on the Palm as data within every expense slip (and in personal preferences) were not being mapped correctly from the handheld to the Mac's non-ASCII character set. This has been fixed so European users should see their non-ASCII characters appearing the same on their Mac as they enter them on their Palm handheld.
Toll expenses are now mapped to any expense category row in Excel that mentions "Toll" along with Parking totals (Mac only problem, and it is resolved in version 1.2.2).
Mac users using OS 9.2.2 and living outside of the USA and running Palm Desktop 4.0 or 4.1 would sometimes get an error message during a HotSync session when running ExpensePlus 1.2.0 or 1.2.1. The error would state "Impossible to denominate (or to call) XX1-9 like a number" This has been fixed in version 1.2.2
If the user entered data in a field on the Palm started with a =, then Excel thought that field was a formula and it messed up the entire expense row in Excel. This was fixed on the Mac side (added a space before the =). No customer reported this problem, but was discovered via in-house testing.

Changes in version 1.2.1 (this update is free for registered users of versions 1.2.0)

Windows only: Fixed the Page Breaks in the Monthly and Business List Excel template on Windows (users of Excel 97 and older versions of Excel will need to set the page breaks manually on the templates since the Excel templates are now saved in a newer format. Excel 97 doesn't recognize the new page break formats)

Changes in version 1.2.0

Major sections rewritten for Palm 5.0 (and higher) compatibility. You must have version 1.2.0 or later to run successfully on a Palm 5.0 device.

Archival update information

Details of older version upgrades of ExpensePlus

Issues resolved and changes made in Version 1.1 through 1.1.4:

Palm Software Changes:

No changes

Mac Software Changes:

Major changes to the Macintosh desktop components. Click here for details.

Windows Software Changes:

No changes -- versions 1.1.1 through 1.1.4 were only for Mac OS X users.

Issues resolved and changes made in Version 1.0.9a:

Palm Software Changes:

Fixed a bug that was only in 1.0.9 in the "Report Totals" window. This bug wasn't in previous versions of ExpensePlus -- only in 1.0.9

Mac Software Changes:

No changes

Windows Software Changes:

Fixed a problem with sending data to Excel on European and other non-U.S. Windows-based computers where the date format is set to 'dd.mm.yy' instead of 'mm/dd/yy'.

Issues resolved and changes made in Version 1.0.9:

Palm Software Changes:

Fixed a bug that prevented merging two or more reports on the Palm(the new feature in 1.0.7) in some specific cases.

Mac Software Changes:

Eliminated "Payment Method" information for mileage expenses in some reports in MS Excel

Compressed the ExpensePlus User Handbook significantly, saving nearly 1/2 MB of data when downloading the Mac Installer for ExpensePlus

Changed the ExpensePlus Installer compression protocols from Stuffit 5.0 to Stuffit version 4.0 to increase compatibility with more Macintosh customers.

Windows Software Changes:

Added support for account numbers in the Weekly Expense Report #1, and fixed a problem unique to 1.0.8 with account numbers in general

Issues resolved and changes made in Version 1.0.8:

Palm Software Changes:

New feature: Added color icon file to installer for Palm IIIc users

Removed fractions of monetary units for the following countries: Brazil, Japan, Italy and eliminated some currency conversion issues for those three countries.

Mac Software Changes:

Fixed a problem if the user entered quotes in a description field, the AppleScript compiler would fail to generate that expense report during a HotSync session.

Compressed the ExpensePlus User Handbook significantly, saving nearly 1/2 MB of data when downloading the Mac Installer for ExpensePlus

Changed the ExpensePlus Installer compression protocols from Stuffit 5.0 to Stuffit version 4.0 to increase compatibility with more Macintosh customers.

Windows Software Changes:

Fixed a problem related to certain date formats in countries outside the US in certain MS Excel files

Changed the Excel template format in the Business Expense List so that the user can't easily erase over the Excel template by mistake.

Changed the Setup protocols to be more compatible with more variations of Windows configurations.

Issues resolved and changes made in Version 1.0.7:

Palm Software Changes:

New feature: Merge Expense Reports. You can now move or copy selected expenses from one expense report to another.
Palm 3.5 compatible. Fixes problems introduced with Palm OS 3.5 when displaying menu items.
Visor gray-scale problem fixed. Resolved a problem only on Handspring Visors where the screen would dim and remain dimmed when quitting ExpensePlus.
Mileage rates can now be entered in 1/1000 of the home currency's monetary unit. For example users can now enter a mileage rate of $0.325 or 0.653 DM as their reimbursable (or tax deductible) mileage rates. Excel templates have been updated to show 1/1000 of monetary units for mileage.
New feature: Submit/Reimbursement check boxes in the list of Expense Reports. You no longer have to open each expense report to mark it as submitted or reimbursed.
In previous versions, if an account number was assigned to a custom category in the user preferences, that custom category would then be hidden from the Misc. popup list. This has been fixed in 1.0.7
The sort direction icon always defaulted to ascending order, even if the list was last sorted in descending order. The default sort icon will now always display the correct sorting order of the main list.
The "Start" Odometer field would not "remember" your odometer reading if you entered 0 miles, or didn't enter an "Ending" Odometer number. This has been fixed so that you can enter a Start Odometer reading as a place holder, then add the ending number sometime later.
'Default' currency conversion rates have been updated
COLOR capable.

Macintosh Receiver & Conduit Changes:

Some newer Macs don't have the "Serial Tool" installed in their Extension folder. The ExpensePlus Receiver no longer checks for this Communications Toolbox tool that was created by Apple Computer.
The AppleScript "English Dialect" extension is no longer required (some non-English Macs have other AppleScript Dialect Tools that will work instead)

Windows Receiver & Conduit Changes:

NOTE: If you're using Windows, you must uninstall ExpensePlus 1.0.6 or earlier on you Windows computer (not your Palm!) before installing version 1.0.7. Do not delete ExpensePlus on your Palm before installing 1.0.7 or you will lose your expense reports!

Renamed "ExpensePlus" to "ExpensePlus Receiver" on the Start Menu for consistency with the documentation.
Fixed a problem in so that the parameter "ALL" can be used in the .DAT files so that all expense types (not just Business Reimbursable or Personal expenses) can be sent to the desktop during a HotSync session.
Changed the Setup program so that the computer doesn't have to be restarted when installing ExpensePlus for the first time.
The ExpensePlus folder was moved from "C:\Program Files\ExpensePlus" to "Palm\ExpensePlus". The Setup program finds your Palm directory (it can vary, depending on the manufacturer of your Palm device) and installs ExpensePlus in that directory. If you have a custom link, you'll need to move it to the Scripts folder in the following path: \Palm\ExpensePlus\Scripts.

Issues resolved and changes made in Version 1.0.6:

Palm Software Changes:

Fixed a problem that occurred if you tried to rename an existing custom category (instead of creating a new one). The altered custom category now appears correctly in the Misc. popup menu.
Added support to delete an expense slip using a shortcut /D and a menu to delete the expense slip from the menu bar
Added support for global Find from within any window in ExpensePlus, not just the main window.
Added the Modify expense category menu from the Detailed List view (it was previously only available in the Simple List view)
Added user option to automatically update all existing expenses in all expense reports if an Account number is added or modified.

Macintosh Receiver & Conduit Changes:

Removed all of the code that would sometimes cause the ExpensePlus to complain that OpenTransport wasn't installed on the Macintosh or couldn't auto-configure the preference files.
The Weekly 2 template didn't have the stationery flag set (i.e. Weekly 2 report wasn't a MS Excel Template file) in version 1.0.5, which caused it to fail to create multiple weeks from one file in one HotSync session. Version 1.0.6 has this stationery flag properly set in this file. All other Excel files were unaffected.
There was a bug in all previous versions of the conduit that would halt the creation of subsequent expense reports during a HotSync session if the conduit encountered an expense report with no expenses in it. This has been fixed now. You can have an empty expense report with no expense files, and all subsequent expense reports (that aren't marked submitted) will appear during the HotSync session in Excel or FileMaker.
The ExpensePlus Receiver now quits at the end of the work it performs during a HotSync session. This leaves only the Excel spreadsheet or the FileMaker file open at the end of the HotSync session. Several users have requested this new feature.

Windows Receiver Changes:

(No changes were made to the Windows conduit or Windows Receiver in versions 1.0.6 or 1.0.5)

Issues resolved and changes made in version 1.0.5:

Palm Software Changes:

A bug inadvertently slipped into version 1.0.4 that gave invalid currency conversion rates and showed the incorrect countries of the currencies selected. This has been fixed in 1.0.5. This error only existed in 1.0.4 If you have version 1.0.4 and you're planning on traveling internationally soon, you should upgrade to 1.0.5 before your trip!

Macintosh Receiver Changes:

Fixed some problems where the date wouldn't always appear at the end of a date table in a weekly report. This mostly only happened in some custom links to custom Excel templates.

Issues resolved and changes made in version 1.0.4:

Palm Software Changes:

Added shortcuts to all menu items
Added the "Expense" menu and "Delete" menu item while in an Expense Slip. Added the ability to delete an expense from within an expense slip by using the shortcut /D
Added the ability for inter-field navigation using down/up, up/down Graffiti strokes.
In earlier versions, "Paid With" for mileage would show a default credit card under the "Paid With" grouping in the Subtotals window. Now it simply shows [Mileage] in the Subtotals window when grouped by method paid.

Macintosh Receiver Changes:

Always sorts expenses by date/time now.
Improved error handling while launching the ExpensePlus Receiver from the HotSync conduit

Windows Receiver Changes:

Always sorts expenses by date/time now.
Automatically strips out invalid DOS/Windows characters in file names sent from Palm (i.e. /?,*, etc.). In earlier versions, if you sent an expense report with one of these invalid characters in the file name, it would generate an error.

Issues resolved and changes made in version 1.0.3:

Palm Software Changes:

The Update All Reports feature did not update the Business Paid setting in a credit card or company checks. This is working correctly now in version 1.0.3
Selecting a custom expense category sometimes selected the standard "Misc" category instead of the chosen custom category. This has been fixed

Macintosh Receiver Changes:

Fixed a problem where occasionally a single header field wasn't transferred to the Excel template (such as Purpose, or Week Ending)
A temporary file was always created during each HotSync session and was inadvertently left behind on your desktop computer. This file won't be created anymore in 1.0.3.
In the Weekly 2 report, the email field was referencing the phone field in the header on page 2. This has been fixed.
Page Setups have been altered to improve the expense report margins and page layouts for most printers. Some Excel columns were made wider to handle a wider variety font variations.

Windows Receiver Changes:

Internally improved the way custom categories were formatted while sending data to Excel.

Archives

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