$Header: /pack/anoncvs/xinvest/build/xinvest/README,v 1.43 2004/05/01 18:57:06 danny Exp $
							May 1, 2004

Xinvest 2.6.9 is a stable pre-release of Xinvest.

It is being released together with, and with the same version number,
as Xquote and QuoteFilter, with which it can cooperate.

The major changes to Xinvest are :
- Ability to print reports using Xprt
- Upgraded currency support : it is now possible to define currency
  conversions with historical data. They look like ordinary accounts,
  but a real account can refer to it via its CTicker.
  The samples directory contains an example that shows how to deal
  with USD to Euro conversion.
- Ability to save quote data received via 'live update' from Xquote
  into the Xinvest *.inv files - this means you can set up your
  tools so they automatically collect historical data.
- Integration with a new utility QuoteFilter which serves a similar
  purpose as the above 'save live update' feature. QuoteFilter takes
  E-mail messages and can store quote information from the E-mail
  into your Xinvest data files. The changes to Xinvest for this
  are that the Xinvest file format has been extended so QuoteFilter
  can use the same files.
- Better integration of the source code with Xquote and QuoteFilter
- Source code cleanup.
- Interpret data feed from Xquote so not only American style data gets
  interpreted correctly. Unfortunately there's no clean way to handle
  this as the formats that we receive are not related to the user's
  settings so the automatic environment dependent standards based
  decoding doesn't work.
- Get the help window to behave more normally (resize is possible, single
  click makes text appear). Also use less widgets and more standard
  constructions (TemplateDialog) for this to make the whole thing simpler.
- Xinvest is now distributed under the BSD license, so it is now
  completely free software.
 
Please note that the address for SunSite Denmark changed so our site
is now
        http://xinvest.sunsite.dk

The mailing list on which you can address your questions is
        xinvest@sunsite.dk

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

                                                            Feb 5, 2000

Announcing the release of Xinvest 2.6.

Check out the Xinvest home page at http://sunsite.auc.dk/xinvest/. Here
you can find the latest source and Linux binary along with other helpful
information on using Xinvest.

See the ChangeLog file for what's changed. See the TODO file for what's 
coming up. 

Primary Site    -> http://sunsite.auc.dk/xinvest/

The LessTif library -> ftp://ftp.lesstif.org/pub/hungry/lesstif
The XPM library     -> ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/libraries

==========================================================================

What is Xinvest?
----------------

Xinvest is a personal finance tracking and performance tool for UNIX 
using the X Window System. Xinvest requires Motif 1.2 or later and XPM. 

With Xinvest you can:

Centralize record keeping by storing all transactions in account specific files.

Use currency exchange rates, converting accounts from different currencies 
into your local one.  

Calculate yield, total and annualized returns (including the effects of buys, 
sells, and dividends). This provides a means of comparing the results of all 
accounts in a portfolio, be they CDs, bonds, mutual funds, or your checking 
account. The report generator allows you to select report contents and to
generate multiple reports simultaneously.

Receive automatic price and currency exchange rate updates with the Xquote 
WWW quote retrieval program (http://sunsite.auc.dx/xinvest/xquote).

Plot various transaction parameters such as share price, shares per transaction,
transaction cost, transaction value (at current price), dividends, internal and
total return, and/or cumulative and moving averages of the above.  Plots are 
bar graph or x-y line charts.

View asset allocation of accounts in a portfolio. Specify categories, what 
percent of an account is in that category, and which accounts are of interest 
and Xinvest will tell you the value and percentage of all categories in the 
defined portfolio.  Predefined is a account category to view weighting of 
accounts in the total portfolio.  Categories are hierarchical, so you can 
zoom into the makeup of your portfolio.  View in text and pie chart form.

Use the provided financial calculator with commonly used equations.  Included 
are FV, PV, FV of sum of payments, and periodic loan payments.

Hopefully, all of this is displayed using  an easy-to-use, point-and-click 
interface.  There are few command line switches, no dot files, and X resources 
are limited to color and font selection allowing you to tailor the look of the 
tool to your own preferences.

=============================================================================

Building Xinvest
----------------
Xinvest is tested on the following platforms:  HPUX 10.2, Solaris 2.6 CDE, and 
RedHat Linux 6.1. Xinvest is known to build on the following UNIX systems: 
IBM AIX, DEC Unix, FreeBSD, NeXTStep, SGI IRIX 5, SunOS 4.x, and Unixware. 

To build Xinvest.
-----------------
0. Go to the Xinvest home page (http://sunsite.auc.dk/xinvest/) to find a
   source archive.

1. Download and uncompress the source archive.  There are two ways to uncompress
   the archive:
   a. If you have GNU tar:  "tar -xvzf xinvest-VERSION.tar.gz"
    or
   b. "gunzip < xinvest-VERSION.tar.gz | tar -xvf -"

   Xinvest will create it's own subdirectory named 'xinvest-VERSION'. Note that
   'VERSION' will be a number, such as 2.3.

2. cd to xinvest-VERSION.

If you have imake.
3. Look over the Imakefile provided.  
   a. If you have XPM or Motif in non-standard places add the include 
      directories where the headers are found to INCLUDES.  
   b. Add the full path name of the XPM and Motif libraries to SYS_LIBRARIES.  
   c. If you want internationalized currency and have strfmon (man strfmon) then
      add -DSTRFMON to DEFINES.  
   d. If you want a transparent icon add -DSHAPE to DEFINES. 

4. xmkmf; make Makefile; make depend; make; make install.  You may need to
   be root to do the installation.

If you don't have imake.
3. Copy Makefile.distrib to Makefile. Look over the provided Makefile.  You're 
   kind of on your own here.
   a. Set CFLAGS, INCLUDES, LIBS, and LIBDIR and the build should go well.  
   b. Add -DSTRFMON to CFLAGS if your environment supports the strfmon (man 
      strfmon) function call. 
   c. Add -DSHAPE to CFLAGS if you want a transparent icon. This will require 
      linking against libXext (already in LIBS in the Makefile).

4. Type make. Copy Xinvest to your bin area (usually /usr/bin/X11).  

To test Xinvest. 
----------------
1. Load up the data files provided in the sample subdirectory.  Try out all of 
   the functions. Don't forget to add one or more accounts in the portfolio 
   tool.  These examples are very basic, more elaborate portfolio compositions 
   are certainly possible.  Read the online help.  This should explain the
   use of anything that is not obvious.

Known difficulties by machine/OS.
---------------------------------
1. Unixware users should use gcc if possible.  Unixware 2.1 users can use
   the native compiler.  You may also wish to define NEED_STRCASECMP in the
   Imakefile or Makefile.distrib or link against libucb (-lucb).

2. SunOS 4.x users should use Sun's acc, GNU gcc, or another ANSI compliant
   compiler. 

3. a. IRIX 5.3 users should know xpm.h is missing from the standard 
      distribution, though libXpm is present. Motif includes are installed in 
      /usr/include/abi.  
   b. IRIX 5.x users should define NEED_STRPTIME in the Imakefile or Makefile,
      IRIX 6.x users should _not_.
   c. Xinvest Motif 2.0 resources generate a warning:
          "Warning: CvtStringToSlidingMode: Unknown string".  
      This is safe to ignore or remove "*Graphscale.slidingMode:        SLIDER" 
      from resCommon.h and Xinvest.ad before building.
4. Some old FreeBSDs need to define NEED_STRPTIME in Imakefile or Makefile.
   Couldn't figure out exactly when this was no longer needed but believe
   2.2.5 and 3.0 _don't_ need this.

=======================================================================
Questions?  For build problems, ask a local knowledgeable person, they will
            know your system better than I will.  If all else fails or for
            questions or comments on Xinvest: buser@micro.ti.com
=======================================================================
