Monthly Budget Maker

[SierraKen]

I know these have been made 1000's of times by people, but I've never made a complete one like this before. It asks you basic budget questions about different bills and your income, etc. Then it calculates how much extra money you will have left. It doesn't ask some extra question items like clothes and restaurants, but you can add them on the last question if you wish, under "Anything Else". This program also saves your information to a .txt file under a name of your choosing and you can open it with this program anytime too. Upon opening an existing file, it also asks if you want to print it on paper to your printer. I hope this helps some of you out there. I had fun making it. Put it in its own folder so the files it makes won't get lost. If you have comments or suggestions, please reply, thanks.

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. 'This program can create monthly budgets for your home.
2. 'It saves the files as .txt files and can also open and print them to the printer.
3. 'I hold no responsibility for any errors, money loss, or damage from using this program, so use at your own risk.
4. 'It has been tested a few times by me and works really well.
5. 'Made on February 10, 2021 by SierraKen.
6.  
7. _TITLE "Monthly Budget Maker"
8. _LIMIT 40
9. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)
10. start:
11. CLS
12. start2:
13. a = 0
14. PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
15. PRINT: PRINT
16. PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
17. PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
18. PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
19. PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
20. PRINT
21. INPUT "                                    ->", a
22. IF a > 3 OR a < 1 OR a <> INT(a) THEN GOTO start:
23. IF a = 1 THEN GOTO makefile:
24. IF a = 2 THEN GOTO openfile:
25. IF a = 3 THEN END
26. openfile:
27. CLS
28. PRINT: PRINT
29. INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
30. f$ = f$ + ".txt"
31. IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) = 0 THEN
32.     PRINT
33.     PRINT f$; " does not exist."
34.     PRINT
35.     GOTO start2:
36. END IF
37.  
38. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
39. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
40.     INPUT #1, text$
41.     PRINT text$
42.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip:
43. NEXT lines
44. skip:
45. CLOSE #1
46. PRINT: PRINT
47. INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
48. _DELAY 1
49. IF LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "y" OR LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "Y" THEN GOTO printing:
50. GOTO finished:
51. printing:
52. CLS
53. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
54. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
55.     INPUT #1, text$
56.     LPRINT text$
57.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip2:
58. NEXT lines
59. skip2:
60. CLOSE #1
61. finished:
62. printer$ = ""
63. PRINT: PRINT
64. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
65. GOTO start:
66.  
67. makefile:
68. CLS
69. PRINT: PRINT
70. PRINT "Answer the following questions."
71. PRINT: PRINT
72. INPUT "Year: "; y$
73. INPUT "Month: "; m$
74. INPUT "Total Monthly Income: "; income
75. INPUT "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
76. INPUT "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
77. INPUT "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
78. INPUT "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
79. INPUT "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
80. INPUT "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
81. INPUT "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
82. INPUT "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
83. INPUT "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
84. INPUT "Electricity: "; electricity
85. INPUT "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone bill.): "; phone
86. INPUT "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
87. INPUT "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
88. INPUT "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
89. INPUT "Savings: "; savings
90. INPUT "Anything Else (church / house labor / babysitter / schools / etc.): "; anythingelse
91. CLS
92. PRINT
93. PRINT
94. total = rent + health + creditcard + homeinsurance + driversinsurance + otherinsurance + food + laundry + heating + electricity + phone + TV + gas + hair + savings + anythingelse
95. leftover = income - total
96. PRINT "Extra Money: "; leftover
97. file:
98. PRINT: PRINT
99. INPUT "(S)ave or (M)ain Menu: ", save$
100. IF LEFT$(save$, 1) = "m" OR LEFT$(save$, 1) = "M" THEN GOTO start:
101. IF LEFT$(save$, 1) = "s" OR LEFT$(save$, 1) = "S" THEN GOTO saving:
102. GOTO file:
103. saving:
104. INPUT "Type name of .txt file to save it as (without the .txt ending): ", filename$
105. filename$ = filename$ + ".txt"
106. IF _FILEEXISTS(filename$) THEN
107.     PRINT filename$, " already exists, overwrite (Y/N):";
108.     INPUT o$
109.     IF LEFT$(o$, 1) = "y" OR LEFT$(o$, 1) = "Y" THEN GOTO save:
110.     GOTO file:
111. END IF
112. save:
113. OPEN filename$ FOR OUTPUT AS #1
114. PRINT #1, "Year: "; y$
115. PRINT #1, "Month: "; m$
116. PRINT #1, "Total Monthly Income: "; income
117. PRINT #1, "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
118. PRINT #1, "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
119. PRINT #1, "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
120. PRINT #1, "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
121. PRINT #1, "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
122. PRINT #1, "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
123. PRINT #1, "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
124. PRINT #1, "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
125. PRINT #1, "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
126. PRINT #1, "Electricity: "; electricity
127. PRINT #1, "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone.): "; phone
128. PRINT #1, "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
129. PRINT #1, "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
130. PRINT #1, "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
131. PRINT #1, "Savings: "; savings
132. PRINT #1, "Anything Else (church / house labor / babysitter / schools / etc.): "; anythingelse
133. PRINT #1, "------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
134. PRINT #1, "Extra Money: "; leftover
135. PRINT #1, "----------------------"
136. CLOSE #1
137. PRINT filename$; " has been saved."
138. PRINT: PRINT
139. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
140. GOTO start:
141.  

[Pete]

You're my GOTO guy, which is my smart ascii way of encouraging you to code without those GOTO statements. That way, you can go big with your ideas, without the debugging problems GOTO will inevitably cause. Can you ever use GOTO to an advantage, and without problems? Sure, but you'd be surprised how easy they are to avoid most of the time. For instance, I'm in the middle of a WP project, which is 5,400 lines so far and none of those lines need or use a GOTO statement. DO/EXIT DO/LOOP can replace most of them, even the more complex ones. EXIT SUB and a flag to recall the SUB is another way around them. Using GOSUB / RETURN and a more modular approach helps, too.

It's just my hunch that you will be expanding on this or similar input applications, and if so, I'd love to see you utilize more of the structural components, mentioned above.

For instance...

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
2. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
3.     INPUT #1, text$
4.     PRINT text$
5.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip:
6. NEXT lines
7. skip:
8. CLOSE #1

Could be written as...

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. OPEN f$ FOR BINARY AS #1
2. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
3.     LINE INPUT #1, text$
4.     PRINT text$
5.     IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT FOR
6. NEXT
7. CLOSE #1

That works faster and provided you have one or more files, the EXIT FOR can remain where it is.

All of this...

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. start:
2. CLS
3. start2:
4. a = 0
5. PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
6. PRINT: PRINT
7. PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
8. PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
9. PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
10. PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
11. PRINT
12. INPUT "                                    ->", a
13. IF a > 3 OR a < 1 OR a <> INT(a) THEN GOTO start:
14. IF a = 1 THEN GOTO makefile:
15. IF a = 2 THEN GOTO openfile:
16. IF a = 3 THEN END
17. openfile:
18. CLS
19. PRINT: PRINT
20. INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
21. f$ = f$ + ".txt"
22. IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) = 0 THEN
23.     PRINT
24.     PRINT f$; " does not exist."
25.     PRINT
26.     GOTO start2:
27. END IF
28.  
29. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
30. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
31.     INPUT #1, text$
32.     PRINT text$
33.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip:
34. NEXT lines
35. skip:
36. CLOSE #1
37. PRINT: PRINT
38. INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
39. _DELAY 1
40. IF LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "y" OR LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "Y" THEN GOTO printing:
41. GOTO finished:
42. printing:
43. CLS
44. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
45. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
46.     INPUT #1, text$
47.     LPRINT text$
48.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip2:
49. NEXT lines
50. skip2:
51. CLOSE #1
52. finished:
53. printer$ = ""
54. PRINT: PRINT
55. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
56. GOTO start:

Could be enclosed in a loop:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. DO
2. CLS
3. start2:
4. a = 0
5. PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
6. PRINT: PRINT
7. PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
8. PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
9. PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
10. PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
11. PRINT
12. INPUT "                                    ->", a
13. IF a > 3 OR a < 1 OR a <> INT(a) THEN GOTO start:
14. IF a = 1 THEN GOTO makefile:
15. IF a = 2 THEN GOTO openfile:
16. IF a = 3 THEN END
17. openfile:
18. CLS
19. PRINT: PRINT
20. INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
21. f$ = f$ + ".txt"
22. IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) = 0 THEN
23.     PRINT
24.     PRINT f$; " does not exist."
25.     PRINT
26.     GOTO start2:
27. END IF
28.  
29. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
30. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
31.     INPUT #1, text$
32.     PRINT text$
33.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip:
34. NEXT lines
35. skip:
36. CLOSE #1
37. PRINT: PRINT
38. INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
39. _DELAY 1
40. IF LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "y" OR LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "Y" THEN GOTO printing:
41. GOTO finished:
42. printing:
43. CLS
44. OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
45. FOR lines = 1 TO 23
46.     INPUT #1, text$
47.     LPRINT text$
48.     IF EOF(1) THEN GOTO skip2:
49. NEXT lines
50. skip2:
51. CLOSE #1
52. finished:
53. printer$ = ""
54. PRINT: PRINT
55. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
56. LOOP

And you could use GOSUBs, other loops, etc. in the code in between, to eliminate other GOTO statements.

Anyway, my bet is if you try these non-goto techniques, you'll grow to appreciate them a lot more than goto statements when you start writing larger apps of this type.

Kudos on branching out in this direction. I stick pretty close to stuff like this, but I have to admit that car game you made almost got me to break out to do something similar. That was really impressive. Sort of a Flappy Bird like app, and it made me wish QB64 worked on hand held devices.

Pete

[SierraKen]

Thanks Pete! I had a hunch someone would mention the GOTO's. :) And I had no idea that "EXIT FOR" even existed! Thank you! B+ helped me learn a lot about DO/LOOPS last year and since then almost all my QB64 programs have used those loops. But sometimes I just can't get away from some GOTO's. The big reason why I only used GOTOs in this program is because lately I've felt very nostalgic. And I made this program partly because it's something I've thought about almost all my life. So a lot of very old memories are associated with it. But I'll remember what you said for my future programs. This is still a small enough program that GOTOs won't make a difference, so I'm going to leave them like it is without tearing back into it. But I appreciate the suggestions. When I learned BASIC back in the 80's, they taught it to me like making a map in my mind, going up to down on the code and using GOTOs and GOSUBs going around and around making it the genius programming language that it still is. In my opinion anyway. But I understand nowadays computers work a lot more independent (in Windows, etc) than they used to.  So I'll try to make less GOTOs in the future.

[SierraKen]

Well, I changed my mind somewhat. Pete I took your advice and made it one big loop and added the EXIT FOR's. I also removed an unneeded DELAY.  I might be able to add more loops and things within the main LOOP but at least this is a little better, you think? :)

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. 'This program can create monthly budgets for your home.
2. 'It saves the files as .txt files and can also open and print them to the printer.
3. 'I hold no responsibility for any errors, money loss, or damage from using this program, so use at your own risk.
4. 'It has been tested a few times by me and works really well.
5. 'Made on February 10, 2021 by SierraKen.
6.  
7. _TITLE "Monthly Budget Maker"
8. _LIMIT 40
9. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)
10. DO
11.     start:
12.     CLS
13.     start2:
14.     a = 0
15.     PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
16.     PRINT: PRINT
17.     PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
18.     PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
19.     PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
20.     PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
21.     PRINT
22.     INPUT "                                    ->", a
23.     IF a > 3 OR a < 1 OR a <> INT(a) THEN GOTO start:
24.     IF a = 1 THEN GOTO makefile:
25.     IF a = 2 THEN GOTO openfile:
26.     IF a = 3 THEN END
27.     openfile:
28.     CLS
29.     PRINT: PRINT
30.     INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
31.     f$ = f$ + ".txt"
32.     IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) = 0 THEN
33.         PRINT
34.         PRINT f$; " does not exist."
35.         PRINT
36.         GOTO start2:
37.     END IF
38.  
39.     OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
40.     FOR lines = 1 TO 23
41.         INPUT #1, text$
42.         PRINT text$
43.         IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT FOR
44.     NEXT lines
45.     CLOSE #1
46.     PRINT: PRINT
47.     INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
48.     IF LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "y" OR LEFT$(printer$, 1) = "Y" THEN GOTO printing:
49.     GOTO finished:
50.     printing:
51.     CLS
52.     OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
53.     FOR lines = 1 TO 23
54.         INPUT #1, text$
55.         LPRINT text$
56.         IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT FOR
57.     NEXT lines
58.     CLOSE #1
59.     finished:
60.     PRINT: PRINT
61.     INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
62.     GOTO start:
63.  
64.     makefile:
65.     CLS
66.     PRINT: PRINT
67.     PRINT "Answer the following questions."
68.     PRINT: PRINT
69.     INPUT "Year: "; y$
70.     INPUT "Month: "; m$
71.     INPUT "Total Monthly Income: "; income
72.     INPUT "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
73.     INPUT "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
74.     INPUT "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
75.     INPUT "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
76.     INPUT "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
77.     INPUT "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
78.     INPUT "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
79.     INPUT "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
80.     INPUT "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
81.     INPUT "Electricity: "; electricity
82.     INPUT "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone bill.): "; phone
83.     INPUT "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
84.     INPUT "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
85.     INPUT "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
86.     INPUT "Savings: "; savings
87.     INPUT "Anything Else (church / house labor / babysitter / schools / etc.): "; anythingelse
88.     CLS
89.     PRINT
90.     PRINT
91.     total = rent + health + creditcard + homeinsurance + driversinsurance + otherinsurance + food + laundry + heating + electricity + phone + TV + gas + hair + savings + anythingelse
92.     leftover = income - total
93.     PRINT "Extra Money: "; leftover
94.     file:
95.     PRINT: PRINT
96.     INPUT "(S)ave or (M)ain Menu: ", save$
97.     IF LEFT$(save$, 1) = "m" OR LEFT$(save$, 1) = "M" THEN GOTO start:
98.     IF LEFT$(save$, 1) = "s" OR LEFT$(save$, 1) = "S" THEN GOTO saving:
99.     GOTO file:
100.     saving:
101.     INPUT "Type name of .txt file to save it as (without the .txt ending): ", filename$
102.     filename$ = filename$ + ".txt"
103.     IF _FILEEXISTS(filename$) THEN
104.         PRINT filename$, " already exists, overwrite (Y/N):";
105.         INPUT o$
106.         IF LEFT$(o$, 1) = "y" OR LEFT$(o$, 1) = "Y" THEN GOTO save:
107.         GOTO file:
108.     END IF
109.     save:
110.     OPEN filename$ FOR OUTPUT AS #1
111.     PRINT #1, "Year: "; y$
112.     PRINT #1, "Month: "; m$
113.     PRINT #1, "Total Monthly Income: "; income
114.     PRINT #1, "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
115.     PRINT #1, "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
116.     PRINT #1, "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
117.     PRINT #1, "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
118.     PRINT #1, "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
119.     PRINT #1, "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
120.     PRINT #1, "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
121.     PRINT #1, "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
122.     PRINT #1, "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
123.     PRINT #1, "Electricity: "; electricity
124.     PRINT #1, "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone.): "; phone
125.     PRINT #1, "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
126.     PRINT #1, "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
127.     PRINT #1, "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
128.     PRINT #1, "Savings: "; savings
129.     PRINT #1, "Anything Else (church / house labor / babysitter / schools / etc.): "; anythingelse
130.     PRINT #1, "------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
131.     PRINT #1, "Extra Money: "; leftover
132.     PRINT #1, "----------------------"
133.     CLOSE #1
134.     PRINT filename$; " has been saved."
135.     PRINT: PRINT
136.     INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
137. LOOP
138.  

[Pete]

Or no GOTOs...

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. _TITLE "Monthly Budget Maker"
2. _LIMIT 40
3. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)
4. DO
5.     CLS
6.     WHILE -1
7.         a = 0
8.         PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
9.         PRINT: PRINT
10.         PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
11.         PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
12.         PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
13.         PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
14.         PRINT
15.         INPUT "                                    ->", a
16.         SELECT CASE a
17.             CASE 1
18.                 GOSUB makefile
19.                 GOSUB file: IF flag% THEN flag% = 0: EXIT WHILE
20.             CASE 2
21.                 GOSUB openfile: IF flag% THEN flag% = 0: EXIT WHILE
22.             CASE 3
23.                 END
24.             CASE ELSE
25.                 EXIT WHILE
26.         END SELECT
27.     WEND
28. LOOP
29. END
30.  
31. '----------------------------------------------------------------------------
32. file:
33. DO
34.     PRINT: PRINT
35.     INPUT "(S)ave or (M)ain Menu: ", save$
36.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(save$, 1)) = "m" THEN flag% = -1: EXIT DO
37.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(save$, 1)) = "s" THEN GOSUB saving: IF flag% THEN EXIT DO
38. LOOP
39. RETURN
40.  
41. makefile:
42. CLS
43. PRINT: PRINT
44. PRINT "Answer the following questions."
45. PRINT: PRINT
46. INPUT "Year: "; y$
47. INPUT "Month: "; m$
48. INPUT "Total Monthly Income: "; income
49. INPUT "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
50. INPUT "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
51. INPUT "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
52. INPUT "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
53. INPUT "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
54. INPUT "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
55. INPUT "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
56. INPUT "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
57. INPUT "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
58. INPUT "Electricity: "; electricity
59. INPUT "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone bill.): "; phone
60. INPUT "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
61. INPUT "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
62. INPUT "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
63. INPUT "Savings: "; savings
64. INPUT "Anything Else (church / house labor / babysitter / schools / etc.): "; anythingelse
65. CLS
66. PRINT
67. PRINT
68. total = rent + health + creditcard + homeinsurance + driversinsurance + otherinsurance + food + laundry + heating + electricity + phone + TV + gas + hair + savings + anythingelse
69. leftover = income - total
70. PRINT "Extra Money: "; leftover
71. RETURN
72.  
73. openfile:
74. CLS
75. PRINT: PRINT
76. INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
77. f$ = f$ + ".txt"
78. IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) THEN
79.     OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
80.     FOR lines = 1 TO 23
81.         INPUT #1, text$
82.         PRINT text$
83.         IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT FOR
84.     NEXT lines
85.     CLOSE #1
86.     PRINT: PRINT
87.     INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
88.     ' Printing
89.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(printer$, 1)) = "y" THEN
90.         CLS
91.         OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
92.         FOR lines = 1 TO 23
93.             INPUT #1, text$
94.             LPRINT text$
95.             IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT FOR
96.         NEXT lines
97.         CLOSE #1
98.     END IF
99.     ' finished
100.     PRINT: PRINT
101.     INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
102.     flag% = -1
103. ELSE
104.     PRINT
105.     PRINT f$; " does not exist."
106.     PRINT
107. END IF
108. RETURN
109.  
110. saving:
111. INPUT "Type name of .txt file to save it as (without the .txt ending): ", filename$
112. filename$ = filename$ + ".txt"
113. IF _FILEEXISTS(filename$) THEN
114.     PRINT filename$, " already exists, overwrite (Y/N):";
115.     INPUT o$
116.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(o$, 1)) = "y" THEN GOSUB save
117. ELSE
118.     GOSUB save
119. END IF
120. RETURN
121.  
122. save:
123. OPEN filename$ FOR OUTPUT AS #1
124. PRINT #1, "Year: "; y$
125. PRINT #1, "Month: "; m$
126. PRINT #1, "Total Monthly Income: "; income
127. PRINT #1, "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
128. PRINT #1, "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
129. PRINT #1, "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
130. PRINT #1, "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
131. PRINT #1, "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
132. PRINT #1, "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
133. PRINT #1, "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
134. PRINT #1, "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
135. PRINT #1, "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
136. PRINT #1, "Electricity: "; electricity
137. PRINT #1, "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone.): "; phone
138. PRINT #1, "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
139. PRINT #1, "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
140. PRINT #1, "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
141. PRINT #1, "Savings: "; savings
142. PRINT #1, "Anything Else (church / house labor / babysitter / schools / etc.): "; anythingelse
143. PRINT #1, "------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
144. PRINT #1, "Extra Money: "; leftover
145. PRINT #1, "----------------------"
146. CLOSE #1
147. PRINT filename$; " has been saved."
148. PRINT: PRINT
149. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
150. flag% = -1
151. RETURN
152.  

[SierraKen]

WOW! Thanks Pete! I'm learning from yours. Yours will also be the best version I believe, unless I add anything later to it. I've only used CASE a couple times so I need to get used to it. Thanks again.

[Pete]

Question 1: Is it harder or easier now to see what the code is doing? If it's easier, you could go even further into modular modifications.  The goal being, to create a program flow so intuitive, any debugging or future additions and/or modifications could be done in an instant.

I still struggle with the above. What I find is the more conditional statements and shared subs and functions that come into existence, the harder it is to keep the program flow straight. Some methods that help are...

Keep the main part short and use sub calls or gosubs for the heavy work.

so...

Menu
GOSUB menu
GOSUB menu actions
ON menuactions$ GOSUB dothis, dothat, doall, etc
GOSUB finish

I've also found that, although it takes using conditional variables, or flags, it is easier to keep flow understandable when using subs, if you can finish a sub without having it call another sub, which then might call yet another sub.

In sever cases of thousands of lines of code with hundreds of conditions, I've considered keeping segments independent, meaning each module preforms a complete task without sharing sub calls or gosubs; however, that would mean repeating a lot of code. Back in QB days, that would put you out of business in a hurry, but without those old QB memory limits, who cares how big the program is? Sure, it would be more code to read, but understanding it would b a lot easier. There is one draw back. If you modify a block of code that has the same code in another block, you have to remember to modify both. Now cut and paste works great for that, but sometimes conditions present where the code needs to be slightly different in each block, as modifications often create added conditions. So the next time you need to modify the program, you have to make sure you do not forget what looks like the same block of code is no longer the same. See? Keeping it simple, is simply not SIMPLE!!!!!!

Anyway, yeah, I was hoping you'd like to try out some stuff, because I really feel you will be making a lot more stuff, and this should make those future projects easier. I grew up in those GOTO and line number days, too, but nostalgia aside, I don't miss them.

Pete

[SierraKen]

Awesome Pete. Yep I had a couple of those code segments in this program, using almost the same lines, except a little different on each one. 1. Inputting the needed code to make a budget. 2. Print #1 outputting the same code to save the budget. 3. and LPRINTING the same lines to print it on the printer. The other one, Inputting and PRINTING the already made budget just used a FOR/NEXT loop using the right amount of text lines from the file. If me or anyone else adds any budget questions, they just have to add the number of more lines to the FOR/NEXT loop.

[Pete]

My trick for additions is to put the info into a DATA statement. Want to add or subtract more budget items, now you just type those entries to that DATA. You can go a step further and make it a database. Now you don't ever have to mess with the source code to modify the number of budget items, just append the database file, usually in Notepad. So what about the FOR/NEXT loop? Just have the program count the number of data entries when it starts, and set a variable like noe (number of entries) to that result. Now we just code it as...

FOR i = 1 to noe

Oh, it helps to end the DATA statement with EOD (end of data. I'll do an example, but I think you already know this, but just in case...

Also if you want to go that route, you now have arrays. So now instead of all of those print statements, all you need is another loop, which prints the next array!

So you get something like...

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. noe = 0
2. RESTORE mydata
3. DO
4.     READ a$
5.     IF a$ = "EOD" THEN EXIT DO
6.     noe = noe + 1
7. LOOP
8. REDIM item$(noe), itemValue(noe)
9. RESTORE mydata
10. i = 0
11. DO
12.     READ a$
13.     IF a$ = "EOD" THEN EXIT DO
14.     i = i + 1
15.     item$(i) = a$
16. LOOP
17.  
18. FOR i = 1 TO noe
19.     PRINT item$(i);: INPUT itemValue(i)
20. NEXT
21.  
22. FOR i = 1 TO noe
23.     total = total + itemValue(i)
24. NEXT
25. PRINT total
26. END
27.  
28. mydata:
29. DATA item-1
30. DATA item-2
31. DATA item-3
32. DATA EOD
33.  

Anyway, food for thought.

Pete

[SierraKen]

Thanks! Yeah I could have done it that way with the .txt files. Just add an EOD at the end of the text file and look for it in a loop. Although, I do use the EOF(1) command too, which pretty much does the same thing I think, although I haven't used it much. Lots of things to play around with now. :)

[SierraKen]

I decided to add Internet bill if separate from everything else, water and sewer, trash, housework, church, babysitter, school(s), and total of anything else. I didn't number a FOR/NEXT loop and just did DO/LOOPs with EOF(1) to break the loops.

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. _TITLE "Monthly Budget Maker"
2. _LIMIT 40
3. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)
4. DO
5.     CLS
6.     WHILE -1
7.         a = 0
8.         PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
9.         PRINT: PRINT
10.         PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
11.         PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
12.         PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
13.         PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
14.         PRINT
15.         INPUT "                                    ->", a
16.         SELECT CASE a
17.             CASE 1
18.                 GOSUB makefile
19.                 GOSUB file: IF flag% THEN flag% = 0: EXIT WHILE
20.             CASE 2
21.                 GOSUB openfile: IF flag% THEN flag% = 0: EXIT WHILE
22.             CASE 3
23.                 END
24.             CASE ELSE
25.                 EXIT WHILE
26.         END SELECT
27.     WEND
28. LOOP
29. END
30.  
31. '----------------------------------------------------------------------------
32. file:
33. DO
34.     PRINT: PRINT
35.     INPUT "(S)ave or (M)ain Menu: ", save$
36.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(save$, 1)) = "m" THEN flag% = -1: EXIT DO
37.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(save$, 1)) = "s" THEN GOSUB saving: IF flag% THEN EXIT DO
38. LOOP
39. RETURN
40.  
41. makefile:
42. CLS
43. PRINT: PRINT
44. PRINT "Answer the following questions."
45. PRINT: PRINT
46. INPUT "Year: "; y$
47. INPUT "Month: "; m$
48. INPUT "Total Monthly Income: "; income
49. INPUT "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
50. INPUT "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
51. INPUT "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
52. INPUT "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
53. INPUT "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
54. INPUT "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
55. INPUT "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
56. INPUT "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
57. INPUT "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
58. INPUT "Electricity: "; electricity
59. INPUT "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone bill.): "; phone
60. INPUT "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
61. INPUT "Internet if it's a separate bill: "; internet
62. INPUT "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
63. INPUT "Water and Sewer bill (add together if separate): "; water
64. INPUT "Trash bill: "; trash
65. INPUT "Housework: "; housework
66. INPUT "Church: "; church
67. INPUT "Babysitter: "; babysitter
68. INPUT "School(s): "; schools
69. INPUT "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
70. INPUT "Savings: "; savings
71. INPUT "Total of anything else: "; anythingelse
72. CLS
73. PRINT
74. PRINT
75. total = rent + health + creditcard + homeinsurance + driversinsurance + otherinsurance + food + laundry + heating + electricity + phone + TV + internet + gas + water + trash + housework + church + babysitter + schools + hair + savings + anythingelse
76. leftover = income - total
77. PRINT "Extra Money: "; leftover
78. RETURN
79.  
80. openfile:
81. CLS
82. PRINT: PRINT
83. INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
84. f$ = f$ + ".txt"
85. IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) THEN
86.     OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
87.     DO
88.         INPUT #1, text$
89.         PRINT text$
90.         IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT DO
91.     LOOP
92.     CLOSE #1
93.     PRINT: PRINT
94.     INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
95.     ' Printing
96.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(printer$, 1)) = "y" THEN
97.         CLS
98.         OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
99.         DO
100.             INPUT #1, text$
101.             LPRINT text$
102.             IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT DO
103.         LOOP
104.         CLOSE #1
105.     END IF
106.     ' finished
107.     PRINT: PRINT
108.     INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
109.     flag% = -1
110. ELSE
111.     PRINT
112.     PRINT f$; " does not exist."
113.     PRINT
114. END IF
115. RETURN
116.  
117. saving:
118. INPUT "Type name of .txt file to save it as (without the .txt ending): ", filename$
119. filename$ = filename$ + ".txt"
120. IF _FILEEXISTS(filename$) THEN
121.     PRINT filename$, " already exists, overwrite (Y/N):";
122.     INPUT o$
123.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(o$, 1)) = "y" THEN GOSUB save
124. ELSE
125.     GOSUB save
126. END IF
127. RETURN
128.  
129. save:
130. OPEN filename$ FOR OUTPUT AS #1
131. PRINT #1, "Year: "; y$
132. PRINT #1, "Month: "; m$
133. PRINT #1, "Total Monthly Income: "; income
134. PRINT #1, "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "; rent
135. PRINT #1, "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "; health
136. PRINT #1, "Credit Card Payments: "; creditcard
137. PRINT #1, "Home or Renters Insurance: "; homeinsurance
138. PRINT #1, "Driver's Insurance: "; driversinsurance
139. PRINT #1, "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "; otherinsurance
140. PRINT #1, "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "; food
141. PRINT #1, "Laundry Quarters (if any): "; laundry
142. PRINT #1, "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "; heating
143. PRINT #1, "Electricity: "; electricity
144. PRINT #1, "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone.): "; phone
145. PRINT #1, "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "; TV
146. PRINT #1, "Internet if it's a separate bill: "; internet
147. PRINT #1, "Vehicle Gas: "; gas
148. PRINT #1, "Water and Sewer bill (add together if separate): "; water
149. PRINT #1, "Trash bill: "; trash
150. PRINT #1, "Housework: "; housework
151. PRINT #1, "Church: "; church
152. PRINT #1, "Babysitter: "; babysitter
153. PRINT #1, "School(s): "; schools
154. PRINT #1, "Haircut or Hairstyle: "; hair
155. PRINT #1, "Savings: "; savings
156. PRINT #1, "Total of anything else: "; anythingelse
157. PRINT #1, "------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
158. PRINT #1, "Extra Money: "; leftover
159. PRINT #1, "----------------------"
160. CLOSE #1
161. PRINT filename$; " has been saved."
162. PRINT: PRINT
163. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
164. flag% = -1
165. RETURN
166.  

[Pete]

Or, apply the DATA method, and end up with this...

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. _TITLE "Monthly Budget Maker"
2. _LIMIT 40
3. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 32)
4.  
5. noe = 0
6. RESTORE mydata
7. DO
8.     READ a$
9.     IF a$ = "EOD" THEN EXIT DO
10.     noe = noe + 1
11. LOOP
12. REDIM item$(noe), itemValue(noe)
13. RESTORE mydata
14.  
15. DO
16.     CLS
17.     WHILE -1
18.         a = 0
19.         PRINT "                                       Monthly Budget Maker"
20.         PRINT: PRINT
21.         PRINT "                                    (1) Create a new budget."
22.         PRINT "                                    (2) Open an existing budget."
23.         PRINT "                                    (3) End Program"
24.         PRINT "                                    ----------------------------"
25.         PRINT
26.         INPUT "                                    ->", a
27.         SELECT CASE a
28.             CASE 1
29.                 GOSUB makefile
30.                 GOSUB file: IF flag% THEN flag% = 0: EXIT WHILE
31.             CASE 2
32.                 GOSUB openfile: IF flag% THEN flag% = 0: EXIT WHILE
33.             CASE 3
34.                 END
35.             CASE ELSE
36.                 EXIT WHILE
37.         END SELECT
38.     WEND
39. LOOP
40. END
41.  
42. '----------------------------------------------------------------------------
43. file:
44. DO
45.     PRINT: PRINT
46.     INPUT "(S)ave or (M)ain Menu: ", save$
47.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(save$, 1)) = "m" THEN flag% = -1: EXIT DO
48.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(save$, 1)) = "s" THEN GOSUB saving: IF flag% THEN EXIT DO
49. LOOP
50. RETURN
51.  
52. makefile:
53. '------------------------------
54. i = 0
55. DO
56.     READ a$
57.     IF a$ = "EOD" THEN EXIT DO
58.     i = i + 1
59.     item$(i) = a$
60. LOOP
61. '------------------------------
62. CLS
63. PRINT: PRINT
64. PRINT "Answer the following questions."
65. PRINT: PRINT
66. INPUT "Year: "; y$
67. INPUT "Month: "; m$
68. INPUT "Total Monthly Income: "; income
69. '----------------------------------------
70. FOR i = 1 TO noe
71.     PRINT item$(i);: INPUT itemValue(i)
72. NEXT
73. '----------------------------------------
74. CLS
75. PRINT
76. PRINT
77. FOR i = 1 TO noe
78.     total = total + itemValue(i)
79. NEXT
80. leftover = income - total
81. PRINT "Extra Money: "; leftover
82. RETURN
83.  
84. openfile:
85. CLS
86. PRINT: PRINT
87. INPUT "Type name of existing file to open (without .txt ending): ", f$
88. f$ = f$ + ".txt"
89. IF _FILEEXISTS(f$) THEN
90.     OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
91.     DO
92.         INPUT #1, text$
93.         PRINT text$
94.         IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT DO
95.     LOOP
96.     CLOSE #1
97.     PRINT: PRINT
98.     INPUT "Do you want to print this to your printer (Y/N): ", printer$
99.     ' Printing
100.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(printer$, 1)) = "y" THEN
101.         CLS
102.         OPEN f$ FOR INPUT AS #1
103.         DO
104.             INPUT #1, text$
105.             LPRINT text$
106.             IF EOF(1) THEN EXIT DO
107.         LOOP
108.         CLOSE #1
109.     END IF
110.     ' finished
111.     PRINT: PRINT
112.     INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
113.     flag% = -1
114. ELSE
115.     PRINT
116.     PRINT f$; " does not exist."
117.     PRINT
118. END IF
119. RETURN
120.  
121. saving:
122. INPUT "Type name of .txt file to save it as (without the .txt ending): ", filename$
123. filename$ = filename$ + ".txt"
124. IF _FILEEXISTS(filename$) THEN
125.     PRINT filename$, " already exists, overwrite (Y/N):";
126.     INPUT o$
127.     IF LCASE$(LEFT$(o$, 1)) = "y" THEN GOSUB save
128. ELSE
129.     GOSUB save
130. END IF
131. RETURN
132.  
133. save:
134. OPEN filename$ FOR OUTPUT AS #1
135. PRINT #1, "Year: "; y$
136. PRINT #1, "Month: "; m$
137. PRINT #1, "Total Monthly Income: "; income
138. '------------------------------------------
139. FOR i = 1 TO noe
140.     PRINT #1, item$(i); itemValue(i)
141. NEXT
142. '------------------------------------------
143. PRINT #1, "------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
144. PRINT #1, "Extra Money: "; leftover
145. PRINT #1, "----------------------"
146. CLOSE #1
147. PRINT filename$; " has been saved."
148. PRINT: PRINT
149. INPUT "Press Enter to go back to Main Menu."; menu$
150. flag% = -1
151. RETURN
152.  
153. mydata:
154. DATA "Rent or Home Payment Amount: "
155. DATA "Health Total (health insurance / medication / etc.): "
156. DATA "Credit Card Payments: "
157. DATA "Home or Renters Insurance: "
158. DATA "Driver's Insurance: "
159. DATA "Other Insurance Total (life insurance / etc.): "
160. DATA "Grocery Store Amount (food and all other items.): "
161. DATA "Laundry Quarters (if any): "
162. DATA "Heating Gas (if different than electric bill): "
163. DATA "Electricity: "
164. DATA "Phone (and Internet if connected to phone bill.): "
165. DATA "Satellite / Cable / Streaming TV (and Internet if connected to TV bill.): "
166. DATA "Internet if it's a separate bill: "
167. DATA "Vehicle Gas: "
168. DATA "Water and Sewer bill (add together if separate): "
169. DATA "Trash bill: "
170. DATA "Housework: "
171. DATA "Church: "
172. DATA "Babysitter: "
173. DATA "School(s): "
174. DATA "Haircut or Hairstyle: "
175. DATA "Savings: "
176. DATA "Total of anything else: "
177. DATA "EOD"
178.  

Pete

[SierraKen]

Oh I see what you meant, thanks. I'm pretty much finished with this program though.

[Pete]

But you'll be missing out on all the really, really fun stuff like editing records with RA files, custom input routine, input validation, string math, input fields, screen scrolling , mouse actions, and my personal favorite, wait for it, a GUI skin with popup messages for prompts.

Well truth be told, I've made a few of the down and dirty quick service apps myself, mostly for tax purposes and some other organizational activities. I mean by the time you add all the other bells and whistles I mentioned, you'd just be getting paroled for failure to complete your taxes in a timely manner.

Well this was fun, and btw, if you want to make use of the data version, feel free to do so, meaning if you want to attach your name to it, and put it on your site, with or without any revisions, it's fine with me. Now time for me to get back to more monotonous debugging. 

Pete

[SierraKen]

Thanks Pete.  But around a year ago or so I stopped my website so everything I make just goes to this forum and on my hard drive. I just program as a hobby, nothing else. :)