Question/Problem

  1. Dealer says the net net sales (amount due the dealer) is wrong.
  2. Move the "Add Item to This Sale" form.
  3. The name column on the "Booth Report -- Summary Only" is blank for some of my booths.
  4. DMS is not saving my selected "view by".
  5. I changed the "organize by" value in the System Options form, but DMS does not use my new value.
  6. I get a blank page when printing price tickets for "new" items in the inventory control module.
  7. I activated the "Print Labels 2 Across" module, but my labels are really goofed up.
  8. Sometimes, when starting DMS, I get a "BDESESSION" error.
  9. The program's help file does not work on Vista or Windows7.
 
 

  When I try to move the "Add Item to This Sale" form under Windows XP, I immediately get a dialog box asking "Save new location?" and I can't move the form.
  This problem is caused by Microsoft changing the way Windows works. Do the following to fix:
  1. Right click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop.
  2. Click on the "Properties" selection.
  3. Select the "Advanced" tab.
  4. Click the <Settings> button in the area titled "Performance.
  5. Find the selection titled "Show window contents while dragging" and uncheck it. (A checkmark can be added/removed from a checkbox by clicking on it with the mouse.)
  6. Click the <OK> button to save and exit the "Performance Options" dialog box.
  7. Click the <OK> button to save and exit the "System Properties" dialog box.
 
  Dealer says the net net sales (amount due the dealer) is wrong.  
  The formula for working out the sales tax, commission, credit card charge, and the amount due the dealer (i.e., the net-net sales) is as follows:
  1. Sales tax (7% in our examples) is computed on the net sales amount of the item.
  2. The commission (8% in our examples) is computed on the net sales amount of the item.
  3. The credit card surcharge (2% in our examples) is computed on the total amount of the sale (i.e., the net sales amount + the sales tax).
A couple of examples may help to clarify how the values are computed:

KEEP IN MIND -- The computer works using 5-6 decimal places, but people work in two decimal places (i.e., dollars and cents), so the final value MUST BE ROUNDED to the nearest penny (i.e., 2 decimal places).

Example 1:
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Net sales   $21.95   
   sales tax    $1.5365   (7% of 21.95 -- the computer uses 5-6 decimal places) 
   commission   $1.756    (8% of 21.95) 
   cc charge    $0.46973  (2% of 23.4865 -- net sales + tax) 


               $21.95      net sales
              - $1.756     commission
              ----------
               $20.194   
               - $.46973   cc charge   
              ----------
   amount due
   dealer      $19.72427  (rounded to the nearest penny = $19.72 -- in this case DOWN)
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Example 2:
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Net sales   $10.00     (2 items @ $5 each)
   sales tax     $.7      (7% of 10.00 -- the computer uses 5-6 decimal places)
   commission   $0.8      (8% of 10.00)
   cc charge    $0.214    (2% of 10.00 -- net sales + tax)
        

                10.00      net sales
            -     .80      commission
              ----------
                 9.20
            -     .214     cc charge
              ----------
   amount due
   dealer        8.986     (rounded to the nearest penny = $8.99 -- in this case UP)
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the first example, the amount was rounded DOWN to the nearest penny.

In the 2nd example, the amount was rounded UP to the nearest penny.

You will find, that almost every item is rounded (up or down) because the combination of selling price, quantity, discount, sales tax, commission, and cc charge computes to some 3-6 decimal value.

Some sales round up, some round down -- it's usually a wash -- in the absolute worst possible case where every sale rounded down, the dealer would lose at most $0.004999 per item sold. It they sold 100 items this would amount to $0.4999 (50 cents -- rounded up).

 
 
  The name column on the "Booth Report -- Summary Only" is blank for some of my booths.  
  The name column on the "BOOTH REPORT -- SUMMARY ONLY" contains the name of the person/company to whom which DMS will print a check.

The value is determined automatically by DMS when a dealer is added to (or edited in) the system. DMS chooses the dealer's name unless they have a company name, in which case DMS uses the company name.

If you tell DMS that a booth is not to receive a check, then DMS sets this value to blank -- so the summary report does not display a name.

DMS works this way because our customers requested it (way back in April of 1995). The reasoning is, that one could quickly determine which booths were not getting a check by looking at the summary report.
 
 
  DMS is not saving my selected "view by".  
  One MUST alter the size or location of the form for DMS to save the new coordinates and "view by" selection.  
 
  I changed the "organize by" value in the System Options form, but DMS does not use my new value.  
  DMS must be re-started after making this change because the value is read at program start and imbedded into the menu(s) of DMS.  
 
  I get a blank page when printing price tickets for "new" items in the inventory control module.  
  Price tickets are NEVER PRINTED for items whose quantity is 9,999 (this value is reserved by DMS to indicate that the quantity is essentially unlimited and that the quantity SHOULD NOT be reduced when such an item is sold).

Also... remember that not only must the NEW? field be checked, but that the PRINT PRICE TICKETS field is also checked. Once tickets are printed for the item, these fields are cleared.
 
 
  I activated the "Print Labels 2 Across" module, but my labels are really goofed up.  
  Remember that after enabling this module, you must set the width of the labels under:

    UTILITIES
       DEALER CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT
          MISCELLANEOUS SETTINGS

 
 
  Sometimes, when starting DMS, I get a "BDESESSION" error.  
  If DMS is terminated abnormally, a temporary folder is left and you may get the following sequence of error dialogs when re-starting DMS:
   BDESESSION::CHECKDBI
      BDE DbiSetPrivateDir() API error.
      [Error: 10244 - Directory is busy.]

   CCS_INSTANCEMANAGER::SETAPPLICATIONBDEPRIVATEDIRECTORY
      [Directory is busy.]
      The application BDEprivate directory CANNOT be set.

   Error
      There was an error setting the BDE network/private directories.
Wait 30 seconds, then re-start DMS. If the error recurs, Windows has not released the lock on the folder and Windows must be re-booted.