Palmone IIIx Handheld Handbook

							Appendix C Page 193
Appendix C
Creating a Custom 
Expense Report
This section explains how to modify existing Expense application 
templates and how to create your own custom expense report 
templates for use with the Expense application.
Note:This section assumes that you are familiar with Microsoft 
Excel or a similar spreadsheet application. If you are not 
familiar with Microsoft Excel, consult your company’s 
Information Services department or another experienced user.
About mapping tables
Before creating or modifying an Expense template, it’s important to 
understand the function of the Palm™ Desktop software Expense 
application. In simple terms, the Expense application is designed to 
move Expense data from your Palm III™ organizer into a Microsoft 
Excel spreadsheet.
Each Expense item stored in your organizer represents a group of 
related data. The following data can be associated with an expense 
item:
nCategorynPayment Currency
nDatenVendor
nExpense TypenCity
nAmountnAttendees
nPayment MethodnNote
When you perform a HotSync
® operation between your organizer and 
Palm Desktop software on your computer, the Expense data is stored 
on your computer (in a file named Expense.txt). When you open the 
Expense application in Palm Desktop software, an Excel macro starts, 
and populates an expense template with your data based on the rules 
specified in a spreadsheet file named Maptable.xls. 
The Maptable.xls file is an editable spreadsheet that functions as a 
“mapping table.” The function of the mapping table is to guide the 
Excel macro in extracting the Expense data. The mapping table tells  
						

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the Excel macro how large the spreadsheet is and provides the data-
cell layout of the Excel template used for the Expense Report.
Customizing existing sample templates
Four sample Expense Report templates come with Palm Desktop 
software. These templates are stored in the Template folder (which is 
in the same folder as the Palm Desktop software application). 
If the layout of one (or more) of these templates is appropriate for your 
reporting needs, you can easily customize the templates with your 
company name and other information.
To customize a sample Expense Report template:
1. Make a backup copy of the contents of the Template folder.
2. Double-click the name of the sample template you want to modify 
to open it in Microsoft Excel.
3. Make any changes that you want to the names (or other 
information) in the sample template.
Important:Do not insert rows or columns in the sample template. 
Doing so changes the way your Expense data maps to the 
template and causes errors. If you want to move the cells 
to a different location or add or delete rows or columns, 
you have to make changes to the Maptable.xls file.
Note:You can insert your own company logo without changing 
the Maptable.xls file. If you change the file name, 
however, you need to make a corresponding change in 
the Maptable.xls file.
You can also rename cells without changing the 
Maptable.xls file, provided that the expense type 
corresponds to your organizer data. For example, you can  
						

							Appendix C Page 195
change “Snack” to “Munchies,” and then all items 
entered on your organizer as “Snack” map to the cell(s) 
labeled “Munchies.”
4. From the File menu, choose Save As.
5. Click the Save as type drop-down list and choose Template (*.xlt).
6. Navigate to the Template folder (in the Palm Desktop software 
directory).
Note: If you do not need to change the Maptable.xls file, save the 
template file with its original file name (e.g., Sample2.xlt).
If you do need to change the Maptable.xls file, give your modified 
template a unique name. Be sure to use the .xlt file suffix, which 
defines the file as a Microsoft Excel template.
7. Click Save to save your modified template and make it available 
for future use.
Note:If you need to modify the Maptable.xls file, you must do this 
before you can use the modified template with your Expense 
data. To modify the Maptable.xls file for your new template, 
see “Programming the mapping table”  later in this appendix. 
Read all of the sections of this appendix before making changes to the 
Maptable.xls file.
Determining the layout of the Expense Report
This section describes the layout considerations for the Expense 
Report and explains the terms used for creating the report. 
Labels
There are two kinds of labels that you need to define for your report: 
day/date and expense type. Each kind of label can be either Fixed or 
Variable. A Fixed label means that the label always appears as a header 
at the beginning of a row or column. If a label is not Fixed, it is 
variable.
For example, a list table of expenses could have variable labels in the 
rows for day/date, and variable labels in the columns for expense 
type. In this case, neither day/date or expense type information 
would be “fixed” (as a header). Instead, the date and expense type 
information would be filled into the cells of the spreadsheet as 
appropriate. 
						

							Page 196  Creating a Custom Expense Report
Examples of both Fixed and Variable labels appear in the sample 
expense templates. 
Sections
A Section is an area of the report that has common formatting. It is 
common for an Expense report to have more than one Section. For 
example, the following sample Expense Report named Sample3.xlt 
contains several Sections.
Because your Expense data maps to row and column areas of your 
final report, different Sections require different definitions for the data 
mapping. To create additional Sections with different mapping, you 
create corresponding additional lines to the mapping table file named 
Maptable.xls. This procedure is explained later in this appendix.
If a section contains cells for prepaid (company paid) expenses, you 
need to create an additional line in the mapping table for “prepaid.” 
This will count as an additional section in the mapping table. The only 
data that differs in the prepaid section (from the non-prepaid section) 
is the row/column numbers for the expense type.
Section 1 
(not prepaid)
Section 2 
(prepaid)
Section 3  
						

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Analyzing your custom Expense Report
If you already have a custom Excel expense report, you can use it with 
a modified mapping table. However, before you can create a 
Maptable.xls file that corresponds to your custom Expense Report, 
you must first analyze the characteristics of your report. 
Perform the following before you begin a custom mapping table:
nPrint a copy of your custom expense report. Activate the Row and 
Column Headings option in the Sheet settings of the Page Setup 
command. This enables you to quickly determine the size of the 
Section(s), as well as the numbers for the start rows and columns.
nOn the printed copy, identify the data Sections. A Section is an 
area of data with common row and column formatting. A yellow 
highlighter marking pen can make it easy to see the Sections as 
you work with programming the mapping table. Your custom 
Expense Report can contain any number of Sections, and the same 
data can be repeated in any Section.
nOn the printed copy, identify the type of Labels that apply to each 
Section. Each Section can have only one kind of Fixed or Variable 
Label for rows. Likewise, each Section can have only one kind of 
Fixed or Variable Label for columns.
nPlace a copy of your custom Expense Report in the Template 
folder (in the Palm Desktop software directory). Change the file 
name so it has the file extension .xlt (which defines it as a Microsoft 
Excel template). Make a note of the exact file name so it can be 
defined in the mapping table file. 
						

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Programming the mapping table
Once you have analyzed the components of your custom Expense 
Report, you can program the mapping table to fill the report with data 
from the organizer.
To program a new custom mapping table:
1. Open a copy of the Maptable.xls file in Microsoft Excel. 
Note:This file is located in the same folder as the Palm Desktop 
software application. Make a backup copy of this file before 
you make your modifications.
2.
Mapping a new template. Scroll to where you find the name of the 
original template that you chose for your modifications. The name 
of the template will appear in column B of the Maptable.xls file, 
next to the cell highlighted in green that reads “Template Name:”. 
If you did not modify an existing template, move to any table in the 
Maptable.xls file. 
3. Select all the rows associated with the template name. To select the 
rows, click and drag on the row numbers (left side), so they appear 
highlighted.
4. From the Edit menu, choose Copy.
All rows 
related 
to 
template 
are 
selected  
						

							Appendix C Page 199
5. Scroll down to a blank area of the Maptable.xls file (below the rows 
used for Sample4.xlt), and click on a row number to select a blank 
row.
6. From the Edit menu, choose Paste. A copy of the rows you selected 
in step 3 is pasted into the Maptable.xls file.
7.
Name the table. In the cell immediately to the right of the cell entitled 
Template Name, enter the exact file name of your custom Expense 
Report template. 
8.
Define the number of Sections. Each row in a table defines how your 
organizer data will be placed in a Section of your custom Expense 
Report. Note that the prepaid portion of a section has its own row 
and counts as a separate section for map table purposes, even 
though it is not a separate section in your template.
You may add or delete rows as necessary so that the total number 
of rows corresponds to the number of Sections in your custom 
Expense Report. To clear all of the existing settings in a row, click 
to select the row and press Ctrl+Delete. Name each row to 
correspond to a Section of your custom Expense Report.
9.
Determine the Label settings. The orientation of the data fields (Row, 
Column) appears in the yellow section of the table.
Determine whether the Rows will contain expense or date 
information, and place an “x” in the appropriate cell. When you do 
this, you also define whether the label is Fixed or Variable. You can 
place only one “x” in the Row section (columns 2–5).
Determine whether the Columns will contain expense or date 
information, and place an “x” in the appropriate cell. When you do 
this, you also define whether the label is Fixed or Variable. You can 
place only one “x” in the Column section (columns 6–9).
Table with 
four sections 
						

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10.Define the dimensions of the Section. The dimensions of the Section 
appear in the green columns (10–13).
11.
Define the Dates and Intervals. The dates and intervals between dates 
appears in the light blue columns (14–17).
In the Date cell, enter the row or column number where all the date 
information will be placed.
In the Dates cell, enter the number of blank columns (or rows) 
separating the date fields. If there are no blank columns (or rows) 
between date entries, leave this number set to zero.
In the Start Day cell, enter the day of the week that starts the 
expense reporting period. Enter a three-character abbreviation for 
the day (e.g., Sun, Mon, Tue).
In the Day cell, enter the row or column number where all the day 
information will be placed. If the dates are in a row, enter the row 
number. If the dates are in a column, enter the column number.# of 
RowsRepresents the total number of rows in the Section, 
excluding any header or total rows. In other words, 
this includes only the number of rows in the Section 
where your organizer data will be placed.
# of 
ColumnsRepresents the total number of columns in the 
Section, excluding any header or total columns. In 
other words, this includes only the number of 
columns in the Section where your organizer data 
will be placed.
Start 
RowIs the number of the first row of the Section that will 
be filled with your organizer data.
Start 
ColumnIs the number of the first column of the Section that 
will be filled with your organizer data. 
						

							Appendix C Page 201
12.Define whether the Section is in list format. This setting appears in the 
light purple columns (18–19).
If the Section will present the data in a list format, enter the word 
“yes”. Otherwise, enter the word “no”. The following diagram 
shows data presented in a list format:
Only if your section is in list format: In the Expense Type cell, 
enter the number of the row or column where the expense 
description will be placed. Expense amounts can be entered in 
several different columns or rows if required by your template. 
Expense type labels must all appear in the same column.
13.
Enter the row or column numbers for the expense types that appear in the 
Section.
 These settings appear in the aqua columns (20–48).
For these settings, simply enter the row or column number for the 
expense types that you want to appear in the Section. Note that the 
same row or column number can be used more than once. An 
example of this would be meals that encompass breakfast, lunch, 
dinner, and snacks. In the previous example, all expense items 
would be populated into row/column 4 of the custom Expense 
Report.
14.
Complete the table. All of the remaining columns (49–57) in the table 
are used to define the column or row number that corresponds to 
the description.  
						

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15.Mark a Section for prepaid expenses (yellow column). If a row in the map 
table is for prepaid (company paid) expenses, type a “yes” in the 
cell on that Section’s row. Type “no” in all the cells of this column 
that do not pertain to prepaid expenses.
16. Repeat steps 9 through 15 for each Section that you have defined 
for your custom Expense Report. 
17.
Map Expense Report Options dialog (magenta section). The Expense 
Report Options dialog has five fields where you can fill in data for 
the header on your expense report. Use this section to specify the 
row and column on your template where this information will be 
mapped. 
Because header data is not related to any particular Section, you 
have to fill in only one row. If the item does not appear on your 
template, leave these cells blank.
Using applications other than Microsoft Excel
You can use applications other than Microsoft Excel (such as Lotus 
1-2-3 or Quattro Pro) to open and manipulate the Expense data on 
your computer. The data file is named “Expense.txt,” and is stored in 
the Expense folder, within the folder containing the organizer user 
data.
Expense data in the Expense.txt file is in tab-delimited format.