Mileage Wizard User Manual

Mileage Wizard - Online Help

Main View
Fuel Item Dialog
Import Wizard
Export Dialog
Quick Calc Dialog
Vehicle Statistics Dialog
Graphing
Purge Data Dialog
Load Archive Dialog
Save Archive Dialog
Auto Archive Dialog
Vehicle Dialog
Options

Main View

This is the main window that you'll interact with the most when using Mileage Wizard. It shows all gas item items by date. The drop list in the top acts as a filter. You can filter by All or by a specific vehicle. When filtering by All, each vehicle can be identified by the icon you assigned to it in the New Vehicle screen.

Clicking on any of the column headers results in the list being sorted by that respective column.

Buttons:

This button opens the New Fuel Item dialog.

Opens the Graph dialog.

Opens the Vehicle Statistics dialog.

Opens the Options dialog.

Fuel Item Dialog

This dialog has evolved to include a lot more functionality than earlier versions of Mileage Wizard. It is shown whenever you choose to add or edit a fuel item.

Common Tab

Date	The date of the gas purchase.
Car	The car that this fuel purchase is for. If the vehicle doesn't exist in the drop list, just click New... to bring you to the Add Vehicle dialog.
Qty	The amount of fuel purchased and its respective quantity type.
Dist	The distance travelled and its respective distance type.
Cost $	The amount paid for the fuel.
Station	This holds an optional gas station entry. This isn't mandatory, but could prove useful when going over mileage stats. By clicking the '...' button, you can setup all the stations to show up in the droplist.
Type	The type of fuel purchased. This allows you to decide whether your mileage is affected by different grades of fuel types.
Add to odometer	Whether to add this fuel item to the recorded odometer of the vehicle. There may be cases where you don't want to do this, particularly on your first entry, where you probably entered the current odometer reading as of your first recorded fillup.

Misc Tab

Paid with	This holds an optional payment method you used to pay for this fuel item. By clicking the '...' button, you can setup payment types to show up in the droplist.
Purpose	This holds an optional purpose of this fuel item. By clicking the '...' button, you can setup purpose items to show up in the droplist.
Purchase type	The fuel item can be classified as Personal or Business here. If Business is chosen, you may enter any client or project codes for later reference.

Notes Tab

This contains a free-form text entry area for any general notes you'd like to make about this fuel item.

Import Wizard

This wizard provides a intuitive way to import your existing mileage data. To make the best use of this wizard, ensure that your import file is in CSV format (comma-delimited is preferred), and have the first row contain labels for each of the columns. Having labels makes the mapping step much easier.

Page 1

This page is used to setup defaults and general parsing information to help the wizard automatically parse out your import file. When first appearing, this page shows only the Vehicle and Load controls. Click the '...' button to browse for your csv file, then click the Load button. This causes the wizard to detect the contents of your import file. After the initial detection, the Detected settings controls appear.

Vehicle	The vehicle to import the fuel items into.
Load	The filename to import goes into this text field. You can browse for a file using the '...' button. Click the Load button to have the wizard detect and show settings.
Data columns	The number of columns the import file has been detected as having.
Skip first line	Check this if the first line of your import file contains column names.
Column separator	Select the character that separates the data in your import file.
Type	Select whether these are personal or business items.
Date format	The date format to use as validation while parsing each entry. This defaults to the date format from your regional settings.
Quantity	Select the quantity type, whether it be litres, US gallons or British gallons. This defaults to what you have selected in Options.
Distance	Select the distance type, whether it be kilometers or miles. This defaults to what you have selected in Options.

Page 2

This page provides a way for you to map your import file's fields to Mileage Wizard's fuel item fields. The wizard initially tries to automatically map each of your import file's fields. Your import file's fields can be selected in each combobox. Setting the combo to '<default>' results in this fuel item's field being set to its default value.

Page 3

This page lists each record found in your import file and its state of validity. A green icon represents a valid row; a red icon represents a row that isn't valid and is not allowed to be imported in its current state. You can edit each row by double-clicking on it. If editing an invalid row, the invalid fields are highlighted in red for easier identification. Check each row that you'd like to include in the import. When you are ready to complete the import, click the Ok button on the bottom toolbar.

Export Dialog

This dialog allows you to export all or a subset of records into CSV format. This resulting CSV file could then be transferred to your PC and read into spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel.

Vehicle Tab

Save to	Where to save the export file to. Clicking the '...' button allows you to browse folders and select a destination as well as a filename. The filename defaults to have an extension of 'csv', although you can change this to whatever you like in this textbox. The resulting file is in csv format regardless of the extension you assign it.
All Dates / Custom Dates	Allows you to select the date ranges to include for the exported fuel items.
Include vehicles	Allows you to select which vehicle(s) you'd like to include in the export file.

Include Data Tab

Both / Fuel items / vehicle stats	These radio buttons allow you to choose what data you would like to include. You can choose to include fuel items only, vehicles stats only, or both.
Types to include	These options show up when you choose to include fuel items. They allow you further filter your query by Personal only, Business only, or both.
Statistics to include	These options show up when you choose to include statistics. The stats that are available are shown in this checked-listbox. Simply choose which stats you want to see.

Quick Calc Dialog

This dialog allows you to perform a quick mileage calculation. Simply enter values into the Quantity and Distance fields, select the mileage type (in the Results section droplist) and click Calculate. The value in the edit box recalculates if you have values entered and choose a different mileage type. This dialog is handy for performing a quick calculation that you don't want to save.

Vehicle Statistics Dialog

This dialog has two purposes. The first is to display fuel item statistics within a given date range and to edit vehicle data.

Statistic fields

Best mileage	Finds the best recorded mileage within the given date range for this vehicle.
Worst mileage	Finds the worst recorded mileage within the given date range for this vehicle.
Average mileage	Calculates the average mileage within the given date range for this vehicle.
Lowest fillup $	Finds the lowest recorded fillup cost within the given date range for this vehicle.
Highest fillup $	Finds the highest recorded fillup cost within the given date range for this vehicle.
Average fillup $	Calculates the average fillup cost within the given date range for this vehicle.
Low fuel $/unit	Finds the lowest recorded cost per unit of fuel within the given date range for this vehicle.
High fuel $/unit	Finds the highest recorded cost per unit of fuel within the given date range for this vehicle.
Average fuel $/unit	Calculates the average cost per unit of fuel within the given date range for this vehicle.
Longest dist	Finds the highest recorded distance travelled between fillups within the given date range for this vehicle.
Shortest dist	Finds the shortest recorded distance travelled between fillups within the given date range for this vehicle.
Average dist	Calculates the average distance travelled between fillups within the given date range for this vehicle.
Last mileage	Displays the most recent mileage calculation for this vehicle.
Last fuel $/unit	Displays the most recent fuel cost per unit for this vehicle.
Last fillup $	Displays the most recent fillup cost for this vehicle.
Last distance	Displays the most recent distance travelled for this vehicle.
Total $ of fuel	Calculates the total recorded cost of fuel within the given date range for this vehicle.
Total fuel quantity	Calculates the total recorded quantity of fuel within the given date range for this vehicle.
Total distance	Calculates the total recorded distance travelled within the given date range for this vehicle.
Odometer	Displays the current odometer reading for this vehicle.

Icon meanings

	Click this icon to add a new vehicle.
	Click this icon to edit the current vehicle.
	Click this icon to delete the current vehicle.
	Click this icon to copy the displayed statistics to the clipboard. This is useful to exporting the statistics data to other applications.

Graphing

This dialog allows you to graph data based on the given date range.

Purge Dialog

This dialog allows do a mass delete of records for one or more of your vehicles within a given date range.

There is Undo Purge ability on the Tools menu in case you need to restore your most recent purge. Keep in mind that only the most recent purge can be undone, so use this utility with caution.

Load Archive Dialog

This dialog allows loading of archive files. You can browse for these files by clicking the '...' button. After selecting an archive, vehicles present in the archive show up and you can select which ones you'd like to restore. Selecting a vehicle causes details of its fuel items to show up in the Details groupbox.

When you're reading to import the vehicle(s), click the Ok button at the top right of the dialog.

Save Archive Wizard

Page 1

Archive file	The name of the archive you'd like to save. This defaults to a filename with the date in it, for easier loading at a later date. You can select the folder to save this archive in by clicking the '...' button. After selecting the folder, the filename is named with a default value containing the date.
Archive items older than	This date determines which fuel items are to be included in the archive. Any fuel item older than this date is included.
Copy items into archive	Performs a copy of fuel items into the archive. The items in Mileage Wizard remain.
Move items into archive	Performs a move of fuel items into the archive. The items in Mileage Wizard are deleted.
Move fuel items only	When selecting to move the fuel items, you have this further option of whether to move the fuel items only (not the vehicles themselves).
Move fuel items AND vehicle	Moves fuel items and vehicles into the archive. Since you're moving the vehicle(s) as well, the date range is irrelevant and therefore becomes hidden upon selection of this radio button.

Page 2

Select the vehicle(s) and purchase types to include in the archive here.

Auto Archive

Your data file grows as you add items. To help keep your data manageable, you need another place to store (archive) old items that are still important but not immediately necessary for reference. You also need a way to automatically move or delete those old items. Auto Archive takes care of these processes for you.

You can enable/disable Auto Archive in this dialog.

Run every	How often you'd like Auto Archive to run.
Clean older than	Which items, based on their entry date, you'd like to include in the archive operation.
Move items to folder	If selected, which folder you'd like the archive file to be copied to.
Permanently delete items	If selected, items are permanently deleted.
Show 'Archive Complete' dialog	Whether or not to show a dialog after the Auto Archive process that shows details of what was archived.

Vehicle Dialog

This dialog is where vehicle data is entered. All mileage data is associated with a vehicle.

Vehicle Tab

Year	The year of the vehicle.
Make	The make of the vehicle. For your convenience, most of the popular makes of vehicles are listed. Once a make is selected, the Model list populates with all the models for that make. If your make doesn't exist in the list, simply type it in and it is used instead.
Model	The model of the vehicle. If a known Make is selected, this list populates with all the models for that make. If your model doesn't exist in the list, simply type it in and it is used instead.
Odo	The current odometer reading for the vehicle. This has the option of being updated with each gas item entered.
Fuel pref	What you'd like to use for a default fuel type for this vehicle: Regular, Mid-Grade, Premium, or Diesel. The fuel entry dialog defaults to what you choose here.
Icon	An icon to identify this vehicle in the main item list on the main window. If you try to select an icon that is being used by another vehicle, you'll get a warning, but are still allowed to use it if you desire.

Info Tab

VIN	The Vehicle Identification Number of the vehicle.
Plate	The license plate of the vehicle.
Expiry	When the tag on the license plate expires.
Cost	The cost of tag renewal.
Reminder	Whether to remind you of the pending tag renewal at Mileage Wizard startup.
Include in Auto Archive	Whether to include this vehicle in the Auto Archive operation.

Specifications Tab

This page provides an area to enter various information about your vehicle not covered by any other field. This comes with common default labels for you to fill in data for.

Notes Tab

This is a free-form area to write miscellaneous notes about your vehicle.

Options

Defaults

This page allows you to change the default selection for mileage, quantity and distance.

Misc

Save data file to	Allows you to set where you'd like Mileage Wizard to save its data file. This is especially handy if you synchronize any directories through ActiveSync, which can be set to include the data file for backup on your PC.
When to save data	This option gives you control as to when the data file is saved. It used to only be saved on application exit, but some users were losing data while having Mileage Wizard running and having to do a soft reset, resulting in their data being lost. Having this option configurable reduces the chance of lost data.