Version 1.0 — User Guide
BillOfExchange is a desktop application for creating, managing, and printing bill of exchanges. It provides bilingual support (English and French), values-only PDF generation with background image in previews, CSV export, multiple reporting views, and interactive charts.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Date * | Draft date in dd-MM-YYYY format. Dashes are inserted automatically as you type. |
| Due Date * | Payment due date in dd-MM-YYYY format. |
| Payee * | Select the payee from the dropdown list. You must create payees first. |
| Amount * | Numeric amount. The format adjusts automatically based on the selected language. |
| Drawer * | Select the drawer from the dropdown list. You must create drawers first. |
| Purpose | Optional description of the draft purpose. |
| Status | Active, Cancelled, Paid, or Expired. |
Double-click a row in the drafts grid, or select a row and click Edit or press Ctrl+E.
Select a row and click Delete or press Del. A confirmation dialog will appear.
Use the Search box on the toolbar to filter drafts by payee name, serial number, bank name, or drawer name. Filtering is instant as you type.
Click Preview on the toolbar to show or hide the inline PDF preview panel at the bottom of the window. Select a draft to see its preview.
You can also double-click a draft row to open a larger popup preview.
Open via File > Manage Payees.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Payee Name * | Full name of the payee (required). |
| Address | Mailing address of the payee. |
Open via File > Manage Drawers.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Drawer Name * | Full name of the drawer (required). |
| Address | Mailing address of the drawer. |
| Location | City or location of the drawer. |
| Bank Name * | Name of the bank. |
| Bank Address | Address of the bank branch. |
| Account Number * | Exactly 20 characters. It is formatted automatically in printed reports. |
| Currency | Currency code (e.g., TND, EUR, USD). |
The main window contains five tabs:
| Tab | Description |
|---|---|
| Drafts | Full list of all drafts with search and filtering. |
| Monthly Totals | Total amount aggregated by month and year. |
| Monthly by Payee | Total amount aggregated by month, year, and payee. |
| Monthly by Payee & Status | Total amount aggregated by month, year, payee, and status. |
| Charts | Interactive charts with five switchable views (see below). |
Switch between views using the radio buttons in the chart toolbar:
| View | Chart Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Totals | Vertical bar | Total amount per calendar month. |
| By Payee | Horizontal bar | Total amount per payee, sorted from highest to lowest. |
| Yearly Totals | Vertical bar | Total amount per year. |
| Monthly by Status | Stacked bar | Monthly totals split by draft status, with a color legend. |
| Status Distribution | Pie chart | Proportion of drafts by status, showing percentages and amounts. |
Charts resize automatically when you resize the window. Month names appear in the selected language.
form_scan.png), drawn to fill the full page so the preview matches the real printed form. The PDF sent to the printer is values-only, without background.dd-MM-YYYY.Click Preview on the toolbar to show a preview panel at the bottom of the window. Select any draft to see its PDF preview rendered at 2× magnification.
Double-click a draft row to open a full-size popup preview. This preview always shows the background image.
Go to File > Export All to CSV to export all drafts to a spreadsheet-compatible CSV file. The exported file includes all draft information: serial number, dates, payee, amount, currency, bank details, account number, drawer details, purpose, and status.
Activation codes are free. To request your free registration code, send an email with the subject line BillOfExchange Registration code to registration@b-systems.tn.
Registration codes are tied to your specific machine. If you move to a new computer, you will need a new registration code from your administrator.
Go to File > Registration at any time to enter a new registration code.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+N | Create new draft |
| Ctrl+E | Edit selected draft |
| Ctrl+P | Print selected draft |
| Del | Delete selected draft |
Yes. Copy the application folder to a safe location to create a backup. To restore, replace the files in the application folder with your backup copy.
A payee or drawer cannot be deleted if existing drafts reference it. You must delete or modify those drafts first to remove the reference.
Make sure form_scan.png and form_layout.json are in the same folder as the application. Note the background appears in previews only; the printed PDF is always values-only.
Fine-tune the print placement with the debug offset values (launch with -debug / bill-debug.bat). Positive X/Y offsets move content right/down, in millimetres. Do not edit field coordinates directly to fix paper positioning.
Use the language dropdown (EN / FR) on the toolbar. The setting is saved automatically and will be remembered the next time you open the application.
The application could not detect your machine's serial number. Contact your IT department to ensure system information access is not restricted on your computer.
Yes. Copy the entire application folder to the USB drive and run from there. All data files will be created alongside the application.
All data is stored in the application folder. The application creates a database file, a settings file, and a license file automatically. Do not delete these files.
No. The data is stored locally. Each computer has its own separate database. To share data, you would need to copy the database file between computers manually.