Handbook

Appendixes page 171
About Mapping Tables
Before creating or modifying an Expense template, it’s important
to understand the function of PalmPilot
™
Desktop’s Expense
application. In simple terms, the Expense application is designed
to move Expense data from your PalmPilot
™
connected organizer
into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Each Expense item stored in the PalmPilot represents a group of
related data. The following data can be associated with an expense
item:
■ Category ■ Payment Currency
■ Date ■ Vendor
■ Expense Type ■ City
■ Amount ■ Attendees
■ Payment Method ■ Note
When you perform a HotSync
™
operation between your PalmPilot
organizer and the PalmPilot Desktop on your PC, the Expense
data is stored on your PC (in a file named expense.txt). When you
activate the Expense application on Pilot Desktop, 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 the Excel Macro how large the spreadsheet is, and provides
the data cell layout of the Excel template used for the Expense
Report.
The sample templates provided with the Expense application are
stored in the folder named “templates.” (If using Windows 3.1x,
this subdirectory will be named “template.”) This folder
(subdirectory) is in the same folder as the PalmPilot Desktop
application.