Fuelpad

This page is an html version of the built-in documentation available in the Diablo version of Fuelpad via the "Help" main menu item.

For further details on Fuelpad, please see the homepage in maemo garage.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Fuelpad is a tool to record your car fuel and other expenses. It has the following features

Fuelpad uses a database to store the data. You don't have to save the changes made, they are automatically stored to the database.

If this is the first time you use Fuelpad, you can quickly get going by reading the Getting Started guide. If you are trying to find help for a specific problem, use the index.

Getting Started

Fuelpad can be used without any configuration but you might want to change the driver and car names and the used units in the Settings dialog. To get the CO2 emission calculation right, you must also choose either petrol or diesel fuel type. The default driver and car names are Default. You can start using the database with these names, but you can change these names at any time. You can also change the display units at any time. The units setting only affects how data is displayed to you and how you enter data. Internally Fuelpad always uses the same format regardless of your settings.

The main window of Fuelpad is divided into two areas: the main database view frame and a toolbar area. The upper toolbar is called the Information toolbar and it contains statistics about the data for the currently selected car. The most used operations can be accessed with the Buttons toolbar.

The basic operation of Fuelpad is Adding a record. You add a record, when you fill your fuel tank, when you bye new tires or do any other maintenance work to your car. For regular maintenance recording, Fuelpad includes a special Reminder system. So, for example, oil exchanges should be entered into the reminder system.

You can enter the following data into a record:

When you enter data, you must use the decimal separator defined in the language and region settings of the device. Fuelpad does not warn you if you use the wrong separator, it just sets the decimal part to zero.

Except for Car and Driver, all data can be edited later. When you move from overall distance editbox to another editbox, Fuelpad automatically calculates the distance from last refill. You can change the calculated value, if you think that it is errorneous.

Tip: You can activate the thumb keyboard by pressing the scroll_center key (you must activate this functionality in the device's control center)

When you enter the first record into the database, you have probably just bought your car with an almost empty fuel tank. Since you probably don't know the distance from last refill, this first refill is not taken into account when calculating the average fuel consumption seen in the Information toolbar. From the second refill on, Fuelpad automatically calculates the average fuel consumption.

The Reminder system is used to keep track of regular maintenances. You can, for example, set a Reminder for oil exchanges so that Fuelpad reminds you of the need of oil exchange every 30000 kilometres or 12 months. When you then change the oils, you record it by adding a new Event. You can of course set the interval to any value to suite your needs as well as how long before the next event Fuelpad reminds you.

You can get an overall view of the fuel consumption, car expenses and other data in the database by using the Statistics functionality of Fuelpad. Graphical statistics gives you a quick view of you car's monthly fuel consumption or other data. Yearly report calculates and reports the cost of different categories. You can include several years in the same report for comparison. This report can be saved in postscript format and then printed on a postscript compatible printer or postscript interpreter program.

You can export the data to a spreadsheet program in comma separated value (csv) format. This format can be read by most spreadsheet programs. You can also import data in csv format if you have previously entered data.

Main window

The main window of Fuelpad is divided into two areas: the main database view frame and a toolbar area. The upper toolbar is called the Information toolbar and it contains statistics about the data for the currently selected car. The most used operations can be accessed with the Buttons toolbar.

The data can be sorted by any column by pressing the column header. The columns that are displayed can be selected from the main menu View/Select columns...

Settings

The Settings dialog allows you to configure how Fuelpad works. It has four tabs, which are described below.

Driver and car

The Driver and car tab allows you to add, delete or edit the properties of cars and drivers. The driver and car, which are selected in the Driver and Car comboboxes are the current driver and car. If you want to see the records of another car, you must choose the car in the combobox and press OK.

The Driver and car tab also displays the file name of currently used database. If you want to open another database, you must use the Database menu, which is accessible from the main menu.

You can also choose the date format used in displaying and entering dates. The combo box contains some predefined formats. The date format uses the following coding:

Reminders

With the Reminders tab you can set when Fuelpad warns you about upcoming reminders.

Units

The Units tab lets you choose the units used in displaying the records and various statistical data. The Currency unit is used only as a name displayed in various places. There are no currency exchange rates, so changing from Euro to $ does not change the prices shown in the database.

Other units (for length, volume, fuel consumption and mass) can be selected all at the same time or individually. If the Select individually checkbox is unchecked, all units are set to the unit system selected in Unitsystem combobox. If the Select individually checkbox is checked, the three units can be independent on each other.

There are three possibilities for units. The possibilities and their explanations are

The choice of units only affects how data is shown. Internally Fuelpad uses always its own units. You can therefore safely play around with the units.

Report

This tab lets you select the paper size for statistics and reports.

Reminders

The reminder system allows you to track the regular maintenances of your car. Fuelpad can remind you of upcoming maintenances either based on maintenance interval in time or distance between maintenances.

The reminder system has two important concepts, Reminders and Events. A Reminder is for example, an oil exchange, or an air filter exchange. Events record, when you exchange the oils.

To take the reminder system in use, the first thing to do is to define the reminders. Each car has its own reminders and events. You can add reminders from the reminder system's main menu Reminder/New. If you don't yet have any reminders, you can also add a reminder by using the menu Event/New or most conveniently by pressing the new event button in the toolbar.

Events are stored in their own event table in the database, but they are also automatically stored in the main fuel database table. If you try to delete a record from the fuel database table that has a corresponding event in the event table, you must confirm that you also delete the corresponding event. Also, if you delete an event, you must confirm that you also delete the corresponding record in the fuel database.

Editing events

Events can be edited by activating the Event/List menu or pressing the Edit toolbar button. This opens a dialog, which has two tabs

The Reminder tab lets you edit the properties of the selected reminder and the Events tab lets you edit the events associated with the selected reminder.

If an event is edited, the corresponding record in the fuel database is also updated.

Adding events

Events can be added in the Add a new event dialog. This dialog can be opened by first selecting a reminder in the reminder list and then pressing the Add toolbar button or selecting Event/New from menu.

You can enter the following fields in the Add a new event dialog:

The notes field is automatically filled with the name of the reminder, but it can be edited. All the events are also added to the fuel database and it is useful to let the notes to indicate the reminder name. The service, oil and tires fields should contain the cost of the event.

Adding reminders

Reminders are the basis of the reminder system. You must have at least one reminder. A reminder can be added by selecting Reminder/New from the main menu. If you haven't added any reminders, the Add a reminder dialog is also activated if you try to add an event.

You can enter the following fields in the Add a reminder dialog:

You must also select the car for which this reminder is for. All cars have their own reminders.

Typically the services of a car must be taken care of either within some distance interval or time interval or both. For example, the oil exchange interval might by 30000 kilometres or 1 year. If the service only has a distance limit, set the time interval to 0 and if the service only has a time limit, set the distance limit to 0.

Editing reminders

A reminder can be edited by selecting Reminder/Edit from the main menu or from the event list dialog. You can edit all the fields:

but you can't change the car the reminder belongs to. If you change the service intervals, Fuelpad automatically calculates the estimate for next time you will need to service your car.

Database handling

There are four functions that can be chosen from the Database menu, which is accesible from the main menu.

Importing

You must first select the csv file. After Fuelpad has read the data into memory, an Import dialog is opened. There are three tabs in this dialog. The middle one, Column designation lets you define, which column in the file corresponds date, overall distance etc. You must also define what is the date format used in the imported file.

You can see the first lines of the file in the Preview tab. You should check in this tab that the data has been divided into columns. You should also check, which is the first line of the actual data.

The third tab, the Driver/car/units lets you define, which driver is used for the new data, which car the data belongs to, from which line the actual data starts and what is the locale of the data. Locale mainly concers the decimal representation of figures. If the originating file has decimal points as decimal separators and your tablet uses decimal points, you should choose C as the locale. If the decimal separators are same in the imported file and in the tablet, choose current.

Exporting

Selecting the Export menu opens the Save file dialog, which lets set the output file name. The data of the current car is then exported to the selected file.

Statistics

Fuelpad provides two kinds of statistics:

Graphical statistics

Graphical statistics gives you a quick view of your car's consumption, driving distance or the average fuel price. Selecting this from the main menu opens a new window showing a bar graph of the data.

The data shown in the graph view can be changed from the Statistics menu available in the main menu. The available data are:

The graph can be saved in postscript format.

You can use the following hardware keys to browse different years:

Yearly report

Yearly report produces a yearly summary of all the expenses and fuel consumption and emission statistics.

Selecting Yearly report from the main menu first opens a dialog to select the car and the last year to be reported. The report contains a maximum of four years and by default the last year found in the database is shown. The year selection combo box contains the years found in the database. The Update button can be used after changing the car to update the years.

The Generate button opens a preview of the report. The report can be then saved in postscript format.

The hardware keys scroll_up and scroll_down scroll the report and zoom_in and zoom_out zoom the report.

Add a new car or edit car properties

The meaning of the fields in the Add a new car and Edit car properties dialogs is:

You should fill at least fields Mark and Register since these fields are shown in the car selection combo box in the settings dialog.

Add a new driver or edit driver properties

The meaning of the fields in the Add a new driver and Edit driver properties dialogs is:

You should fill at least fields Short name since this field is shown in several places in Fuelpad.

Add a new record or edit a record

The database record fields can be entered in two dialogs. The most common fields are entered in Add a new record or Edit a record dialogs and the more rarely needed fields in the Additional fields dialog. You can add a record either by pushing the add button in the Buttons toolbar, or by selecting the menu Record/New. You can edit a record by first selecting the record and then pushing the edit button in the Buttons toolbar, or selecting the menu Record/Edit or most simply by double clicking the record.

The meaning of the fields in the Add a new record and Edit a record dialogs is:

The Add a new record dialog also has combo boxes to select the car and driver of the record.

The Additional fields dialog contains the following fields for entering the expenses of different things:

Filtering records

Filtering records means that you can select which records are shown in the database table. Filtering records is based on a search string. In a search string you can set the minimum and maximum values of columns. A search string can contain a combination of limits for columns. These limits can be combined to each other either with AND or OR operators. A search string is constracted in the Filter records dialog by first setting the low and high limits for a column, then selecting either AND or OR and then by pressing the Add button. The current search string is shown at the botton of the dialog. The search string can be cleared by clicking the Clear button. When you open the dialog, Fuelpad automatically fills the minimum and maximum values found in the database to low and high limits.

Record filtering is activated from the View/Filter records...menu.

Database

This menu has four submenus

Record

This menu has three submenus

Statistics

This menu has two submenus

Reminders...

This menu opens the reminder system's window.

View

This menu has five submenus

Help

This menu opens the Help application.

About

This menu opens the About dialog.

Exit

This menu exits Fuelpad.