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Maintenance Update 09 30 2008

Calculator update notes for 9-30-2008.

Financial Calculator Update 9/30/2008

The quarterly update for 9/30/2008 is a small update. We recommend you review the update items below. If you do not immediately require the enhancements below, since all updates are cumulative, you may wish to wait to implement them with our 12/31/2008 release.

If you implement this update and you have not updated your calculators in a while you should refresh your existing HTML calculator pages. All updates are cumulative, so if you start fresh with this update you will have all previous calculator updates as well. If you would like, you can review our 6/30/2008 update: 6/30/2008 Update. (The 9/30/2008 update includes all changes included in previous updates, you do not need to download any other updates to have the most current versions of all of the calculator components.)

Make sure to try our new Calculator Configurator: Calculator Configurator
This new tool lets you see exactly how you can customize the many features of our calculators.

Update instructions*:

  1. Download the latest version of your calculators from your download site, found on your update e-mail notice.
  2. Execute the Calc.exe file from your download. This is a self-extracting zip file. (Or unzip the Calc.zip file if you are using a non-windows platform.)
  3. When prompted for a directory, you may use the default of "java" or enter your own. It is recommended that you extract the update to a new directory and then move the required files to your production environment. One directory will be created with no subdirectories.
  4. Delete the contents, in your current deployment, of the KJEgui, KJEgraph and KJEcalculation directories and remove them from your server. The new version no longer requires these directories or their content.
  5. Replace your current dinkytown.jar file with the new version.
  6. Replace all files with the extension "class" with the new version.
  7. Make required changes to any HTML documents as described in this document or replace all of your existing HTML documents and re-apply your web-site custom changes.

*Please note, if you have a Servlet or other custom deployment (other than the custom formatted delivery described below), installation instructions for your package will found on your download page.

Update for custom formatted delivery**:

**Custom formatted delivery is a special option that you can add to your maintenance update service. With this option we can apply an HTML, JSP, CFM or ASP template to your calculator pages and their reports before the update is sent to you. You will then receive your calculator pages with all of your site formatting in place, without any rework to include changes that have been made to the pages deployed on your server. If you are interested in using custom formatted delivery, please contact us at (612) 331-2291, or for more information.

  1. Download the latest version of your calculators from your download site, found on your update e-mail notice.
  2. Execute the Calc.exe file from your download. This is a self-extracting zip file. (Or unzip the Calc.zip file if you are using a non-windows platform.)
  3. When prompted for a directory, you may use the default of "c:\java" or enter your own. It is recommended that you extract the update to a new directory and then move the required files to your production environment. One directory will be created with no subdirectories.
  4. Delete the contents, in your current deployment, of the KJEgui, KJEgraph and KJEcalculation directories and remove them from your server. The new version no longer requires these directories or their content.

All pages will be custom formatted to your site, no further integration or modification of the calculators is required. Please note, if your custom delivery uses Active Server Pages (ASP), Java™ Server Pages (JSP) or Cold Fusion (CFM) the respective ASP, JSP or CFM pages will be in place of your HTML documents for all calculator main pages. Report templates will remain in HTML documents (these documents are not called by your server, but instead used by the applet in the main calculator page).

    To clear your Browser's cache:

    When you test the new version of the calculators, make sure that the browser you are using uses the new files instead of any it may have in its cache. You may need to clear the browser's cache manually to ensure the new versions are loaded.

    Internet Explorer:

    Choose "Internet Options" under the "Tools" menu and on the "General" tab click on the "Delete" button under the Browsing History section. Click the top button "Clear private data now..." Click "Ok" when prompted if you wish to delete all temporary files. Close this dialog box, and all open Internet Explorer windows. Your Cache should then be cleared.

    Firefox and Netscape:

    Choose "Clear private data..." under the "Tools" menu. Check the box for "Cache" and then click the button "Clear private data now".

Master Changes (HTML Modification required, affects all calculators)

    None

Master Changes (no HTML changes required, affects all calculators)

  1. The Minus sign “-“ was not being allowed to be entered in some fields that allowed negative numbers. This was most notable in the Tax 1040 calculator's capital gain or loss fields. You are now able to enter negative numbers in these fields. Updating the dinkytown.jar file will fix this issue.

  2. Using the applet parameter “FOREGROUND_COLOR” was not changing some text label colors. New release fixes this issue.

  3. Using the applet parameter “COLOR_GRAPHTEXT” was not changing the graph's text color. New release fixes this issue.

Updates that require modifications to HTML documents

  1. 72T Calculator, 72T Distribution Impact: (Retire72T.html, Retire72T2.html, Retire72Alt.html, SPRetire72T.html): The default "Reasonable interest rate" has been changed to 3.81% to reflect 120% of the current Federal Mid-Term rate as of October 2008.

  2. Spanish CalculatorsThe following Spanish calculators have been reviewed and updated to ensure the best possible translations. If you are using any of the calculators below we would suggest updating the calculator to include these changes. This update is not required for your calculators to function, but is recommended to keep them current.
    Calculator File Calculator Name
    SPCollegeSavings.html Plan de ahorro universitario
    SPMillionaire.html Calculadora para llegar al millón
    SPMortgageLoan2.html Calculadora de préstamos hipotecarios (PITI)
    SPMortgageRentvsBuy.html ¿Alquilar o comprar?
    SPNetWorth.html Calculadora del valor neto
    SPPayoffCC.html Saldo de tarjetas de crédito
    SPRetireBeneficiary.html Distribución mínima requerida (DMR)
    SPRetirementIncome.html Calculadora de ingresos para la jubilación
    SPSavings.html Metas de ahorro
    SPSpendLess.html Calculadora de reducción de gastos
    SPTaxMargin.html Tasas de impuestos marginales y efectivas

Updates that do not require changes to HTML documents

  1. 1040 Tax Estimator (Tax1040.html): This calculator correctly used a 0% tax bracket for the lowest level of capital gains, however, tax payers that straddled different capital gains rates rates (IE part of the gain taxed at 0% and part of the gain taxed at 15%)  the calculator was incorrectly calculating the entire gain at the higher rate. This has been corrected.
      Additional changes for clarity of dividend tax treatment (and better compliance to actual 1040 tax form entry fields):

      The label Ordinary Dividends has been changed to:
      Ordinary dividends (this includes any qualified dividends):

      The label Qualified dividends has been changed to:
      Qualified dividends (included in ordinary dividends above)

      Ordinary dividends now include qualified dividends to match the 1040 tax form.

  2. Comprehensive life insurance calculator (EnhancedLifeIns.html): Registered Retirement Accounts has been relabeled “Retirement Accounts”,

  3. Canadian Mortgage Calculators: All Canadian mortgage calculators now have a maximum amortization of 35 (vs. 40 which is no longer available).

  4. Canadian Mortgage Qualifier (CAMortgageQualifier.html): CMHC has reduced its allowable TDS to 40%, this calculator has been updated to reflect this reduction from 44%.

  5. Financial Ratios Calculator (Ratios.html): Entry field limits have been increased to 10,000,000,000.