Vanishing transactions and log file

[Ross Boylan]

On Wed, 2008-04-02 at 10:39 -0400, Derek Atkins wrote:
> Ross Boylan <RossBoylan at stanfordalumni.org> writes:
> 
> > By the way, I've also been confused by the rules regarding the comment
> > or note in the header line vs the notes on the splits.  In some views
> > there seem to be 2 header lines (top one with the date and most of the
> > key info, 2nd one for the note, I assume).  I think there is a notion of
> > a "transaction comment" distinct from a "split comment", but the
> > contents of the transaction and split comments seem to get copied
> > between each other (in the display) following some rules I haven't
> > understood.
> 
> This is all in the docs.  There are multiple places where you can
> enter in text information.  In particular:
> 
>   Transaction Description
>   Transaction Notes
>   Split Memo
> 
> The first is available always (on the line with the date)
> The third is only available when you expand the transaction
> using the "Split" button (or in a non-basic journal mode).
> The second is only available when you enable "double line" mode.
> 
> I'm not sure what you mean by "the contents of the transaction and
> split comments seem to get copied between each other (in the
> display)".  Could you expand on that, explain what you mean,
> and maybe supply some screen shots?
The attached gnc1 shows a register in auto-split mode; all shots are of
the active transaction.
gnc1: no comments entered, but splits present
gnc2: enter a comment on the split 
gnc3: tab to next split (simply tabbing to another field on the same
line does not produce a change).  The split comment now appears in the
header's 2nd line; I think that's supposed to be the transaction notes.
gnc4: I've clicked on the 2nd line of the header, in the note field, and
typed a new transaction note.  Focus is still in the note field.
gnc5: I've tabbed out of the transaction note.  The note has been copied
to the split memo.

Of course, if the transaction has 2 splits in the register's account,
there's an extra layer (I think it's either the first or last of the
splits that's linked to the transaction notes.).

By the way, can any of these notes be multi-line?
> 
> > The problem with that is that it makes the typical case, a transaction
> > involving exactly 2 splits, awkward.
> 
> There really needs to be another "special-basic" mode that shows a
> basic 2-split transaction in basic mode but shows any multi- (>=3)
> split transaction in expanded mode.  It would be half-way between
> basic mode and journal mode, but not quite the auto-split mode.
> 
> This new mode would certainly make it more clear....

That sounds a lot like a solution I was thinking of: in the basic or
non-focal auto-split mode, if there are multiple splits in the register
account display them on separate lines in a way that groups them
together visually, e.g., leaves the date column blank is it is in the
auto-split pictures attached.  I guess the comment (transaction note)
would still need to go on a separate line.

One of the issues with any split-oriented mode is that there are many
editing operations on a split that are really questionable, like
deleting it or changing the amount.  This suggests disallowing such
operations; again the "standard case" of 2 exactly balanced splits pulls
in the other direction (i.e., permit editing amount or deleting the
split, understood to mean the whole transaction).

Ross
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