Cannot find text or value inside a split

[DonM]

On 2/14/13 David Carlson wrote:
> On 2/14/2013 11:04 AM, Colin Law wrote:
>> On 14 February 2013 16:29, DonM <dm413-gc at intielectronics.com> wrote:
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: gnucash-user Digest, Vol 119, Issue 35
>>> From: gnucash-user-request at gnucash.org
>>> To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>> Date: 2/14/2013 10:31 AM
>>>
>>>>> Actually, the memo field is the second line that appears below the
>>>>>> description when you are using the the double line (Basic Ledger)view.
>>>>>> The field that is associated to split lines is called Notes.  You can
>>>>>> see that when you put the curser highlight on a split line and look at
>>>>>> the title bar.  This is an important distinction, particularly if you
>>>>>> are using business features such as accounts payable, but not so much
>>>>>> for most of the rest of us, unless we are doing a search.
>>>
>>>> It is the other way round in fact (memo vs notes)
>>>>
>>>> Colin
>>>
>>> Right. So I stand by my original statement: If I am searching a bank account
>>> and specify that I want to look for "memo" fields, then I am inherently
>>> looking for a split (memo fields only exist in splits), and I  would expect
>>> to find the text.
>> You will, but only if you are in the Accounts tab, or on the register
>> for the account that the split is allocated to.
>>
> Now I am back.  Before I sent my incorrect email I had tried what Don
> asked for and, like Don reported, I thought that I was unable to find
> text in the memo field when starting from an account register.  However,
> I had not had my morning coffee, and I got confused when a search for
> text in the notes field found the text.  Now, after drinking my coffee
> and re-booting my computer I cannot replicate the problem.
> I think there may be some circumstances where Don is correct
>
> Don, If you can replicate the problem, please tell us how you did it.
> If it has anything to do with drinking coffee, don't tell us.

Replication is straightforward.
In an account that represents a bank account, say "Assets:Checking", create a transaction with splits that looks something like this:
Memo1                  Expense:Utilities         11.11
Memo2                  Expense:Telephone         22.22
Memo3                  Assets:Checking                     33.33

While still looking at this register, do Edit/Find, search the Memo field for "Memo1". Nothing will be found. Similarly for "Memo2". If you search for "Memo3", it will find this transaction.

This matches Colin's statements that it only searches splits that reference the account you are looking for.

If you switch to the account tab, and repeat the searches for "Memo1", "Memo2", and "Memo3", it finds this transaction all three times. This again matches Colin's statements.

This behavior also matches, I think, Derek's statement that the query is

     where Split.Account == ThisAccount AND Split.Memo == "memo"

while what I want (and I think most users would expect) a query along the lines of:

      where Split.Account == ThisAccount AND
      Split.ParentTransaction.AnySplit.Memo == "memo"

> I recall that some time back there was a bug where GnuCash did have some
> issue with this. Actually, I thought that some reports incorrectly
> displayed notes or memos.   A search of Bugzilla turned up some
> interesting things.
>
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=660904 reports exactly what
> Don just reported.  Such reports are often ignored because many users do
> get the notes and memo fields confused.  In fact several similar reports
> were closed after investigation revealed user confusion.

This is similar to my report, but the reporter did not realize that it would return memos on lines that match the account (register) you are looking for). I didn't realize this either until Colin explained what was being searched for.

BTW, this bug could probably be closed if someone explained what is happening.

>
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=495219 indicates that the QIF
> importer may be importing at least some Quicken Memos into the Notes
> field.  That was around versions 2.2.1 through 2.2.4.  It has been a
> long time since I tried using that importer.
>
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=690574 suggests that the
> Quicken importer is correctly importing split memos now.

I don't think the above two bugs are relevant, I'm not working with imported transactions.

> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=642199 illustrates the
> confusion that results when the user does not realize that a search
> starting in a register only searches split lines associated to that
> register.

I think this is the same issue (as I am having).

In conclusion (maybe?)
My preference would be to change the behavior, so that it "did what I expect". But I understand that what I expect is not always what other people expect, and I also understand Derek's comment that doing what I expect is hard and may not be worth the effort, especially since there is a straightforward way to get the information I am after (by making the search from the accounts tab).

Given that I'm not the only one confused about this, better documentation would probably help, which I understand David is working on (thanks). However, as we all know people often don't read the documentation. So it would be nice if there was some way to indicate in the find dialog that you're only searching memos for the account being searched, but I don't really see a good way to do that.

Thank you all for your comments, and for your work on gnucash.

Don