Suggested patches for documentation
Eric Hanchrow
offby1@blarg.net
19 Sep 2000 20:44:48 -0700
Please note that, if you choose to apply this patch, you'll need to
add one .png file (which I didn't include in this message, because
it's pretty big). I've also modified another .png file to bring it
more in line with what the program shows.
The file to add will be called
"doc/sgml/C/image/foreign-currency.png"; it shows the result of
following the instructions in the section about foreign currency. The
file that needs to be modified is doc/sgml/C/image/recnwin.png.
Please tell me how I can deliver those files, if you choose to use them.
The foreign currency section is something I've submitted before --
please let me know if I should stop submitting it :)
Index: doc/sgml/C/xacc-currencyhandling.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/cvs/cvsroot/gnucash/doc/sgml/C/xacc-currencyhandling.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.2
diff -w -u -p -r1.2 xacc-currencyhandling.sgml
--- doc/sgml/C/xacc-currencyhandling.sgml 2000/08/19 20:48:35 1.2
+++ doc/sgml/C/xacc-currencyhandling.sgml 2000/09/20 03:39:06
@@ -66,6 +66,72 @@
</PARA>
</SECT1>
+ <SECT1>
+ <TITLE>How to set up a foreign-currency account</TITLE>
+ <PARA>All of the above may sound straightforward, but you may get
+ stumped when you first try to represent some foreign money. Let's
+ demonstrate how you'd go about setting up an account to represent,
+ say, French Francs.</PARA>
+
+ <PARA>Let's say you have an account that holds cash in US dollars,
+ and it has $1,000 in it. You want to buy about $100 worth of
+ Francs, and naturally you'd like to represent those Francs in
+ their own account. Here's what you need to do:</PARA>
+ <ITEMIZEDLIST>
+ <LISTITEM>
+ <PARA>
+ Create a new account (name it "Francs") of type Cash, with a
+ currency of FRF (that's the ISO code for French Francs; see
+ <LINK LINKEND="XACC-ISOCURR">ISO Currency Codes</LINK>, below).
+ </PARA>
+ </LISTITEM>
+ <LISTITEM>
+ <PARA>
+ Create <emphasis>another</emphasis> account (name it "Trading"), of type
+ Currency, with a currency of USD, and a <emphasis>security</emphasis> of
+ FRF. This account will represent <emphasis>trades</emphasis> between the
+ two currencies, or to be more precise, purchases of Francs
+ with dollars.
+ </PARA>
+ </LISTITEM>
+ <LISTITEM>
+ <PARA>
+ Now open the "Trading" account, and enter a transaction that
+ transfers from your cash account. Put 555 in the "Debit"
+ column, and 0.18 in the Price column. (GnuCash will offer to
+ calculate the Value for you; let it do so.) You've now bought
+ 555 Francs for $0.18 apiece.
+ </PARA>
+ </LISTITEM>
+ <LISTITEM>
+ <PARA>
+ Transfer the 555 Francs that are now in your trading account
+ into the "Francs" account (by putting "555" in the "Debit"
+ column). Note that you could not have transferred anything
+ directly from cash to Francs (try it); those two accounts do not
+ have a currency in common.
+ </PARA>
+ </LISTITEM>
+<LISTITEM>
+ <PARA>
+ Note that your "Trading" account now is a bit screwed up --
+ the last transaction, transferring 555 francs to your "Francs"
+ account, didn't record the price of those francs. You can
+ change the price from 1 to 0.18 to make the balance in the
+ "Trading" account come out to zero.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </ITEMIZEDLIST>
+<PARA>
+ Here's what it all looks like once you're done:
+ <MEDIAOBJECT>
+ <IMAGEOBJECT>
+ <IMAGEDATA FILEREF="image/foreign-currency.png">
+ </IMAGEOBJECT>
+ </MEDIAOBJECT>
+
+ </para>
+</SECT1>
<SECT1 ID="XACC-ISOCURR">
<TITLE> ISO Currency Codes</TITLE>
<PARA>More currencies than you thought possible...
Index: doc/sgml/C/xacc-recnwin.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/cvs/cvsroot/gnucash/doc/sgml/C/xacc-recnwin.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.3
diff -w -u -p -r1.3 xacc-recnwin.sgml
--- doc/sgml/C/xacc-recnwin.sgml 2000/09/15 06:59:10 1.3
+++ doc/sgml/C/xacc-recnwin.sgml 2000/09/20 03:39:06
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
<ARTICLE ID="XACC-RECNWIN">
<ARTHEADER>
-<TITLE>Reconciliation Window</TITLE>
+<TITLE>Reconcile Window</TITLE>
</ARTHEADER>
-
-<PARA>The Reconciliation window is used to reconcile a GnuCash account with
+<PARA>The Reconcile window is used to reconcile a GnuCash account with
a statement that a bank or other institution has sent you.
</PARA>
+
+
<PARA>For example, when you write a check for something, you should enter
the transaction into GnuCash. The reconciliation
(<GUILABEL>R</GUILABEL>) field of the transaction will initially
@@ -17,20 +18,12 @@
(cleared, but not reconciled).
</PARA>
-<PARA>At the end of the month, you receive your bank statement,
- perhaps including canceled checks. At that point,
- you should "reconcile" the account, that is, match your personal
- records with the documentation provided by the bank.
- </PARA>
-
<ITEMIZEDLIST>
<LISTITEM>
-<PARA>Open the reconcile window by selecting
- <GUIMENUITEM>Reconcile...</GUIMENUITEM> from the
- <GUIMENU>Accounts</GUIMENU> menu of the account's
- <LINK LINKEND="xacc-regwin">Register window</LINK>. GnuCash will prompt
- you for some information from the statement:
+
+<PARA>Choose <GUIMENU>Reconcile</GUIMENU> from the Accounts menu, and GnuCash will prompt you to
+ enter the ending balance from the bank statement.
</PARA>
@@ -39,6 +32,7 @@
<IMAGEDATA FILEREF="image/recninfo.png">
</IMAGEOBJECT>
</MEDIAOBJECT>
+
</LISTITEM>
<LISTITEM>
<PARA>Enter the date of the end of the period that the statement covers,
@@ -54,13 +48,14 @@
</IMAGEOBJECT>
</MEDIAOBJECT>
- <PARA>The <GUILABEL>Funds In</GUILABEL> and <GUILABEL>Funds Out</GUILABEL>
- groups lists all the unreconciled transactions. The
- '<GUILABEL>?</GUILABEL>' columns show whether the transactions have
+ <PARA>The <GUILABEL>Debits</GUILABEL> and <GUILABEL>Credits</GUILABEL>
+ groups list all the unreconciled transactions. The
+ '<GUILABEL>R</GUILABEL>' columns show whether the transactions have
been cleared or reconciled.
</PARA>
</LISTITEM>
+
<LISTITEM>
<PARA>Now, examine each item on the bank statement, and look for the
matching item in the Reconcile window.
@@ -86,7 +81,7 @@
</PARA>
<PARA>If the amounts agree, click on the item in the Reconcile window. The
- '<GUILABEL>?</GUILABEL>' column will change to '<LITERAL>y</LITERAL>'
+ '<GUILABEL>R</GUILABEL>' column will change to '<LITERAL>y</LITERAL>'
(reconciled) from '<LITERAL>n</LITERAL>' or '<LITERAL>c</LITERAL>'.
</PARA>
@@ -95,31 +90,29 @@
amounts in GnuCash, and marking off transactions in GnuCash
as they are reconciled.
-
</PARA>
</LISTITEM>
<LISTITEM>
-<PARA>At the bottom of the window is a difference field, which
- should be $0.00 when you are done reconciling. If it isn't,
- then you have either missed transactions, or some amounts may
- be incorrect in GnuCash. (Or, probably rather less likely,
+<PARA>At the bottom of the "Reconcile" window is a "Difference" field, which
+ should show $0.00 when you are done reconciling. If it shows some other value,
+ then either you have missed transactions, or some amounts may
+ be incorrect in GnuCash. (Or, less likely,
the bank may have made an error.)
-
-
-
</PARA>
+
</LISTITEM>
<LISTITEM>
-<PARA>When you have completed marking off all the items on the
- bank statement, and when the difference is $0.00, you should press the
+<PARA>When you have marked off all the items on the
+ bank statement, and when the difference is $0.00, press the
<GUIBUTTON>Finish</GUIBUTTON> button on the tool bar or select
<GUIMENUITEM>Finish</GUIMENUITEM> from the
- <GUIMENU>Reconcile</GUIMENU> menu. The Reconcile window will close.
+ <GUIMENU>Reconcile</GUIMENU> menu (the latter method will work
+ even if your "Difference" isn't $0.00).
+ The Reconcile window will close.
In the <LINK LINKEND="xacc-regwin">Register window</LINK>, the
<GUILABEL>R</GUILABEL> field of the reconciled transactions will
change to '<LITERAL>y</LITERAL>'.
-
</PARA>
</LISTITEM>
</ITEMIZEDLIST>
Index: doc/sgml/C/xacc-regwin.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/cvs/cvsroot/gnucash/doc/sgml/C/xacc-regwin.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.3
diff -w -u -p -r1.3 xacc-regwin.sgml
--- doc/sgml/C/xacc-regwin.sgml 2000/09/15 06:59:10 1.3
+++ doc/sgml/C/xacc-regwin.sgml 2000/09/20 03:39:06
@@ -167,9 +167,10 @@
indicates that a transaction has been reconciled,
'<LITERAL>n</LITERAL>' indicates that it has not, and
'<LITERAL>c</LITERAL>' indicates that it has been cleared, but not
- reconciled. When a transaction has cleared, you can change its status
- to '<LITERAL>c</LITERAL>' by clicking on its <GUILABEL>R</GUILABEL>
- field.
+ reconciled. You can toggle
+ the reconciliation status between '<LITERAL>n</LITERAL>' and '<LITERAL>c</LITERAL>' by clicking in the
+ (<GUILABEL>R</GUILABEL>) field; you can set it to '<LITERAL>y</LITERAL>' by using the <LINK
+ LINKEND=XACC-RECNWIN>Reconcile Window</LINK>.
</PARA>
<PARA>At the bottom of the account window, there are two running
--
PGP Fingerprint: 3E7B A3F3 96CA 8958 ACC5 C8BD 6337 0041 C01C 5276