HBCI data structures and Gnucash

[Ross Boylan]

On Wed, May 15, 2002 at 07:37:16PM +1000, Darius Powell wrote:
> > > Apart from those details, online banking deals with just a few different
> > > data types, and I'm going to describe which ones they are and where they
> > > should belong to inside Gnucash, IMHO. This is meant to kick off a
> > > discussion for both the HBCI developers as well as other Gnucash developers
> > > (especially if they are working on yet more online banking standards) on
> > > whether this seems to be the "right way" of implementing online banking in
> > > Gnucash.
> > 
> > I dont know if I have the "right way" anymore than you do, but I am currently 
> > working on OFX support, so here are my thoughts.
> 
> I'm currently working on a script to automatically download
> transactions.  Currently it generates qif files for import.
> 
> However I would like to have more direct plumbing with Gnucash instead
> of manually importing qif files.
> 
> It would be good if transactions were downloaded in the background at
> scheduled times (even if Gnucash is not running).  Also the user
> should be able to request transactions be downloaded from within
> Gnucash.
> 
> If transactions are downloaded and Gnucash is not running then when it
> is started next the transactions are imported automatically.
> 
> If transactions are downloaded (either scheduled or user request) and
> Gnucash is running then Gnucash imports them immediately.
> 
> Perhaps what is needed is a module similar to the Quotes module for
> online banking?  Or does something like this already exist?
> 
> This module could then (based on the account) interface to the
> appropriate external program to perform online banking actions.
> 
> Comments / Ideas?
> 

I think this is an area to be approached gingerly, because it probably
gets into a lot of operating system and distribution specific
dependencies.  Some people have continuous connections; others don't.
As far as I know there isn't really a standard way to initiate a
dial-up connection in Linux.  And some people may want their computer
to dial up without them telling it, while others don't.