OFX - Select Account dialog is ambiguous

[John P. New]

Situation:

-Download .ofx file from bank's website.
-.ofx file has multiple accounts (in my case, one bank account and two
credit cards)
-gnucash file has never before had an .ofx import
-import the .ofx file

When the Select account dialog opens, it says:

"The following online account is currently unknown to GnuCash:
	(Account ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)'
Then a list of gnucash accounts are given in a list box.

The problem arises in an .ofx file that has multiple bank accounts
within it. While the 'Account ID' does correspond to the bank account
number, this is not immediately obvious. For example, the Account ID for
my bank account has 10 digits before it gets to the account number. The
Account ID looks as if it is unrelated to my bank account.

I think the problem arises in how the Account ID is presented. From the
.ofx file in question, in the <BANKACCTFROM> tag, there is a <BANKID>
tag and a <ACCTID> tag. Both the <BANKID> and <ACCTID> are concatenated
to produce the 'Account ID' in the "Select Account' dialog. From what I
can see, the <BANKID> tag doesn't correspond to the bank's transit
number or any other code I could find; the <ACCTID>, however, does
correspond to the full bank account number (transit number plus account
number). In all three cases, I could find the <ACCTID> number on my bank
statement. This held true in the other .ofx files from my two other
banks.

Proposed resolution:

1) Change the words 'Account ID' to 'Online ID'.to correspond to the
column in the list box
2) Add the message: 'Bank Account Number:' and set this equal to
<ACCTID>
3) Add the message: 'This Bank Account Number should correspond to the
account number on your bank statement'
4) Add a column in the gnucash account list in the 'Select Account'
dialog that corresponds to the 'Account Code' in the 'Edit Account'
dialog (from Edit/Edit Account in main window) in the remote chance that
someone has entered an account number in this field.

Comments?

John P. New
London, Ontario, Canada