mobile gnucash

[Matthew Vanecek]

On Wed, 2003-08-13 at 21:25, Benoit Grégoire wrote:
> On Wednesday 13 August 2003 19:39, you wrote:
> > Hi:
> >
> > I've written an application in java for my sharp
> > zaurus (and in theory any PDA that supports java) that
> > i'm calling mobile gnucash.  It's not at a point
> > that's finished but the UI and class model are mostly
> > done.
> >
> > The next piece I'd like to tackle is the XML storage
> > of transactions.  I'm keeping it light (in the spirit
> > of a temporary holding of transactions for gnucash
> > upon a sync).
> >
> > ANyway, my question is if there is any type of schema
> > or DTD available for the gnucash xml file format?  I
> > can deduce some things from the XML format on my local
> > machine but I wanted to know if there was a better
> > way.
> >
> > Any info appreciated.  
> 
> Writing to the gnucash xml format is neither supported nor encouraged.  It is 
> not meant for data exchange.  If you want an XML based format, write it in 
> OFX 2.0.  Specs and a DTD are available at www.ofx.net.  They are 
> intimidating, but you should be able to manage just with the examples.  It's 
> unlikely there is anything you want to do that isn't covered by that spec.  
> I'll be happy to help you if you get stuck.
> 
> If you want something really simple, you can always output QIF.

Actually, I disagree just a little about the output format.  The Gnucash
DTDs are in the source tree, if you really must use them (Benoit is
right about them, though).  However, since it's a PDA app used for
TEMPORARY storage of transaction, a cleaner (or perhaps more convenient,
from a user perspective) is to create an interface between the Gnucash
Engine and your PDA app, like a sync point or something.  That way, you
can store it more efficiently on the PDA, and you don't have to worry
about the Gnucash data storage format.

That is certainly more work that outputting an OFX file, of course. ;)

To be honest, my original reason for getting involved with Gnucash was
to learn enough about the engine to be able to sync my Handspring Visor
Expense (or to-be-developed custom Expense) app with it  Somehow, I just
got sucked in...


-- 
Matthew Vanecek
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
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For 93 million miles, there is nothing between the sun and my shadow except me.
I'm always getting in the way of something...