Modify Invoice Templates

[Phil Longstaff]

On July 21, 2009 04:35:17 pm Paul Kruger wrote:
> NOTE TO DEVELOPERS...the program is great EXCEPT for poor invoice
> capabilities which makes in not-usable for most businesses.  There is no
> way I can see any accountant trying to struggle with designing and printing
> invoices with Gnucash unless he is also a graduate computer programmer.
> Daisy the secretary will be totally lost.
>
>
> This seems to have been an on going flaw in Gnucash re Printing and
> Invoices.  I can't imagine any business user being able to use Gnucash
> given the current lack of development in this area.  Printing an invoice is
> a primary and most important function for any accounting program used in
> business.
>
>
> A personal home account user may never need to print an invoice. If that is
> the only audience, this is ok.
>
>
> I am trying to get rid of Windows and Quickbooks but absent any means to
> set up a standard default invoice and print it, Gnucash falls far short on
> that one account. It is a fatal flaw !
>
>
> Everything else is in place and I like the program but it remains a no-go
> until I can lay out my invoice and print it.
>
>
> Suggestion:
>
>
> Use standard HTML and CSS files for templates then place the code to print
> the data where needed.  That way almost anyone can edit templates or offer
> various template designs for download for non-html people. You are already
> set to output as html so why not use the same HTML as a template?
>
> :teeth:

The advantage of gnucash being open-source is that anyone has the right to 
take it and modify it to suit their needs.  The person who wrote the business 
section of gnucash did that.  He designed the invoice to fit his needs and 
provided anyone else the right to take that code and modify it.

The disadvantage of gnucash being open-source is that there is no marketing or 
customer service organization which takes customer needs and feeds them to a 
software team to develop the software.  The versions that are released are 
produced by volunteers who modify the software to scratch their particular 
itches.  For me, a gnucash developer, I have scratched my particular itches, 
and if that helps other people scratch theirs, great.  I personally don't care 
about invoices, but if someone else wants to fix invoices, they are more than 
welcome to pitch in.

Re your suggestion: someone has done what you suggest.  2.3.3 (maybe 2.3.2 as 
well, I can't remember), an unstable version that will be released tomorrow or 
Thursday, contains 1) webkit replacement for gtkhtml as the report display 
engine 2) work by Chris Dennis to define an html/css template for an invoice 
that includes embedded SCM code to insert the data.  Since I'm the 2.3.X/2.4 
release engineer, I've worked with him a bit to get it included in the release 
so that people can try it.  However, it's not my area of interest.  If you 
want to download it (I'm not sure if/how it can run in parallel with a current 
2.2.X installation on windows) and test it out and provide feedback, I'm sure 
Chris would be delighted.

Phil