Price Editor vs Security Editor

[John Ralls]

On Oct 15, 2010, at 6:25 AM, Geert Janssens wrote:

> In afterthought I think I found it confusing because there is no clear visual 
> link between the two.
> 
> In my naive way of using the tools, I would go to the price editor, click the 
> Add button, and see a list of namespaces. It didn't occur to me that only the 
> Currencies namespace has some predefined "securities". To get a price for 
> another security I'd have to first go to the Securities editor, set up a new 
> security and then add a price quote in the Price editor.
> 
> It would have been more intuitive to have a "Add new security" button inside 
> the New Price dialog.
...
> I found that while the price editor only shows the date, internally the time 
> is saved as well, so in principle you could use the price editor to handle 
> multiple prices on the same day. The gui just doesn't show it, which makes it 
> a bit difficult to guess.

Hmm. I can see why your workflow would find the price and security editor setup confusing. I don't think that having an "add security" function in the price editor is the right thing to do, because just adding a security doesn't really get you anywhere: You also need an account to hold that security. Not only that, but for transactional purposes, prices created by the price editor have no effect AFAICT. You create a new price when you enter a transaction involving an exchange between securities (usually between a security and the default currency, but also between currencies for those folks who have to do business in more than one.)

My workflow when I buy a new security is to first create an account; the account editor has a way to select an existing security or to create a new one, which I use. Once the account is created, I return to my cash account and enter the buy transaction. A dialog box comes up asking for the price/exchange rate or the number of (e.g.) shares in the other account bought or sold. That creates the first price entry. (Subsequent purchases or sales will sometimes bring up the "exchange rate" dialog, sometimes not. In the not cases I have to go to the security account and adjust the transaction, which also creates a new price entry.) I seldom use the price editor except to run Finance::Quote.

Regards,
John Ralls