Price Editor vs Security Editor

[David T.]

Way back when, I had had the idea that a Security setup routine would be useful. Such a procedure would query the user for the ticker symbol and exchange, and from there, attempt to create: 

1) the security; 
2) the security account; and 
3) an income account (for dividends)

I never got very far with my attempts, but every once in a while I think about it again...

David

--- On Fri, 10/15/10, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:

> From: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
> Subject: Re: Price Editor vs Security Editor
> To: "Geert Janssens" <janssens-geert at telenet.be>
> Cc: "gnucash-devel" <gnucash-devel at gnucash.org>
> Date: Friday, October 15, 2010, 7:52 AM
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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