Default account structure for different locales

[Ngewi Fet]

Thanks for that clarification John.
Intuitively I expected the GUIDs to be generated each time. But once I
tried to import two files from different locales (and different machines)
and had the GUIDs all coincide.
That surprised me and got me wondering if GnuCash hardcodes the GUIDs
somehow (which I don't think makes sense). But good to know that it's
generated each time.

The GUIDs are not too critical for me though, (QIF doesn't use them the
GnuCash desktop doesn't check them for OFX). It was more of a
future-proofing thing.

However I cannot use the XEA files because they do not have any XML
namespaces declared in them. Also, although I noticed the similarity, I
don't know what else could be
different between an XEA file and an exported account structure file.

If the only difference is the lack of XML namespaces and the "new" instead
of "guid" attribute, then I can change all that myself and use the files
as-is.
Can you confirm that this is the case?

Cheers,


On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 4:20 PM, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:

>
> On Jan 30, 2014, at 1:25 AM, Ngewi Fet <ngewif at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Oh that's a bummer. :(
> > I want to have the GUIDS and in addition, the import functionality
> > currently built into the app handles only actual Gnucash account
> structure
> > files.
> >
> > That means I need people to actually export the Gnucash account files and
> > send to me after all. Right? Gnucash seems locked down to my computer
> > locale, so I cannot generate all the files myself for different locales.
> >
> > Would everyone be so kind as to do this (as described in the first mail
> in
> > this thread) and send me the file together with your country and
> language?
> >
> > Please I need the files to be in the actual locale language and currency,
> > so if, for example, you are in Germany and using Gnucash in English then
> > you don't need to send it.
>
> Ngewi,
>
> I think you're missing that GnuCash generates a *new* GUID *when it
> creates the account*. Any GUIDs are valid only for the account file from
> which they came. Try this yourself: Turn off compression or use SQLite and
> make two new files using the default "common accounts" template, then
> compare the account entries: Everything will be the same except the GUIDs.
>
> If I send you an exported accounts structure, the GUIDs will apply only to
> the file from which I exported it.
>
> There's more: The example files in the accounts directories do have GUIDs:
> They need them in order to have a hierarchy. The only difference aside from
> the actual GUID is that the act:id type element is "new" in the XEA file
> and "guid" in the exported file. I've illustrated this below.
>
> Unless you're on a Mac, you can change the locale of your Gnucash instance
> by uncommenting and then changing the "LANG" entry in
> etc/gnucash/environment (on Windows that's c:\Program Files
> (x86)\gnucash\etc\gnucash\environment).
>
> Regards,
> John Ralls
>
> Account Export
> <gnc:account version="2.0.0">
>   <act:name>Assets</act:name>
>   <act:id type="guid">b2c27b8aa3c89ea4c6d4843530f0c23f</act:id>
>   <act:type>ASSET</act:type>
>   <act:commodity>
>     <cmdty:space>ISO4217</cmdty:space>
>     <cmdty:id>USD</cmdty:id>
>   </act:commodity>
>   <act:commodity-scu>100</act:commodity-scu>
>   <act:description>Assets</act:description>
>   <act:slots>
>     <slot>
>       <slot:key>placeholder</slot:key>
>       <slot:value type="string">true</slot:value>
>     </slot>
>   </act:slots>
>   <act:parent type="guid">f70a1d3a15cb57738bec7fdb9dffd78e</act:parent>
> </gnc:account>
>
> Account XEA
> <gnc:account version="2.0.0">
>   <act:name>Assets</act:name>
>   <act:id type="new">98f262dfab9a2b99ac42919dcf58d304</act:id>
>   <act:type>ASSET</act:type>
>   <act:commodity>
>     <cmdty:space>ISO4217</cmdty:space>
>     <cmdty:id>USD</cmdty:id>
>   </act:commodity>
>   <act:description>Assets</act:description>
>   <act:parent type="new">1972cce2e2364f95b2b0bc014502661d</act:parent>
>   <act:slots>
>     <slot>
>       <slot:key>placeholder</slot:key>
>       <slot:value type="string">true</slot:value>
>     </slot>
>   </act:slots>
> </gnc:account>