[GNC-dev] Comments in the state file

[John Ralls]

> On Dec 20, 2019, at 5:50 AM, Robert Fewell <14ubobit at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> Need some advise on this problem I found when trying to fix a budget state
> file issue...
> Currently the register full name is being added as a comment to the
> register sections of the state file based on the group, so we have...
> 
> #Register state for "Assets:Current Assets:Savings Account"
> [Register 5ca76dbe6668a75daeffd33b1229fa0e]
> date_width=111
> ...
> Unfortunately, when the state file is loaded it strips out all the comments
> and it is only the registers that have been open in the current session
> that get there comments added back on save.
> There is a key file flag that can be set, G_KEY_FILE_KEEP_COMMENTS but this
> has the disadvantage of ending up with the comment being added on every
> close so you end up with multiple comments like ...
> 
> #Register state for "Assets:Current Assets:Savings Account"
> 
> #Register state for "Assets:Current Assets:Savings Account"
> [Register 5ca76dbe6668a75daeffd33b1229fa0e]
> date_width=111
> ...
> This does not happen if the comment is for a key, so if the date_width was
> used you get...
> 
> [Register 5ca76dbe6668a75daeffd33b1229fa0e]
> #Register state for "Assets:Current Assets:Savings Account"
> date_width=111
> ...
> So my first idea was to make the changes for above on maint and then in
> master make the key file flag change but this would not work, if some one
> from a version less than 3.8 upgraded to 4.0, there key file would still
> have group comments and they would start multiplying on each save. I did
> try removing the group comment but that does not work with the new key file
> flag,
> 
> The only other thing I can think of is add a dummy key and put the register
> full name in that which what I had done originally. The reason for asking
> is I want to add a similar comment for the budget as it is only
> identifiable by the guid and was looking at the lack of saving of the
> invoice sheet layout hoping to get that sorted on master.

What purpose is served by having the account name in the file at all?

If it's really necessary then I think the dummy key is indeed the way to go: If you have a keep-comment at the key level then it would have to be on every key or would need logic to always move it to the first key at every write.

Regards,
John Ralls