[GNC-dev] Transaction matcher, code to detect many-to-one matches?

[John Ralls]

> On May 6, 2020, at 1:24 PM, jeanl <ripngo at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Devs,
> I'm looking into
> http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GNC-Import-matcher-shortcomings-OFX-realm-at-least-td4718489.html
> where many similar transactions in an OFX file can be matched to the same
> existing transaction in the register.
> I don't see any code to detect this situation in the matching code. I see
> that for each imported transaction we build a list of matching register
> transactions, but I don't see anything that attempts to avoid having
> many-to-one matches.
> 
> Is there a reason for that? Was the previously discussed? Or is just an
> oversight?

I'd guess an initial oversight in the design of the code coupled with it being non-trivial to fix, possibly coupled with the matcher already being slow.

It occurs to me that perhaps matching should be separated into two separate dialogs, perhaps wrapped in an assistant: The first one would match already-entered transactions and the second would run the account matcher on the remaining unmatched ones. That would simplify both the UI and the matching code. Getting something like that done in time for 4.0 isn't likely, though.

Regards,
John Ralls