Standard order question

Derek Atkins warlord at MIT.EDU
Mon Jul 20 17:14:45 EDT 2009


Hi,

Quoting Guido Van Hoecke <gnucash at vanhoecke.org>:

> Hi,
>
> I've been using gnucash since dec 2005 for my accounting. I use the
> standard order for all my accounts. I have vainly searched the
> documentation to get a definition of this 'Standard order'.
>
> What I do want, is to view my transactions in exactly the sequence I
> have entered them. (Basically, this means sorted by
> transactions.post_date, transactions.enter_date).
>
> Until gnucash 2.2.x, I managed to achieve this, albeit by some rather
> unfortunate trickery. Whenever I entered something in the num field,
> it had to start it with a period. Then the record would keep its entry
> sequence on the display. My postprocessing software would ignore that
> period. So there was no real problem.
>
> I am now using 2.3.2 and still using the 'Standard order'. However
> transactions are not always displayed in the same sequence as they
> were entered. I have not found any logic in this. I do not know why
> some transactions are displayed out of order, nor what the order of
> these transactions is.
>
> So I have following questions:
>
> 1. Somebody please explain this 'Standard order'.

The standard order is:

Trans.date_posted
Trans.num (using integer compare)
Trans.date_entered
Trans.description
Trans.GUID
Split.memo
Split.action
Split.reconciled
Split.amout
Split.value
Split.date_reconciled
Split.GUID

> 2. Why is this order not always adhered to in 2.3.x?

It most certainly is adhered to.  I don't know why you're seeing what
you're seeing.  Maybe you have more than just a period in your number
column?

> 3. Why is the 'Date of entry' order completely f***ed up? It does not
> show records in sequence of entry. It even mingles dates of entry! (By
> the way, I failed to find a description of this sort order too.)

Are you sure you're set the standard sort order?  There's no way it
should be mingling multiple post dates in standard order... Ever.

> Maybe it could help if one would know how I am using Gnucash. I enter
> all details for all my purchases. So I have e.g. a liability account
> for each of the supermarkets and shops where I buy stuff. When
> returning from the supermarket, I select the account for the store
> where I bought stuff, and enter every detail line and use the num
> field to receive the quantity. So e.g. I'd have a transaction dated
> '2009.07.20', num value '3l', description 'coke zero 50cl', transfer
> 'costs.beverages.sparkling.coke.zero', and increase '4.50'. Every
> single item I purchase gets entered. Remember that I enter '.3l' in
> the num field, so that the num field has no influence on the 'standard
> order'. That is, with 2.2.x at least. Since using 2.3.x, this order is
> no longer guaranteed. I want the entered transactions to remain listed
> exactly in the sequence entered, which obviously is the sequence on
> the store ticket.
>
> I wrote some perl reporting software that uses the 'increase' and the
> 'num' fields to compute unit prices. So I needed some field to enter
> the quantity purchased. The 'num' field was available, so that's how
> it evolved.
>
> I am very willing to provide detailed examples / info about cases
> where the sort order deviates from my expectations to clarify my
> point.
>
>
> Guido
>
> --
> The world really isn't any worse.  It's just that the news coverage
> is so much better.

> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available



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