Custom Reports - again!

Colin Scott gnucash at double-bars.net
Fri Sep 4 17:31:00 EDT 2009


1.  Create a custom report.  Let's call it "My Report".

2.  Change the definition of the report.  You really want the new
definition to replace "My Report", but you cannot do that, so you are
forced modify the name - say "My Report v2".

3.  Change the definition again.  You still want it to replace "My
Report", so you change the name back to that, and press the Save button.
You get the following message:

> A custom report with this name already exists. Either rename the
> report to store it with a different name, or edit your saved-reports
> file and delete the section with the following name: Pledges &
> Future Payments

Well, you *really* want it called "My Report", so you take the second
suggestion:  exit Gnucash, and edit the saved-reports-2.0 file, and
restart GnuCash.  And get an error when you try to open the report.

This error is because the definition of each iteration of a report is
dependent on the previous iteration, and refers back to it.  You
therefore cannot simply edit the file, it's a thoroughly nasty job
getting rid of old versions.  (I *have* done it, but I don't really enjoy
that sort of stuff.

Given that you can't actually *update* a report definition, is there
actually any real merit in defining the reports with a backward reference
in this manner?  Wouldn't it be less risky, and just as easy to program,
to simply copy the data that at the moment is referred back to?  At least
that way it would be possible to take the advice given in the message,
and edit the file and remove the relevant section ...

Colin


More information about the gnucash-user mailing list