Trouble Loading Finance::Quote

[David T.]

You know, it might not be that difficult to create a wraparound batch file (assuming that you are on Windows) that does what is mentioned in the Concepts document. Using a text editor, just put the command on the first line, and the appropriate Gnucash command on the next, and use this batch file to run Gnucash. Unfortunately, I no longer do Windows, so I can't try it out on Windows and give the exact commands, but I suspect others could.

It will have something like:

/Path/To/Gnucash/gnucash --add-price-quotes $HOME/gnucash-filename
/Path/To/Gnucash/gnucash

You might even get fancy and do:

/Path/To/Gnucash/gnucash --add-price-quotes $HOME/$1
/Path/To/Gnucash/gnucash

and then create a shortcut that passed your file as a parameter. That way, you could have more than one Gnucash file and update it with different desktop icons. {keep in mind that you need to set the appropriate paths; that's the part I can't help you with}

As for that review, I have sent a comment to them to ask that they correct the inaccuracy. I will also see whether I can come up with clearer language for the online docs.

David

--- On Tue, 3/30/10, John Layman <john.layman at laymanandlayman.com> wrote:

> From: John Layman <john.layman at laymanandlayman.com>
> Subject: RE: Trouble Loading Finance::Quote
> To: "'John Ralls'" <jralls at ceridwen.us>
> Cc: "'gnucash-user'" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 12:41 PM
> Re-reading this section of the doc,
> yes, I see that I had a misconception
> about how this feature is invoked once it has been
> installed [probably due
> to my having read the review first - it's what persuaded me
> to give GNUCash
> a try].  But, 'succinct' is not a word I'd use to
> describe the way this
> feature is documented, and for a person like myself who has
> his hands full
> running a small business, something more succinct would be
> helpful.  As it
> stands, the entire section must be read carefully in order
> to grasp the
> overall "shape" of the feature.
> 
> Clearly, 'clearly' is in the eye of the beholder.  The
> author of the review
> misinterpreted the manual just as I did, and we were both
> making an honest
> effort to use the software properly.  I disagree that
> the doc all that
> plainly puts "automatic" in the context of a cron
> job.  It simply says that
> the command X *can* be used to update prices, and that it
> *can* be automated
> by creating a crontab entry.  Indeed, "automatic" is
> used ambiguously in
> that the 'Get Quotes' button is by implication also
> automatic updating.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Ralls [mailto:jralls at ceridwen.us]
> 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 12:38 PM
> To: john.layman at laymanandlayman.com
> Cc: 'gnucash-user'
> Subject: Re: Trouble Loading Finance::Quote
> 
> 
> On Mar 30, 2010, at 7:29 AM, John Layman wrote:
> 
> > The doc is rather misleading in this regard, given
> that it several 
> > times states that the feature 'automatically' updates
> prices.  There 
> > is nothing very 'automatic' about doing so only
> through menu selection.
> > 
> > I am paralleling with Money 2008 and my Money online
> services have 
> > expired, so I've been running Python scripts in the
> scheduler to 
> > update the stock quotes in Money.  I'll try doing
> the same with GNUCash.
> > 
> 
> The only reference I found to updating automatically was
> the link I posted
> yesterday, which pretty clearly puts "automatic" in the
> context of a cron
> job (the unix equivalent of "Scheduled Tasks"). Where are
> the ones I missed?
> 
> Regards,
> John Ralls=
> 
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