How do I import OFX files?????

[David Reiser]

On Mar 5, 2010, at 12:32 PM, Bob Smits wrote:

> On March 4, 2010 09:48:24 pm David Reiser wrote:
>> On Mar 5, 2010, at 12:01 AM, Bob Smits wrote:
>>> I may have discovered something important.
>>> 
>>> My version of the .ofx file created is apparently 1.02. This means, I
>>> think, that it is using sgml instead of xml to generate the file.
>>> 
>>> Is the generic matcher expecting an xml file?
>> 
>> No. version 1.02 is by far the most common version ofx files are written
>> to. I get ofx files from something like 10 places, and they're all 102.
>> 
>>> Bob
>> 
>> You've shown us the header. Can you disguise the information later in the
>> file enough to send more of a sample? My first guess is that there's a
>> problem with data in the <FITID> fields. If you could leave the header in,
>> and include disguised stuff from there until you get a couple <STMTTRN>
>> ... </STMTTRN> blocks, then delete everything up to the last </STMTTRN>
>> and then include the remainder of the file (disguised as necessary)? We
>> might be able to make sense of your issue, and possibly remove your ofx
>> files as the cause.
>> 
>> What happens if you copy the following into a text file and try importing
>> it?
>> 
>> ------------start sample here---------------
>> OFXHEADER:100
>> DATA:OFXSGML
>> VERSION:102
>> SECURITY:NONE
>> ENCODING:USASCII
>> CHARSET:1252
>> COMPRESSION:NONE
>> OLDFILEUID:NONE
>> NEWFILEUID:20080715135822.000
>> 
>> <OFX><SIGNONMSGSRSV1><SONRS>
>> <STATUS><CODE>0<SEVERITY>INFO<MESSAGE>Success</STATUS>
>> <DTSERVER>20080715175824.000[0:GMT]<LANGUAGE>ENG
>> <DTPROFUP>20050814070000.000[0:GMT]
>> <DTACCTUP>20080715023620.000[0:GMT]
>> <FI><ORG>B1<FID>10898</FI>
>> </SONRS></SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
>> <CREDITCARDMSGSRSV1>
>> <CCSTMTTRNRS>
>> <TRNUID>20080715135822.000
>> <STATUS>
>> <CODE>0
>> <SEVERITY>INFO
>> <MESSAGE>Success
>> </STATUS>
>> <CLTCOOKIE>1
>> <CCSTMTRS>
>> <CURDEF>USD
>> <CCACCTFROM>
>> <ACCTID>123456789012345
>> </CCACCTFROM>
>> <BANKTRANLIST>
>> <DTSTART>20080617120000[0:GMT]
>> <DTEND>20080714120000[0:GMT]
>> <STMTTRN>
>> <TRNTYPE>DEBIT
>> <DTPOSTED>20080617120000[0:GMT]
>> <TRNAMT>-48.80
>> <FITID>2008061755432868168000841856610
>> <NAME>Some Merchant
>> </STMTTRN>
>> </BANKTRANLIST>
>> <LEDGERBAL>
>> <BALAMT>-158.89
>> <DTASOF>20080715120000[0:GMT]
>> </LEDGERBAL>
>> <AVAILBAL>
>> <BALAMT>4841.11
>> <DTASOF>20080715120000[0:GMT]
>> </AVAILBAL>
>> </CCSTMTRS>
>> </CCSTMTTRNRS>
>> </CREDITCARDMSGSRSV1></OFX>
>> ------------------end of sample----------------------
>> That's from a credit card account, but you should at least see gnucash
>> asking for an account to associate with 123456789012345. If you tell
>> gnucash to create a new account for this one, then you ought to see one
>> transaction in the generic matcher window (in yellow, since it can't know
>> where you want the second split to go.
>> 
>> Dave
> 
> Thanks Dave. 
> 
> I copied the file info to KWrite, created sample.ofx and tried to import it 
> into gnucash. Nothing shows up in the generic matching window at all.
> 
> (File, import, import ofx/qfx)
> 
> When I look at the file, is it enough to disguise the acctid numbers?
> 
> (I don't know what I'm looking at and am afraid to broadcast it)
> 

You certainly want to change the acctid. Beyond that, it depends on how paranoid you are. I tend to change <NAME>, <TRNAMT>,  and <BALAMT> fields, but leave dates ( <DT....>) and <FITID> values. The <BALAMT> fields contain either your remaining credit limit on a card or your bank balance -- not crucial for identity theft purposes, but not something you necessarily want public. Changing the merchant names just makes it hard for someone to infer anything about your buying habits.

It certainly does seem like something is strange with your ofx setup. Do you know what version of libofx you have? I know you mentioned which distro and gnucash you're using, but could you refresh my memory, please? While I don't think it can interfere with a File>Import, which version of aqbanking do you have (if any)?

Is anything showing up in the terminal window between the time you select the file for import and the time the matcher window shows up?

It's really, really strange that gnucash isn't asking you what account you want associated with the account covered by the ofx file.

Dave
--
David Reiser
dbreiser at earthlink.net