Quickfill gripe -- again!

[David T.]

I will assume that your "<b>" represents the backspace key.

There are two different issues going with Quickfill. The first is getting the description formed as we like; the other is getting the splits the way we like. I will comment only on the first, since I do not know how to avoid the second...

My experience is that if I type "Kmart.<b>" (note the trailing period followed by the backspace) that the description field stays "Kmart". And it does not need further additions on subsequent iterations. Paul, I believe that was the point that Fred was making.

The issue of unwanted split configuration has come up before, and no one has proposed a viable solution that meets everyone's needs.

David



________________________________
 From: Paul Abrahams <abrahams at acm.org>
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org 
Cc: Fred Bone <Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 10:24 AM
Subject: Re: Quickfill gripe -- again!
 
On Tuesday, December 20, 2011 12:00:02 PM Fred Bone wrote:
> 
> You don't need to use the mouse. Tab/backtab does the job just fine, as
> has been pointed out in the past.
> 
Not always so.  If quickfill creates a split transaction, then backtabbing 
won't remove the split.

> > Some folks actiually seemed to think at one time that adding a space to
> > the description would cancel quickfill and posted to that effect on this
> > list.  Would that it were so!   As I mentioned in an earlier post, that
> > works -- but just once.  Making it work forever would be a far more
> > elegant solution than anything else I've seen, including my earlier
> > suggestions such as a leading backspace.
> 
> I expect the reason they think that is that it's true. It does work,
> assuming of course you're not daft enough to leave the extra space in
> place - in that case, you will need to enter a second extra space (or
> some other extra character) for the third variation, and so on.

If you remove the extra space, then quickfill just operates on the Description 
field without the space.  It still does its thing.  I've experimented with this 
behavior quite a bit, and the rule seems to be that quickfill is stateless; it 
bases its action on whatever characters are in the Description field just 
before you hit Tab, and the sequence of keystrokes that produced those 
characters is irrelevant.  In fact, quickfill memorizes trailing spaces in the 
same way it memorizes any other character.

So if you have a description, say, of "Kmart", you can cancel quickfill by 
typing "Kmart<b>" once.  If on a subsequent transaction you type either 
"Kmart" or "Kmart<b>", you'll get the quickfill.   At that point, typing 
"Kmart<b><b>" will again bypass the quickfill -- once.

Since we're now debating what the behavior is, not what it ought to be, we 
should be able to converge on an agreement once we resolve whatever 
misunderstandings there are.  Here's the experiment I suggest:

1. Create a transaction with description "Newstore" and a transfer account 
that's a split.

2. Create another transaction with description "Newstore" and tab across, then 
backtab.  The split will not go away and cannot be removed just by typing 
another account name.

3. Create another transaction with description "Newstore<b>".  No quickfill 
will occur.

4. Create another transaction with description "Newstore<b>"  You'll get the 
quickfill again.

Can you suggest an experiment that demonstrates your view of the matter?

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