Quickfill gripe -- again!

[Paul Abrahams]

On Tuesday, December 20, 2011 11:10:30 AM David T. wrote:
> I will assume that your "<b>" represents the backspace key.

<b> was supposed to represent "blank", not backspace.  That was a poor choice 
on my part.  Please reexamine my comments (reproduced below) with that in 
mind.  
> 
> 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.

I believe that typing "Kmart.<bs>" is in every way equivalent to simply typing 
"Kmart".  Is that right?
> 
> The issue of unwanted split configuration has come up before, and no one has
> proposed a viable solution that meets everyone's needs.

Cancelling the quickfill by whatever method would perforce cancel an unwanted 
split.  And the method I recommend is that a trailing space <s> does the 
cancellation.

As far as what one wants: if the memorized transaction was a split, then there 
are three possibilities: you want the same split as before, you want a 
different split, or you want no split  In the first case, quickfill does exactly 
the right thing; in the third case, cancelling the quickfill does the right 
thing.  The second case is squishier -- is it easier to edit the previous 
split or just construct a new one?  Really, the user should have the choice in 
that case, and a quickfill cancellation convention provides that choice.

>From my earlier post:
> 
> 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?