Another one unhappy with quickfill

[Tommy Trussell]

On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 4:30 PM, Alexander Miller <ambler at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Jeff Kletsky <gnucash <at> allycomm.com> writes:
>
>> I would put it at a level of "strong annoyance"
>
> I'd put it a lot stronger than that. For me it's a deal-breaker and the main
> reason I run a dual-boot system, in order to use my old & trusty Quickbooks.
> I've given up on GC after discovering that a whole raft of transactions have had
> the identical comment copied into them in the (hidden) second row. I hate the
> fact that I'll have to pick up the mouse every time during what ought to be
> keyboard input, or delete stuff that I didn't want entered to begin with. There
> may be people for whom this autocompletion is a useful feature but to me it's
> just a frustration. Why no option to disable - or better still ENable it?

I mostly like the autocompletion, but I agree with your complaint.
Turning on auto-split is one solution (because you can see the text
you don't want) but auto-split is annoying for simple transactions
because you have to tab a lot and re-type the amount twice.

Because this is a volunteer-run project I try to think of ways I can
contribute when I can. I gather the register code is difficult to
understand and nobody tackles it without a lot of motivation. I can
help with the discussion since I am not likely to be able to
contribute with actual code...

I had some ideas about improvements to auto-completion so I wondered
what other register bugs have been filed:

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced;bug_status=UNCONFIRMED;bug_status=NEW;bug_status=ASSIGNED;bug_status=REOPENED;bug_status=NEEDINFO;component=Register;product=GnuCash

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=105797 -- auto-split only
when splits to show

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=493050 -- add a disclosure
triangle to register

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=566728 -- double-click or
enter to disclose splits

I remember discussions in the past about overriding auto-completion,
but if anyone filed bugs on it I didn't see them. Are they lost or
mis-filed?


Here's one idea that has been discussed: an auto-completion override
key.  I remember Quicken had a keystroke to move to the next field
without auto-completion but I don't remember what it was (that's been
many years ago now!).

Alternatively, Undo would work. Could add a standard Undo menu and
keybinding, but have the first invocation of Undo apply just to the
auto-completion.

Alternatively using the first invocation of shift-tab to "undo"
auto-completion. Type description, press tab, see incorrect
completion, shift-tab takes you back to description AND it removes
autofill. Next tab takes you forward to the appropriate amount field
without auto-completion. More keystrokes than a separate key, however.


One more idea: auto split could a little more helpful on the input.
Type a description, Tab, auto-fill and open split, but selection could
go to first auto-filled amount field. Type new amount, and when you
press tab, selection goes to the next field BUT if there is only one
split the newly-typed amount could be auto-inserted into the existing
transaction so it doesn't have to be re-typed.

That sounds like a nightmare to code, but it would be a nice
"spit-and-polish" refinement to the register.


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