OFX - can get accounts, but not transactions

[David Reiser]

On Jul 6, 2011, at 9:17 PM, Nathan Stewart wrote:

> I'm new to OFX in GnuCash - been using GnuCash for a while now. I've set up
> my bank using
> http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Setting_up_OFXDirectConnect_in_GnuCash_2, and I
> can obtain a list of my accounts.
> 
> When I try to import transactions though, it fails. Gnucash says there are
> no transactions for this time period. The output looks like:
> Sending jobs to the bank(s)
> Locking user xxxxxxx
> Saving communication log to /tmp/ofx.log  (yes I'm running with logging on
> for the moment)
> Could not create connection (-6)
> Error parsing server response
> Unlocking user xxxxxxx
> Postprocessing jobs
> Resetting provider queues
> 
> Inspecting the ofx.log file doesn't strike me as anything particularly
> imformative, other than some tags are closed <TAG>...</TAG>, but most are
> not closed.
'Most not closed' should not be a problem. Many OFX tags do not need to be closed to work -- especially in the header region.

In the log file, you want to be looking at the bottom of the file -- the log appends until you reboot, so any of your successes will still be there. Look for the last "Received:" that appears at the beginning of a line. Then look for ofx error messages below that. You might not get any. The "could not create connection" suggests that something might be going wrong before the ofx info starts flowing. But there might be a bank error message in the Received: section that might help you debug.

> I googled for ofx, gnucash, and my bank, and did find some stuff
> where they apparently changed the format back in 2008, but 1) nothing
> suspicious since then, and 2) it would appear that there are gnucash users
> using my bank.
> 
> I checked with my bank, while surreptitiously posing as a Quicken user to
> avoid 'we won't tell you what color the sky is because because you're not
> using a supported platform', and it would appear that I don't have to do
> anything with them to set up OFX access there, and they do have documents
> for Quicken, and Money.
> 
> How do I get past the ever enlightening "-6"? What should I be looking for
> now?
> _______________________________________________

Dave
--
David Reiser
dbreiser at earthlink.net