multiple display of the same transaction

[Derek Atkins]

Stuart McGraw <smcg4191 at frii.com> writes:

[snip]
>   Assets:Receipts         $150.00 
>   Assets:Receipts         $200.00
>   Assets:Bank:Checking              $350
>
> In the Assets:Receipts register in Basic Ledger view, the 
> transaction will be shown twice. 

Yes, in Basic Mode (and in AutoSplit Mode) it will.  This is by design.

>>> I am just wondering if doing something like this would 
>>> be a reasonable enhancement request (perhaps it already
>>> is?), or if there is some architecture issue that makes 
>>> this impractical.
>> 
>> Perhaps.  The issue is a misconception that the register is actually
>> displaying transactions.  It is not.  The register is displaying splits.
>> This is why you see multiple entries from a transaction with multiple
>> splits into the same account.
>
> But is it really a misconception?  When I look an entry 
> in a register in Basic Ledger view, I see the *transaction* 
> date, number and description, and when I view it in 
> Transaction View I see *all* of the transaction's splits, 
> not just one.  The only split-specific info shown (in Basic 
> Ledger view) seems to be the reconcile flag and the value.

Just because it's showing splits doesn't mean that it MUST be limited to
only data in the "Split" object.  Yes, it shows the Date and
Description, because frankly not showing that data would be stupid and
pointless.  Would it really make sense to only show an account and an
amount?  (note, also, that the "account" shown is technically for the
*other* split in a basic transaction, and not the Split attached to the
"current" register.

So yes, it's still a misconception.

> Most tellingly, when I delete one of these split/transaction
> things, the entire transaction goes away, not just one of 
> its splits.

Sure, because you are deleting the transaction.  You can also tell it
just to delete the split.

> I can conceptualize what's happening: Gnucash retrieves 
> all splits associated with the current register and for
> each of those, gets and displays the associated transaction
> with a few items that are unique to this split.

Yes, that's indeed what is happening.

> But regardless of what one calls what is displayed, I think 
> it useful to ask if what is currently displayed is more or 
> less useful than what I propose be displayed.  It seems to 
> me that for most users, most of the time, showing a single 
> transaction entry when for cases when multiple ones are now 
> displayed, is more useful and less confusing.

Most users, most of the time, don't have transactions with multiple
splits into the same account.  I can certainly tell you that in ten
years of storing my data in GnuCash, I have very few transactions that
are affected by this.

> ----
> [*1] The reason for the two Assets:Receipts splits rather
> than one Asset:Receipts split for $350 is to identify exactly
> which checks are being sent to the bank.  In my OP I gave
> some other cases when one might want a transaction having 
> multiple splits with the same account.

A long time ago there *was* a discussion about having yet another
display mode that would be somewhere between Basic and Journal mode,
where a truly basic (2-split) transaction would take one line, but a
Split Transaction would be displayed as a journal.  This would be a real
"one entry per transaction" display mode.

There may or may not be a BZ request for this feature.  Nobody has
worked on implementing it.  Are you willing to work on it?

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-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available