simple formula problems

[Derek Atkins]

Brad Hajek <brad.hajek at gmail.com> writes:

> Thanks, Fred. Asking for the total and interest fixed the issue.
>
> It is disappointing that the formulas can't accept constants despite the
> FAQ articles suggesting it does. Anyone know if that is scheduled to
> change? I did a quick search in Bugzilla and didn't see anything related.

Just because it's not in Bugzilla does not mean that it is not a bug.
It sounds like a bug to me, but..  Did you use spaces between your
tokens?  I.e., did you enter "338.10-interst" or did you use "338.10 -
interest"?  Try the latter?

If neither works, please file a bug report!

-derek

> On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Fred Bone <Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>> On 15 July 2012 at 9:42, Brad Hajek said:
>>
>> > I have reviewed the 4 links in the FAQ in regards to using variables
>> > within scheduled transaction formulas, but have yet to get even a simple
>> > formula to evaluate correctly. I'm certain I'm just misunderstanding the
>> > documentation.
>> >
>> > Here is one of the formulas I'm working with for a car loan:
>> >
>> > checking account debit: 338.10
>> > expense account credit: interest
>> > liability account credit: 338.10-interest
>> >
>> > The scheduled transaction box always prompts me as expected for the
>> > interest variable. Based on my reading of the FAQ links, I've configured
>> > the subtraction formula with parenthesis around it and a colon-equals in
>> > front of it without any success. I've also tried several different names
>> > for the variable in case 'interest' is already taken for internal
>> > purposes.
>> >
>> > However, no matter what I've tried it comes out unbalanced like this:
>> >
>> > checking account debit: 338.10
>> > expense account credit: interest
>> > liability account credit: 338.10
>> > imbalance-USD account debit: interest
>> >
>> > Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks.
>>
>> I don't think you have misunderstood: it doesn't seem to support the
>> functionality you want.
>>
>> To begin with, "interest" is *not* a reserved word: if it were, the
>> correct amount wouldn't appear in the second split above.
>>
>> It looks as though the presence of figures suppresses the calculation. If
>> you replace the "338.10" with "total", you'll find it works as expected -
>> though you now have to enter that figure as well.
>>
>> What does work is to put "interest" in the debit side of "liability
>> account" (and plain "338.10" in the credit side). Of course, if the
>> calculation were more complicated this might not do, but for your simple
>> use-case it does the trick.
>>
>> (Though I think you have "credit" and "debit" crossed over anyway).
>>
>>

-- 
       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