error parsing file > no suitable back end was found

[John Ralls]

On Sep 17, 2013, at 3:13 AM, hospes <hanukenovember at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> hi
> 
> Last week I spent some hours updating transactions on gnucash. 
> I saved the file at each prompt.
> I do have backups to use.
> 
> when I tried to open my gnu cash file the following morning I received the
> parsing file error described in many posts.
> 
> I spent my day trying to rectify it using these posts.  I've spent much more
> time than I can afford now on this file so I' going to redo the lost work.
> 
> I didn't want the information to go unused.
> 
> this is a summary of what I found and where I ended up.
> 
> gnucash_bug_summary.txt
> <http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/file/n4664117/gnucash_bug_summary.txt>  
> 
> 
> The  backup file from the previous save doesn't have the transaction I
> removed the character from.  All backup files after it have the same
> problem. GNU cash allowed me to continue working and saving with this error
> built in.
> I had intended to continue working for a few more hours but my brother came
> to visit, I could have lost more work.
> 
> The character I removed was imported from a Paypal transaction list. 
> downloaded as csv converted to QIF using lloyd's converter ( thanks lloyd,
> it's super helpful! ).
> I've come across the same character in the name field which stops the import
> of QIF files.
> 
> The character if viewed in my paypal account online is a chinese symbol.
> 
> the character in excel, word and notepad is a, calibri  RIGHTWARDS ARROW
> (U+2192)
> 
> I have just tried to copy from notepad to libre office and it doesn't
> display anything.
> 
> I tried to have a look at he bug reports but as a new user I couldn't find
> anything which could help me further.
> I haven't reported this as a new bug in case it's a duplicate.
> 
> I have tried this on windows xp and windows 7 and the results are identical.
> 
> my ubuntu box is not working at the moment so can't test it.
> 
> I hope this information is helpful to someone.

Please do file a bug. If it's a duplicate, we can just close it as such and then you'll have a pointer to
the live bug--but I don't think that it's a duplicate. I searched "error parsing file" and got 5 bugs [1],
none of which seem to describe your problem.

The reason that you didn't have a problem until the next morning is that Gnucash doesn't try to read
back the file when you do a save; that only happens when you start up or open a file.

Regards,
John Ralls

[1] https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?query_format=advanced;bug_status=UNCONFIRMED;bug_status=NEW;bug_status=ASSIGNED;bug_status=REOPENED;bug_status=NEEDINFO;longdesc=error%20parsing%20file;longdesc_type=allwordssubstr;product=GnuCash