Does GnuCash possess a Journal Entry numbering facility

[Derek Atkins]

Buddha,

Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com> writes:

> If I recall correctly, the existing gnucash data file format for transactions
> includes a unique transaction id, a date posted, and a datetime entered, while
> the individual splits can include a datetime reconciled.
>
> Not all these fields are exposed in the UI, but they probably are in the API.
>
> What purpose would be served by a new journal entry counter that couldn't be
> served by these?
>
> "Choosing to export the JE# field along with its Date permits searching for
> subsequent JEs that predate a
> reconciled balance so as to show the "offending" entry." could be done by
> looking for searching for transactions which have a date-posted before the
> reconciliation date, and a date-entered after the reconciliation date.
>
> The unique transaction ID already serves as a unique identifier for a
> transaction.
>
> Or is there a difference between a journal entry and a transaction I'm not
> aware of?

The idea is to have a monotonically increasing "transaction number" so
you can map the transaction in gnucash to a real-world file.  You can
easily see if you're missing documentation in the file by seeing that
you have a gap in your records.

Using the GUID, while giving your uniqueness, is also random so does not
give you an easy way to find said gaps.  Nor is there any particular
order to them.

You could use the date-posted, date-entered, and GUID combined to create
a mononotonically increasing transaction id.  That would give you the
ordering, but you still don't get a way to see gaps of missing
documentation.

-derek

> On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 1:14 PM, Derek Atkins <warlord at mit.edu> wrote:
>
>     Michael Hendry <hendry.michael at gmail.com> writes:
>    
>     >> I'm not convinced it would be a MAJOR alteration.  You would need to:
>     >>
>     >> 1) add the data field to the Transaction object, and figure out how to
>     >>   best store it.
>     >
>     > Wouldn’t that just happen automatically when the (enhanced) object is
>     > stored? (shows how much I know!).
>    
>     Maybe, maybe not.  Depends how you store it.  Care must be taken to make
>     sure you don't make the data file unloadable by older versions of
>     gnucash, or worse, silently lose the data on older versions.
>    
>     >> 2) Store a global counter (we already have space for these)
>     >
>     > There would also need to be a mechanism for starting the numbering at
>     > a user-specified number.
>    
>     This is just a UI nicety.  The counter mechanisms already exist, which
>     is the harder part.
>    
>     >> 3) Use the counter every time a transaction gets posted (well, the
>     first
>     >>   time) to fill in the field
>     >
>     > Yes, it would be necessary to distinguish between a newly created
>     > Transaction object and one which is being edited.
>    
>     That's easy enough -- when you commit the transaction just check if it
>     already has a number and, if not, grab the next from the counter and
>     store it.
>    
>     >> 4) (optional) add a way to view the value from the register.
>     >
>     > Yes, I would require this, so that I can mark the input document
>     appropriately.
>     >
>     >>
>     >> Note:  what do you do if you later delete a transaction?
>     >
>     > I’d be inclined to deal with this with a Contra Entry, with a text
>     > reference to the transaction number of the transaction which is to be
>     > reversed. I’d probably also edit the original transaction to say it
>     > had been reversed, with a reference to the Contra Entries sequence
>     > number.
>     >
>     >>
>     >
>     > You’ve whetted my appetite, just a little…
>    
>     :)
>    
>     > Michael
>    
>     -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
>    
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-- 
       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