Long-term Error in Report Not Fixed (was Report Problem Since Updating GnuCash)

Thu Dec 3 13:11:29 EST 2015

> 
> From: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
> Date: September 9, 2015 at 3:20:21 PM CDT
> To: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>, "<gnucash-user at gnucash.org> User" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net>
>> Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
>> Date: September 4, 2015 at 10:05:33 AM CDT
>> To: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>
>> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>>> From: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU <mailto:warlord at MIT.EDU>>
>>> Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
>>> Date: September 4, 2015 at 8:57:28 AM CDT
>>> To: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net <mailto:lybanon at earthlink.net>>
>>> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>>> 
>>> Hi Matthew,
>>> 
>>> Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net <mailto:lybanon at earthlink.net>> writes:
>>> 
>>>> I’d appreciating some help in tailoring a Gnucash report—or choosing
>>>> the correct report.  Sorry about the length of this post.
>>>> 
>>>> A club I belong to has an annual show that’s big enough to have its
>>>> own account, and I’m the “show treasurer.”  All I need to do is
>>>> balance a checkbook—just income and expenditures, no salaries, taxes,
>>>> investments, etc.  For years I’ve used Gnucash very happily.  The
>>>> software is capable of a lot more than I use it for, and it does what
>>>> I need very well.
>>>> 
>>>> For a long time I stuck with an old version (2.4.13) of Gnucash.  I
>>>> recently upgraded to version 2.6.7, and everything is fine—except for
>>>> one report.  (I run Gnucash on a Mac under OS X 10.5.5, but I don’t
>>>> think that has anything to do with the issue.)
>>>> 
>>>> The report in question shows all the transactions (+ and -) for a
>>>> month, in chronological order, with a running balance.  Here is the
>>>> beginning of a report generated by Gnucash 2.4.13 (I saved the html
>>>> file on my hard drive), column headings and the first transaction:
>>>> Date
>>>> Description
>>>> Transfer
>>>> Deposit
>>>> Withdrawal
>>>> Balance
>>>> 07/06/2015
>>>> Check 1302 (details omitted)
>>>> Expenses:Check
>>>> 
>>>> $118.23 <gnc-register:split-guid=d372c061e18e55b63e9516bdeab75633%23>	
>>>> $13,536.49 <gnc-register:split-guid=d372c061e18e55b63e9516bdeab75633%23>
>>>> 
>>>> (I apologize if the columns don’t line up.)  The amount in the
>>>> rightmost column is the checkbook balance after the transaction.  And
>>>> here is the beginning of the same report (for a later month) generated
>>>> by Gnucash 2.6.7:
>>>> 
>>>> Date
>>>> Description
>>>> Transfer
>>>> Deposit
>>>> Withdrawal
>>>> Balance
>>>> 08/06/2015
>>>> Check 1303 (details omitted)
>>>> Expenses:Check
>>>> 
>>>> $4,036.00 <gnc-register:split-guid=1fcf319a36c92431d5e149e36bd67fbc%23>	
>>>> -$4,036.00 <gnc-register:split-guid=1fcf319a36c92431d5e149e36bd67fbc%23>
>>>> While the earlier report shows the checkbook balance after the
>>>> transaction in the rightmost column, the later report doesn’t.  It
>>>> shows the result of applying the transaction to a zero initial
>>>> balance.  (What’s more, I still have the old report in a tab in
>>>> Gnucash.  Instead of showing the checkbook balance after the
>>>> transaction, as it did before, now the rightmost column of the old
>>>> report shows the result of applying the transaction to a zero balance.
>>>> I understand that Gnucash re-generates reports each time it starts
>>>> up—which means now old reports have the same problem as new ones.)
>>>> 
>>>> I’m obviously not a “power user” of Gnucash, but I’ll describe how I
>>>> created the report.  In the Gnucash tab that shows, in effect, the
>>>> checkbook register (Assets:Current Assets:MyAccount), I choose Filter
>>>> By… in the View menu.  On the Date tab I choose Select Range/Choose
>>>> Date, and enter the beginning and ending dates for the period I want.
>>>> Then I choose Account Report from the Reports menu.  I eliminate two
>>>> columns I’m not interested in (Num and Memo), and there’s the report,
>>>> showing the transactions for the selected period.
>>>> 
>>>> As well as I can remember, that’s how I did it when I was running
>>>> Gnucash 2.4.13.  Can someone tell me what I need to do to have the
>>>> “Balance” column show the running balance from the checkbook register,
>>>> rather than what it shows now?
>>> 
>>> Is this ia Custom Report (that you wrote?) or is this one of the GnuCash
>>> reports?  If the latter, which report?
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>> 
>>> -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/ <http://web.mit.edu/warlord/>    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
>>>      warlord at MIT.EDU <mailto:warlord at MIT.EDU>                        PGP key available
>> 
>> 
>> Not a custom report.  It’s one of the built-in GnuCash reports.  Reports Menu:  Account Report, after selecting the date range for which I want to see transactions.
>> 
> 
> 
> I haven’t seen any further replies for several days.  I hope my answer didn’t get lost.  The report I’m having trouble with is one of the built-in Gnucash reports, not a custom report.
> 
> 
> 
> From: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
> Subject: Re: Report Problem Since Updating Gnucash
> Date: September 9, 2015 at 3:51:55 PM CDT
> To: Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net>
> Cc: Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU>, "<gnucash-user at gnucash.org> User" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> 
> 
> 
>> On Sep 9, 2015, at 1:20 PM, Matthew Lybanon <lybanon at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Not a custom report.  It’s one of the built-in GnuCash reports.  Reports Menu:  Account Report, after selecting the date range for which I want to see transactions.
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I haven’t seen any further replies for several days.  I hope my answer didn’t get lost.  The report I’m having trouble with is one of the built-in Gnucash reports, not a custom report.
> 
> Confirmed, and it looks like a bug.
> 
> Regards,
> John Ralls
> 

Yesterday I upgraded from GnuCash 2.6.7 to GnuCash 2.6.9.  I hoped that the bug had been corrected but I was disappointed.  I see exactly the same behavior I saw with v 2.6.7.  Are there any plans to work on this?  The report in question is Account Report, the next-to-last item in the Reports menu.  It worked correctly for me in versions earlier than 2.6.7. 