Learning, need clarification

Fri Feb 13 11:13:43 EST 2015

HOW??  Hum I might have figured it out.

On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 11:07 AM, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Please remember to include the gnucash-users list in replies, so others
> can benefit from our conversation.
>
> If you can read the .gnucash file as text after uncompressing it, you are
> using the XML back end. As of now, unless you are trying to do something
> that GnuCash doesn't fully support, it should not matter, as a user, which
> backend you use, except that the SQL backend isn't considered ready for
> default usage.
>
>
>
> On Fri Feb 13 2015 at 10:51:00 AM David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I also took the 7 zip route and, sure enough, it is readable in WordPad I
>> see all my accounts and other familiar entries.
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 10:27 AM, David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> After much searching I think I am using SQL. I found the sqlliter3.exe
>>> in a gnu folder by doing a custom search.
>>>
>>> Now I have to figure out how to use it.
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The .gnucash file is compressed XML, and Win7 identifies the file type
>>>> primarily by the extension. So when it sees a file ending in ".gnucash", it
>>>> doesn't know it's XML. Even if it did, since it's compressed, it'll look
>>>> like gibberish until it's uncompressed.
>>>>
>>>> You can use the program 7zip to uncompress it, or you can, within
>>>> GnuCash, go to the Edit->Preferences dialog, and, under "General" find and
>>>> untick "Compress files" option. There may be other options in the
>>>> preferences you might want to adjust as well.
>>>>
>>>> Once you save your data file after that, you can rename it with a .xml
>>>> extension, then your Win7 will recognize it as an XML file and allow you to
>>>> look at it with an XML viewer. Not that there's any real need to.
>>>>
>>>> I, too, tried to open a new book in Win7, and was not asked about a
>>>> backend. I suspect that the standard Win7 build does not include SQL
>>>> support.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri Feb 13 2015 at 9:21:57 AM David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Forgot the attachment.
>>>>>
>>>>> And when I re-installed there were no questions about back end.
>>>>> ""When you first started GnuCash, it asked you in one of those
>>>>> questions you probably didn't know what meant: what back end did you want
>>>>> to use? XML was the default.""
>>>>>
>>>>> I am running win 7.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 9:12 AM, David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com
>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks Buddha, Your last paragraph above is what I had before I
>>>>>> deleted all those files.  Whatever the long named one was I renamed it
>>>>>> DavidAnn and now I have it and two log files in the folder. I will watch
>>>>>> the folder to see what happens as time moves on by and I get more accustom
>>>>>> to using GNUcash.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Frankly, I thought the DavidAnn file which had a created date of 1/30
>>>>>> was the original file and did not have the information that I had added
>>>>>> since then.  So i probably did open one of the back ups because I thought
>>>>>> it contained the latest data.  I will watch it as I add transactions and
>>>>>> see if the file size gets larger.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I found this link to read xml files for using Google Chrome. When I
>>>>>> click Control O it and choose the .gnucash file it downloads the file to my
>>>>>> downloads folder and then opens Gnucash as if I doubled clicked the icon on
>>>>>> desktop. I do not see an xml file.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So, I tried this link and clicked the Browse button, found the file
>>>>>> and opened it and that site says it is not an xml file.  So maybe I do have
>>>>>> a sql file.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I attach a screen shot of my File > Open screen.  What does the
>>>>>> highlighted choices indicate if anything.  When I try the bottom two It
>>>>>> asks for a username and PW and I just stick one in and get an error message.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Maybe I should read your response, Uninstall and re-install and pay
>>>>>> attention this time.  I think that is what I will do.  I will let you know
>>>>>> how it turns out.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 7:52 AM, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri Feb 13 2015 at 3:19:54 AM David <chrstdvd at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Ref:
>>>>>>>> http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-could-not-obtai
>>>>>>>> n-the-lock-file-td4675956.html
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I wanted to reply or ask a question concerning the above thread,
>>>>>>>> but since I
>>>>>>>> am squeaky new here I thought I should start my own thread.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Later on before posting this I went back to help and typed in
>>>>>>>> Backup and
>>>>>>>> Restore into search box and got one hit.  But I do not think it
>>>>>>>> says exactly
>>>>>>>> what the first article said, because I can not find the sentence
>>>>>>>> that talks
>>>>>>>> about before and after a version what format the database file is
>>>>>>>> written in
>>>>>>>> in that topic.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 1.  Is the database used by Gnu built into the program?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yes, maybe, depending on what platform you are running, I think?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> GnuCash runs on many platforms, each of which may have it's own
>>>>>>> conventions for what gets installed and what doesn't. I believe GnuCash
>>>>>>> uses Postgresql or MySql, both of which ship with standard Linux
>>>>>>> distributions, but not with Windows. I do not know if the GnuCash installer
>>>>>>> for Windows ships with the database engine.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2.  Am I using a Sql database?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Probably not. With the current release, the SQL backend is not
>>>>>>> considered reliable enough -- not that the SQL database will crash and lose
>>>>>>> data, but in that the developers aren't sure they have successfully caught
>>>>>>> all the areas where consistency checks and the like need to be made. They
>>>>>>> think they have, but they are conservatively cautious.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As such, the default is to not use the SQL back end.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 3.  If so, How?  If not, what am I using?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> When you first started GnuCash, it asked you in one of those
>>>>>>> questions you probably didn't know what meant: what back end did you want
>>>>>>> to use? XML was the default.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You are most likely using the XML backend.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The "XYZ.gnucash" file that it generates is a compressed XML file.
>>>>>>> You can use a decompression utility (I'm not sure of the appropriate one on
>>>>>>> Windows) to decompress it and look at the raw XML if you wish.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 4.  In Quicken you can backup your data file to external drive. A few
>>>>>>>> moments ago I opened my Gnu folder, copied the largest file to my
>>>>>>>> desk top,
>>>>>>>> opened it to verify it is the correct most current file.  Then I
>>>>>>>> deleted the
>>>>>>>> 147 files in my Documents > Gnucash > DavidAnn file.  Then I cut
>>>>>>>> the file
>>>>>>>> off desktop and pasted it back into the now empty folder, verified
>>>>>>>> it worked
>>>>>>>> and was correct, closed it down and then copied it onto a thumb
>>>>>>>> drive and my
>>>>>>>> external hard drove in appropriate folder.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Is there an easier way to back up a data file to external drive?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I would have just copied the data file, and not bothered with moving
>>>>>>> it to the desktop, deleting all the backups/logs, etc.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What you are seeing in the 148 files in that directory are:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> One file named "DavidAnn.gnucash"
>>>>>>> A slew of files named "DavidAnn.gnucash.2014092825408.gnucash" or
>>>>>>> similar
>>>>>>> A slew of files named "DavidAnn.gnucash.2014092825909.log" or
>>>>>>> similar
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The short file name is your actual data file. The long file names
>>>>>>> ending in ".gnucash" are timestamped backups. The number is the timestamp,
>>>>>>> and reflects the year, month, day, and second the backup was automatically
>>>>>>> made. The long files ending in ".log" are a record of transactions posted
>>>>>>> since the previous log file. It is not intended for day-to-day usage.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> While it is probably the case that the actual data file is larger
>>>>>>> than the backups, it is not guaranteed: it may have more transactions, but
>>>>>>> compress better, for instance. As such, look for the timestamp-less file
>>>>>>> name to back up.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It's possible that you don't have a "DavidAnn.gnucash", but have
>>>>>>> (now) a bunch of "DavidAnn.gnucash.2015010524312.gnucash.2015020452314.gnucash"
>>>>>>> files, meaning that you opened and used a previous backup, and gnucash is
>>>>>>> making more backups of changes you've made to that. So it's appended
>>>>>>> another timestamp to the filename. This is probably not what you want.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thank you for reading and offering advice.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>> View this message in context: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabb
>>>>>>>> le.com/Learning-need-clarification-tp4675966.html
>>>>>>>> Sent from the GnuCash - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>