trouble with date when importing a just exported csv file.

[David Carlson]

On 1/29/2015 5:27 AM, Larry Evans wrote:
> On 01/28/2015 10:19 PM, David Carlson wrote:
>> On 1/28/2015 10:01 PM, David Carlson wrote:
>>> On 1/28/2015 7:52 AM, Larry Evans wrote:
> [snip]
>>>> I agree about the exporter putting more information than needed.
>>>> I had misread:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.6/C/gnucash-help/ch04s02.html#AccTree-FileMenu
>>>>
>>>> at:
>>>>
>>>> Starts the CSV Account file import process.
> [snip]
>>>> So.. I changed the contents of file import to:
>>>>
>>>> 2014-12-01,Checking Account,Opening Balance,Opening Balances,500.00
>>>>
>>>> and was able to import it as expected; however, I tried something
>>>> similar for the SHA1 account but ran into problems when importing file
>>>> with contents:
>>>>
>>>> 2015-01-02,SHA1,buy another,Checking Account,T,1
>>>>
>>>> As shown by the 2 attachments.  The last attachment, shows I needed some
>>>> action, but I've no idea what action that would be.
> I should have pressed the [Help] button, which would have been some help.
> [snip]
>>> Larry,
>>>
>>> don't give up yet... The match screen looks a lot like the match
>>> screen for the OFX importer.  When I get to that point in the OFX
>>> importer, I just click on the "A" box the first time I see a
>>> transaction, then see what the importer brought in.  If it really
>>> matches an existing transaction I can just decide which of the two to
>>> delete.  The second time a similar transaction comes in then I can
>>> choose U+ R or R if I like what appears.  Have fun.
>>>
>>> David C
>>
>> I forgot to mention that the importer shows that transaction line as red
>> because it sees that the incoming transaction matches an existing
>> transaction, as far as it can tell.  It is often wrong, though, so that
>> is why I check the "A" box if I am not sure that is actually is right
>> about the match.
>>
>> transactions that it knows are new show up as yellow or green and have
>> different choices about assigning transfer accounts, for example.
>>
>> David C
> Thanks very much David.
> I finally got familiar enough so that the import works.
> I minimized the contents of my import file to:
>
> 2015-01-06,buy more,Checking Account,1.5
>
> But it was frustrating to reach the [Preview Settings]
> screen and have to choose from a set of column types which
> didn't include, for example, the Price column of the stock.
> Wouldn't a user interface which selected the account before
> the [Preview Settings] be better?  Then the choices could be
> those actually needed.  IOW, for my case, the choices for
> the column types would be the same as in the actual account
> register, IOW:
>
>   Date, Num, Description, Transfer, R, Shares, Price, Buy, Sell, Balance
>
> Then one wouldn't have to manually specify the Price after the import
> process.
>
> Does that make more sense to you?
>
> -regards,
> Larry
>
>
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Larry,

I am not a developer and while I used to be a programmer before I
retired, I programmed PLCs and DCSs, not computers, which use different
languages and different code structures.

That said, I can see that the OFX importer and the CSV importer(and
possibly some of the other importers)  use a lot of the same underlying
code, in fact some windows are labelled Generic Import.  Also, the OFX
importer has some missing information in some windows such as not
showing check numbers or 'home' account names, and it has some clunky
behavior such as the user cannot backtrack and correct or pause and
resume the process at a later time.  The OFX importer probably also has
the same flaw WRT stock price that you just mentioned, for reasons that
I won't get into here. I have not recently tested that.  That is by no
means a complete list.

I suspect that the underlying code is probably incredibly complex,
because no developer has dared to polish those rough edges.

However, I think that all the 'problems' should be documented in bug
reports so that after the main GnuCash program has been re-structured
according to the developers current plans it should be possible (I hope)
to take another look at these importers.  To that end I would be willing
to try to write a first draft functional logic diagram (with much
guidance) from the user viewpoint (ignoring whatever internal
implementation details are required) if it would be helpful.

Personally, I just don't import security transactions, I do them mostly
by copy and paste from previous transactions, checking them off on
printouts of the brokers statements, spreadsheets, confirmation notices,
etc.

David C