Deleting customers (editing customer on Invoice)

[Geert Janssens]

On Monday 22 June 2015 21:37:39 Christoph Holtermann wrote:
> Hi Derek,
> 
> Am 22.06.2015 um 18:11 schrieb Derek Atkins:
> > Christoph Holtermann <c.holtermann at gmx.de> writes:
> >> I also found that menu now. Thanks !
> >> 
> >> I'd suggest
> >> adding another button beside the owners
> >> name to switch customer. Or to have a
> >> big edit button that leads to the edit dialogue.
> > 
> > There is.  In the toolbar.  The 5th button in, if you hover over it,
> > says "Edit Invoice".  In the olden days the buttons actually had
> > text in them so it was more obvious what they did.  These days you
> > have to hover to get that text, or know what an icon is.  I
> > personally dislike this change, but it's not something we can fix
> > in GnuCash -- it's a HIG change in the toolkit we use.
> 
> I also found that button a bit later.
> 
> >> And couldn't the text fields that are ineditable
> >> be stopped to act as if they are ? It's misleading
> >> to have the comment/memo field behave
> >> the same way as the owner field. The only
> >> difference is that what you type only stays
> >> in the memo field. Maybe the background
> >> could have another color (maybe grey) or
> >> however ineditability is best displayed.
> > 
> > When I first wrote this code I was thinking that, and tried it.  But
> > in so doing it also makes the fields non-selectable, which means
> > you can't cut-and-paste out of them.  I preferred being able to
> > cut-and-paste, so that's the way it is.
> 
> I agree that it's practical to be able to cut and paste. For the dates
> it would be good if it was the same way. Couldn't that be text fields
> in the same manner as the rest of the buttons beinng initialised with
> the date as a string ?
> > Find me a way to make the fields look greyed out but still allow
> > cut-and-paste and I'll gladly apply that change!  (Patches welcome)
> 
> I'll think about it.
> 
> >> In the search invoice dialogue when i click
> >> the button view/edit (I guess, I'm using the
> >> german translation) the invoice ledger (is it
> >> called so) shows. The term view/edit is some-
> >> what misleading because I don't get directly
> >> to the edit dialogue I today discovered but
> >> only in another second step by the edit menu.
> > 
> > All roads take you to the Invoice Register Window.  The only time
> > you
> > get the pop-up dialog is when you create a new invoice or, from the
> > invoice window click on "Edit Invoice" to edit the invoice metadata.
> > 
> > It's labeled View/Edit because that interface doesn't know if the
> > Invoice has already been posted or not.  If it's been posted then it
> > truly is a "View" window because it's completely non-editable. 
> > However if it hasn't been posted then it is an "Edit" window,
> > because you can manipulate the invoice contents.
> 
> I guess it's not intuitive that there are two edit windows and one of
> them changes between view and edit. When I have this view/edit
> changed to edit then I am happy because I can edit. But actually I
> can't do all the editing because for /all/ I have to go to the 2nd
> level of editing windows. If I don't know that there is a 2nd level
> then I won't search for it because I don't know there is something to
> look for. (At least I'm not the only one who did so.) So improvements
> could be made in the direction of making it more visible that the
> editing process has two stages. And I wonder why there have to be two
> stages because the items in the 2nd dialog are essentially the same
> as in the first with the only advantage that they can actually be
> used. the only additional button is a radio button on top and a help
> button.
> 
I made the same comment years ago. Derek's argument then was it was 
implemented as is to prevent accidental changes to the invoice's main 
section (invoice number, owner, date,...). I never really liked the 
double interface but got sidetracked and never came up with a better 
approach.

I could imagine other ways now like for example adding a lock symbol to 
the upper section which you can click to unlock these fields. That's a 
metaphor used quite often by Apple to prevent accidental changes to 
important data.

For me that would even eliminate the need for a separate invoice 
creation/edit window (the second level you speak of).

Regards,

Geert