Invoice - Custom Design Header for No. 9 Double Window Envelope

Geert Janssens geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be
Sat Mar 21 10:28:02 EDT 2015


On Friday 20 March 2015 12:16:51 L. D. James wrote:
> >> For my modest company, spending a lot of time (hours, days, months)
> >> to get a template of this time would save a lot of time in the end.
> >> From your comment, it appears that this isn't going to be an easy
> >> task.  But hopefully someone with some knowledge of the details of
> >> accessing the templates can help me with where to start.  If
> >> nothing
> >> else, just the request might inspire the developers of gnucash to
> >> feature a more diverse style editor for the various reports.
> >> 
I think the "Tax Invoice" report is the most flexible one in this respect. Contrary to all other 
reports its layout is controlled by css instead of the built-in styles.

So what you can do is copy the file taxinvoice.css from
<gnucash-install-path>/share/gnucash/scm/gnucash/report/
to some place convenient and modify it to your needs. It will allow you for example to move the 
address block to match your envelope window.

Once happy with it, you can refer to this modified css file in the report's options.

This assumes of course you have some css knowledge. If you don't, my suggestion may not 
helpful at all.

If your css knowledge is limited, http://www.w3schools.com/ has some tutorials to learn the 
basics.

And a good way to experiment with css is installing the firebug plugin in mozilla firefox. It 
allows you to modify several css properties and the webpage will be updated on the fly.

If that webpage happens to be an exported version of one of your invoices using the tax invoice 
report, you immediately see which changes affect which parts of your invoice. Do keep in mind 
that changes you make in firefox/firebug are not saved. If you're happy with the changes you 
have to manually enter them in the custom invoice.css file to use them in gnucash as well.

Hopefully this can help you achieve your goal.

> >> Thanks for the comment on the "batch editor".  Being new to
> >> gnucash,
> >> this might be where the desired template/feature exist. I'll be
> >> studying the details of what that is in meantime.
> >> 
> >> -- L. James
> > 
> > You didn't say what operating system you were using so I don't know
> > what "tools" you have available or experience using.
> > 
> > The "shell" plus library of standard utilities is the sort of thing
> > you might use for a batch edit script if you were under a 'nix type
> > operating system (like linux, unix, etc.)
> > 
> > Yes, the developers of gnucash could take on the task of creating
> > full power editors. But these already exist, so why do that?
> > 
> > I appreciate that I was writing from the experience of working for
> > one of the world's largest "financials" and in a small business you
> > might not have the need for things like "batching mailings by zip
> > code" (for the bulk mail discount). I was simply making a point
> > that if the developer provided OTHER things requested, the sort of
> > thing likely left out and so somebody else's need not addressed.
> > The diverse needs are infinite.
> > 
> > But in that large business context, I wore multiple hats. So I did
> > do
> > things like specs for a subsystem that would produce something that
> > would end up getting mailed. I would NEVER put the "adjust so fits
> > mailer window" into the program producing the output (letters,
> > notices, statements, etc.). That way, when changes needed to be made
> > (new envelops) the programmers assigned the task didn't need to know
> > about the main part of the program, didn't have to touch it, no
> > chance of introducing an error into it.
> > 
> > This is a "keep it simple" issue, pays big in the long run.
> > Adjusting
> > where print physically appears on the paper has nothing to do with
> > accounting.
> > 
I do think gnucash is in a different boat here. As others have noted GnuCash users usually don't 
have the skills to go and tie several tools together to format plain accounting data into a nicely 
formatted invoice in a fully automated way. So I think this is something gnucash should provide. 
I does to a limited extent.

In my opinion, gnucash should provide a decent reporting base with room for customization. 
That has always been the idea. The stylesheet editor is one example of this. I believe (as most 
developers) though that the current reporting system is showing its age and at some point we'll 
need to investigate how to bring it into the modern day and age. There are currently other 
priorities though so for now the stylesheet editor is the best we can offer for most reports. With 
the exception of a few reports based on eguile, which allow for more drastic layouting via a 
custom css file.

> You appear to be very stern on devaluing a feature of custom form
> (namely in this case invoice) output.
Which is clearly a way accounting is done in large firms with separate accounting and mailing 
departments (and probably a dedicated IT department as well). GnuCash is for a different 
audience.

> Most GNU developers appreciate
> input and feedback from their users.  This functionality has been
> brought up many times.  In my experience being able to customize
> reports output is always a basic feature of all programs. The
> developers of Gnucash appears to realize this also as they have a
> nice start with their style editor.
> 
Yes, the developers do agree on this.

> I'm sure discussions like this may inspire the developers to give this
> a higher priority.
> 
As said earlier, the developers are well aware the reporting system in general needs a big 
overhaul. Unfortunately so do other parts of the code and developer time is limited. Hence it 
was decided to first focus on modernizing the core and continue from there to the gui and the 
report system. The report system is on the list, but it will take a few years given the current 
developer's time and availability.

Geert


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