Regular expressions in GnuCash

[David T.]

Thanks, Derek.

> On Sep 26, 2016, at 7:53 PM, Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU> wrote:
> 
> David,
> 
> "David T. via gnucash-user" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> writes:
> 
>> Peter,
>> 
>> Thank you for your perspective on this; I agree on the “clunky”
>> designation, but would take this a little further. While I appreciate
>> everyone’s input on the possibilities of Regex syntax, I am dismayed
>> at the prospects for the original poster, as well as the broader user
>> base.
>> 
>> Let me ask you all this: if I asked you to get in your car and drive
>> to the store to pick up some milk and eggs, would you think it
>> reasonable to have to read six online manuals, and then construct and
>> test several different types of key in order to start your car? Or do
>> you expect to get in your car, start it up and drive it off without
>> much consideration at all? I believe that most drivers expect their
>> cars to “just work” when they get in to go to the store.
> 
> You do everyone a disservice by proposing these hyperbolic comparisons.
> I would more liken "starting a car to drive to the store for milk and
> eggs" to be "starting the program and entering a few transactions.  IMHO
> that part of GnuCash definitely "just works".
> 
>> Well, I would hope for the same kind of “It Just Works” functionality
>> from my accounting program with regards to extracting basic
>> information (such as information on a range of checks) from my
>> accounting data.
> 
> For what is being asked here I would be more akin to asking "how to I
> tune my radio to 5 selected radio stations and have it scan just those
> five stations?".   Honestly, I would expect you'd have to read through
> the owner's manual to figure that one out, assuming the car's radio
> could even do that.
> 
>> My point is this: Yes, there are ways to use the tools provided to
>> achieve the desired end—but are they easy to use and intuitive to a
>> wide audience?
> 
> Like in life, some things are easy and some things are harder.  And some
> things are easier for some and harder for others.  There's just no way
> to make everything easy for everyone.
> 
>> Moreover, is it appropriate to expect every user to become familiar
>> with an arcane (and yes, Regex IS arcane) mathematical code in order
>> to find this kind of information?
> 
> Again, it depends on the kind of information.  I'd just do something
> like:
> 
>  Date is after 1/1/2015  AND
>  Amount is < 0           AND
>  Number matches regex .
> 
> 
> This would find everyhing that has an entry in the number column (I'm
> fairly sure empty wouldn't match that regex), within the primary date
> range and the value will be zero because in an asset a credit is a
> negative amount.
> 
>> Finally, adopting the implied mindset that “These tools work, and
>> users should adapt to them" runs counter to the very idea of
>> improvement and innovation. I sincerely hope that we all can continue
>> to seek better and easier ways of meeting user needs.
> 
> Patches always welcome, David  :)
> 
>> Best,
>> David T.
> 
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> 
> -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/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
>       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available