[GNC] Understanding Transaction Report options

[ornd25 at tutanota.com]

Oct 13, 2019, 05:01 by christopher.lck at gmail.com:

> Hello
>
> On Sat, 12 Oct 2019 at 15:38, <> ornd25 at tutanota.com <mailto:ornd25 at tutanota.com>> > wrote:
>
>> 1. Account tab:  What does the “Include transactions to/from Filter Accounts” (and “Exclude”) mean? The documentation uses those same words to describe their function. 
>>
>>
>> 2. Account tab:  I understand the Account tree selection under “Accounts” (top block), but what is the account tree under “Filter By” used for? How can you “filter by” something you’ve already chosen?
>>
>
> You'll notice "Filter By..." is only enabled when "Filter Type" is not None. Consider an account structure Asset:Bank:Current, Expenses:School:Fees:
>
> Select Account/Account - Asset:Bank:Current, Filter-Type: None --> will show all bank transactions
>
> Select Account/Account - Asset:Bank:Current, Filter-Type: Include to/from, Filter-By: Expenses:School:Fees --> will show only school fees
>  
>
>> 3. Filter tab: How is the “Account Name Filter” used? Am I to change it each time for a selection or is this invoking a previously-named “Account Name Filter?”
>>
>
> Consider a rental business book with dozens of accounts; Expenses:Property1:Maintenance, Asset:Property1, Asset:Property2, Income:Property1:Rental, etc... If you wish to analyse Property1 amounts, you could select *only* property1 accounts in the account tab... or alternatively select *all* accounts in the account tab, and filter account-name by ":Property1".
>  
>
>> 5. Filter tab: When would I select “Use regular expressions for transaction filter?”
>>  6. Filter tab: What is POSIX and how and why should I invoke it?
>>  7. Filter tab: How can I invoke a boolean “OR” to report either of two or more transaction filters? (in this case I want to report a transaction that has either one person’s name or another in the Description.)
>>
>
> Transaction Filter searches transaction's description/notes/memo. It either searches conventionally e.g. "Party", or searches using POSIX regex matching: "Party|Flights" is the boolean OR. Regex is powerful, e.g. "Party201[7-8]" will search Party2017 and Party2018.
>
> HTH.
>
Christopher, thank you. Let me ensure I understand.
and 2. When Account tab filter is set to "Include," and Asset:Bank:Current, Filter-Type: Include to/from, Filter-By: Expenses:School:Fees --> will show only school fees.                                          Comment: "Include" appears to me to work similarly to the exclusionary Boolean "AND" operator, since the system will only report the intersection of the two sets. "Exclude," then, should show everything except the school fees, and appears to operate as a Boolean "NOT" operator.
3. Filter tab: Account Name Filter: Comment: This is another way to accomplish what might have selected on the Account tab and is not a completely separate function.

6. and 7. Thank you.

With this new understanding as a baseline I'll practice a few reports. I do recall, however, that prior to selecting filter accounts on the Accounts tab, I used the Transaction Filter and needed the Filter By "Exclude" in order to achieve anything useful. I expect I should have chosen "None" if I were not going to select a Filter account.

Again, thanks.