[GNC] Transcation Search & Replace

[listsub3]

Thanks to all for suggestions - I will do some experimenting - maybe 
this can be added to feature suggestions list. I also do not see why 
implemenetation is dependant on using a database underneath. The old 
Quicken model seemd quite good to me.

With regard accounting rules & bulk edit/changes in my experience 
auditors are happy providing there is a full log detailing changes made 
& reason etc.

On 03/07/2020 08:23, Kevin Buckley wrote:
> On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 at 04:00, listsub3 <listsub3 at liberator-systems.co.uk> wrote:
>> Typically bulk search replace changes would be for things like
>> transaction category/account, changes in names in description/notes. etc.
>>
>> My GC data folder is currently 46mb (I have quite a lot of histrorical
>> stuff).
>>
>> Seems like quite a functional omission in GC to me - it must be quite a
>> common user task - I don't have an old Quicken on this machine but I
>> know it used to be a breeze with that.
>>
>> Searching this list I found an an old response to the same question
>> which indicated that this functionality would only be considered once GC
>> had moved to a databese strcuture?
> Not clear that one needs a database to do much of what you've listed
> above, although an SQL syntax might offer extra capability, as regards
> say, more easily narrowing the change down to a specific set of transactions.
>
> If you have the XML file, then altering a common description string across
> multiple transactions in the file, is a simple text-editing, find-and-replace
> operation.
>
> These two pseudy-coded examples are equivalent
> (Note: not the actual Table names nor XML schema tags)
>
> UPDATE TXN t SET t.description = 'corrected string' WHERE
> t.description = 'erronenous string' ;
>
> sed -ie 's/txn:description>erronenous
> string</txn:description>corrected string</'  myfile.xac
>
>
> Changing category/account, as opposed to editing their names, is a little
> harder, because of the indirection through the GUIDs, but again, once you
> have identified the "GUID string" representing the name of the category/account
> string that you wish to change, and the "GUID string" for the category/account
> that you wish to change to, then again, it's now just a
> find-and-replace exercise.
>
> Not saying that XML is easy to read, and some would it should never be read,
> but for some changes, it does offer an option.
>
> Do make a backup, if you are going to experiment, though.