[GNC] General Ledger

Adrian Yong adrianyong.88park at gmail.com
Sun Mar 29 19:12:21 EDT 2020


Hi Michael,

*Your Point No. 5 is interesting.*

Gnucash's instruction is Export XXXXX to csv. One would be led to believe
that the file type is automatically csv. But in reality, you are saying
that it can export to any format provided you specify the file type as an
extension to the filename.

All your other comments are relevant if we get this file type specification
step correct.

Regards,
Adrian

On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 12:28 AM Michael or Penny Novack <
stepbystepfarm at comcast.net> wrote:

> On 3/28/2020 11:21 PM, Adrian Yong wrote:
> > I can't change the file type...
> >
> > Neither can I access Excel by choosing Open With...
> >
> > Finally got to add file type extension .csv to filename. That worked... I
> > think gnucash should either addd anothe filetype dialog box or advise
> users
> > to add filetype extension to the filename.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> This isn't about gnucash but general computer basics.
>
> 1) Whether a particular app can (usefully) open a file depends on the
> (actual) type of the file. As opposed to the file NAME. The extension
> that may be on the end of the name is just an IDENTIFIER that might or
> might not correctly identify the type. SOME few apps can of course open
> anything (a hex editor, for example).
>
> 2) The only thing the file extension on the end of an "object" does is
> help the system choose an app when you tell the computer "open object"
> (say by double clicking o it). If your computer does not "know" what to
> do with an object of that type it will ask you to select an application.
> In many cases it will not ask because you have chosen an app to always
> use with objects of that type or using the default app your OS uses if
> you don't choose one.
>
> 3) You can instead start the application and then tell IT to open the
> object. That doesn't require a file extension but does mean you have to
> know that the object is of a suitable type << some apps can open many
> types and I gave you an example of one that could open ANYTHING >> You
> of course have to know the name of the file you want opened.
>
> 4) You intended to open with Excel? Then although the data format is
> "comma separated variable" you could have made the file extension more
> specific to Excel like .xlsx   An .xlsx file will be in .csv format but
> the converse is not necessarily true
>
> 5) But no, gnucash should not DO this for you (offering you a reminder
> of extensions you might want to choose between another matter). Why
> should the gnucash team favor some particular commercial product? On MY
> computer, the associated app would be LibreOffice Calc and not  MS Excel.
>
> Michael D Novack
>
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