[GNC] Change account type by editing XML?

Geert Janssens geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be
Sat May 2 05:44:14 EDT 2020


Op zaterdag 2 mei 2020 08:23:19 CEST schreef Adrien Monteleone:
> Indeed, I clicked Edit on an Asset account and I can only change it to:
> 
> Bank
> Cash
> Asset
> Credit Card
> Liability
> 
> I get the first three if there is going to be a limitation, but allowing the
> last 2 and not allowing even another debit balanced account like Expenses?
> 
> Strange.
> 
> I’m starting to wonder if this is a bug. If not, can someone shed light on
> the reasoning for not being able to refactor accounts except within their
> current parent type?

The idea here is that you can't put expense accounts under the an Asset parent account. So if 
you want to change an asset account to become an expense account, you will first have to 
select a parent account that is an expense account. That will then allow you to change the 
account type.

I agree the UI can use some more polish to make this a better experience. The UI's original idea 
was to show the valid account types that are available for a given parent account. I think this 
would be more easily understood if the parent account and the accountype widgets would 
switch places. It is more intuitive if a lhs selection (for left to right interfaces) affect what can be 
selected in a rhs selector. Not the other way around.

Playing with this a bit more I wonder if other combinations make sense or possibly conflict with 
gnucash' internal assumptions. For example, are there valid use cases to store an income 
account under an expense account or the other way around ?

And another minor glitch: when you start from for example an Asset account, then change the 
parent to a liability account and back to an asset account without closing the window in 
between, the asset account now suddenly has become a Liability account.

Regards,

Geert


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