[GNC] clip board paste across catagories

[John Ralls]

> On Sep 29, 2020, at 12:57 PM, ToddAndMargo <ToddAndMargo at zoho.com> wrote:
> 
> On 2020-09-29 08:25, bugs-admin at bugs.gnucash.org wrote:
>> https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797957
>> 
>> 
>> --- Comment #3 from John Ralls 
>> <jralls at ceridwen.fremont.ca.us>
>>  ---
>> No, they don't. For example you can't paste a control-F into either one and get
>> the Find dialog. You can paste certain kinds of delimited text into a
>> spreadsheet and it will be recognized as a multi-cell import, but that's not
>> the same as converting pasted-in characters into keyboard actions.
>> 
> 
> Hi John,
> 
> Maybe not <ctrl><F> but ...
> 
> I do it all the time in Word Pro.
> 
> This text:
> 
> 1234
> abcdef
> 5678
> XYZ
> 
> Pastes across cell boundaries perfectly:
> 
> <ipoamgodkicoclia.png>
> 
> An embedded return advanced down a row and an embedded
> tab advances across a column.
> 
> This is why I thought it was a bug in GnuCash and not deliberate.
> It may just be an oversight.
> 
> What I am trying to do is paste data from a purchase order into a 
> GnuCash credit card account.  And since I am the programmer 
> in this instance, I can format the data placed in the clipboard 
> any way I want.
> 
> I as hoping that you knew of an escape sequence of any type that
> would advance across the columns in GnuCash.
> 
> 
>> 
>> Whether or not there's a workaround depends on what you're trying to
>> accomplish. The mailing lists are a more appropriate venue for discussing that
>> than is the bug tracker.
>> 
> 
> I already posted there.  They are indeed very nice and knowledgeable 
> people and extremely helpful, but they are not programmers. 
> 
> I will look at a CSV workaround.  It is far more worky that just pasting, but 
> it may be my only option.  I can easily write out a CSV from my program.
> 
> Thank you for your help on this.
> 
> -T
> 

If you're going to reply to bug emails in email please copy the list. In this case I've rejiggered the reply to keep it in the existing thread. I already told you on the bug that this discussion belongs on the mailing list.

I pasted in the illustration at the bottom in hopes that the list server won't eat it. It clearly shows a spreadsheet. Word processing documents don't have rows and columns.

Even though GnuCash's register looks sort of like a spreadsheet it isn't one and it isn't wired to handle selecting or pasting more than one field at a time. CSV is likely the most straightforward way to import tabular data like this.

Regards,
John Ralls