[GNC] Error importing QIF file

Mon Oct 25 01:17:39 EDT 2021

Sorry meant to ask in the previous email if it displayed a line number that
it was processing as part of the error message at all ?

Cheers David H.

On Mon, 25 Oct 2021 at 13:48, David H <hellvee at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello again parag puranik,
>
> Please use reply-all to keep the discussion on the mailing list so
> everyone is across everything.  I'm not a Gnucash developer or familiar
> with the importers as I never use them and others that use them often can
> probably offer more relevant suggestions :-)  See my responses/suggestions
> highlighted in yellow below.
>
> On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 at 23:24, parag puranik <parag_puranik at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I tried creating a new file in App, exported it in QIF format and
>> successfully imported the same in Gnucash Desktop. Everything is fine in
>> case of a fresh file export+import procedure.
>>
>
> OK so it seems to definitely be an issue with your data then. How many
> records are in your file anyway, I can't imagine it's in the hundreds if
> you're using the android app to enter them?
>
> Personally I would do the binary splits of the file as already suggested
> making sure you don’t split a transaction in the middle. This shouldn't
> take too long.  I think I read somewhere years ago that you only need a
> maximum of 7 splits to find a target when using a binary search so this
> should be similar.  My simplistic figures suggest a 200 record file would
> require up to 9 splits in the worst case. So a maximum of split file /
> import part file – say a couple of minutes each x 9 = about 18 - 20 minutes
> should be enough to identify the record causing the problem and you may be
> able to sort it out yourself once you've identified the problem record -
> you would have had your answer by now :-)
>
> Check out:
>
> Gnucash QIF format document -
> https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/blob/maint/gnucash/import-export/qif-imp/file-format.txt
>
> and
> <https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/blob/maint/gnucash/import-export/qif-imp/qif-file.scm>
>
> Gnucash QIF Import code file -
> <https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/blob/maint/gnucash/import-export/qif-imp/qif-file.scm>
> https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/blob/maint/gnucash/import-export/qif-imp/qif-file.scm
>
>
> I could be totally wrong but the error message seems come from line 974 in
> the previous bit of code – according to the comment at line 921 it seems to
> be checking for valid date formats (d-m-y, y-m-d, etc) and also that amount
> fields are decimal (999.99) or comma format (999,99):-
>
>
> My problem is only with my earlier file which I exported, but could not
>> import in Desktop due to the Error message. I want to know the basis of the
>> generation of that error message and get help in importing that file in
>> desktop.
>>
>
> I'm sure you do but you have to remember that this is a volunteer project
> / development team who probably have other priorities and will take time to
> get to your problem. Gnucash is a huge project with code in multiple
> languages going back 20+ years and developers come and go so it would take
> time to familiarise themselves with the code and work through it to
> document it and give you a list of conditions as to exactly why a
> particular error message is displayed.Their first response is likely to be
> to tell you to check whether it’s an existing bug and if not to lodge a bug
> report at Gnucash Bugzilla (https://bugs.gnucash.org).  They're also
> likely to want to see your file as sometimes a quick scan through a file
> can identify the issue. You've already had other suggestions re splitting
> your file and importing in parts to identify the problem and this is
> probably the fastest and most logical approach right now.
>
> I suspect you have one or more hidden special characters in your file
> which is causing a record to be split mid record and a misalignment in your
> file hence the “Share Price” text in the error message. Seems the android
> app has had some of these in the past where users have done a copy and
> paste into a transaction on android.  These won’t be obvious in Notepad
> or Wordpad as they don't display special characters so download either the
> Textpad (https://www.textpad.com/download) or Notepad++ (
> https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/) text editor and use one of
> these to inspect your file. You can turn on the display of special
> characters in these editors – in Textpad click the icon to the left of
> the globe – looks like a reverse “P” and in Notepad++ it’s the same icon.
>
> I could not locate any trace file in Win10.
>> I don't think the App compresses the file before exporting because when I
>> open the QIF file in Text Editor-Windows Notepad, it opens successfully.
>> The text editor surely doesn't decompress file before opening.
>>
>
> No it won’t usually uncompress a file automatically – I was just going by
> the bug report I read on the android app website so obviously irrelevant to
> your issue.
>
>
>> I just want the members / Gnucash Team to focus on the generated error
>> message I posted in my first post and let me know in what circumstances
>> this message gets generated and how to repair the QIF file so that I can
>> import it into Desktop Gnucash.
>>
>
>
> If you don't want to split your file and import partial files I would
> suggest you do the following for starters:-
>
> Read the file-format.txt text file mentioned above if you are unfamiliar
> with the qif file format.
>
> Check that each record begins on a new line and that each record has a CR
> LF (easier to see in Notepad++) at the end of the record and not somewhere
> in the middle thus splitting it mid-record.
>
> Check Date fields for valid date format (d-m-y, y-m-d, etc) and valid
> date, check amount fields for valid format amounts.
>
> If you can identify the problem record, maybe there's more than one, and
> you can't see why it would cause a problem then paste it into a message and
> post it here so the experts can eyeball it and suggest a solution.
>
>
> Cheers David H.
>
>
>> On Sunday, 24 October, 2021, 04:18:44 pm IST, David H <hellvee at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi parag puranik,
>>
>> I was actually referring to the Gnucash trace file on your Win10 desktop
>> as that is where you had the error and not on your Android device :-)  Also
>> I did see an error report on Ngewi Fet's codinguser website to the effect
>> that when you export qif from the android app it actually creates a
>> compressed .zip file even though it has a .qif suffix -
>> https://github.com/codinguser/gnucash-android/issues/889.  You are
>> probably aware of this if you've used this process previously however.
>>
>> Cheers David H.
>>
>> On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 at 18:43, parag puranik via gnucash-user <
>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks David H for your kind support. I'll upgrade to version 4.8 or so
>> and try. OS:\ is Win10 for importing PC. Regarding log file/trace file :-
>> After exporting from Android phone in QIF format, I carried out Factory
>> reset operation on Android. So no trace file remaining on Android. That
>> original Android app's file has been irretrievably lost for ever.
>>
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