On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 6:30 PM Aleksandra Culver <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Tue, Aug 27, 2019, at 06:17, Martin Blais wrote: > > On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 3:16 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > I've recently migrated to Beancount from Ledger. I'm really happy with it > so far. :) > > One issue I've had is around transaction ordering across files. (To be > clear, this is not at all a criticism of Beancount relative to Ledger; the > plugin I'm trying to write wouldn't be possible in Ledger for a dozen > reasons.) > > I mostly keep one file per "physical" account (e.g. one file for my > Vanguard 401k). I also have a "budget" file that keeps transactions I use > for envelope budgeting. Some of the budget transactions are logically > linked with a debit to my checking account; in effect, money is divided up > the instant it arrives. > > I'm trying to implement a plugin that ensures that my various budget > accounts never drop below zero. However, if I'm reading the code correctly, > transactions are sorted based on their date, type, and line number -- but > not based on filename, and not based on anything that a plugin is supposed > to be able to control. > > My questions are: > > 1. Is there a reason for this particular sorting order? It seems odd that > line number would be used without filename -- it means that the order of > two transactions could be changed by adding a lot of whitespace to one > file, or by adding/removing metadata tags. (I tested this out, and > confirmed that whitespace does have this effect.) > > > Hmm, I think it's an oversight. Sorting should be stable. I should add the > filename to the sort key. > > https://bitbucket.org/blais/beancount/src/fe747dea5ce9eddfb4910b9edfdec1134f0a6c85/beancount/core/data.py#lines-581 > > > 2. More generally, are there any recommended patterns for imposing partial > orders on transactions in different files? I know that I could put > everything in one file, but I'd rather not; it's much easier for me to read > and write (and make bulk changes to) my files if they're split up as they > are now. > > > I think the absolute filename should disambiguate it enouhg. > > > > > > Note that addressing #1 (e.g. by changing the sort key to include filename > before lineno) would not fully address my use case, since I want to > interleave transactions between different files. > > > I don't understand this. They would be sorted by date, but within each > date, sorted by file, and then by line number. > (You're not supposed to rely on ordering within a day, Beancount does not > provide guarantees on ordering that way, just stable ordering.) > > > I guess I was too tired last night to think about this properly. :) I > updated my plugin so that it only checks balances at day boundaries, and > now it works perfectly. Thanks for your help! :) > Do you still need me to insert the filename in the sort key? (I think I should do that regardless, to ensure stable sort.) Let me know, -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAK21%2BhPRftoWtd_njvZGVpm_c0tYWcWoLreZ4npWVbqAsRqQHA%40mail.gmail.com.
