Hi Dustin, I'm using VSCode for a while and I use vim regularly for my job, so I know both systems. You must try VS-Code with the extension VSCode-Beancount from Lencerf you'll never go back ;-)
For example, if you start a new line with a "2" that write automatically the date. It runs a bean-check each time you save the file (I do automatically each 30 seconds) and tell you about the errors, etc. When you pass the mouse over an account, e.g. Expenses:Kids -50 USD, etc. gives you the total amount for this account and more things like highlight, etc. Try ;-) On Sun, Feb 7, 2021 at 6:28 PM Dustin Farris <dustin.far...@gmail.com> wrote: > Wow, thanks for the fast and thorough response. It is very encouraging, > and really what I needed for my mental health haha. > > A couple reactions at random: > > Yodlee, or Plaid > > ๐๐๐ will check these out > > > Sure, you can split. It won't make it much faster though. > > I am excited about performance coming with the C++ rewrite, but this was > not so much about addressing performance as my ability to find things. > (but to be clear). The headers Iโve created in my journal are > per-institution-account (e.g. fidelity 401k) with sub-headers by year and > then by month. These headers with their folding in vim (similar to emacs > outline mode) are helpful, but I think I can do better. It is also a > less-than-nice experience for on the fly entries such as invoices, tracking > kidsโ allowance, and so on. I need to just set aside a few hours to ponder > this and come up with the right organization and workflow. > > > There is a final stage of awakening called "ace-jump-mode", kept as a > closely guarded secret > > Is there a vim equivalent of nirvana? :P Because of beancount, I gave > emacs+orgmode a real try โ a month with spacemacs, and a month with doom, > but ultimately reverted back to what I know (vim). Iโm hoping to get my > beancount vim+VSCode experience leveled up. > > > new rewriting capabilities will make it possible to rewrite the actual > file by changing the AST and writing it back out. > > This sounds really exciting. > > > in the next version. With a more generic SQL or providing a library that > works with petl > > Being able to reason about my financials using dataframes sounds > empowering. Looking forward to it. > > > -- > Dustin Farris > (646) 671-2007 > > > > On Feb 7, 2021, at 8:06 AM, Martin Blais <bl...@furius.ca> wrote: > > On Sun, Feb 7, 2021 at 10:24 AM Dustin Farris <dustin.far...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I've been using beancount for a little over a year to manage my personal >> finances as well as some side self-employment accounting. I have twice >> gotten frustrated to the point of trying other products (specifically >> Personal Capital, Mint, Quicken, and QuickBooks) but give up and come back >> to command-line accounting for reasons probably familiar to everyone in >> this group. >> >> So here are my frustrations and what I'm going to attempt to do for >> myself to address them. I'm mainly venting here, but if anyone has any >> suggestions I'd really appreciate them. >> >> >> - I update my journal every month. Getting updated transactions from >> 25+ different accounts every month is very time consuming. >> - Todo: Research programmatic downloads of transactions from all >> banks (has this been done already?) >> >> Look for Yodlee, or Plaid. > If you're willing to give up your passwords, those could save you time by > lumping together a bunch of imports. > (I tend to only update the most important ones - checking, credit card, > investing - frequently, and the others lag behind a bit.) > > Also, there are simplifications coming up to the importing framework which > is going to make it substantially simpler to use, though I'm not sure if > those changes will address your specific needs. > > >> >> - The beancount file is getting overwhelmingly large after just 1 >> year. This is making it hard for me to jump around and find/fix things. >> I >> often have personal transactions that cross equity accounts into our >> rental >> business, or my software engineering self employment. >> - Todo: split personal.beancount into smaller journals (by month?) >> >> Sure, you can split. It won't make it much faster though. (The ongoing > rewrite in C++ is going to address that.) > > I use outline-minor-mode. Another clever trick is to realize that like in > life, you only ever go to a few places in that file - depending how you > organize it - and insert unique comment tags and just i-search for them to > go there directly (*). Huge time saver. The new import framework might even > auto-insert in front of those tags. > > I think if you have the patience, you could refine your previous > transaction detection so that it's nearly flawless, automatically > categorize your transactions, and implement auto-insert in your file and > trust it. Would save some time, but it'll be time-consuming to get it right > IMO (you'll spend the time coding instead of updating; it's unclear to me > in that situation which will be better). beangulp will also provide more > hooks for you to refine previous-import-detection, even per importer. (For > more on upcoming changes on that look here > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O42HgYQBQEna6YpobTqszSgTGnbRX7RdjmzR2xumfjs/edit > ) > > > (*) In fact, I would say if you're using emacs this is the fourth stage of > evolution of Emacs users about cursor movement: first you use the cursor > keys, then you learn to use the relative word and paragraph movement, then > you graduate to sexp movements (e.g. beginning of function), and when you > nearly achieve enlightenment you are nearly always moving via > interactive-search ( > https://www.masteringemacs.org/article/effective-editing-movement). There > is a final stage of awakening called "ace-jump-mode", kept as a closely > guarded secret by those of use experiencing a permanent state of > non-duality ;-). > > > >> >> - omni-complete in vim is an awkward keyboard chord and account >> completions in vim are sometimes broken depending on what you last typed >> - Todo: try VSCode which can now embed neovim and has it's own >> beancount extension that should make the editing experience nicer >> - except VSCode folding is weird so this might actually make >> things worse >> - I still donโt understand how reporting works, and part of that >> is because I don't use it enough. I feel like I'm relearning Beancount >> Query Language every time I do need something. >> - Todo: keep a list of commonly-used queries >> >> Write your queries as code, and run your own scripts. There's a neat API. > You can also use the Query directive to save pre-made queries in your > Beancount file and execute them by name. > > Easier reporting is something I'd like to refine in the next version. With > a more generic SQL or providing a library that works with petl. > > > >> - reconciling receipts / splitting transactions is time consuming, >> although vim macros help here >> - Todo: Improve importer recognition of payees and likely expense >> accounts >> >> Yep. > > (v3's new parser will bring another dimension to this: instead of having > to write code to fixup the payees in memory only, the new rewriting > capabilities will make it possible to rewrite the actual file by changing > the AST and writing it back out.) > > >> >> - no way to attach receipt pictures to transactions? >> - Todo: Research beancount tooling or other apps to capture >> receipts >> >> See the ingest framework's filling ability. It renames files that have > been identified prepending a date and can stash them in a repository under > the same account hierarchy. bean-web used to serve those directives right > next to the transactions and you could insert a common link to link them > together (or write a plugin that attempts to match them up automatically) > > >> >> - fava is nice, but could be nicer >> - Todo: Research writing a new frontend reporting/visualization >> tool and/or contribute to fava >> >> Go for it! > Custom one-off renderings are also useful (e.g. like in beangrow). > > > > >> -- >> 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 beancount+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/4bd97aa7-ef37-4f08-9b65-d9555acbe7fbn%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/4bd97aa7-ef37-4f08-9b65-d9555acbe7fbn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > -- > 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 beancount+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAK21%2BhNsEmRrdxnDCbrZXqxam2pphcGysM4WpEmb0CS-wd3R6w%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/CAK21%2BhNsEmRrdxnDCbrZXqxam2pphcGysM4WpEmb0CS-wd3R6w%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > > -- > 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 beancount+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/AC64FB84-AF87-4AA7-AB57-CF0667DE1728%40gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beancount/AC64FB84-AF87-4AA7-AB57-CF0667DE1728%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Beancount" group. 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