I use an ancient DOS-based financial program called "Tree Based"
that has a capability that I've never found elsewhere, and that
I would like to recommend to your consideration.
On comp.os.linux.development.apps, I explained this as follows:
From looking at the gnucash.org web site just now, it
seems that reports are all 'batch mode'. Meaning that you
specify what you want in the report, press some sort of
[Send] key, the report is computed, and then it is displayed
and/or printed.
In Tree Based, there is one special report, a balance sheet,
that is 'realtime'.
That balance sheet is the main screen, and one can
go directly from the main screen to the register for a
particular account and back, and one can view the last few
transactions in an account directly on the main screen.
The main screen shows both the account balances at the end
of each displayed period, and the expense/income category
total spent/earned during each displayed period, along with
one's net worth on the bottom line, also as of the end of
each displayed period.
The chart of accounts is a classic outline, with income and
expense categories on the top half of the screen, and asset
and debt accounts on the bottom half. I can expand/collapse
the chart of accounts (vert axis) with such outline style
keys as '+'/'-', navigate in time (hor axis) with arrow
keys, and change time scale with such hot keys as 'd' for
days, 'y' for years. The result is displayed instantly.
Transactions added on this main screen update the totals and
subtotals visible there, immediately.
Tree Based also has the usual batch mode reports for printing
and previewing on the screen, though these are in a crude
and ugly fashion, as might be expected from a product that
_up_graded to CGA graphics late in its life.
Once you get a balance sheet that manipulates in realtime,
everything else seems so ... so ancient <grin>.
Christopher Browne ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) asked, on this thread:
|> Something rather like NewViews?
To which I replied:
I don't think so. Hadn't heard of NewViews before, but
seems from the web page http://www.computouch.ca/nvhome.htm
that it combines realtime update of all ledgers from data
entry, with flexible report generation. But interaction
still occurs typically with a single account ledger, and
something like a balance statement is still a separately
produced, print oriented, artifact.
What I have in mind is realtime both ways, data in and back
out, and the balance sheet is a realtime spreadsheet of sorts
(with a flexible horizontal time axis, and an outline chart
of accounts vertical axis), that is the primary point of
access to a specific ledger.
Some background on Tree Based:
"Tree Based" is an ancient (DOS 2.1), little known DOS
financial program. It was written by a couple of brothers,
Jonathan and Matt Berry. They called their little company
Trigo, located in Costa Mesa, CA. I presume that they are
long out of business.
No doubt, in the short term, y'all are sufficiently busy
that nothing immediately obvious will come of my suggestion.
But perhaps a seed will have been sown, that someday will
blossom forth.
Thank-you for your consideration.
And may GnuCash be successful. I'd love to ditch Win98 for
Linux at home, and lack only Quicken-like online banking access
to Checkfree and Wells Fargo to do this.
=======================================================================
I won't rest till it's the best ... Software Production Engineer
Paul Jackson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]) 3x1373 http://sam.engr.sgi.com/pj
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