Scott, No, accounting software isn't a fancy spreadsheet. The math part is a lot simpler, but accounting is all about rules. The rules part is harder. That's not to say that you can't use a spreadsheet to do your accounting, lots of people do, but a relational database approach is a much better fit.
There's no need to invent yet another financial data interchange format, there are plenty already: Intuit's proprietary QIF and QBO formats, the public OFX one (which Intuit calls QFX), and the banking industry's SWIFT and ISO-20022 are all widely used. You still haven't said what "enriched metadata" means or why we'd be interested in having it. Regards, John Ralls > On Aug 20, 2022, at 12:06 PM, Scott Morgan <sc...@adligo.com> wrote: > > Hi John, > > Well, I did some work building an open source Java Accounting Model > (adligo.org <http://adligo.org/>) a few times of the past two decades. Now I > find my self using QuickBooks online, so I have been looking for some > collaborators and gnucash seems like the most successful project out there. > The enriched metadata would allow me to build ETL tools to go back and forth > between QuickBooks, my system and gnucash. > In my opinion accounting systems are basically the evolution of / fancy > spreadsheets. The main difference is the way transactions are linked in > double-sided accounting. Longer term I'm hoping for some sort of > import-export standardization of accounting data. The current standard > seems to still be CSV files, which have problems binding the accounts > together. You can do this by tracking source systems and source Ids. But > it's still fairly painful. > So I figured I would start looking at the model you all were using inside > of GnuCash. > > On Sat, Aug 20, 2022 at 11:51 AM john <jra...@ceridwen.us > <mailto:jra...@ceridwen.us>> wrote: >> The SQL Schema is laid out in https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/SQL. There's an >> attached ERD, but note that it shows secondary keys and auxiliary tables >> that indicate how GnuCash treats the data once it's loaded. The actual >> schema defines only a few secondary keys and the data represented in the >> auxiliary tables is actually stored in the slots table. Also keep in mind >> that we're still using the both backends as an object store. >> >> What enriched metadata are you looking for? How will having it benefit >> GnuCash? >> >> It seems rather presumptuous of you to unilaterally declare your intended >> derivative project a sibling. >> >> Regards, >> John Ralls >> >> IOn Aug 17, 2022, at 9:06 AM, Scott Morgan <sc...@adligo.com >> <mailto:sc...@adligo.com>> wrote: >>> >>> Hi All, >>> >>> Is the Data Model, / DB Schema stored somewhere with enriched metadata? >>> If not I would like to volunteer to do this work, in part because I'm >>> probably going to create a sibling Java project at some point to share the >>> schema / data model. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Scott >>> >>> On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 11:00 AM <gnucash-devel-requ...@gnucash.org >>> <mailto:gnucash-devel-requ...@gnucash.org>> wrote: >>> >>>> Send gnucash-devel mailing list submissions to >>>> gnucash-devel@gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-devel@gnucash.org> >>>> >>>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit >>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel >>>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to >>>> gnucash-devel-requ...@gnucash.org >>>> <mailto:gnucash-devel-requ...@gnucash.org> >>>> >>>> You can reach the person managing the list at >>>> gnucash-devel-ow...@gnucash.org >>>> <mailto:gnucash-devel-ow...@gnucash.org> >>>> >>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >>>> than "Re: Contents of gnucash-devel digest..." >>>> >>>> >>>> Today's Topics: >>>> >>>> 1. Re: Database abstraction (john) >>>> >>>> >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> >>>> Message: 1 >>>> Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:15:46 -0700 >>>> From: john <jra...@ceridwen.us <mailto:jra...@ceridwen.us>> >>>> To: Thomas <tduellmann+gnucashde...@gmail.com >>>> <mailto:tduellmann%2bgnucashde...@gmail.com>> >>>> Cc: gnucash-devel@gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-devel@gnucash.org> >>>> Subject: Re: [GNC-dev] Database abstraction >>>> Message-ID: <b25cdeda-378c-42bf-a33b-cc8a8d160...@ceridwen.us >>>> <mailto:b25cdeda-378c-42bf-a33b-cc8a8d160...@ceridwen.us>> >>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> On Aug 16, 2022, at 4:54 AM, Thomas <tduellmann+gnucashde...@gmail.com >>>>> <mailto:tduellmann%2bgnucashde...@gmail.com>> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hello everybody, >>>>> >>>>> for quite some time I am interested in doing some simple queries against >>>> the data I have in my GnuCash books that I found hard to specify in custom >>>> reports or the like. >>>>> As I have some technical background, I was thinking whether there is >>>> some DB abstraction that allows easier queries than the core database model >>>> behind GnuCash. At least for me, it would be easier to write some Python >>>> code or SQL queries rather than writing a custom GnuCash report tbh. >>>>> >>>>> So a representation closer to the visual representation in GnuCash where >>>> it is easier (without countless JOINs for example) to make queries (e.g., >>>> get all transactions in a specific account that are higher than a certain >>>> amount). >>>>> >>>>> I'd appreciate any kinds of hints on what you would use for such >>>> purposes! >>>>> >>>>> Thanks a lot in advance! >>>> >>>> For that specific example you could use the Python bindings to call >>>> xaccAccountGetSplitList() and filter the result by amount in a list >>>> comprehension. The API docs at https://code.gnucash.org/docs/MAINT are a >>>> good place to discover more functions like that. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> John Ralls >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> >>>> Subject: Digest Footer >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> gnucash-devel mailing list >>>> gnucash-devel@gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-devel@gnucash.org> >>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel >>>> >>>> >>>> ------------------------------ >>>> >>>> End of gnucash-devel Digest, Vol 233, Issue 6 >>>> ********************************************* >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Regards, >>> Scott Morgan >>> President & CEO >>> Adligo Inc >>> http://www.adligo.com <http://www.adligo.com/> >>> https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-morgan-21739415 >>> A+ Better Business Bureau Rating >>> <https://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/computer-software-publishers-and-developers/adligo-inc-in-chicago-il-88381256> >>> https://github.com/adligo >>> >>> By Appointment Only: >>> 1-866-968-1893 Ex 101 >>> sc...@adligo.com <mailto:sc...@adligo.com> >>> skype:adligo1?call >>> Send Me Files Securely: >>> *https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=ewOnyeFQM18IDRf7MMIdolfI >>> <https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=ewOnyeFQM18IDRf7MMIdolfI>* >>> https://discord.com/ >>> Adligo#3066 >>> _______________________________________________ >>> gnucash-devel mailing list >>> gnucash-devel@gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-devel@gnucash.org> >>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel >> > > > -- > Regards, > Scott Morgan > President & CEO > Adligo Inc > http://www.adligo.com <http://www.adligo.com/> > https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-morgan-21739415 > A+ Better Business Bureau Rating > <https://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/computer-software-publishers-and-developers/adligo-inc-in-chicago-il-88381256> > https://github.com/adligo > > By Appointment Only: > 1-866-968-1893 Ex 101 > sc...@adligo.com <mailto:sc...@adligo.com> > skype:adligo1?call > Send Me Files Securely: > https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=ewOnyeFQM18IDRf7MMIdolfI > <> > https://discord.com/ > Adligo#3066 _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
