On Tue, 2002-11-05 at 10:34, Linas Vepstas wrote: > On Mon, Nov 04, 2002 at 07:19:30PM -0600, John F Meinel Jr was heard to remark: > > Once again I'm here to ask a question for freecoins, the palm record > > keeping software (http://freecoins.sourceforge.net)... > > Someone believed that gnucash supported a SQL backend instead of using > > an XML file. Is that true? The reason is that the author and lead > > developer of freecoins would like to see it connected with a SQL db as > > a generic conduit. And then have gnucash connect to the same db. > > So were they right? Or is that an old, unused feature that isn't > > supported anymore? > > Uhhh... > The SQL backend in gnucash doesn't support some of the newer > features. It was designed to be robust and reliable in a multi-user > environment. Unfortunately, that means that its a bit on the > complicated side, and is kind-of hard to extend to add new features. > It seems that no one is clamoring for SQL, not really, not enough > to do much about it.
It will be extremely useful in a business environment, and I have a twisted penchant for database design. :( So, yes, we're doing something about it. The plan is to make the database backend more extensible. That would allow, e.g., the addition of business objects, or budgeting, etc. I've been working on a redesign, and am currently finishing up the data model, with only one or two entities remaining. That said, however, it's never a good idea to access the data store directly, not when there's a good API to go through. > > But I think the core gnucash sql tables (account, transaction, etc) > are in fine shape, and should be usable by others, if so desired. > These will likely not maintain the exact current structure. The backend should be accessed via the Engine API. > > I believe his thought was that since it is already in database format > > (palm db), it is easier to convert it to another database format, then > > palm "db's" are nothing at all like sql. > Hear! Hear! However, it should be easy enough, given a Conduit SDK, to transform the Palm records into a Gnucash Query, and store it via the engine to whatever backend is available and configured for use. I was working halfheartedly on that, myself (but not with Freecoins), but got side-tracked into the database backend. Anyhow, early 1.8, or perhaps 1.9, the database backend should be a more usable part of gnucash. -- Matthew Vanecek perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);' ******************************************************************************** For 93 million miles, there is nothing between the sun and my shadow except me. I'm always getting in the way of something...
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