Re: [GNC] Manage Document Link

[Jim DeLaHunt]

Hello, Tom:

On 2024-01-03 06:10, Tom Balazs wrote:

I want to attach an image of a bill to a transaction.
At a high level, let me say that I do similar things in my bookkeeping 
all the time. GnuCash handles it well.

I click Manage Document Link.
I get "Path head not set, using "/home/tom/" for relative paths.
Is that the best Path to use?
Where does GnuCash begin navigating from?
When you select the menu item "Transaction" -- "Manage Document 
Link...", the "Change a Transaction Linked Document" dialogue appears.


It lets you attach one of three kinds of link to transactions:

1. A "Linked File", with an absolute path to a file on your computer.
2. A "Linked File", with a relative path to a file on your computer.
3. A "Linked Location", that is, a URL which serves as a reminder for you.

The dialogue also displays the "path head for files", an absolute path 
to some directory on your computer. In the case where you store a linked 
file using relative path, GnuCash combines it with the path head to make 
an absolute path to the file.


It sounds like GnuCash noticed that you had never set the path head for 
files, so it let you know it was choosing a reasonable default.


You can change the path head for linked files setting in the GnuCash 
preferences, "General" tab, "Linked FIles" section. There is a pulldown 
menu which shows the current path head, and lets you use a File Open 
dialogue to choose a new path head. You can see this General tab of 
Settings in the GnuCash manual, section 10.2 "General", at 
. See 
Figure 10.4.


When you change the path head, GnuCash displays a dialogue with two 
check boxes. The first offers to change existing relative paths to 
absolute paths, by combining them with the existing path head. The 
second offers to change existing absolute paths, which point to the new 
path head directory or its subdirectories, into relative paths.


I believe, but have not read the code to confirm, that GnuCash will 
store a Linked File path as relative if it points to a location within 
your path head directory or its subdirectories. Otherwise, it will store 
the Linked File path as absolute. Certainly this is my model of how 
GnuCash works, and I have not seen evidence to contradict it.


(By the way, internally, the Linked File options are also URLs, with a 
"file:" protocol prefix. If you save the GnuCash book file in 
uncompressed XML format, you can open it up with a text editor and see 
the document link values. I did this once.)




I would like the path to be relative so that if I move all my GnuCash files
to another folder the document links will still work.


I do something very similar, so I am confident that you can do what you 
want.


I store my book file within a year-based Projects directory. Next to the 
book file is a subdirectory with my linked files. The following diagram 
may be legible if drawn with a fixed-pitch font:


|
+- 2024/ -+
|     +- book.gnucash
| +- linked_files/
|
+- 2023/ -+
|     +- book.gnucash   [as of end of 2023]
| +- linked_files/  [as of end of 2023]
| etc.

At the start of 2024, I created my "2024" directory. I copied the 
"linked_files" directory and all the files in it from the 2023 to the 
2024 directory. I opened "book.gnucash" with GnuCash, then used the File 
-- Save as… menu item to store a copy of "book.gnucash" in "2024". I 
used the GnuCash preferences, "General" tab, "Linked FIles" section to 
change the path head from .../2023/linked_files/ to 
.../2024/linked_files/ . I left both boxes unchecked in the following 
dialogue box, so my relative Linked File paths remained relative.


Now, when I select a transaction with a linked file, and use menu item 
"Transaction" -- "Open Linked Document", GnuCash opens the copy of the 
file in .../2024/linked_files/... .


If that is the behaviour you want, it has worked well for me.

Best regards,
  —Jim DeLaHunt
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Re: [GNC] Manage Document Link

[Adrien Monteleone]

You can set a document link as an individual file, or as a location.

I don't think though you can use a relative path. If you move the files, 
GnuCash will lose the link.


Regards,
Adrien

On 1/3/24 8:10 AM, Tom Balazs wrote:

I want to attach an image of a bill to a transaction.
I click Manage Document Link.
I get "Path head not set, using "/home/tom/" for relative paths.
Is that the best Path to use?
Where does GnuCash begin navigating from?
I would like the path to be relative so that if I move all my GnuCash files
to another folder the document links will still work.


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[GNC] Manage Document Link

[Tom Balazs]

I want to attach an image of a bill to a transaction.
I click Manage Document Link.
I get "Path head not set, using "/home/tom/" for relative paths.
Is that the best Path to use?
Where does GnuCash begin navigating from?
I would like the path to be relative so that if I move all my GnuCash files
to another folder the document links will still work.

Tom
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