First impressions, thoughts and some questions

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jensb
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First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by jensb »

Hello,

I just discovered MMex (1.5.1, 64bit, installed from a .deb package) and I must say I'm quite relieved that there is an open source finance app with this feature set, after considering other options like Moneydance, KmyMoney and Firefly. I'm now trying to get this to work with me, or vice versa, and have some quetions. Maybe somebody can help getting me started?

Please note that I'd be perfectly happy to help implement these features if they aren't planned yet, but may need some guidance on how to get started. I do some software development, but so far none in C++.

First things first, I run KDE Neon (based on Ubuntu) with a dark theme. I understand the themes support a "dark mode", but this seems not to work with KDE, at least Money Manager still has a bright background in the sidebar and main view and also white text, which makes both unuseable. Can I force "dark mode" to be used? If not, what exactly is MMEX looking for to enable Dark Mode?

Second: Currently MMEX crashes on every single report as soon as I open it, due to an exception in WebKit.
Is this a known issue? If not, how can we trace it?

Third: Categories.
* MMEX seems to support hierarchical categories, but not when importing. Is this correct? It would be really good if users could specify a character (e.g. ":" or "|") to convert CSV values like "Home|Rent", "Home|Heating", Home|Repairs" into one "Home" category with three subcategories during import.
* Can MMEX autoassign categories to transactions when they are loaded / imported or manually, based on keywords in the description, the amount (equal, larger, smaller) or keywords in the recipient/sender?
* Can MMEX assign colors (background/foreground) to categories so that transactions get colored appropriately? That could help a lot when browsing the transactions view. Alternatively, or in addition, category icons?
* How do I reorganize / regroup categories? I first tried to use drag & drop in the categories view, but this doesn't work.

Next up: transactions view:
* Can I customize the order of the columns in the transactions view?
* Can I add additional custom columns and import CSV data into them?
My transactions have a description (supplied by the bank) AND a comment (supplied by me when checking).
* Also it would be very useful to have an "Active" checkbox besides each transaction to be able to (temporarily) disable this transaction, which would make it invisible to reports and summaries, but still existing in the database. This is very useful to search for inconsistencies during bookkeeping.
* When selecting several transactions, a summary display above or below would be very good (number of transactions, total sum, date range, etc).
* It seems to be possible to color code certain transactions.

Finally, import:
* I read on the Github issues that online connections to banks are planned. This is a killer must-have feature for me since I do everything online and regularly downloading a dozen CSV files to update my transactions is completely impossible. If this is planned, can we pretty please implement a "one-button sync" solution which simply iterates through all online accouns and downloads all new transactions, and maybe even does this automatically in a configurable interval, e.g. every X hours, daily, or once on startup?
* As long as this isn't yet available, can I script the import process on the commandline, i.e. something like `mmex --import myfile.csv --config 1`, or (alternatively) can I directly populate the SQLite table CHECKINGACCOUNT_V1? Any pitfalls I should expect?
* when importing from a CSV file, how must the CSV file be formatted for split transactions? Is this even possible yet? I have several such transactions saved in a legacy app (which, incidentally, also uses SQLite as backend) and I'd like to export this data in a suitable format.

I think that was all - so far :-)

Again - I'm willing to help implement these things, if you think they make sense for MMEX.

Hoping for some positive answers. :-)

Thank you!
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whall3y
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by whall3y »

I just discovered MMex (1.5.1, 64bit, installed from a .deb package) and I must say I'm quite relieved that there is an open source finance app with this feature set, after considering other options like Moneydance, KmyMoney and Firefly. I'm now trying to get this to work with me, or vice versa, and have some quetions. Maybe somebody can help getting me started?
Welcome.
Please note that I'd be perfectly happy to help implement these features if they aren't planned yet, but may need some guidance on how to get started. I do some software development, but so far none in C++.
More than happy to welcome more developers, especially to help with the Linux port. There are some good feature suggestions here.
First things first, I run KDE Neon (based on Ubuntu) with a dark theme. I understand the themes support a "dark mode", but this seems not to work with KDE, at least Money Manager still has a bright background in the sidebar and main view and also white text, which makes both unuseable. Can I force "dark mode" to be used? If not, what exactly is MMEX looking for to enable Dark Mode?
There has been some discussion on this... https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/4230
Second: Currently MMEX crashes on every single report as soon as I open it, due to an exception in WebKit.
Is this a known issue? If not, how can we trace it?
Discussion here: https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/3212. You need to ensure you have wxWidgets 3.1.x
Third: Categories.
* MMEX seems to support hierarchical categories, but not when importing. Is this correct? It would be really good if users could specify a character (e.g. ":" or "|") to convert CSV values like "Home|Rent", "Home|Heating", Home|Repairs" into one "Home" category with three subcategories during import.
My understanding for CSV import is that the category and subcategory need to be specified as separate fields in the CSV.
* Can MMEX autoassign categories to transactions when they are loaded / imported or manually, based on keywords in the description, the amount (equal, larger, smaller) or keywords in the recipient/sender?
Don't think this is currently supported, categories need to be manually assigned.
* Can MMEX assign colors (background/foreground) to categories so that transactions get colored appropriately? That could help a lot when browsing the transactions view. Alternatively, or in addition, category icons?
Assignment of colors is purely at the transaction level, coloring based on category or use of category icons is not currently supported.
* How do I reorganize / regroup categories? I first tried to use drag & drop in the categories view, but this doesn't work.
No, drag-drop here is not specified. It's a bit clunky and you would need to create the new category and then relocate existing transactions to this using the relocate dialog.
Next up: transactions view:
* Can I customize the order of the columns in the transactions view?
Only supported on Windows, it is a wxWidgets issue. https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/4160
* Can I add additional custom columns and import CSV data into them?
My transactions have a description (supplied by the bank) AND a comment (supplied by me when checking).
You can use the custom fields feature, but I don't think these can be used on import.
* Also it would be very useful to have an "Active" checkbox besides each transaction to be able to (temporarily) disable this transaction, which would make it invisible to reports and summaries, but still existing in the database. This is very useful to search for inconsistencies during bookkeeping.
There is status of VOID that may be useful here.
* When selecting several transactions, a summary display above or below would be very good (number of transactions, total sum, date range, etc).
Like this? https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/2914
* It seems to be possible to color-code certain transactions.
Yes, this is supported.
Finally, import:
* I read on the Github issues that online connections to banks are planned. This is a killer must-have feature for me since I do everything online and regularly downloading a dozen CSV files to update my transactions is completely impossible. If this is planned, can we pretty please implement a "one-button sync" solution which simply iterates through all online accouns and downloads all new transactions, and maybe even does this automatically in a configurable interval, e.g. every X hours, daily, or once on startup?
* As long as this isn't yet available, can I script the import process on the commandline, i.e. something like `mmex --import myfile.csv --config 1`, or (alternatively) can I directly populate the SQLite table CHECKINGACCOUNT_V1? Any pitfalls I should expect?
* when importing from a CSV file, how must the CSV file be formatted for split transactions? Is this even possible yet? I have several such transactions saved in a legacy app (which, incidentally, also uses SQLite as backend) and I'd like to export this data in a suitable format.
Yes, this bank integration is planned but not in the very near future....

Comand lin invocation of the import is not supported. There is a WebApp that posts data to MMEX so we could look to formalise the automation/API in some way.... https://github.com/moneymanagerex/web-money-manager-ex

Don't think we support split transaction import via CSV.
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by dbolton »

For automatic assignment of payees and categories based on the description/notes field, I run an SQL script described here: https://davidbolton.info/articles/auto- ... anager-ex/

Once I got through a few months of transactions (which took a lot of work), it now saves me about 1-2 hours of manual work each month. It isn't as nice as an integrated solution (since it involves closing Money Manager EX to running the assignment script, reopening Money Manager if I need to add a new payee, then closing and running the script again).

You mentioned you had some development background. One possibility for auto-downloading transactions is to write a custom puppeteer script for your bank website to download the transactions automatically. Puppeteer lets you tell the computer which website to visit and what to click or type. Once all the transactions are downloaded importing the files is fairly quick, but a command line import feature in Money Manager Ex would be nice.
jensb
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by jensb »

whall3y wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 1:06 am Welcome.
Thanks!
More than happy to welcome more developers, especially to help with the Linux port. There are some good feature suggestions here.
Let me try!
There has been some discussion on (dark theme bugs) ... https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/4230
I read this for a bit, but the suggestions there could not really improve the situation.
Do you have a commented / annotated theme for me to tinker with?

It also seems dark mode detection on Linux isn't implemented yet. Is this true?

https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... x.cpp#L112

Code: Select all

const bool mmex::isDarkMode() { return false; }   // Not implemented yet
Would you accept a PR that at least detects an environment variable IS_DARK_DESKTOP so users can choose?
Better yet (of course), an explicit Yes/No/Automatic choice in the settings window ... :-)
(crashes in Webkit) Discussion here: https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/3212. You need to ensure you have wxWidgets 3.1.x
This is a problem since Ubuntu-20.04 (LTS) doesn't ship with wx-3.1.
My understanding for CSV import is that the category and subcategory need to be specified as separate fields in the CSV.
OK, I can work with that and modify my CSV files, but it seems to be easy enough to also support a separator character. Let me think about it.
* Can MMEX autoassign categories to transactions ...
Don't think this is currently supported, categories need to be manually assigned.
This would be a huuge plus, especially when auto-importing transactions via some API. It saves a lot of manual assignment work.
Again, would you accept a PR if I manage to get something working?
Assignment of colors is purely at the transaction level, coloring based on category or use of category icons is not currently supported.
Again, would you accept a PR if I manage to get something working?
Say so honestly, some things may simply not fit in the design model but I'd be willing to try.
* How do I reorganize / regroup categories?
... It's a bit clunky and you would need to create the new category and then relocate existing transactions to this using the relocate dialog.
This definitely needs some work :-)
Next up: transactions view:
* Can I customize the order of the columns in the transactions view?
Only supported on Windows, it is a wxWidgets issue. https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/4160
I didn't necessarily mean "live", it can be an option in the settings.
* Can I add additional custom columns and import CSV data into them?
You can use the custom fields feature, but I don't think these can be used on import.
Hm. It should be possible to add custom fields (after definition) to the import fields. Noted.
* Also it would be very useful to have an "Active" checkbox besides each transaction to be able to (temporarily) disable this transaction ...
There is status of VOID that may be useful here.
Will this make the transaction be ignored in all evaluations, sums, reports, etc without deleting it?
* When selecting several transactions, a summary display above or below would be very good (number of transactions, total sum, date range, etc).
Like this? https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/2914
Yes, something like that. Has this ever been merged?
Yes, bank integration is planned but not in the very near future....
I will try to get aqbanking running, and then connect it to the MoneyManagerEx API. Let's see what we can do here. I'd prefer scripting the data import anyways.
Don't think we support split transaction import via CSV.
Not yet. :-)
jensb
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by jensb »

dbolton wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 5:05 am For automatic assignment of payees and categories based on the description/notes field, I run an SQL script described here: https://davidbolton.info/articles/auto- ... anager-ex/
I was thinking about something similar. Regular download & sync of transactions should be "cron capable", i.e. not *require* a GUI.
I'll have a look at this, thanks!
You mentioned you had some development background.
Yes. Mostly scripting languages but on my primary job I am learning C# right now as a sidekick (actually I'm an engineer). But I'm a long time Linux user, since 1996.
One possibility for auto-downloading transactions is to write a custom puppeteer script for your bank website ...
I think we can do better than that, especially in Europe. There is FinTS, a standardized banking API which thousands of banks support (and I think a public FinTS API endpoint is actually required by law at least in Germany). GnuCash uses the AqBanking toolset, which implements FinTS and it's OSS. And it has a CLI as well. So we don't even need to resort to web scraping. :-)
whall3y
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by whall3y »

Do you have a commented / annotated theme for me to tinker with?
https://github.com/moneymanagerex/themes
It also seems dark mode detection on Linux isn't implemented yet.
> Would you accept a PR that at least detects an environment variable IS_DARK_DESKTOP so users can choose? Better yet (of course), an explicit Yes/No/Automatic choice in the settings window ... :-)
Sure, go for it.
This would be a huge plus, especially when auto-importing transactions via some API. It saves a lot of manual assignment work.
> Again, would you accept a PR if I manage to get something working?
Yep, if it enhances the product then don't see why not.
Assignment of colors is purely at the transaction level, coloring based on category or use of category icons is not currently supported.
Again, would you accept a PR if I manage to get something working?
Say so honestly, some things may simply not fit in the design model but I'd be willing to try.
I think that coloring based on category might get messy as there are likely a lot of categories but I guess people may want to color some 'significant' categories. I can see value in this.
* Also it would be very useful to have an "Active" checkbox besides each transaction to be able to (temporarily) disable this transaction ...
There is status of VOID that may be useful here.

Will this make the transaction be ignored in all evaluations, sums, reports, etc without deleting it?
Yes it should do that.
* When selecting several transactions, a summary display above or below would be very good (number of transactions, total sum, date range, etc).
Like this? https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/2914

Yes, something like that. Has this ever been merged?
It is there for Windows and I presume Linux... it a wxWidgets bug that causes an issue for MacOS.
jensb
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by jensb »

Hi,

the theme colors seem fixed in v1.5.14, which I just successfully got compiled. That fixes "dark" themes too, at least for now. I was using 1.5.1 before (a .deb), with wx-3.0, which had weird colors. So, let's consider that fixed.

About categories, please look at this thread I started: viewtopic.php?t=10579

Regarding summaries when selecting several transactions, I don't see this on my 1.5.14 build on Linux.

Regards
whall3y
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by whall3y »

jensb wrote: Sat Mar 26, 2022 11:21 pm About categories, please look at this thread I started: viewtopic.php?t=10579
I suggest raising feature requests on Github and then tracking it there.
jensb
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by jensb »

Done.
aguest2023
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Re: First impressions, thoughts and some questions

Post by aguest2023 »

I second to the feature of:
Hm. It should be possible to add custom fields (after definition) to the import fields. Noted.
I just started transfering to MMEX from Credit&Debit and really loving it. MMEX made it possible for me to just dump my entrie transaction history into it. Would really appreciate it if this feature is made possible in the future!
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