[moneytalks] Re: Two bugs located in the recurring transactions part of program
- From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <moneytalks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:56:34 -0500
Confirmed point 1.
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Zielinski
To: moneytalks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 2:07 PM
Subject: [moneytalks] Two bugs located in the recurring transactions part of
program
Hello MT staff and others,
I hope I'm not too late to get this fixed in the next release of MT.
I believe I've located two bugs in the recurring transactions part of the
program. I've used the project recurring transactions to test this. I didn't
let the program automatically post as the computer's clock normally advances.
I did use the "Post Next Occurrance" and "Project Recurring" options in the
Transaction menu to test this.
Bug number 1, dealing with how recurring transactions work with the memo field:
The manual states at one place:
Status of Recurring Transactions
When Money Talks adds a recurring transaction to your register, it uses the
information
from the last transaction in the Payee/Payer, Amount, Item, Memo, and Category
fields.
Usually, this is what you want, but there may be some recurring transactions
with
amounts that differ from time to time. . . .
Problem:
The contents of the memo field of the original transaction, is, in fact, not
carried over. Recurring transaction memo fields are blank.
To test this:
Pick a transaction which has a memofield filled in, and make it recurring.
Project that item into the future. The memo field will be left blank.
Bug number 2, dealing with inaccurate posting dates for recurring transactions
with frequencies of less than seven days, (a week):
To test this, I created a transaction on Saturday, August 12, then made it
recurring as follows.
Step 1. I chose Every X Days option under the Frequency combo box under the
Recurring sub-menu
Step 2: I tabbed to the Number of Days edit box and entered the digit 3.
Step 3: Tabbing to Weekend Action radio button I chose Previous Weekday.
Step 4: Under Advanced Days to Post, I left it at zero.
Step 5: I hit enter to accept the OK button.
Problem:
The program inaccurately posts the recurring transactions, putting them on
incorrect days and over time creating erronious results. I think it is tied
into the use of Weekend Action, but not in the way you might at first think. I
don't think this problem occurs if you set Weekend Action to "Always Post".
Here's a description of what the results are and what I think they should be.
Original transaction date, Saturday, August 12.
First occurrance: Tuesday, August 15, (3 days later, correct.)
Second occurrance: Friday, August 18. Correct.
Third occurrance: Monday, August 21. Correct.
Fourth occurrance: Thursday, August 24. Correct.
Fifth occurrance: Friday, August 25. Correct. The actual posting date should
have been Sunday August 27, but because Weekend Action is set to Previous
Weekend, it got posted on Friday, the 25th.
Here's where the problems begin:
The nnext occurrance should be Wednesday, August 30, because the 30th is three
days after the 27th.
However, the program places the recurring transaction on Monday, August 28,
three days after its Friday, August 25 posting. It is using its actual
posting date based on the Weekend Action setting, rather than what it should be
based on, truely three day multiple projections from August 12.
The next actual projection should be Saturday, September 2, and should be
placed in the program on Friday, September 1.
However the program places the transaction on Thursday, August 31, three days
after its last entry.
The next actual recurring transaction should be Tuesday, September 5, three
days after September 2.
However the program thinks it should be on Sunday September 3, three days after
August 31. Because September 3 is a Sunday, it enters it on Friday, September
1.
The next actual occurrance should be Friday, September 8, three days after the
5th.
However the program places it on Monday, September 4, three days after Friday,
September 1.
You can see how over time, the recurring transactions will not reflect the real
number of transactions that should be there, and hence the actual amounts of
the projections will be inaccurate. To be accurate, At times the actual
transactions, because of the Weekend posting settings, should occur twice on a
given Friday, (or Monday if you set weekend action to the follwoing week day).
As it is, the program simply is placing a transaction three days after its last
recurring posting, regardless of the fact that this posting isn't a true
multiple of three. Over time, the discrepancy willl be larger and larger, and
the money values more and more inaccurate. This inaccuracy may become more
profound if you use different values for frequency from 1 to 6 days.
I believe MT should actually post in correct multiples of "number of days" from
the starting date of the recurring transaction entry. In my example above, it
should post in correct multiples of three.
If you concur, I hope I'm not to late to get this probelm resolved.
Steve
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