GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 642199
find (search) does not always work
Last modified: 2018-06-29 22:53:30 UTC
Created attachment 180749 [details] screen shot: transaction that contains the text string "nematode" See attached screenshots. First I browsed to confirm that at least one transaction exists with the string "nemataodes" in the Description field (Screen_shot_2011-02-12_at_12_Feb.09.01_PM.png). Then I did "command f" to open the Find or search dialog, typed "nematode" into the field so that it said "description contains nematode", and I clicked "new search." (Screen_shot_2011-02-12_at_12_Feb.09.22_PM.png). Then I clicked "find" and a tab came up with search results, but there were no results, no transactions. What's wrong? This means that I cannot trust GnuCash to honestly tell me whether I have transaction that contains a given text string.
Created attachment 180750 [details] Find Transaction dialog box immediately before I clicked "find" Shows exactly how I filled in the Find Transaction dialog box
Created attachment 180751 [details] screen shot: null search results The transaction which the first screen shot proves exists, is not found by the Search engine in GnuCash.
Thank you for your report. However, from your first screenshot it looks like it is not the description field that contains "nematode", but the memo field. The description field is in the first line of your screenshot, the same line containing the date field. In the second line, the field that contains "nematode" is the memo field. You can verify this by clicking in the particular field and check the column headers. They will change when you are in the first line or the second line. So,... can you retry your find command but this time search on the memo field ?
Created attachment 180791 [details] screen shot: new search, memo field nematode
Created attachment 180792 [details] screen shot: null search results
Thanks but I did as you said and GnuCash still does not find the transaction. Please see screenshots 2011-02-13 22:25:18 UTC and 2011-02-13 22:26:12 UTC above.
Created attachment 181056 [details] screen shot: transaction contains "wahoo" in Memo
Created attachment 181057 [details] screen shot: search for "wahoo"
Created attachment 181058 [details] screen shot: null search results
Created attachment 181063 [details] screen shot: transaction with "CityOfSacramento"
Created attachment 181065 [details] screen shot: search for "cityofsacramento"
Created attachment 181066 [details] screen shot: found transactions with "cityofsacramento"
Created attachment 181067 [details] screen shot: search for "sacramento"
Created attachment 181068 [details] screen shot: search for "sacramento" finds nothing
Created attachment 181069 [details] screen shot: search for "city"
Created attachment 181071 [details] screen shot: search for "city" finds a different transaction but not transactions with "cityofsacramento" in them
In the previous 7 screen shots, GnuCash (1) Finds all transactions with CityOfSacramento in the Description, (2) Fails to find these transactions when I search for the string "sacramento" in Description, (3) Fails to find these transactions when I search for the string "city" in Description, but does find a different transaction which happens to contain the string "city". I see no rhyme or reason in this behavior.
Created attachment 181072 [details] screen shot: search (again) for cityofsacramento
Created attachment 181073 [details] screen shot: Unlike a few minutes ago, search for "cityofsacramento" finds nothing
In the previous two screenshots, GnuCash behaves *differently* from how it behaved a few minutes ago. Now a search for "cityofsacramento" in the Description field finds nothing.
That appears to be very strange behaviour. Just to be sure: I suppose in each of the cases you have the account register openened and in front of you that does contain the words your are searching for ? For example, when you are searching for sacramento, the account register which holds the CityOfSacramento transactions is the active tab when you start the search ? You screenshots don't show this and the search is context sensitive. If you initiate the search when another account register is open and in front of you, it won't find what you are searching for.
Bingo. I had not realized that search was context sensitive. Now I see how to get the desired result. Thank you very much for your patience and for helping me in this. I think this non-bug is closed.
You're welcome. Just as an added tip: if you want to search in all accounts, initiate the search from the accounts overview window. If you initiate a search from an account register window, the search will be limited to that account.
Thank you. The approach you just described works beautifully and is what I originally had in mind, but went about it wrong. This is more elegant that the result I had earlier today (2011-02-22 17:06:30 UTC).
GnuCash bug tracking has moved to a new Bugzilla host. This bug has been copied to https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=642199. Please update any external references or bookmarks.