Re: [SL] Can't Access "System/Chart of Accounts" Menu

[Bill T. <bt...@gi...>]

On Thu, Nov 09, 2006 at 07:50:51AM +0100, Paul Tammes wrote:
> You could start out by reading the faq, as well as the readme info in 
> the tarball.
> Although not exactly a step to step howto, it should enable one to 
> install and log into SQL-Ledger.
> The fact one starts at /login.pl instead of /admin.pl suggests to me 
> that neither info was fully read..

Well, I *have* read the README, several times, and I've looked at the FAQ.
I've also scanned the archives and seen that "getting started" with SL is a
common problem. Since I didn't find the answer to my question in those
references, I thought I'd try the mailing list. And I still don't know why
I can't access items in the chart of accounts after running login.pl short 
of directly going into psql and fooling around with the chart table.

The README, if you recall, says to start at admin.pl to set up a user. It
sure looks to me that this is also where you enable or disable menus for
the user you are currently modifying. Once you set up the user, then you
run the program by starting login.pl. I've made the user an Administrator
and all the menus are checked, but when I login as that user I can't view
or edit any chart of accounts items and I don't know why. Am I doing the 
right steps or is there something else I need to fully read?

Regarding buying the manual, I recognize that you're not just paying $190
for a PDF file; you're also supporting all the development that goes into
the software. But I don't consider supporting Open Source a charity,
either. The whole system -- software and documentation -- has got to allow
me to get things done. It's a little disturbing to hear here such emphatic
confirmation of my suspicions about the usefulness of the manual. I'm
moving from several years of using QuickBooks and my business is relatively
simple, so I don't need training in book keeping or software that does much
more than basic business accounting. But I do need enough help from a
manual to actually understand how to use software beyond operating the
controls in a data entry form.

I'll keep poking at it because I don't want to stay with QuickBooks and
GNUCash isn't enough (but their documentation is great!) And thanks for the
pointers to alternate docs.

- Bill Thoen