[SQL-Ledger-users] Partial payments

[Izzy B. <iz...@ec...>]

I fired up SQL-Ledger about a month ago to test it's viability as an 
accounting package for my customers.  It is obviously still in it's infancy 
but shows great potential.  So much so that I would like to take an active 
role in it's development.  Sadly, I don't know Perl so haven't been able to 
do much more then pass a number of bug reports onto Dieter.  I plan to 
change this in the not so distant future so I can participate in future 
development.

I've noticed there hasn't been any activity in this list for almost three 
weeks and nothing is happening at the sourceforge site.  I'm hoping this is 
because the users are content with the current version and developers are 
busy with adding new features for the next version.  Unfortunately I don't 
see any evidence to this effect. :(

I haven't seen any mention of a separate developers list, but there doesn't 
appear to be much in the way of developer discussions on this list and only 
Dieter is listed as a developer at sourceforge.  It seems to me that the 
space at sourceforge could be put to much better use.

I've done some trolling through the list archives and have come across 
people who have made contributions, offered suggestions or volunteered to 
take on development of new features.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to 
be any acknowledgement of these efforts or confirmation that it's ok for 
development to begin.  I can only assume this is all happening behind 
closed doors.  IMHO, it makes it hard for new developers to take on 
projects if there is no formal acknowledgment of existing projects in 
progress.

I've compiled the following list of noteworthy things I've found in the 
list since the last release.

Dieter has alluded to changes in the works that will make sql-ledger adapt 
to different tax systems better.  Are there any other changes in the works 
that we should know about?  I see the next release is almost out.  Version 
1.4 no less.  How does one become a beta tester?

Rod Anderson offered to "launch" himself into creating customer 
statements.  Something I'd very much like to see.  Hows it going?  Will 
this make it into the next release?

Paolo Bizzarri, and Martin Lillepuu discussed adding capabilities for multi 
part payments.  Something I'm sure a great deal of people could 
use.  Including myself.  Hows it coming?  I hope you've been working with 
Rod as I'm sure your changes will effect him and vice versa.  Is this to be 
in the next release?

Martin Lillepuu also posted links to diagrams he created of the sql-ledger 
database and code.  I haven't managed to find a nice way to print them 
though.  Could you create a print friendly version?  I haven't played with 
dia yet but I'm assuming it must be possible.  It'd be nice to see links to 
this stuff from the main SQL-Ledger site.

Adrian Blake submitted code changes for ca.cgi to add a sum to the bottom 
of the debit and credit columns of the account list report. I'm assuming 
this is going to make it into the next version?

Neal Irwin purposed creating a mechanism to allow "pending" invoices to be 
saved but not posted.  Having suffered from the mistake of printing, but 
not posting an invoice, this makes a lot of sense to me.  An invoice should 
be saved as pending as soon as it is started and every subsequent addition 
or change should be saved to this pending invoice.  This would prevent 
mistakes like forgetting to post a finished invoice as well as prevent the 
problem of an invoice being lost because of a crash or power outage.  Given 
that I didn't see anyone volunteer to take this project on, I'm assuming it 
isn't going to be implemented in this release.  Too bad. :(

Sylvain Duchesne asked about module support for sql-ledger.  Specifically a 
module to allow automatic billing.   I too could use this feature.  Is it 
going to be in the next release?  It seems to me that a more modular 
approach overall would be beneficial.   SQL-Ledger should focus on handling 
the accounting side of things and allowed the user to plug in their own 
contact database, inventory control system, payroll model, etc.  Of course 
it makes sense for SQL-Ledger to have basic versions of each, but designed 
in such a way that someone could plug in their own, industry specific 
versions.  Trying to create a solution that is perfect for everyone just 
creates bloated apps! :(  The module approch gives the best of both worlds.

Ted Stockwell was looking for a home for his 80% complete J2EE version of 
sql-ledger. What happened with it?

I'm very impressed with SQL-Ledger so far.  There isn't much more that has 
to be done before it becomes a viable option for some of my customers.  The 
multi part payments and customer statements features are among the most 
critical.  The problem of loosing invoices that aren't posted is another 
issue that I hope can be addressed soon.  There are a number of other 
features that I would like to see and plan to take an active part in 
creating.  I'm currently trying to learn how the internal workings of SQL 
operate and of course learn Perl.

...Izzy