Release Notes for jGnash 1.13.0
by Tom Edelson, 2011-01-12
This is release 1.13.0 of jGnash, a free, cross-platform personal
finance manager. Note that releases in the 2.x series (for example,
2.5.1) are also available, and have more features. For reasons why
you might need, or want, to use a 1.x series release, such as this
one, see "Choosing Between 1.x and 2.x", below.
For basic information on running the program, see "Quick Start",
below.
The most recent previous release in the 1.x series was 1.12.0, which
was released on 2009-02-27 (or about four months after 2.0.0, the
first release in the 2.x series). "What's New in jGnash 1.13.0",
below, describes the differences between 1.12.0 and 1.13.0.
The name of the executable jar file is "jgnash-1.13.0.jar".
The name of the jar file containing the source code is
"jgnash-src-1.13.0.jar".
Quick Start
jGnash 1.13.0 requires a Java Runtime Environment of 1.4.0 or later,
and it will run faster with version 1.5 or later.
To run jGnash on Mac OS X or Linux, download the "Jar file",
jgnash-1.13.0.jar, and then just double-click on it.
Or you can type the following at a command line:
java -jar jgnash-1.13.0.jar
On Microsoft Windows, if Java is installed and properly configured,
you should also be able to launch the program by double-clicking on
the Jar file. And as things presently stand, that is the only option,
on Windows: there are no current plans to make this release available
in the form of a "Windows executable".
Choosing Between 1.x and 2.x
Generally speaking, jGnash 2.x releases have more features. Here are
the known reasons why you might choose to run a release in the 1.x
series:
- All 2.x releases require Java 1.6, and some computers don't have
that installed; perhaps more importantly, some computers *can't* run
Java 1.6. The known case of the latter is: older Macintosh
computers, meaning specifically ones which don't have an Intel
64-bit processor. jGnash 1.x releases require only Java 1.4, so
they will run fine on an older Macintosh.
- jGnash 1.x is scriptable in BeanShell. 2.x dropped support for
BeanShell, replacing it with JavaScript. So if you have written
BeanShell scripts for jGnash, or you would like to, you need to stay
with the 1.x releases.
- Last, and least, if you are an established user of jGnash 1.x, you
might just not want to deal with the transition to the 2.x series.
The latter does use a different file format: a "db4o" database in
2.x, whereas in jGnash 1.x the data file is simply an XML file.
Also, if your data file contains a lot of "reminders", also known as
recurring transactions, then you should know that reminders have to
be re-created by hand: the code in 2.x for importing jGnash 1.x data
files does not deal with reminders.
What's New in jGnash 1.13.0
Mostly bug fixes. There is one enhancement, but it will be visible
only to those scripting the program (in BeanShell or otherwise), not
to the typical "end users" (who interact with jGnash only through its
graphical user interface). (The enhancement makes it easier to get
summary information about a security held in an investment account,
such as the current number of shares held.)
The most important bug fixes:
It was previously possible to designate an account as its own
"parent", or its own indirect "ancestor", in the accounts hierarchy.
Also improved the ability to recover from having done so in the past:
the program now checks for this, when loading a file that was created
before the fix. This was corrected under bugs 2952269 (2,952,269),
2977267 (2,977,267), 2980156 (2,980,156; this one is less closely
related, but it does deal with the loading of defective data files),
and 3028585 (3,028,585).
If the user elected to "use accounting terminology" ("credit" and
"debit" instead of, for example, "deposit" and "withdrawal"), then
there were errors in the user interface, specifically, in the
registers for some account types. The registers have tabs which you
click in order to select whether you are entering a debit or a credit
transaction. Those tabs were mislabeled: the words "credit" and
"debit" were reversed. When you clicked on "credit", you actually
created a debit transaction, and vice versa. This was corrected under
bug 3002750 (3,002,750).
In the register for an investment account, the account's "market
value" would sometimes be incorrect (generally off by one cent),
though it was reported correctly if you ran a Portfolio Report. This
was corrected under bug 3019143 (3,019,143).
End of file "Release Notes for jGnash 1.13.0".
