Add ability to turn off defaults for autocomplete purposes

Dear @lubos,

after updating Manager to the last version we are facing several issues in sales invoices (I didn’t check credit notes, purchase invoices etc etc but I suppose the problem is all around the software).

Differently from what happened before, even with the invoice saved and reopened, if I choose an Inventory Kit without a preset Tracking Code Manager automatically deletes the Tracking Code that was there. Can you please leave the original Tracking Code if no Tracking Code is set under Inventory Item/Kit?

The most important and annoying thing, every time I change the account in the form Manager deletes the Tax Code. This is a big issue and error bearer…

I cannot reproduce this behavior. It was not present in v21.5.10 and is not present in v21.5.14. (I bypassed those versions in between.)

I’ll try to update. I’m just in between with 21.5.12

I can confirm that under Manager Linux Server Edition ver 21.5.14 the problem is still there. If you change the account of a line the Tax Code disappear.

OK. I focused on the tracking code issue when I tested. Is the tracking code behavior your described in your first post still occurring?

I can reproduce the disappearance of tax codes when an account is changed. But the behavior is unrelated to opening (editing) an existing transaction. It occurs while entering any transaction (not just sales invoices), even before it has been created. I don’t know if this is intended behavior or not. @lubos will have to decide that.

Yes it is.

  1. in the inventory kit the tracking code in not set
  2. in the invoice I have a tracking code set
  3. I choose the inventory kit
  4. The tracking code is deleted

The tracking code behavior you describe in your post #6 is correct behavior. Your inventory kit is defined so it does not have a tracking code. Therefore, if you select the kit in place of something else, the tracking code should be deleted. Otherwise, there is no point in predefining tracking codes. If you subsequently edit the transaction without changing the inventory kit, the tracking code you entered manually is preserved.

I understood post #1 to mean something different. I thought you meant you had a sales invoice saved with a tracking code entered, and that when you subsequently opened it for editing, the tracking code had disappeared. After your more detailed explanation in post #6, I understand you meant that, if you opened the invoice and then selected the inventory kit, a manually entered tracking code you had entered for some other line item content would disappear.

Fine, if it is meant to work like this. I find unusual that an “unset” setting ovewrite (by deleting) an already set field. It used to work differently before.

The is still the tax issue which is a bug to be solved since, everytime one user changes the account, Manager clear the tax code.

Is this not the same issue - there are tax codes associated with accounts, so it makes sense that if you change the account, then the tax code follows.

Obviously, if no tax code is associated with a particular account then the tax code field on the invoice line will be cleared if that account is selected

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I had not thought of it that way, but @Joe91 is right. It is the same thing.

The logical reasoning behind the two “resets” is the same… since this linked field can be set as default elsewhere in the settings of the driving field, each time I change the driving field (even if it hasn’t any default settings about the linked field) the linked field is deleted.

So, if I change an Inventory Item or Kit (which can have a default Tracking Code or not and in our case not) it deletes the Tracking Code which I find weird but acceptable.

If I change an Account in the invoice (which can have a default tax code or not and in our and most of the cases not) it deletes the tax code which which I find crazy since it will generate an infinite amount of errors like it has done in our company.

I find this whole thing completely wrong since an unset field (morover optional!) is not in any way an empty field. Manager used to behave in the opposite way a few versions ago.

Sometimes I am amazed by the superficiality of certain undocumented changes and updates that risk generating huge errors in the accounting of companies that can lead to false declarations and fines.

This is the problem with trying to please everyone by attaching defaults values all over the place - you end up with conflicting values and the program has to guess what the user wants.

It would be simpler if there where no defaults - a bit more time consuming perhaps but certainly simpler.

Default values have been there for years. The problem is that Manager changed its behavior. What is the assumption that if I don’t set an optional field, ie a preference (for example tax code) the data in a field I have already compiled should be deleted?

If @lubos wants this kind of behavior should give us the possibility to choose from “unset” which should not touch my data, “empty” which should clear the field and the list of possible choices.

You lost me with this question, @Davide. As I understood your post #6, you were not referring to a field already “compiled.” (I interpret that to mean a field on a transaction already created.) You are referring to previously saved definitions for items and accounts overriding old information when you change the item or account selected. Using your terminology, the linked field content disappears when the driver that populated it on a form is deleted or changed.

Your post #13 seems to imply once again that saved content is disappearing spontaneously. That is what I originally thought you meant in post #1. But you seemed to contradict that interpretation in post #6. Will you please clarify?

Premise… I don’t have any default tax code or tracking code since I need to set them each time. All that said, let’s try to explain it better:

  1. I create an Invoice
  2. I set all the header data
  3. I set an an account (or an inventory item)
  4. I write the description
  5. I set the amount
  6. I set the tax code
  7. I set the tracking code

Whether I save or not the invoice, if I change my mind and I want to change the account (or the inventory item) I loose both the tax code and the tracking code since Manager resets them to empty since the new account (or the new inventory item) I have choosen has no default values (which are optional!).

I understood what you were saying, but the dilemma is if you modify Manager so that when you change the account or inventory item and leave the tax code or tracking code as is, someone will complain that they have changed the account or inventory item and the program did not use the tax code or tracking code set as a default foe the account and tracking code.- no default is as valid a code as a code itself.

Manager used to work like this:

  • if there was no default tax value in the account it didn’t change the already set tax value of the invoice
  • if there was a default tax value in the account it did change the already set tax value of the invoice

and in my opinion that’s how it should work.

Why should Manager choose instead of myself to deliberately delete data I already entered (or worst that maybe was set by another guy in my company that is in charge of this)?

My default values are left unset not set to “empty”. This are two completely different behaviors.

I don’t think the program distinguishes between “not set” and set to “empty”

You do have a point - and having Manager change the way it decides, is annoying but I think it is up to lubos to decide what he does or doesn’t do

You are right… but “no default” is different from “empty”. No default is “let me choose from time to time”, empy is “clear the field”.

So, if this is this dilemma, there should be both options and not changing the previous behivior to the new one without any notice.

@Davide, thank you for the very detailed workflow description in post #15. This matches what I thought you meant after reading post #6. It also matches what I now realize you meant in post #1. So…no confusion.

The question for @lubos is, "Should an empty field for a tax or tracking code in an account or item definition be interpreted as:

  • “Empty,” overriding residual content from prior entries, or
  • “No Entry,” allowing other content to remain.

My preference would be for the first, for the reason @Joe91 stated: users will not expect a tax or tracking code to be applied when they have not included one in the definition of the account or item.

Your preference is obviously for the second option.