borsboom
commented
4 years ago I like this idea a lot, and really appreciate that you've put a lot of thought into the mechanics of how it would work.
It would then append something to the end of the note to remember that it had done this. (Alternatively, it could add a specially-annotated tracking account where it could record zero-value "transactions" and basically use that as a database.)
This could also be tracked in the tool's internal database (currently SQLite, but moving to Postgres for the hosted web version).
Figured I would leave this idea here for the future. It seems like a pretty big feature, so I don't have any expectations of you implementing it anytime soon, or at all :)
For now my focus is refining the core functionality and a user-friendly web version, so yeah :)
davisonio
So one thing I have noticed is that my budget categories are going to "drift" as currencies fluctuate. I originally converted them all to my base currency, but I don't "live" in my base currency; it's just what I want my net worth to show and where I still have most of my money.
For now, I will update the totals manually, but I had an idea on how fca4ynab might be able to help us here.
The API allows retrieving and updating budget categories (https://api.youneedabudget.com/v1#/Categories/updateMonthCategory). When retrieving, the script could look for a special currency indicator (like
<EUR>, same style as the existing ones) and convert the budget FROM that currency to the base currency. It would then append something to the end of the note to remember that it had done this. (Alternatively, it could add a specially-annotated tracking account where it could record zero-value "transactions" and basically use that as a database.)The reason it should remember is because we don't want to lose standard YNAB functionality, e.g. covering overages from other categories.
It would be useful to have it recalculate the budget categories daily, monthly, or on request with some switch (users could then set up a cronjob).
An alternative approach would be to have the category annotation be something like <EUR 5.00>, meaning 5 EUR, and then a simpler implementation where the script just checks every time if any budget categories deviate from the daily rate. fca4ynab would still append to the note so that manual category adjustments wouldn't get wiped away. The user would delete the note in order to cause that to happen.
Ah, and all this stuff should probably always act on budget categories in current and future months only.
Figured I would leave this idea here for the future. It seems like a pretty big feature, so I don't have any expectations of you implementing it anytime soon, or at all :)