JC5
commented
3 years ago Great idea, and a great write-up!
I thought about it a few times, and I like the idea. Keep in mind it's a massive effort on my part for just a few power users. The CRUD and data validation alone are a huge pain in the butt. I've been pretty conservative about this because it's just another high-maintenance hassle really.
But I'll put it on the list, because I like the idea :+1:
Thanks for the compliments, and thanks for some great suggestions (not just this one 😉 )
erdmenchen
Styleflix
bastantoine
matejdro
mrahmadt
Description
Hey there! While entering my transactions for the last week, I had an idea for a feature which might come in handy when entering transactions manually.
First off, let's talk about how I came up with the idea: Not every transaction is unique, right? You have transactions which re-occur often, but not so regularly that they can be covered by recurring transactions. For example, I go to the supermarket at least twice a week, but the exact day (and, obviously, my expenses´at the place) vary for each visit. However, the Name (Supermarket XYZ), source and destination account (my bank account ->Supermarket XYZ), as well as Category (Food) and Budget (Basic) are exactly the same for each transaction. Now let's add my favorite bakery, my fav ice cream store, and I think you start to see the issue: I enter the same stuff very often, sometimes even multiple times a week. That might be annoying, but is there a solution for my laziness? I think there is!
Solution
As the issue title suggests, I'd love to see some kind of "Template" feature implemented in Firefly III. With this feature (which could for example be located under Piggy Banks), you could pre-define the following attributes:
You could then create a new transaction from a template (e.g. on the templates page, there could be a button with "Create new.." for each template), which would take you to the create page where you can customize your transaction (entering the amount, maybe modifying the transaction name a bit).
I think the create page already has support for request parameters (at least to a certain extent), maybe the "Create"-Button for a template could simply open a Create Transaction page with the appropiate parameters.
What are alternatives?
I don't know, but I can't think of any alternative which already allows something similar (if there are, please let me know!). This could obviously be done with a self-written external tool, but implementing it into the software itself would make the experience more consistent and user-friendly.
You could also put your set-up very advanced rules (e.g. only entering "bakery-lunch"), and the rule engine will fill in the correct accounts for you. However, you would have to remember all these rules you created or look them up every time. In the meantime, I could enter the transaction details manually as well.
Additional context
I can't really estimate how much work a feature like this would take to implement, but I'd really love to see it in action. However, I would understand if it'd be too much effort for a not significant enough change in Firefly III.
Edit: To put the feature on steroids, you could make templates available while on the Create Transaction page as well, so the user doesn't have to navigate to the template page.
Bonus points
(Sorry, I used a Categories page to simulate this, multiple colums might make more sense here instead of a single descriptive column 😄)
As always, thanks for all of your effort in Firefly III!
Best wishes, Niklas