man dfinvoice-future (1): parse a QSF XML file show future bookings

SYNOPSIS

dfinvoice-future [-m|--month INTEGER]

Summary

Using a configuration file in the user home directory, /home/user/.datafreedom/invoice.conf, the script reads the Palm data synchronised using "pilot-qof --invoice-city", combines the data with location and rate details in the configuration file and outputs a table summarising the invoices and costs.

Example configuration:

 [General]
 mileage=0.30
 default_rate=24
 default_code=0
 basefile=/home/user/pilot-qof/offline.xml
 category=mybusiness
 [Acacia Avenue]
 rate=25
 code=1234

This configuration sets a mileage rate (expenses charged for personal transport for business purposes, per unit distance) and a default hourly rate for the work itself. Other expenses are read in from the "pilot-qof" data in the basefile. If "category" is set, the string is passed to the "--category" option of "pilot-qof" to isolate specific categories of appointments, expenses and contacts from the rest of your data. (Only one category is supported.)

For places where the rates differ, location-specific sections can be added - the hourly rate overrides the default rate and the code is meant to be a shorthand for the location itself. e.g. if Head Office etc. puts a code in the invoice payment notice to represent the location or the cost code and similar, to help you identify the appropriate line of content in the notice itself.

Issues

The simple table formatting used in the output appears to have a minor issue with UTF-8 - if the currency symbol for your locale uses UTF-8, the rows using the symbol will be shortened by one character per use of the UTF-8 symbol, causing the column markers to be mis-aligned.

DATAFREEDOM

These scripts developed from the 'pilot-qof' package but now include support for other packages and formats and will continue to be extended along the lines of http://www.data-freedom.org/ - liberating user data from the application. Therefore, the datafreedom scripts use a 'df' prefix.

The scripts continue to be developed within the pilot-qof CVS until such time as the scripts are sufficiently cohesive to form a new source package.

Please feel free to contribute any of your own scripts, under the provisions of the GNU General Public Licence v3 or later, via the QOF-devel mailing list. http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/qof-devel