jGnash2QIF

jGnash to QIF converter
jGnash2QIF

By: Jacobo Vilella Vilahur
Suggestions go to Jacobo221 at @gmail dot .com
jGnash2QIF.sourceforge.net

This code is distributed under terms of the GPL License
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

This program converts a jGnash XML file into a QIF file

The script is provided both in Bash and in Perl languages.

It is recommended to use the Perl implementation. With 1200 entries in the XML file the Perl implementation took about 10 seconds to complete while the Bash implementation took about 10 hours!

QIF format is quite badly specified. This script has been tested by importing the resulting QIF file with GnuCash, sicne GnuCash has a very good QIF importer, but since the QIF specification is so broken other applications may not be able to import the resulting QIF files.

Software requirements:

Perl implementation:
- perl (Included in most Linux distributions, Windows users: http://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl )
- XML::Twig perl module ( http://xmltwig.com/xmltwig )
Bash implementation:
- bash (Included in most Linux distributions, Windows users: http://www.cygwin.com )
- awk (Included in CygWin and most Linux distributions)
Both implementations:
- base *NIX utilities (grep, sed, cut, date, ...) (Included in CygWin and most Linux distributions)
- iconv (Included in CygWin and most Linux distributions)
- Windows or Linux (others not tested). Linux recommended for great speed improvement.

Testing environment:

GnuCash 2.2.4 QIF importer
with jGnash 1.11.7's QIF importer (which is, btw, pretty broken)
using files with up to 1200 entries
Reminders and Liability, Equity, Investmet, MutualFund, Credit and Asset accounts are untested since i don't a) use them, b) know how to use them correctly and c) have any files to test them

Input restrictions:

Tested with jGnash's XML fileversion 1.0
Has some support for broken/partial jGnash XML files

Output restrictions:

transfers between categories (in jGnash, these are Income and Expense accounts) are done through an invented account ("New item #")
accounts and categories contained in other accounts/categories of a different type are reassigned to the main category/account of their type

QIF does not:

bother about different currencies (it supposes the same currency is always used)
store the date when the transactions are editted (actTransDate)
support locking categories
support hidding categories
store account code numbers
store additional notes about categories
double check category transactions ("size" attribute, which stores the amount of transactions in that category)
support adittional categories settings (placeHolder, status)
support storing account in categories and viceversa, and storing categories inside other different-typed categories

jGnash, based on its QIF import code, does not:

use classes (AFAICS, they are simply categories)
use security
use prices
use AutoSwitch
use some additional account information such as credit limit
import memorizer transactions, thought they can be exported from the jGnash reminders
have a memorizers support as good in scheduling as QIF
consider adresses
consider transaction's U parameter (higher amount)
consider categories if not all their parent categories are declared
distinguish transaction types, they are all simply "transactions" (instead of distinguishing between Investment, Transaction, Memorizer Bank, Cash, ...)

Some QIF reminders:

jGnash's XML files are encoded in UTF-8, while QIF files are usually encoded in ANSI
all transactions must be stored within the scope of an account
the first transaction within a scope must be preceded by a transaction type (Bank, Bill, Cash, ...) (same type as the containing account)
when a transaction is a transaction to an account (either to itself or another), the category in the 'L' parameter must be in squared brackets
allthough jGnash ignores the U parameter, we should store it, as a copy of the T parameter