Revision as of 23:18, 7 August 2018

Python bindings have been added to gnucash in 2008 or earlier. There is still very little documentation and probably few people would know how to use it. While not a manual, this page was created in the hope to provide information for those interested in gnucash and python.

See also

• http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnome.apps.gnucash.devel/23800 "Re: documentation for python bindings" and
• http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnome.apps.gnucash.devel/23613 "Re: documentation for python bindings" with some pointers on how to look up the existing documentation

Setting things up

Linux

Ubuntu/Debian

The easiest way to install the GnuCash Python bindings is via apt-get:

sudo apt-get install python-gnucash

Other Linux distributions / GnuCash from source

I use ipython for an interactive shell. If you prefer something else, let us know if there is any difference.

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/export/gnucash/lib/python2.7/site-packages

This adds the gnucash python bindings to your PYTHONPATH assuming that your gnucash resides in /export/gnucash.

You can then either start up an interactive python session with ipython or call your script to be executed.

gnucash-env ipython
gnucash-env python /path/to/script

Note: to install ipython run

 sudo pip ipython

Mac OSX

Install GnuCash via MacPorts

 sudo port install gnucash +python27

Note: at the time of writing, only the non-quartz environment is supported.

Setup the PYTHONPATH to point to your macports install

 export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/opt/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages 

You can then either start up an interactive python session with ipython or call your script to be executed.

 ipython
 python /path/to/script

Documentation

As pointed out in the introductory paragraph, the documentation is rather slim at this point in time. Here are some sources where you might be able to find what you are looking for. Generally speaking, this is not yet end-user friendly stuff.

• Have a look at the page python-bindings in doxygen source-documentation
• scripts from the source code.
• business functions documentation
• inside ipython
  • big long list of stuff
    • import gnucash.gnucash_core_c
    • help(gnucash.gnucash_core_c)
    • dir(gnucash.gnucash_core_c)
  • higher abstraction level help
    • import gnucash.gnucash_core
    • import gnucash.gnucash_business
    • help(gnucash.gnucash_core)
    • help(gnucash.gnucash_business)

Again, http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnome.apps.gnucash.devel/23613 contains some more hopefully useful pointers.

Example Usages

This section should contain some pointers to scripts using the GnuCash Python bindings:

• https://github.com/hjacobs/gnucash-qif-import --- imports transactions from QIF text files into GnuCash's own file format
• https://github.com/hjacobs/gnucash-stock-portfolio --- script using the GnuCash commodity/price table
• https://github.com/hjacobs/gnucash-fiximports --- tries to fix target accounts using regular expression rules (e.g. PIZZA -> Expenses:Dining)

NB: GnuCash uses DeprecationWarnings, which are disabled by default in Python. Be sure to test periodically with python -Wd or with PYTHONWARNINGS=default set in the environment so that you know about API that will disappear in the next major release. See Development_Process#LibGnuCash API Stability for the policy.