On 18 Jan 2010, at 18:12, Bob Miller wrote:
... 2. invoice number right away. The flow of doing invoices, for this client, is such that they would like to know the invoice number beforethe invoice gets posted, else they have to go back to see it. As far asI know, the invoice number only gets created at post time, or when theinvoice gets emailed (maybe when it gets printed too, I don't print so Idon't know). Is that just the way it is going to be ...
Hi Bob,I'm not really able to help with your other questions, but the invoice number does indeed get generated if the invoice is printed.
I don't know if this is the way things are going to stay, but I'd guess they probably will do at least until 1.3 or at least until sometime after 1.3 has gone stable.
I would guess the reason for this is that one is not obliged to use incrementing numbers as per the defaults. If one wants one's invoices numbered 1, 2, 3, ..., then that's the way LedgerSMB behaves out of the box; if one wants one's invoices numbered 00001, 00002, 00003, ..., or BM0001, BM0002, BM0003, ... then this can be specified in the system's defaults. If one wanted to set it so that invoices were numbered arbitrarily - eg 2010-010-19-BM1, 2010-010-19-BM2, 2010-010-19-BM3, 2010-010-20-BM1, 2010-010-24-BM1 - then one would enter the invoice number in the empty box and LedgerSMB would just accept this.
You can trigger the invoice number generation by choosing "To Screen" in the printer selection drop-down at the foot of the invoice creation page (optionally, choose also PDF) and pressing "Print" - the invoice will be downloaded to the user's PC. I think the number will also be updated in the browser - assuming that it is, you could create a /dev/ null printer and set it as default to make the invoice number generation a single-click affair.
Stroller.