Cannot import CSV file, multi-commodity transaction is unbalanced.

[PSLLSP]

I try to import CSV file, I think I create valid journal but hledger doesn't like it. Input CSV file:

$ cat demo-test.csv
"Txhash","Blockno","UnixTimestamp","DateTime","From","To","ContractAddress","Value_IN(BNB)","Value_OUT(BNB)","CurrentValue @ $265.11/BNB","TxnFee(BNB)","TxnFee(USD)","Historical $Price/BNB","Status","ErrCode","Method"
"0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b","24073786","1681557699","2022-12-21 17:23:59","0x1f4d772f3cb8c4a9d42a29a2168be552854a23d1","0xa2ef40a673df43157232810d99cd9f73491bd7d5","","0","0.1","26.511","0.00152825","0.4051543575","251.27","","","Invest",""

Import rules:

$ cat demo-test.csv.rules 
# hledger rules

# skip the headings line:
skip 1

# specify the date field's format - not needed here since date is Y/M/D
date-format %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S

# since the CSV amounts have no currency symbol, add one:
#currency BNB

fields code, blkid, epoch, date, accfrom, accto, contract, amountin, amountout, value_usd, txfee, txfee_usd, hprice, txstatus, err, method

# DEBUG
#comment \n%1,%2,%3,%4,%5,%6,%7,%8,%9,%10,%11,%12,%13,%14,%15,%16,%17
comment \n%code,%date,%amountin,%amountout,%txfee,%txstatus,%err,%method

description HF|%method
status *

# set the base account that this CSV file corresponds to
account1 expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee        %txfee BNB
account2 assets:bnb:acc1

if %amountin ^0$
   amount3    -%amountout BNB
   account3   expenses:bnb:hf

if %amountout ^0$
   amount3    %amountin BNB
   account3   income:bnb:hf

Error during import, the issue:

$ hledger -f demo-test.csv print 
hledger: Error: /home/user/demo-test.csv:1-0:
1 | 2022-12-21 * (0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b) HF|Invest
  |     ; 0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b,2022-12-21 17:23:59,0,0.1,0.00152825,,,Invest
  |     expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee        0.00152825 BNB
  |     assets:bnb:acc1
  |     expenses:bnb:hf                                     -0.1 BNB

This multi-commodity transaction is unbalanced.
There can't be more than one real posting with no amount.
(Remember to put two or more spaces between account and amount.)

When I create journal file with the same data, hledger processes it without any issue:

$ cat demo-test.journal 
2022-12-21 * (0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b) HF|Invest
     ; 0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b,2022-12-21 17:23:59,0,0.1,0.00152825,,,Invest
     expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee        0.00152825 BNB
     assets:bnb:acc1
     expenses:bnb:hf                                     -0.1 BNB

$ hledger -f demo-test.journal print
2022-12-21 * (0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b) HF|Invest
    ; 0x34906d1622d7a8ddf5996d95c55a78c18452bb3dc20d82a74915a584a65d4a8b,2022-12-21 17:23:59,0,0.1,0.00152825,,,Invest
    expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee     0.00152825 BNB
    assets:bnb:acc1
    expenses:bnb:hf           -0.10000000 BNB

$ hledger --version
hledger 1.27.1, linux-x86_64

---

I wanted to report the issue with simpler CSV file but in this case hledger works without any issue; that is a mystery:

$ cat demo.csv
"Txhash","DateTime","Value_IN(BNB)","Value_OUT(BNB)","TxnFee(BNB)","Status","ErrCode","Method"
"0x34906d","2022-12-21","0","0.1","0.00152825","","","Invest",""
"0x09b8ee","2022-12-30","0.15","0","0.0039526795","","","Withdraw",""

$ cat demo.csv.rules 
# skip the headings line:
skip 1

# specify the date field's format - not needed here since date is Y/M/D
date-format %Y-%m-%d

# since the CSV amounts have no currency symbol, add one:
#currency BNB

fields code, date, amountin, amountout, txfee, txstatus, err, method

description   DEMO|%method
status        *

account1  expenses:bnb:tx-fee
amount1   %txfee BNB

account2  assets:bnb:acc1

# DEBUG
#comment \n%1,%2,%3,%4,%5,%6,%7,%8,%9
#comment \n%1,%2,%3,%4,%5,%6,%7,%8,%9\n%code,%date,%amountin,%amountout,%txfee,%txstatus,%err,%method
comment \n%code,%date,%amountin,%amountout,%txfee,%txstatus,%err,%method

if %amountin ^0$
   amount3    -%amountout BNB
   account3   expenses:bnb:demo

if %amountout ^0$
   amount3    %amountin BNB
   account3   income:bnb:demo

No issue in this case:

$ hledger -f demo.csv print
2022-12-21 * (0x34906d) DEMO|Invest
    ; 0x24906d,2022-12-21,0,0.1,0.00152825,,,Invest
    expenses:bnb:tx-fee     0.0015282500 BNB
    assets:bnb:acc1
    expenses:bnb:demo      -0.1000000000 BNB

2022-12-30 * (0x09b8ee) DEMO|Withdraw
    ; 0x09b8ee,2022-12-30,0.15,0,0.0039526795,,,Withdraw
    expenses:bnb:tx-fee    0.0039526795 BNB
    assets:bnb:acc1
    income:bnb:demo        0.1500000000 BNB

---

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I have found the source of this issue. Error in rules file, I define account1 as

account1 expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee        %txfee BNB

and that is wrong, I have to define it as two items:

account1 expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee
amount1  %txfee BNB

File demo.csv.rules was correct and that is why hledger processed file demo.csv without any issue...

This issue could be closed but I keep it open, maybe diagnostic could be improved...

---

UPDATE: sign in amount3 is wrong, it should be opposite (income should be negative and expense positive). This accounting error can be ignored, it has no impact to this issue..

[PSLLSP]

One more update, maybe new issue. CSV file cannot be used with hledger-web. I have to use hledger -f file.csv print > file.journal and after that I can start web with hledger-web -f file.journal. When I try hledger-web -f file.csv, there is no error, web server is started but it shows only 0 values, like journal is empty...

UPDATE: It works. I do not know why I met this issue but when I try it with the latest hledger, then hledger-web can work with CSV file, no issue. On the other hand, I was not able to work with CSV file, maybe that another hledger-web server was already running or I tried with older version of hledger...

[simonmichael]

Hi @PSLLSP, are any issues still unresolved here ?

[PSLLSP]

This issue could be closed, it was user error. I just was fighting with this issue for several hours. See "IMPORTANT UPDATE" in the issue description.

[simonmichael]

I agree that the result of a rule like

account1 expenses:bnb:hf:tx-fee        1 BNB

is confusing; I think we should disallow it, since it's not a valid account name (it contains 2-plus-wide whitespace).