Will the free Balance Predictor extension be fixed?
I see a few posts in the forums directing people to the paid Money Foresight extension. I've tried the trial version of that and it works well, but so did the free Balance Predictor extension before it became completely broken in MD2015.
It seems like folks have three options depending on what InfiniteKind is willing to do:
a) IK fixes the BP extension
b) IK releases the source for the BP extension and allows the community to fix it
c) IK removes the BP extension as it won't be fixed, thus requiring Money Foresight ($10) for that functionality
Please let us know what option(s) are available.
Thanks,
Brett
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1 Posted by Ben Spencer on Jun 13, 2015 @ 03:31 PM
a) The BP extension is a 3rd party extension as is not the IKs to fix.
b) We don't have the source code to release as its a 3rd party extension.
c) The exiting BP extension works fine for MD2014. I don't think we should remove it for MD2014 users.
Ben Spencer
Infinite Kind Support
2 Posted by prentonboy on Jun 13, 2015 @ 04:49 PM
So what is the answer, is it going to be fixed or not? From my point of view I had it working on 2014 but when I downloaded 2015 it had disappeared. I have it back now but apart from a short period of time it has not worked. Without it working or a suitable alternative I would be reluctant to recommend Moneydance to others. In my opinion it doesn't matter who wrote the extension Moneydance is not the same without it. I bought Moneydance on the assumption that the extension was available.
3 Posted by Ben Spencer on Jun 13, 2015 @ 05:01 PM
I think the developer of the extension has made their position pretty clear. They have a free version which can forecast up to one month into the future but if you want to use the full version the developer would like you to purchase it from him.
Ben Spencer
Infinite Kind Support
4 Posted by prentonboy on Jun 13, 2015 @ 05:15 PM
Is there a link for the free version and a link for the developers paid version. Thanks in advance.
Support Staff 5 Posted by Ethan on Jun 13, 2015 @ 05:20 PM
The extension for 2015 can be found at http://www.moneyforesight.com/
Ethan
Moneydance Support
6 Posted by icycle on Jun 13, 2015 @ 07:42 PM
The BP extension is signed as "v100 The Infinite Kind" so that's why I thought it was developed and the source owned by IK. How could one tell otherwise?
7 Posted by Ben Spencer on Jun 14, 2015 @ 12:52 AM
I think I am going to have to eat my hat here. There is a Balance Predictor Extension that is maintained by TIK. I thought was referring to the Forecaster extension which is a 3rd party extension which has now become the "Money Foresight" extension.
I just tried the Balance Predictor Extension on the current version of MD2015.4 and it seems to work fine. What particular problem are you having with the Balance Predictor extension? Have you made sure to update to the latest version?
Ben Spencer
Infinite Kind Support
8 Posted by prentonboy on Jun 14, 2015 @ 10:23 AM
I downloaded the 2015 MD from iTunes and everything worked OK with the exception that the previously installed 2014 extension was not there.
I downloaded the 2015 extension which appeared on the screen but did not give any readings with the exception of day or so when it appeared to work but then again failed to give any readings. I had been deleting it and re-installing it to try and get it to work.
The version I downloaded was V100.
Having said all that it now appears to be working again.
9 Posted by icycle on Jun 14, 2015 @ 12:40 PM
Ever since I've started using MD 2015 the BP extension has been broken. I install it, check it, see it's broken, and then uninstall it. Today I did those steps again with MD 2015 build 1227, BP v100 (the BP version has been consistent this whole time) and the result was the same. I'm surprised it could work for some people and not others.
I use the "reminders" mode and for any future time periods chosen (1, 2, 3 months for example) the result is the same: a flat line for the account chosen, at the account's current balance, with the line extending horizontally at that same value for the duration of the chart.
The account chosen has many reminders tied to it and, in fact, these reminders are visible and all selected if I click the "Manage Reminders" button.
I'm attaching a picture showing this.
10 Posted by Ben Spencer on Jun 14, 2015 @ 02:59 PM
It does seem to be broken. I have attacked a bug ticket to this case.
Ben Spencer
Infinite Kind Support
11 Posted by prentonboy on Jun 15, 2015 @ 07:27 PM
Mine has stopped working again.
icycle. even though mine produced a graph of some sort I had great doubts as to the authenticity of the graph produced, as every month appeared to be the same.
12 Posted by icycle on Jun 15, 2015 @ 09:12 PM
I'd contacted IK support for this in the past. This was the response to my support request #18044 from 2015-02-08:
Hopefully something comes of one of these bug reports. I'm sure there are a few folks that'd be willing to debug the code if it were provided.
Support Staff 13 Posted by Sean Reilly on Jun 19, 2015 @ 03:03 PM
Hi Everybody,
Sorry it has taken so long, but we've fixed the extension and it should be available for immediately download/update using the Extensions->Manage Extensions menu or from http://infinitekind.com/extensions
I've removed a bunch of unnecessary UI so it should be more streamlined but with no fewer features - but definitely fewer bugs!
Thanks!
Sean Reilly
Developer, The Infinite Kind
http://infinitekind.com
14 Posted by icycle on Jun 19, 2015 @ 03:12 PM
Thank you Sean! I've updated and confirmed the extension is now working here. This is great.
15 Posted by John Tarbotton on Jul 13, 2015 @ 11:59 PM
This extension is not working for me. I uninstalled and reinstalled V1.01. See attached for an example. Mostly though it just sits there with a gray graph.
I just recently switch to Money Dance from quicken. I really don't understand why it does not just show on the balance each day in the summary calendar like quicken did. While I am very glad to get off quicken and not have to run windows anymore the ability to project available cash is critical. I was hoping the extension would would give me enough information till I get a chance to write my own extension which would give me a report with the needed details. The graph if it worked would be good for a quick glance but I need to see the exact amount available at each reminder over several months.
It looks like the paid program Money Foresight gives me what I need. It is a bit disturbing that it says signature is invalid or missing though.
16 Posted by prentonboy on Jul 14, 2015 @ 05:57 PM
I also downloaded Money Foresight but I got concerned when it said the signature was invalid or missing. I don't really know enough about computers to understand exactly what that means but it was enough to stop me going any further and paying for it. I would be grateful if anyone can explain why the signature would be invalid or missing?
Also does MF actually do more than Balance Predictor as it only appears to use the reminders that have already been put in. In Microsoft Money if I paid for a holiday in June it would anticipate another holiday coming within the next year and average out the cost in the following year. MF doesn't appear to do that.
17 Posted by Kevin Stembridg... on Jul 14, 2015 @ 09:10 PM
Hi Prentonboy,
I'm the developer of the Money Foresight extension.
That warning is not worded very well for non-technical people and it does look a bit scary. Moneydance displays this warning for extensions where the source code has not been inspected by the Moneydance team. Extension developers can give them access to the source code and if they're happy to vouch for it they build the source code into a software package (the .mxt file), they digitally 'sign' it and then host it on their servers for direct download by Moneydance.
It may be comforting for you to know that Money Foresight was once a free and open source extension called Forecaster that I first released in late 2008 and maintained up until Moneydance 2015 was released. The Moneydance team signed and hosted the Forecaster. Since then, I've renamed it Money Foresight and it is no longer open source. For the time being the source code is not available to the Moneydance team for them to sign it and hence you see the warning.
Hope that makes sense so far. A few people have been concerned about that warning. I'll try and add some information to the MF website and maybe suggest to Moneydance that they change the wording.
To answer your other question about what MF can do compared with Balance Predictor, here is a quick summary of the differences that I'm aware of:
Compared to Balance Predictor, Money Foresight ...
only takes into account transaction reminders when calculating a forecast as opposed to deriving a forecast based on past transactions.
does not graph the 2 week average.
can forecast multiple accounts in one graph.
has a table view that lists the forecasted transactions in tabular format.
can export the table view to CSV.
allows the user to specify account 'markers' that will show up on the graph. e.g. specify the limit of a credit card account.
allows the user to include or exclude overdue reminders in the forecast.
allows the user to save any number of forecast configurations as favourites and reload them at a later date.
allows the user to click and drag over a rectangle on the graph in order to zoom into that period.
when clicked on, displays a vertical line through the chart with balances for all accounts on the day that was clicked on.
allows the user to specify statement dates and payment dates for their credit card accounts and the appropriate transaction will be added to the forecast. (note, this only works accurately if you happen to pay the full balance each month)
includes a Reminder Summary view that gives you a snapshot view of the average weekly, monthly and yearly amount of each reminder.
includes a Reminder Review view that compares your actual spending over a past period with your configured reminders for that period. This view comes in table and graph format.
has a home page widget.
I'm afraid it doesn't have that cost averaging feature from MS Money. I can see why it might be useful to predict future spending but averaging that out over a year doesn't seem to make sense in the context of an account balance forecast. I probably don't quite understand how that feature works.
Anyway, I hope that's been helpful. I'm more than happy to answer any more questions you have. If you want to avoid hijacking this thread, feel free to raise any questions via the issue tracking system for Money Foresight.
https://bitbucket.org/mahanaroad/moneyforesight/issues
Regards,
Kevin
18 Posted by prentonboy on Jul 15, 2015 @ 06:44 PM
Thanks for your prompt reply. I have paid my money for the full version. It seems to have more than what I thought it would. All I have to work out now is how to use all the extras that I wasn’t expecting.
Thanks
Charles
19 Posted by jimar2b on Jul 22, 2015 @ 04:42 AM
Will this Balance Predictor work in the latest version of Moneydance? I have it as V17
I currently have Moneydance version 2014.5 (980). It works in that, and I want to know if this works before upgrading. This is the most important extension for me. It lets me look ahead at a graph, and the actual amounts even years ahead.
20 Posted by dwg on Jul 22, 2015 @ 09:49 AM
MD 2015 requires revised versions of all extensions due to changes in the software. So an extension that works in MD2014 will not work in MD2015.
You can see what official extensions are available for each version at:
http://infinitekind.com/extensions
21 Posted by prentonboy on Aug 17, 2015 @ 06:22 PM
Kevin Stembridge
Money Foresight works well. However since I downloaded it I virtually have to download an upgrade most days. I'm just wondering is this normal?
I am now up to v30.2.
Each upgrade I download tells me that it will be a full working version but will only work 1 month in advance. It does seem to work normally.
I appreciate the upgrades but I am concerned at the frequency and of course the warning I receive from Apple prior to downloading them.
I assume the upgrades are free or are they free for a limited period?
22 Posted by Kevin Stembridg... on Aug 18, 2015 @ 12:03 AM
Hi Charles,
I wouldn't say it's normal to expect very frequent updates (e.g. every few days). I just happen to have had a bit more spare time than usual lately so I've been able to churn out a few more releases. But it is my intention to release a new version whenever I have something that might be useful to users, even if it's not a completely polished feature.
In general, I believe there are significant benefits in doing many small releases rather than doing a small number of big releases but I was wondering how customers would feel about that. I'm glad to hear your feedback. Could you elaborate on what it is that you find concerning about frequent updates? But out of respect for the original poster I don't want to hijack his thread. Could you either start a new thread on http://www.bitbucket.org/moneyforesight/issues or feel free to contact me by email (the email address on the Paypal receipt).
The other thing that is definitely concerning is the one month limit although I can't tell if you are restricted or are not restricted. I might be misunderstanding what you are saying. The download page says that the trial version is fully-featured apart from being restricted to a one month forecast. However, once you have registered and activated the restriction will be disabled and this applies to any updates as well. I'm guessing this is the situation you are in. Again, feel free to raise an issue on the Money Foresight issues page and I'll look at it straight away.
To answer your final question, updates are free for 12 months.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Kevin
23 Posted by Jim Bland on Aug 20, 2015 @ 06:28 PM
Kevin, Are you going to update the 2014 version any more?
If so would love to have the colors on negative numbers (light red)
And if possible shading on alternating lines, so that it is easier to follow
across left to right on each line. This would be in the table view.
If possible, not sure if it is, but colorizing accounts on the table view
also, this one would be last on wish list.
On Tue/18/Aug/2015 12:03:43 AM you wrote:
24 Posted by Kevin Stembridg... on Aug 20, 2015 @ 11:26 PM
Hi Jim,
I'm sorry to say I have to leave the 2014 Forecaster orphaned. I'm only able to work on these extensions in my spare time and it's in pretty short supply unfortunately.
Cheers,
Kevin
25 Posted by Jim Bland on Aug 21, 2015 @ 04:01 PM
Any way to entice you to do the 1st two items-- Shading lines and colorizing
negatives-- Those should be easier and not take as long.
Make the upgrade a pay version if you must.
26 Posted by Kevin Stembridg... on Aug 21, 2015 @ 05:01 PM
Hi Jim,
Sorry, I have to be pretty ruthless about prioritising feature requests. But I think you have some good suggestions so I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm going to add them as feature requests for Money Foresight. They won't be at the top of the list but I'll get to them eventually. When I do, if you're still using the 2014 Forecaster I'll retrofit them to that as well.
Your first request was already implemented in Money Foresight a couple of weeks ago.
https://bitbucket.org/mahanaroad/moneyforesight/issues/32
Add yourself as a watcher to the following issues. If you see that I've opened them or resolved them, add a comment to let me know that you would still like them done in Forecaster too.
https://bitbucket.org/mahanaroad/moneyforesight/issues/39
https://bitbucket.org/mahanaroad/moneyforesight/issues/40
Cheers,
Kevin
27 Posted by James Bland on Aug 21, 2015 @ 05:02 PM
Thank YOU-- That will work.
System closed this discussion on Mar 19, 2016 @ 04:54 AM.