Have items enabled on time billing but order reverts to item layout

[leibholdqpbc]

I have a re-occurring order/invoice which has items on it.
Have enabled "I Include Utems on Time Billing Invoices"

I edit the reoccuring order/invoice from item to time billing layout.
It warns and blanks all the lines.
I save the items lines and information.
I save the entry and the layout is time billing

If I then go back into that reoccuring sales order, the layout has reverted to item
And interestingly enough the lines are not blanked.

If I create a brand new sale order, setup as Time Billing, save as reoccuring, it reverts to item

[Steven_M]

Hi @leibholdqpbc 

What is listed in the first line of that time billing invoice? To ensure that the transaction does save as a time billing invoice that first line does need to be an activity-based line. Having that line set to be an item will convert that invoice into an item-based one when saved as a recurring or when recorded.

[leibholdqpbc]

Arbitrarily changing the selected format layout of a order/sale is not acceptable in any terms.
More amazing is your acceptance that this is ok
I used time billing with items for all sales and this worked in version 19 WITHOUT some dodgy workaround by putting a time billing item in the first line
The way MYOB passes off bugs as normal operations is annoying

[Steven_M · Accepted solution]

Hi @leibholdqpbc 

The changing of the layout of those transactions is something that we have raised with the required team for investigation. As yet, we don't have a timeframe for resolution.

It should be noted that my previous post was to help identify what situation you are currently in i.e. is the layout updating due to that first line or are we dealing with a new previously unreported situation.

[leibholdqpbc]

If myob is aware that it is a bug/issue, then a response of

"Yes, that is an issue that is being looked at.
If you could use the work around of to ensure that the transaction does save as a time billing invoice that first line does need to be an activity-based line.
Having that line set to be an item will convert that invoice into an item-based one when saved as a recurring or when recorded.

The team are working on this  issue"   is more approriate

Your original answer made it appear that this was an expected outcome of using time billing for purely items.

[The_Doc]

Hi @leibholdqpbc 

Whilst there are 1000s of users on this forum who will agree with your outrage.

And whilst I have vented at times on this forum - after 25 years of using MYOB and 100s of (why the hell don't you fix this problem) - venting at the forum MYOB moderators actually achieves very little.

They drop the ball (sometimes; many times - sometimes badly) but I do know they bust their boilers to help everyone they can - if they can.

I am a software/database/API developer and I know full well software (nowadays) just cannot be written perfectly - bug free, error free, problem free - just cannot. As soon as you get a stable package - and 95% of the bugs and faults fixed - the - add a  new feature team - adds new stuff - and what was stable isn't quite stable anymore - reality.

MYOB does the job - if it doesn't there are other products out there - but they have the same problems bugs/errors - the nature of software development

The Forum Moderators are  not directly connected to the development team - and the list of problems/bugs etc grows as the new feature team adds more and more new features.

As a Partner since 98 -- and a user since '94 - things are a lot better now than then.

The timebilling invoice format is an old bug - we live with it - the work around is easy - there are a lot of bugs we cannot work around and us long in the tooth Partner/developers voraciously view the 'fix' list hoping that this bug or that bug is fixed - !!!!

The time billing invoice bug is a pain-in-the-butt but there are easy work around - just put a blank line at the very top that is a time billing activity - make the notes 'Blank line - intentional - do not delete' - so long as the 1st line is an activity - MYOB saves it as a TB.

And in line with this problem - I found another bug last week that MYOB helped very quickly to solve - negative lines are not exported unless they are activities - if they are items they do not export.

Grind your teeth by all means @leibholdqpbc , shout at the keyboard, or the screen by all means - we all do - but we work around the growing bugs/errors because we have to - !!!!!

Sorry for the rant @leibholdqpbc  - I am just being the Devils Advocate.

The Doc

[leibholdqpbc]

That was not a "rant" or a "vent". Believe me if I was venting it would be a lot more vocal.
I pointed out that if a work around is suggested it should be worded as such.

Your sanctimonious post adds nothing to the conversation, or the solution and I find it quite offensive.
I am very familiar with the nature of software development and the process is to have a bug reported, a level of severity assigned, and the issue tracked until a solution is processed.
You may accept that bugs can be old and live with it, but this is a paid product that a purchaser can fairly expect to not have old bugs that have not been fixed or have a time frame for being fixed.
Do me a favour and refrain from posting replies to my questions to MYOB.