Importer has to "start over" and create new API connection for each CSV import

[NightHawkATL]

Support guidelines

• I've read the support guidelines

I've found a bug and checked that ...

• ... the documentation does not mention anything about my problem
• ... there are no open or closed issues that are related to my problem
• ... it's definitely a Firefly III issue, not me

Description

I have 2 bank accounts with Wells Fargo and I just started using FireFly III as a test. I downloaded last month's export from each account and tried to import them. I had a few trials to learn the importer function and each time I had to start over because if I didn't, it would try re-importing the same file and would go into a loop for some reason. I would think that there should be a persistent folder that would store the API client ID connection between the importer and the FireFly app to make sure that you don't have to renew the API connection each time.

I setup the client ID token as explained without the "confidential" setting and added the callback URL.

Debug information

Debug information generated at 2025-01-03 11:18:27 for Firefly III version v6.1.25.

System information
Item	Value
Firefly III	6.1.25 / v2.1.0 / 25 (exp. 25)
PHP version	8.3.13 (64bits) / apache2handler / Linux x86_64
BCscale	12
Error reporting	Display: Off, reporting: ALL errors
Max upload	67108864 (64 MB)
Database drivers	*mysql*, pgsql, sqlite,
Docker build	#1160, base #92

Firefly III information
Item	Value
Timezone	America/New_York + America/New_York
App environment	production, debug: false
Layout	v1
Logging	notice, stack / (empty)
Cache driver	file
Default language and locale	en_US + en_US
Trusted proxies	10.0.2.25
Login provider & user guard	eloquent / web
Login headers	N/A + N/A
Stateful domains
Last cron job	2025-01-02 05:00:00 (1 day ago)
Mailer	smtp

User-specific information
Item	Value
User	#1 of 1
User flags	🔧 📑 📧
Session start	2025-01-01 00:00:00
Session end	2025-01-31 23:59:59
View range	1M
User language	en_US
User locale	en_US
Locale(s) supported	en_US.utf8: ✅ en_US.UTF-8: ✅
User agent	Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:133.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/133.0

Expected behaviour

I would expect it to keep the connection active and just allow to start over from the main import page.

Steps to reproduce

1. open the importer
2. you are greeted with a connect dialog. Input information and connect to add yet another token connection.
3. import CSV.
4. Find issues and have to go back.
5. Fix issues and complete import.
6. Press back to get to the beginning import step.
7. start over and notice that you don't get any options and it goes into a loop of scanning and getting the file ready for import.
8. start over and notice you have to submit the FireFly URL and client ID again.

Additional info

No response

[JC5]

Hi, thanks for opening an issue!

The data importer has no storage or cache, and probably won't get it. If you need persistent access, use a personal access token.

[NightHawkATL]

Hi, thanks for opening an issue!

The data importer has no storage or cache, and probably won't get it. If you need persistent access, use a personal access token.

Thanks for the reply. I looked at the setup and I did create a personal access token but couldn't figure out how to import it for continued API access through the web GUI. I really appreciate the functionality to allow me to easily reconcile my accounts.

[JC5]

Ahh, I see. Set the token as an environment variable, that should do it. See https://github.com/firefly-iii/data-importer/blob/main/.env.example#L31

[NightHawkATL]

I will give this a try. I may end up not needing it anymore but won't know until this month is over and do the reconcile.

[NightHawkATL]

I Just ran a test with this today and so far, it is working as expected on not creating a new API connection at each recreation of the container. Once I reconcile the month, I will know if the importer reverts back and allows me to import a different file without having to restart the container, since I have 2 accounts that I will import from.