Bitcoin Forum

This is possible, right?  I think it would be nice to be able to check my balance online even though I may have made my account at home.  I wouldn't be able to send money (cause I wouldn't have the private key) but should be able to get the account balance, right?

Even if you have only ever used one receiving address, the balance of your account will depend on multiple keys if you have made payments that return change (because those payments send the change to a new address).

Technically, you can find out the balance of an address, but it may not be as useful as you expect.

well, for the period of not spending from a given address, that could be useful

i've been thinking about it lately, because we are going to print bitcoins on paper and let them circulate as a party gig. (a hacker space opening party). using the QR code you'd scan from the paper and receive the address compliant with the bitcoin convetion. a block chain examiner would answer a request to see if the balance of that paper bitcoin is any. there should be at least 1 answer, receiving bitcoins to that address

unless you'd scratch the part with pvt and pub key you would not be able to spend it, but you'd see if it is still valid (i.ex. the issuer did not spend it for you) or if some didn't increase it's value (you would see all transactions, also incoming transactions past the issue date).

if it's a home business or a bitcoin savings account, before first spend it should be a valid observation.
1LkueDXZ8vceC5N2AxPcFZWSRKD1wQQcEJ
17WWPGEcyx7LQV2E86dBYT3sPa3ufpqfrk
197y5xP9WKyGnLQo2CdSr6sXNbboRsmDsH
1E9uhmsry9hPJ1mw5gQaFDz3Q4W7QGUBoC
14uDRe961eQyaDfhbTmVme66tmUYoZUneo
1AQnrb93Gwr6HiwinbCZEvDuzAcB2mEzwB
1L2KkxqVbJp8hWW6146QFuF8TxVcE9CuML
18wxDNBZLNXzaKiatmkDTgZ5hpst7E9YLy
15NTVqZA2NcHVgfBjMmGtcUuUmsJsiEcx1
1dq8DpRAeuHer8bUtp4HAeZwnBYyCEkYP
 ^^ this is the first 10 bitcoins to be printed
feel free to check their value and follow changes in time.
the party is next w-e. with more sponsors, the addresses could get more btc.

but yes, once spent (even partially), the remaining amount would be transferred to a new address and all future incoming payments would be sent away as well.

You can reliably get the total amount received. BBE offers HTML pages, RSS feeds, and an API page for getting amount received:
http://blockexplorer.com/address/1Cvvr8AsCfbbVQ2xoWiFD1Gb2VRbGsEf28
http://blockexplorer.com/rssa/1Cvvr8AsCfbbVQ2xoWiFD1Gb2VRbGsEf28.xml
http://blockexplorer.com/q/getreceivedbyaddress/1Cvvr8AsCfbbVQ2xoWiFD1Gb2VRbGsEf28

As others have said, getting an accurate balance is not possible unless you modify your Bitcoin client to re-use the same address.

so the "send remaining account balance" could be patched as a sending to myself / use the same address?
that would be very elegant hack, probably for "advanced" tab settings but i can imagine that being very useful for the late adopters and lay community.

i wonder why i did not have this idea.

(patching client; sending money to myself i already tried)

Would I be right in assuming that the only way to do something like what the original poster wanted would be to use a service like MyBitcoin, where the wallet is stored online?

If you patch Bitcoin to send change back to the original address, then the address balance will be accurate. This would be a pretty easy change to make. It also makes backups more reliable, since a new address is not needed for each send.

It's terrible for anonymity, of course.