diff --git a/src/engine/Transaction.c b/src/engine/Transaction.c
index 3c08d12a0c..f7c26b0000 100644
--- a/src/engine/Transaction.c
+++ b/src/engine/Transaction.c
@@ -1666,11 +1666,9 @@ xaccTransCommitEdit (Transaction *trans)
         /* XXX hack alert -- turn this into a gui dialog */
         if (ERR_BACKEND_MODIFIED == errcode)
         {
-           PWARN("Another user has modified this transaction\n"
-                 "\tjust a moment ago. Please look at their changes,\n"
-                 "\tand try again, if needed.\n"
-                 "\t(This dialog should be a gui dialog and \n"
-                 "\tshould check for errors)\n");
+           PWARN_GUI(_("Another user has modified this transaction\n"
+		       "\tjust a moment ago. Please look at their changes,\n"
+		       "\tand try again, if needed.\n"));
         }
 
         /* push error back onto the stack */
diff --git a/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.c b/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.c
index 2dceb16eef..bb64471b8c 100644
--- a/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.c
+++ b/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.c
@@ -454,5 +454,51 @@ g_hash_table_kv_pair_free_gfunc(gpointer data, gpointer user_data)
 }
 
 
+/********************************************************************\
+  Callbacks so that the engine can display gui messages.
+\********************************************************************/
+
+static GNCGuiMessage gnc_gui_warning_func = NULL;
+static GNCGuiMessage gnc_gui_error_func = NULL;
+
+void gnc_set_warning_message (GNCGuiMessage func)
+{
+  gnc_gui_warning_func = func;
+}
+
+void gnc_set_error_message (GNCGuiMessage func)
+{
+  gnc_gui_error_func = func;
+}
+
+gboolean
+gnc_send_gui_warning(const gchar *format, ...)
+{
+  va_list args;
+
+  if (!gnc_gui_warning_func)
+    return(FALSE);
+
+  va_start(args, format);
+  gnc_gui_warning_func(format, args);
+  va_end(args);
+  return(TRUE);
+}
+
+gboolean
+gnc_send_gui_error(const gchar *format, ...)
+{
+  va_list args;
+
+  if (!gnc_gui_error_func)
+    return(FALSE);
+
+  va_start(args, format);
+  gnc_gui_error_func(format, args);
+  va_end(args);
+  return(TRUE);
+}
+
+
 /************************* END OF FILE ******************************\
 \********************************************************************/
diff --git a/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.h b/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.h
index 682d452876..4c1ffb4dc0 100644
--- a/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.h
+++ b/src/engine/gnc-engine-util.h
@@ -80,6 +80,14 @@ typedef enum
   GNC_LOG_TRACE   = 6,
 } gncLogLevel;
 
+
+typedef void (*GNCGuiMessage) (const gchar *format, va_list args);
+void gnc_set_warning_message (GNCGuiMessage func);
+void gnc_set_error_message (GNCGuiMessage func);
+
+gboolean gnc_send_gui_warning (const gchar *format, ...);
+gboolean gnc_send_gui_error (const gchar *format, ...);
+
 /* FIXME: these logging functions should proably get replaced by
  * the glib.h g_error(), etc functions. That way, we would have
  * unified logging mechanism, instead of having some messages
@@ -113,6 +121,11 @@ void gnc_log (gncModuleType module, gncLogLevel log_level,
              __FUNCTION__, format, ## args);       \
 }
 
+#define PWARN_GUI(format, args...) {               \
+  if (!gnc_send_gui_error(format, ## args))        \
+    PWARN(format, ## args);                        \
+}
+
 #define PINFO(format, args...) {                   \
   if (gnc_should_log (module, GNC_LOG_INFO))       \
     gnc_log (module, GNC_LOG_INFO, "Info",         \
diff --git a/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.c b/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.c
index 2007a32fb8..00059091e4 100644
--- a/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.c
+++ b/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.c
@@ -359,6 +359,9 @@ gnc_warning_dialog_common(GtkWidget *parent, const gchar *format, va_list args)
   GtkWidget *warning_box = NULL;
   gchar *buffer;
 
+  if (parent == NULL)
+    parent = GTK_WIDGET(gnc_ui_get_toplevel());
+
   buffer = g_strdup_vprintf(format, args);
   warning_box = gnome_warning_dialog_parented(buffer, GTK_WINDOW(parent));
   g_free(buffer);
@@ -366,13 +369,19 @@ gnc_warning_dialog_common(GtkWidget *parent, const gchar *format, va_list args)
   gnome_dialog_run_and_close(GNOME_DIALOG(warning_box));
 }
 
+void 
+gnc_warning_dialog_va(const gchar *format, va_list args)
+{
+  gnc_warning_dialog_common(NULL, format, args);
+}
+
 void 
 gnc_warning_dialog(const gchar *format, ...)
 {
   va_list args;
 
   va_start(args, format);
-  gnc_warning_dialog_common(gnc_ui_get_toplevel(), format, args);
+  gnc_warning_dialog_common(NULL, format, args);
   va_end(args);
 }
 
@@ -382,8 +391,7 @@ gnc_warning_dialog_parented(GtkWidget *parent, const gchar *format, ...)
   va_list args;
 
   va_start(args, format);
-  gnc_warning_dialog_common(parent ? parent : gnc_ui_get_toplevel(),
-			    format, args);
+  gnc_warning_dialog_common(parent, format, args);
   va_end(args);
 }
 
@@ -403,9 +411,14 @@ gnc_warning_dialog_parented(GtkWidget *parent, const gchar *format, ...)
 static void 
 gnc_error_dialog_common(GtkWindow *parent, const gchar *format, va_list args)
 {
-  GtkWidget *error_box = NULL;
+  GtkWidget *top_window, *error_box = NULL;
   gchar *buffer;
 
+  if (parent == NULL) {
+    top_window = gnc_ui_get_toplevel();
+    parent = top_window ? GTK_WINDOW(top_window) : NULL;
+  }
+
   buffer = g_strdup_vprintf(format, args);
   error_box = gnome_error_dialog_parented(buffer, parent);
   g_free(buffer);
@@ -413,16 +426,19 @@ gnc_error_dialog_common(GtkWindow *parent, const gchar *format, va_list args)
   gnome_dialog_run_and_close(GNOME_DIALOG(error_box));
 }
 
+void 
+gnc_error_dialog_va(const gchar *format, va_list args)
+{
+  gnc_error_dialog_common(NULL, format, args);
+}
+
 void 
 gnc_error_dialog(const gchar *format, ...)
 {
-  GtkWidget *parent;
   va_list args;
 
-  parent = gnc_ui_get_toplevel();
-
   va_start(args, format);
-  gnc_error_dialog_common(parent ? GTK_WINDOW(parent) : NULL, format, args);
+  gnc_error_dialog_common(NULL, format, args);
   va_end(args);
 }
 
@@ -432,8 +448,7 @@ gnc_error_dialog_parented(GtkWindow *parent, const gchar *format, ...)
   va_list args;
 
   va_start(args, format);
-  gnc_error_dialog_common(parent ? parent : GTK_WINDOW(gnc_ui_get_toplevel()),
-			  format, args);
+  gnc_error_dialog_common(parent, format, args);
   va_end(args);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.h b/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.h
index fb0441263b..d95f9f0f20 100644
--- a/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.h
+++ b/src/gnome-utils/gnc-gui-query.h
@@ -32,11 +32,15 @@ gnc_info_dialog_parented(GtkWindow *parent,
 
 extern void
 gnc_warning_dialog(const char *format, ...) G_GNUC_PRINTF (1, 2);
+extern void
+gnc_warning_dialog_va(const char *format, va_list args);
 
 
 extern void
 gnc_error_dialog(const char *format, ...) G_GNUC_PRINTF (1, 2);
 extern void
+gnc_error_dialog_va(const char *format, va_list args);
+extern void
 gnc_error_dialog_parented(GtkWindow *parent,
 			  const char *forrmat, ...) G_GNUC_PRINTF (2, 3);
 
diff --git a/src/gnome-utils/gncmod-gnome-utils.c b/src/gnome-utils/gncmod-gnome-utils.c
index 065ddfca2d..6b93fbb963 100644
--- a/src/gnome-utils/gncmod-gnome-utils.c
+++ b/src/gnome-utils/gncmod-gnome-utils.c
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 #include "dialog-options.h"
 #include "gnc-html.h"
+#include "gnc-engine-util.h"
+#include "gnc-gui-query.h"
 
 /* version of the gnc module system interface we require */
 int libgncmod_gnome_utils_LTX_gnc_module_system_interface = 0;
@@ -80,10 +82,15 @@ libgncmod_gnome_utils_LTX_gnc_module_init(int refcount) {
     gnc_html_initialize ();
   }
 
+  gnc_set_warning_message(gnc_warning_dialog_va);
+  gnc_set_error_message(gnc_error_dialog_va);
   return TRUE;
 }
 
 int
-libgncmod_gnome_utils_LTX_gnc_module_end(int refcount) {
+libgncmod_gnome_utils_LTX_gnc_module_end(int refcount)
+{
+  gnc_set_warning_message(NULL);
+  gnc_set_error_message(NULL);
   return TRUE;
 }