Finance Tracker

This repository contains my hand-in for the SE_19 module, taken during the Spring 2022 semester. It's a web application that allows users to keep track of their expenses, and visualize them through a line chart, allowing them to view their expenses by month or by year. I had various other ideas in mind, which I will talk more about in my reflection essay, but didn't have time to implement. Some of these are:

• View different colored lines for different categories.
• Use a user's monthly income to show them how close they are to their monthly budget.
• Allow users to choose their currency and show it in the chart.

This was developed using Express.js, a PostgreSQL database, Sequelize.js as ORM, and Chart.js on the frontend to display charts.

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Development environment setup instructions

You will need to install NodeJS on your machine. Installation instructions here.

You will also need a PostgreSQL instance running on your machine and you will need to create an user (optional, you can use the default postgres user), which needs to be a superuser and a database for the application to use. MacOS || Windows

1. Clone this repository.
2. Install node dependencies
   • npm install
3. Locate the .env.example file in the root folder of the app and duplicate it, renaming the copy to .env.
4. Add environment variables to the newly created .env file.
   • COOKIE_SECRET must be a random string.
   • DB_NAME must be set as the name of the database you created to run this app.
   • DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD must be set as your PostgreSQL username and password (postgres and admin if you're using the default postgres user).
   • DB_LOGGING is up to you, if you would like to see database communication in the console while you run the app - either true or false.
5. Start the server
   • npm start

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Web-app architecture diagram