Creating an Expense Manager App with Apache Cordova

An expense manager is a financial budget application that’s used to collect and analyze expenses. They help people budget and save money by monitoring income and how an individual, business or family is spending their money.

Expense manager apps vary and can come with a range of features. In this tutorial I will show how to create a simple expense manager app using Cordova. I will use jQuery Mobile for UI and Chart.js to create display charts to provide insights into income and spending.

The aim of this tutorial is to show you how to organize and store the data of an expense manager app (or any similar app) and create the basic features every more complex app should have.

Key Takeaways

• Utilize Apache Cordova alongside jQuery Mobile and Chart.js to develop a simple, cross-platform expense manager app that tracks and analyzes financial data.
• Implement HTML5 local storage to manage and store app data in JSON format, ensuring data persistence across sessions.
• Design a user-friendly interface with multiple pages for updating budgets, adding transactions, listing transactions, and displaying spending trends via graphical charts.
• Leverage Cordova plugins like Notification and Device to enhance app functionality, such as updating budgets and adding transactions with real-time notifications.
• Explore the extension of app capabilities by integrating third-party APIs, adding budgeting tools, and implementing monetization strategies to create a comprehensive financial management tool.

Starting

In the starting template I need to include jQuery, jQuery mobile and Chart.js. I won’t cover installing and creating a Cordova Application here, if you haven’t done this before, read the getting started guide. Instructions to run and build the application are available on the same page.

Give the Application an appropriate name and add the platforms you want to support. I am using Cordova’s Notification plugin and Device plugin in this tutorial, to add these find instructions here.

You can find the final code of this project on gitHub.

Note : Every time we change the code of the project you will need to rebuild it before rerunning the emulator.

Inside the www/index.html file, add the following JavaScript and CSS files in the head tag:

<style>
        @-ms-viewport { width: 100vw ; zoom: 100% ; }
        @viewport { width: 100vw ; zoom: 100% ; }
        @-ms-viewport { user-zoom: fixed ; }
        @viewport { user-zoom: fixed ; }
    </style>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.4.5/jquery.mobile-1.4.5.min.css">
    <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-2.1.4.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://code.jquery.com/mobile/1.4.5/jquery.mobile-1.4.5.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdn.rawgit.com/nnnick/Chart.js/master/Chart.js"></script>

Here I added jQuery, jQuery Mobile and Chart.js from CDNs. You can embed these files locally so that the app works without an Internet connection.

Data Structure

In this tutorial I am going to use HTML5 local storage to store the app’s data.

I will be organizing all the data into an array that will be a property of an object. The object is stored as a JSON string in the local storage.

Here is an overview of how our data will look:

{
    data: [
            [
                ["06-2015", "Total Spendings", "Total Available Budget"],
                [
                    ["item1", "cost"] , ["item2", "cost"]
                ]
            ],
            [
                ["07-2015", "Total Spendings", "Total Available Budget"],
                [
                    ["item1", "cost"] , ["item2", "cost"]
                ]
            ],
            [],
            []
        ];
}

Each element of the data array represents information about a particular month. Every month element is also an array with a date, total spending, the available budget and cost of purchased items. New months are added to the end of the data array.

When the app loads for the first time, local storage will be empty, so the data structure needs to be initiated. Here the code checks for the object in the local storage. As it’s empty it will create and store a new one. Place this code in a script tag at the bottom of the index.html page, before the closing body tag:

var info = null;
document.addEventListener("deviceready", function(){
    if(!localStorage.getItem("em_data"))
    {
        var date = new Date();
        var today = date.getMonth() + "-" + date.getFullYear();
        var em_data = {data: [[[today, 0, 0], []]]};
        localStorage.setItem("em_data", JSON.stringify(em_data));
    }
    info = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("em_data"));
}, false);

Here I am adding the current month to the array. I created an info variable used throughout the app to access data. Whenever I make changes to the info variable I need to update local storage.

Creating the Home Screen

Let’s create a home screen for our app which will display first when the app loads.

In the home screen of our app I will place four buttons. These are for updating this month’s budget, adding new purchased item, listing all purchased items and showing a graph to analyze six months of spending.

Here is the code to create a jQuery mobile page for our home screen. Place this code in the body tag of the index.html page (You can probably replace the divs that are there):

<div data-role="page" id="home">
  <div data-role="header">
    <h1>Expense Manager</h1>
  </div>
  <div data-role="main" class="ui-content">
    <p>
        <a target="_blank" href="#update_budget" style="text-decoration: none"><button>Update Budget</button></a>
        <a target="_blank" href="#add_transaction" style="text-decoration: none"><button>Add Transaction</button></a>
        <a target="_blank" href="#list_transactions" style="text-decoration: none"><button>List Transactions</button></a>
        <a target="_blank" href="#chart" style="text-decoration: none"><button>Display Chart</button></a>
    </p>
  </div>
</div>

Here I placed four buttons on the page, each of them pointing to a new page. Here is how the page looks:

Note: Code for all the other pages should be added below this, so that this page loads first.

Creating a Page to Update the Budget

When a user clicks on the Update Budget button a new page is displayed where a user can update the total available spending budget for the month.

Next, display a textbox and a button to update the budget. Place the code in the body tag of the index.html file:

<div data-role="page" id="update_budget">
  <div data-role="header">
    <a target="_blank" href="#home" class="ui-btn ui-icon-home ui-btn-icon-left">Home</a>
    <h1>Budget</h1>
  </div>
  <div data-role="main" class="ui-content">
    <p>
        Update this month budget
        <input type="text" id="month_budget" />
        <a target="_blank" href="javascript:update_budget()" style="text-decoration: none"><button>Update</button></a>
    </p>
  </div>
</div>

The text box should by default display the budget of the current month. So add an event listener to update the budget before the page loads.

To update the value of the textbox every time before the page loads, place this code in the script tag of index.html file:

function update_month()
{
    var date = new Date();
    var today = date.getMonth() + "-" + date.getFullYear();
    if(info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][0] != today)
    {
        info.data[info.data.length] = [];
        info.data[info.data.length - 1][0] = [];
        info.data[info.data.length - 1][1] = [];
        info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][0] = today;
        info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][1] = 0;
        info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][2] = 0;
        localStorage.setItem("em_data", JSON.stringify(info));
    }
}
$(document).on("pagebeforecreate","#update_budget",function(){
    update_month();
    document.getElementById("month_budget").value = info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][2];
});

Before updating the textbox value invoke the update_month function to check if the current month is available in the data array. Otherwise it creates a new array element representing the current month.

The update_budget function is invoked when Update Budget is clicked. Place this code in the script tag of the index.html page:

function update_budget()
{
    info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][2] = document.getElementById("month_budget").value;
    localStorage.setItem("em_data", JSON.stringify(info));
    navigator.notification.alert("This month budget is updated", null, "Budget Edit Status", "Ok");
}

Here is how the page looks:

Creating a Page to Add Items Purchased

When a user clicks the Add Transaction button, a new page is displayed where they can add details of newly purchased items such as name and cost. Place this code in the body tag of the index.html file that displays two textboxes and a button to add a new item:

<div data-role="page" id="add_transaction">
  <div data-role="header">
    <a target="_blank" href="#home" class="ui-btn ui-icon-home ui-btn-icon-left">Home</a>
    <h1>New item</h1>
  </div>
  <div data-role="main" class="ui-content">
    <p>
        Item name
        <input type="text" id="item_name" />
        Item Cost
        <input type="text" id="item_cost" />
        <a target="_blank" href="javascript:add_item()" style="text-decoration: none"><button>Add</button></a>
    </p>
  </div>
</div>

Before the page loads check if the current month is present in the data array and if not, create a new element in the data array representing the current month. Place this code in the script tag of the index.html page to invoke the update_month function before the page loads:

$(document).on("pagebeforecreate","#add_transaction",function(){
    update_month();
});

Finally comes the add_item function, invoked when user clicks the Add button on the page. Here is the code for the add_item function. Place this code in the script tag of the index.html page:

function add_item()
{
    var item = [document.getElementById("item_name").value, document.getElementById("item_cost").value];
    info.data[info.data.length - 1][1][info.data[info.data.length - 1][1].length] = item;
    info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][1] = info.data[info.data.length - 1][0][1] + parseInt(document.getElementById("item_cost").value);
    localStorage.setItem("em_data", JSON.stringify(info));
    navigator.notification.alert("New item has been added to this month transactions", null, "Transaction", "Ok")
}

Here is how the page looks:

Creating a Page to display Purchased Items

When a user clicks on the List Transactions button, a new page is displayed where they can see a list of items (and their price) purchased during the current month.

Display a jQuery table listing the purchased items. Place this code in the body tag of the index.html file:

<div data-role="page" id="list_transactions">
  <div data-role="header">
    <a target="_blank" href="#home" class="ui-btn ui-icon-home ui-btn-icon-left">Home</a>
    <h1>Transactions</h1>
  </div>
  <div data-role="main" class="ui-content" id="listTable"></div>
</div>

Before the page loads retrieve the list of currently purchased items, generate the jQuery table HTML code and insert it into the page. Place this code in the script tag of the index.html page:

$(document).on("pagebeforecreate","#list_transactions",function(){
    update_month();
    var html = '<table id="table" data-role="table" data-mode="column" class="ui-responsive"><thead><tr><th>Item Name</th><th>Item Cost</th></tr></thead><tbody>';
    for(var count = 0; count < info.data[info.data.length - 1][1].length; count++)
    {
        html = html + "<tr><td>" + info.data[info.data.length - 1][1][count][0] + "</td><td>" + info.data[info.data.length - 1][1][count][1] + "</td></tr>";
    }
    html = html + "</tbody></table>";
    document.getElementById("listTable").innerHTML = html;
});

Here is how the page looks:

Creating a Page to display Chart

When a user clicks on the Display Chart button, a new page is displayed showing a Radar chart of the spending and budget of the last 6 months.

Here is the code for the page that displays the chart. Place this code in the body tag of the index.html file:

<div data-role="page" id="chart">
  <div data-role="header">
    <a target="_blank" href="#home" class="ui-btn ui-icon-home ui-btn-icon-left">Home</a>
    <h1>Chart</h1>
  </div>
  <div data-role="main" class="ui-content">
      <canvas id="monthly_canvas" style="height: 100%; width: 100%"></canvas>
  </div>
</div>

A in the page acts as a placeholder for the chart. Initiate chart.js and provide data to the library to render the chart on the canvas. Place this code in the script tag of the index.html page:

$(document).on("pagebeforecreate","#chart",function(){
    var start = 0;
    var end = 0;
    if(info.data.length <= 6)
    {
        start = 0;
        end = info.data.length - 1;
    }
    else
    {
        start = info.data.length - 6;
        end = info.data.length - 1;
    }
    var labels = [];
    for(var iii = start; iii <= end; iii++)
    {
        labels[labels.length] = info.data[iii][0][0];
    }
    var monthly_budget = [];
    for(var iii = start; iii <= end; iii++)
    {
        monthly_budget[monthly_budget.length] = info.data[iii][0][2];
    }
    var monthly_spent = [];
    for(var iii = start; iii <= end; iii++)
    {
        monthly_spent[monthly_spent.length] = info.data[iii][0][1];
    }
    setTimeout(function(){
        var lineChartData = {
            labels : labels,
            datasets : [
                {
                    label: "Monthy Budget",
                    fillColor : "rgba(220,220,220,0.2)",
                    strokeColor : "rgba(220,220,220,1)",
                    pointColor : "rgba(220,220,220,1)",
                    pointStrokeColor : "#fff",
                    pointHighlightFill : "#fff",
                    pointHighlightStroke : "rgba(220,220,220,1)",
                    data : monthly_budget
                },
                {
                    label: "Monthly Spendings",
                    fillColor : "rgba(151,187,205,0.2)",
                    strokeColor : "rgba(151,187,205,1)",
                    pointColor : "rgba(151,187,205,1)",
                    pointStrokeColor : "#fff",
                    pointHighlightFill : "#fff",
                    pointHighlightStroke : "rgba(151,187,205,1)",
                    data : monthly_spent
                }
            ]
        }
        var ctx = document.getElementById("monthly_canvas").getContext("2d");
        window.myLine = new Chart(ctx).Radar(lineChartData, {
            responsive: true
        });
    }, 500);
});

The code above retrieves the dates and spending information for the last 6 months and chart.js is initiated asynchronously using setTimeout. I initiated chart.js after 500ms to allow time for the page to render, otherwise the canvas will fail to render graphics.

You can display different kinds of charts by calling the respective methods of the chart object. Here I displayed a radar chart, so the Radar method of the chart object is invoked. To display a bar chart, call the Bar method with the same arguments.

Learn more about chart.js here on SitePoint.

Here is the Bar and Radar charts with 3 months of transactions:

Final Thoughts

Currently the app is functional, but basic and can be deployed to multiple platforms. The next steps are providing intelligent advice on how to reduce spending, or adding notifications. Let me know your experiences trying this tutorial and ideas for expanding it.

Frequently Asked Questions about Creating an Expense Manager App with Apache Cordova