Progress!
It’s been difficult to find good quality time to program with two little girls wanting daddy’s attention. However, last night I was able to squeeze in an hour or two of more core development. Here are some notes:
Database
I initially started developing some of the core forms using MySQL as the back-end. However, I saw the need to have a SQLite backend (for the typical user), so I setup the database file, pointed my database calls to the db file and with a little tweaking I got it to work. What I’ll probably do is have the default installation use SQLite, but provide advanced settings that would the user to specify a database engine (for now MySQL will be the only other one). If the need arises, I can see adding several different db engines. For right now, I’m using the Enterprise Library 3.1 from Micro$oft to call the database. I like the simplicity of using this library.
Forms
Added several new forms, tweaking existing forms, and all that good stuff. I added a splash screen (using the default screen that VS.NET adds but added a fade-in). Added an About form (again the VS.NET default). Tweaked the accounts form and almost have that complete – would like to add currency formatting to the “Initial Balance” field (looking at the Money.NET code that does currency formatting). Also started on the budget screens, but was stuck on this because I really didn’t know if I needed to allow for multiple budgets or a single budget. The db will allow for multiple budgets, but right now I think I’ll code for one budget. Fresh on my to-do list is some utility screens to manage categories, clients (pay to), and other various “types” fields. Mostly have the transaction forms written, but not complete.
Other Thoughts
- Is there a better name for “clients”? That seems more “business” oriented, but for some reason I was thinking that “Pay To” was too specific. Got to think about that one.
- When I get to reporting/charting, do I attempt to dynamically calculate totals, or do I manage an accumulators table? My gut tells me that as long as I have an adequately built database, the dynamic calculations shouldn’t be an issue. That’s the direction I’m leaning.
- Not happy with the main page left sidebar. That’ll probably go through some iterations.
- Code is not presentable to the public. Must document better.
Progress….