Inspiration
The inspiration came from a general desire to coordinate bigger investments in the house that we shared. While it was challenging to coordinate meeting times for us all to discuss the new kinds of things we'd each like in our common room, chipIN provides an online platform that allows for organization of funds and progression towards a singular goal.
What it does
The app allows each user to create/join different groups for each of their organizations, whether this be a group of friends or a varsity team. Each group having its own goals towards their own items. The user may pledge money to whatever fundraising pool as well as create their own, and if the goal is reached, the money pledged will be gathered from the various users using Interac's money request API.
How we built it
This Android app was built using Android studio as the client platform, Firebase for the user database and web hosted functions, and the Interac money request API to ensure secure transactions of money between users.
Challenges we ran into
Ensuring Interac's API was accessible on a web server through a simple web request was challenging as many of each platforms files would overlap and overwrite one another, proving that node.js can be a pain in more ways than one. The login interface through Firebase also proved troublesome as the dependencies for each of the programs files contradicted one another.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud that we have allowed a convenient and consistent way of organizing different fundraising goals among friends and colleagues, whether it be for a foosball table in the lounge or a new coffee machine in the break room, while ensuring secure bank transactions between them.
What we learned
We were able to learn all about the back-end services from scratch - using node.js and Firebase. We also learned how to host an API on a web server and access/run it remotely. On the other hand, for front-end, we learned how to develop a basic android app using java.
What's next for chipIN
- Automatic Interac transactions
- Single goal group formation
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