Inspiration - We wanted to help college students better grasp their financial situation, as a lot of them tend to not realize how they stand fiscally, as long as they don't have anything to worry about presently.
What it does - It's very simple. When the app opens, it prompts you to input your current assets (bank balance, how much cash you have, etc.), your estimated weekly expenses, and your estimated biweekly income (biweekly because college students tend to get paid in that manner). Then, if your income exceeds your expenses, it will give you your assets after one month of sticking to such a plan. If your income is lower, however, it will give you an estimate of how long you will last financially if you stick to your current situation.
How I built it - We started with the XML interface, and scoured the internet for clues regarding how to create buttons and input prompts. Then, we had to find out how to use the values prompted for and also how to connect the button click with an actual method that would accomplish something. Lastly, we had to connect the main page of the app with the secondary page, which would display the info that the user desires, a juggling act of intents and converting the information contained by intents into usable values.
Challenges I ran into - Learning XML formatting that is specific to android studio as well as learning the different java classes that are also unique to android studio took up most of the time required to put together this app.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of - Actually getting an app to work, and have it perform an arguably useful function.
What I learned - Basic XML formatting for Android Studio, as well as the "intent" feature that Android Studio uses to regulate its different activities, or app pages.
What's next for Grasping the Situation - We actually initially wanted to connect some sort of bank API to the app, in order to streamline the process for the user more. We would have prompted for their account number, and been able to retrieve their current balance, as well as bank statements in order to find out how their expenses looked. Withdrawals and deposits, as well, could be factored into external expenses and income, respectively. Moreover, based on the types of items that the bank statements indicated the user had purchased, we would try to gauge their use-life, so that some types of expenses could be foregone for a period of time, lending to the accuracy of the app in seeing how a person stands financially. As for statements that pertained to subscription-based services, or monthly expenses such as rent, or electricity, we would simply factor those in on a constant basis. However, we decided that we probably did not have the time, nor knowledge, to successfully implement such an API successfully and safely, and so decided to stick with dummy values, which we tried to keep simple in order to increase convenience for the user. We hope to be able to do this in the future, however, which would make the app quite practical and hopefully useful to college students who need help managing their finances.
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