Sweetdeals®

A Halloween candy marketplace made sweet and simple!

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Inspiration

We were looking at current popular social media applications and also online marketplaces while trying to design a mobile app where users can easily trade in their unwanted Halloween candies with others while ensuring a safe and worry-free process.

What it does

Sweetdeal is a simple marketplace for trading Halloween candy. On our app users have a home page where they can scroll through listings made by other users. Clicking a listing opens a page where the user can request a trade for the candies they want and what candies they would give in return. Clicking the bell icon will bring up a pop message at the bottom of the screen notifying the user of a trade request. The user can accept or ignore this request. Lastly, the user profile page in the top right brings up a pop-up tab that displays the user the candy stash that they have to trade. The pop-up has two buttons one to go back to the previous screen and one that brings the user to another screen for modifying the total for each candy they have to trade.

How we built it

Our program was built within the Flutter framework using Dart and worked in between using a pair-programming application called Duckly. For quick application uses, we implemented Dartpad (a browser-based program previewer) and Github where we created our repository. We began with a team brainstorming, choosing what prompts interest us as well as matching our beginner skills. We later created shared drives, channels, and emails to collaborate and that is when we decided what framework to use and gave responsibilities to each team member. Afterward, we created a map interface on how the app will run under certain conditions, and that is when we started programming.

Challenges we ran into

This is our first time touching any of these technologies so everything was a challenge but also a great learning experience. We ran into an issue getting Flutter to work on certain computers and to save time we used Dartpad which lets us code dart on the web and still see how the actual application will look. Another challenge we faced was trying to incorporate python into Flutter we spent hours trying to get this to work but ultimately decided it was better to spend the rest of our time polishing the product we have now. Getting the app to look how we wanted caused us many problems. Getting the images to act as buttons and getting the images themselves took us a lot of time to get working properly. Everything felt new to us but that is what made this challenge even more rewarding.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

All three of us are very proud of the way we got the app to look and feel and while it is a simple app we researched and learned a lot to get this working the way it is.

What we learned

As entry-level programmers, our knowledge of Dart, React, Javascript, Flutter, and API networks was minimal. With a cybersecurity major, aerospace engineering major, and computer science major, we learned to effectively put our strengths to use in creating a mobile app. Every minute of not eating was implemented into the project. Two of us had no prior java experience at all, yet we were able to compile widgets and alter layouts of a mobile app UI. We learned how to structure the process of product creation when you have a motivated team to complete a project. There has to be a balance between the team, and chances where everyone can have their input. This project did just that, each member significantly contributed to the app, making it what it is. Each member learned every language, and software necessary for the app to run. And in doing so, we found each of our newfound strengths along the way. One realized he really like front UI development, the other realized how complicated API networks were. No matter the good and the bad, we made friends along the way.

What's next for Sweetdeals®

Sweetdeals was a fun project to work on and we are not planning to stop continuously making improvements. Some of our application and small functions could not all be finished within the 24 hours including sign-in functions and users information. We hope to deploy this app publicly through the Apple's Developer Kit / Servers where all trick-or-treaters can enjoy the enhanced experience of trading candies. Ideas such as setting up meet-ups within the proximity of the area and parental supervision is all features we hope to develop. Lastly as for the team of Sweetdeals, we all connected and made friends during this event and it seems that this will not be the last time we will work on something together again.

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