Cashew

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Cashew is a full-fledged, feature-rich application designed to empower users in managing their finances effectively. Built using Flutter - with Drift's SQL package, and Firebase - this app offers a seamless and intuitive user experience across various devices. Development started in September 2021.

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Features

Cashew was featured on YouTube on 'The Best Free and Open Source Apps in 2024!' (and in the thumbnail!)

Cashew was featured on YouTube on 'The Best Apps of 2023!'

Cashew was featured on YouTube on 'Top Android Apps! (November 2023)'

Cashew was featured on Google Play's Editorial 'New Apps We Love' (November 2023)!

Cashew was featured in the Material You Apps List!

Release

Check out the official website!

This application is available on the App Store, Google Play, GitHub and as a Web App (PWA).

Changelog

Changes and progress about development is all heavily documented in GitHub commits and in the changelog

Key Features

💸 Budget Management

• Custom Budgets and Time Periods: Set up personalized budgets with flexible time periods, such as monthly, weekly, daily, or any custom time period that suits your financial planning needs. A custom time period is useful if you plan on setting a one-time travel budget!
• Added Budgets: Selectively add transactions to specific budgets, allowing you to focus on specific expense categories.
• Category Spending Limits per Budget: Set limits for each category within a budget, ensuring responsible spending.
• Past Budget History Viewing: Analyze your spending habits over time by accessing past budget history, enabling comparison and tracking of financial progress.
• Goals: Create spending and saving goals and put transactions towards different purchases or savings. Track your progress towards achieving your financial goals.

💰 Transaction Management

• Support for Different Transaction Types: Categorize transactions effectively based on types such as upcoming, subscription, repeating, debts (borrowed), and credit (lent). Each type behaves in certain ways in the interface. Pay your upcoming transactions when you're ready, or mark your lent out transactions as collected.
• Custom Categories: Create personalized categories to organize transactions according to your unique spending habits. Search through multiple icons and select the default option as expenses or income when adding transactions.
• Custom Titles: Automatically assign transactions with the same name to specific categories, saving time and ensuring consistency. These titles are stored in memory and popup when you add another transaction with a similar name.
• Search and Filters: Easily search and filter transactions based on various criteria such as date, category, amount, or custom tags, enabling quick access to information.
• Easy Editing: Long-press and swipe to select multiple budgets, edit accordingly as needed or delete multiple at once.

💱 Financial Flexibility

• Multiple Currencies and Accounts: Manage finances across different currencies and accounts with up-to-date conversion rates for accurate calculations and effortless currency conversions. The interface shows the original amount added and the converted amount to the selected account.
• Switch Accounts and Currencies with Ease: On the homepage, easily select a different account and currency and everything will be converted automatically in an instant.

🔒 Enhanced Security and Accessibility

• Biometric Lock: Secure budget data using biometric authentication, adding an extra layer of privacy.
• Google Login: Conveniently log in to the app using your Google account, ensuring a streamlined and hassle-free authentication process.

🎨 User Experience and Design

• Material You Design: Enjoy a visually appealing and modern interface, following the principles of Material You design for a delightful user experience.
• Custom Accent Color: Personalize the app by selecting a custom accent color that suits your style, or follow that of the system.
• Light and Dark Mode: Seamlessly switch between light and dark themes to optimize visibility and reduce eye strain.
• Customizable Home Screen: Tailor the home screen layout and widgets to display the financial information that matters most to you, providing a personalized and efficient dashboard.
• Detailed Graph Visuals: Gain valuable insights into spending patterns through detailed and interactive graphs, visualizing financial data at a glance.
• Beautiful Adaptive UI: A responsive user interface that adapts flawlessly to both web and mobile platforms, providing an immersive and consistent user experience across devices.

☁ Backup and Syncing

• Cross-Device Sync: Keep budget data synchronized across all devices, ensuring access to financial information wherever you go.
• Google Drive Backup: Safeguard budget data by utilizing Google Drive's backup functionality, allowing easy restoration of data if needed.

💿 Smart Automation

• Notifications: Stay informed about important financial events and receive timely reminders for budget goals, transactions, and upcoming due dates.
• Import CSV Files: Seamlessly import financial data by uploading CSV files, facilitating a smooth transition from other applications or platforms.
• Import Google Sheets: Seamlessly import Google Sheets tables, quickly importing many transactions from a spreadsheet.
• App Links: Automatically create transactions with pre-filled data using app linking (documentation below)

App Links

A discussion/thread on App Links (example usage and how to harness the power of App Links) can be found at this issue: jameskokoska#127 (comment). App links allow direct navigation and automation of actions using application URLs. Some examples are below.

Changelog

• Introduce iOS support (Cashew v5.3.5+400 and up)
• Breaking: Remove unsupported app link domain - cashew://budget.app (Cashew v5.3.4+396 and up)
• Support for more parameters documented under Detailed Parameters (Cashew v5.2.9+358 and up)
• Introduce Android and web support (Cashew v5.2.3+328 and up)

Examples (for Android and iOS)

Ensure Cashew is installed on the device you are launching these URLs from.

Example 1: Create an expense transaction for 100 with the category Shopping at the current time

https://cashewapp.web.app/addTransaction?amount=-100&title=All%20the%20shopping&category=Shopping&notes=Went%20shopping

Example 2: Create an income transaction with a missing category at the current time

https://cashewapp.web.app/addTransaction?amount=100&title=Income&notes=Got%20money

Example 3: Open the add transaction page with a custom date with prefilled details

https://cashewapp.web.app/addTransactionRoute?amount=-50&title=All%20the%20shopping&notes=Went%20shopping&date=2024-03-02

Example 4: Create multiple transactions with one link using JSON

https://cashewapp.web.app/addTransaction?JSON=%7B%22transactions%22%3A%5B%7B%22amount%22%3A%22-100%22%2C%20%22notes%22%3A%22This%20is%20a%20note%22%2C%20%22category%22%3A%22Shopping%22%7D%2C%7B%22amount%22%3A%22-150%22%2C%20%22notes%22%3A%22This%20is%20a%20note%202%22%7D%5D%7D

See JSON List of Transactions below to view how the link is formatted.

Routes

Routes for Android and iOS	Routes for Web App
https://cashewapp.web.app/[Endpoint here]	https://budget-track.web.app/[Endpoint here]

Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
/addTransaction	Add a new transaction without a UI prompt (unless a category is missing).
/addTransactionRoute	Open the add new transaction route with information filled in.

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default
amount	The amount of the transaction. If negative, it represents an expense; if positive, it represents income.	No	0
title	The title of the transaction. If an associated title is found and the category is not set, the associated title's category will be used.	No	Empty string
notes	The notes associated with the transaction.	No	Empty string
date	The date of the transaction. Supported string formats can be found in the getCommonDateFormats() method here.	No	Current time
category	The name of the category to add the transaction to. Executes a name search, takes the first entry, not case sensitive.	No	Prompt user
subcategory	The name of the subcategory to add the transaction to. If provided, it overwrites the category if a subcategory is found under a main category. Executes a name search, takes the first entry, not case sensitive.	No	None
account	The name of the account. Executes a name search, takes the first entry, not case sensitive.	No	Primary account
JSON	A list of JSON objects of transactions. If provided, Cashew will import a list/multiple transactions at once. Each JSON object in the list can use any of the aforementioned parameters. The JSON object should be keyed with transactions followed by the list of objects. See the example below.	No	None

Detailed Parameters

The following is a list of all and additional (not fully supported) parameters that can be passed in. They are ordered in terms of precedence, the parameters at the top will be parsed before the ones below. Therefore, overlapping fields will be proceeded by the first parameter.

Class: related parameters will have the same class.

Standalone parameters: only this parameter will be used, all other parameters will be ignored.

App link parsing can be found here.

Class	Parameter	Description	Required	Default	Standalone
a	messageToParse	Uses a scanner template to parse the passed in message. Only date or dateCreated can be passed along with this standalone parameter. All other fields will be constructed by the scanner template. Scanner templates are not enabled in Cashew by default. To enable this feature, enable Notification Transactions debug feature.	None	None	Yes
b	JSON	Description in the above table.	No	None	Yes
c	subcategoryPk	The primary key of the subcategory entry within the database.	No	None
c	subcategory	Description in the above table.	No	None
c	categoryPk	The primary key of the category entry within the database.	No	Prompt user
c	category	Description in the above table.	No	Prompt user
d	walletPk	The primary key of the wallet entry within the database.	No	Primary account
d	account	Description in the above table.	No	Primary account
d	wallet	Same as account.	No	Primary account
e	date	Description in the above table.	No	Current time
e	dateCreated	Same as date.	No	Current time
f	amount	Description in the above table.	No	0
g	title	Description in the above table.	No	Empty string
g	name	Same as title.	No	Empty string
h	notes	Description in the above table.	No	Empty string
h	note	Same as notes.	No	Empty string

JSON List of Transactions

The input JSON for addTransaction and addTransactionRoute should follow the following format:

{
  "transactions":[
    { ... },
    { ... },
    { ... }
  ]
}

As an example:

{
  "transactions": [
    {
      "amount": "-100",
      "notes": "This is a note",
      "category": "Shopping"
    },
    {
      "amount": "-150",
      "notes": "This is a note 2"
    }
  ]
}

Don't forget to encode the JSON in the URL as JSON uses invalid URI characters. Once encoded, the output link would look something like:

https://cashewapp.web.app/addTransaction?JSON=%7B%22transactions%22%3A%5B%7B%22amount%22%3A%22-100%22%2C%20%22notes%22%3A%22This%20is%20a%20note%22%2C%20%22category%22%3A%22Shopping%22%7D%2C%7B%22amount%22%3A%22-150%22%2C%20%22notes%22%3A%22This%20is%20a%20note%202%22%7D%5D%7D

Troubleshooting

Android

If you get redirected to the website instead of the Cashew app, your device may not be correctly set up to open App Links. Ensure Cashew can open its respective app link. On your Android device head to your device settings, 'Default apps', 'Opening links' and ensure Cashew has permission to open from the domain cashewapp.web.app under 'Supported web addresses'. This may be disabled by default if you did not install a Google Play signed copy of Cashew (i.e. downloaded from GitHub). This is because Cashew now uses App Links which need to be verified as per Android 12+ requirements with an app's signature public key. Alternatively, you can use a redirect application such as LinkSheet which can manage which apps open when certain links are activated.

Testing

Using ADB for Android

You can use ADB to test app links. For example

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "https://cashewapp.web.app/addTransaction?amount=-70\&title=Grocery%20Shopping\&date=2024-03-02\&category=Food\&subcategory=Groceries\&notes=Bought%20fruits%20and%20vegetables\&account=test"

Using links

You can click links and open them with Cashew. See the example section above to test.

Bundled Packages

This repository contains, bundled in, modified versions of the discontinued packages listed below. They can be found in the folder /budget/packages

• https://pub.dev/packages/implicitly_animated_reorderable_list
• https://pub.dev/packages/sliding_sheet

Translations

The translations are available here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QQqt28cmrby6JqxLm-oxUXCuM3alniLJ6IRhcPJDOtk/edit?usp=sharing. If you would like to help translate, please reach out on email: dapperappdeveloper@gmail.com

To Update Translations

1. Run budget\assets\translations\generate-translations.py
2. Restart the application

Developer Notes

Pull Requests and Contributions

Unfortunately, I am currently not accepting contributions due to licensing and credits. Since this application turns some profits, I want to avoid any muddy water when it comes to compensation for contributions. You are free to submit an issue and I can consider it!

Android Release

• To build an app-bundle Android release, run flutter build appbundle --release

Note: required Android SDK.

iOS Release

• To build an IPA iOS release, run flutter build ipa

Note: requires MacOS.

Firebase Deployment

• To deploy to firebase, run firebase deploy

Note: required Firebase.

GitHub release

• Create a tag for the current version specified in pubspec.yaml
• git tag <version>
• Push the tag
• git push origin <version>
• Create the release and upload binaries
• https://github.com/jameskokoska/Cashew/releases/new

Scripts

deploy_and_build_windows.bat

• Deploy to Firebase and build the apk and appbundle

open_release_builds.bat

• Opens the location of the built apk and appbundle

update_translations.bat

• Downloads the latest version of Cashew translations. Runs budget\assets\translations\generate-translations.py

Develop Wirelessly on Android

• adb tcpip 5555
• adb connect <IP>
• Get the phone's IP by going to About Phone > Status Information > IP Address

Migrate Database

1. Make any database changes to the schema and tables
2. Bump the schema version
   • Change int schemaVersionGlobal = ...+1 in tables.dart
3. Make sure you are in application root directory
   • cd .\budget\
4. Generate database code
   • Run dart run build_runner build
5. Export the new schema
   • Generate schema dump for the newly created schema
   • Replace [schemaVersion] in the command below with the value of schemaVersionGlobal
   • Run dart run drift_dev schema dump lib\database\tables.dart drift_schemas//drift_schema_v[schemaVersion].json
   • Read more: https://drift.simonbinder.eu/docs/advanced-features/migrations/#exporting-the-schema
6. Generate step-by-step migrations
   • Run dart run drift_dev schema steps drift_schemas/ lib\database\schema_versions.dart
7. Implement migration strategy
   • Edit await stepByStep(...) function in tables.dart and add the migration strategy for the new version migration

Get Platform

• Use getPlatform() from functions.dart
• Since Platform is not supported on web, we must create a wrapper and always use this to determine the current platform

Push Route

• If we want to navigate to a new page, stick to pushRoute(context, page) function from functions.dart
• It handles the platform routing and PageRouteBuilder

Wallets vs. Accounts

• Wallets have been been renamed to Accounts on the front-end but internally, the name Wallet is still used.

Objectives vs. Goals

• Objectives have been been renamed to Goals on the front-end but internally, the name Objectives is still used.

Long Term Loans

• Long term loans create a goal. However, the goals total is not used. Instead the total of the goal is calculated by totalling the proper polarity of transactions of the opposite type. For example, if it was a loan of 100$ lent out, the initial transaction would be 100$ of negative polarity (expense) and that would be the total of the goal. When a payment is made, it is made in the opposite (positive) polarity (income) and added to the total 'paid back'. We can easily find how much is remaining by taking the difference (or the addition including polarities).