NANY 2010 Final Release: Reimbursement Tracker

[NinJA999]

NANY 2010 Entry Information

Application Name	Reimbursement Tracker
Version	0.4.6
Short Description	Tool to help manage a list of reimbursements, with support for printing to a thermal printer.
Supported OSes	Anything with .NET (only tested on Windows)
Web Page	This thread, for now.
Download Link	ZIP 329KB
System Requirements	.NET (optional) Thermal Printer
Version History	0.0.1 - Started 0.1.0 - Basic list functionality 0.2.0 - Printing to thermal printer added (specifically Custom Neo's), saving and loading added. 0.2.5 - List redone with DataGridView. 0.3.0 - Added icons from famfamfam.  Fixed "new" bug. 0.3.5 - Misc. tweaks, release to NANY (note: this is still really beta.) 0.4.0 - Printing support added (note: it does receipt-style printing.  invoice-style printing, if desired, will come later.) 0.4.5 - Receipt Printer code upgraded - serial port option and checking now implemented 0.4.6 - Fixed receipt printing bug
Author	NinJA999
Screencast	https://www.donation...ursementtracker.html YouTube: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=DvWny1I3uMQ

Description
Keep track of the money others owe you! This is a tool created to help a user manage his/her reimbursable expenses and designed to create an attractive, easy to read, and easy for the boss to understand list.  It has the ability to print, or to print a professional-looking receipt to a thermal printer (receipt printer).

I created the application to help me keep track of my expenses for my robotics team (I spent over $600 of my own money last year, I believe) and drama club (I spent $100.01 on one play, as can be seen in the screenshot below!).  I happened to have a thermal printer and thought it would be awesome to have a "receipt" of my own to give to people so I could get that money back.  (That's why the receipt printing was one of the first things done!)  I know not many people have thermal printers, but hopefully this will be useful to others regardless!

Features

• Keep track of date, location, description, and price of each expense.
• Negative prices (e.g. returns or rebates) supported.
• Print to thermal printer!  (Serial Port selectable)  (Note:  only the Custom Neo's is officially supported right now -- as it's the only printer I own to test on!  However, I am working on a plugin-like system to allow other printers with different commands to be easily added.  Most printers share similar serial commands, so this should not be a big problem.)
• Printing to actual printer (currently receipt-style; invoice-style coming soon!)

Planned Features

• Plugin-like system for other thermal printers (see above!)
• Management system for thermal printers (to allow user to change the current printer from the plugins, to change the serial port to use, and to do a test print) -- this one is drawn out, and will be implemented very soon.
• Undo/redo (again, the buttons are there but don't do anything yet)

Screencast

Screenshots

Receipt generated from above list:
NANY 2010 Final Release: Reimbursement Tracker

Usage
Installation
Currently, just unzip the zip and run the exe.  Once I implement the plugin system, it'll probably become slightly more complicated (but only slightly; I want it to be as easy-to-use as possible!).

Using the Application
Well, most of the actions are pretty self-explanatory.  Enter reimbursements into the table in the main part of the application.  Lists are saved as .reb files.
There'll be more instructions once I complete the more complicated features.

Uninstallation
Currently, delete the exe and dll (and the settings xml).  Again, it may become more complicated later.

Known Issues

• No actual invoice-style regular-printer printing yet.
• Your thermal printer may not work with it yet.
• Undo and redo do not work yet.

Can anyone think of a better name?  Any input is appreciated!

I am releasing this as-is.  However, it is still  a beta program.  The thermal printing will only work if your printer is compatible with the Custom Neo's.  I didn't have as much time to work on this as I thought (College Applications can be a pain), but the basic functionality is there!  "Final Release" means final for NANY, not final forever.  Feedback appreciated!

I've updated it to be much better (including printing!).  Sorry the updated version wasn't released till after NANY was over.  But still check it out if you get the chance!

[Perry Mowbray]

 

What about UOMe for a name?

I'll never get a thermal printer (never say never, I know), but I would email a pdf receipt, so I'd be keen on that functionality. Do you get the option of just outstanding or all items?

It functions a bit like a statement, but it looks like you're just adding credits and debits and totalling them? Statements also can have the concept of an actual invoice being paid, and then therefore wont appear in future. That is you can apply a payment to particular fees.

Looks nice.  

[NinJA999]

Hmm, great idea for the name -- except at first glance I'd have no idea what it would do!  Only once I knew would I figure it out   .  But thanks for the suggestion!

Well, when I originally designed this, it was just to tabulate the entire list, then hand in the receipt at the end to get one large check back.  Additional items could go on a new list (new .reb).  But that's a good idea, I'll see if I can work that in.

As for the PDF saving, well you *could* print to a pdf using one of those pdf printers, but I'll see if I can find a way to directly generate a pdf.  Great idea!

Thanks for your feedback!

[Perry Mowbray]

Agreed re pdf printing. I think I was following on from the print>thermal and hand to person idea; so it'd be print to pdf and email to person (hopefully in one action)

There are command line pdf tools, as well as developer tools (probably paid)

Yes I wasn't sure how you'd connect to IOU, and didn't even know how widely spread that acronym was used?? Maybe it's I-O-U and so the name could be U-O-Me?

That makes sense concerning the job list too: that makes it unlike a statement and more like an invoice. It was those part payments that was confusing me 

[NinJA999]

Released!  See note at the end of the first post.

[mouser]

Looks like the start of a neat program.. though without support for regular printing, not many people are going to be able to use it.

[cranioscopical]

Looks like the start of a neat program.. though without support for regular printing, not many people are going to be able to use it.

-mouser (December 31, 2009, 10:13 PM)

+1 for pdf printing of some sort

[NinJA999]

Yeah, I was working on printing, but didn't have it in a good enough form for release by new year's, so I commented it out.  Look for it to appear within the next week or less.

[NinJA999]

Printing support added!  (How's that for within a week  )  Along with a number of tweaks.  Take a look.

[cranioscopical]

Nice work!  

[NinJA999]

I'd love to hear about it if anyone uses this or plans on using it.  Any feedback would be great as well!  (I'm already working on PDF support and, of course, undo/redo ; it'll probably be a little longer, as neither is as important as printing was)

[EDIT] Just found out that a change I had made to my thermal printer library (the dll shipped with the tracker) has broken some of the formatting capability of the thermal printing portion of the program.  I'll fix that soon.

[psionics]

Excellent work!!! 

[cranioscopical]

I'd love to hear about it if anyone uses this or plans on using it.

-NinJA999 (January 01, 2010, 06:44 PM)

I'm using it in reverse, in order to track various amounts that I owe to someone else.

[NinJA999]

I'd love to hear about it if anyone uses this or plans on using it.

-NinJA999 (January 01, 2010, 06:44 PM)

I'm using it in reverse, in order to track various amounts that I owe to someone else.

-cranioscopical (January 06, 2010, 07:27 AM)

Unless I phrased it confusingly, I believe that's the intended use?  Either way, great, glad you're using it!  Make sure to check back soon for some important updates!!

[cranioscopical]

I'd love to hear about it if anyone uses this or plans on using it.

-NinJA999 (January 01, 2010, 06:44 PM)

I'm using it in reverse, in order to track various amounts that I owe to someone else.

-cranioscopical (January 06, 2010, 07:27 AM)

Unless I phrased it confusingly, I believe that's the intended use?  Either way, great, glad you're using it!  Make sure to check back soon for some important updates!!

-NinJA999 (January 06, 2010, 09:14 AM)

Description
Keep track of the money others owe you!

   

As you say, either way 

[bob99]

Very nice and easy to use.  Easier than setting up a spreadsheet for the same basic needs.  I like that you included the drop-down calendar to choose other dates.
This could be adapted to other uses like cranioscopical has.  Anything a person would like to keep a simple record of the price of something.  Even a simple check register.

A couple of possible things to consider for future versions:
Ability to change the header.  Someone may want it to say "Check Register" for instance.
And a line or two in the header to add a person's name, project, etc.  Like your robotics or drama expenses.  Each can be saved as a separate file but when printed you can also see at a glance what group they are.

Thanks for adding the regular printer function so quickly.  Works great. Used it with a pdf printer and works fine also.

Good Job.  

[NinJA999]

Thanks!  Yeah, those are great ideas, and they're now on the to-do list.  Be sure to check back for updates!  Glad to hear you were able to use the pdf printer in conjunction with my printing capability.

A question to anyone who's tried it out: how important is the invoice-style printing (e.g. in a grid styled more like an invoice -- the current one is just an adaptation of the receipt print mode and is a bit weird)?  Should I work on the other features first?

[cranioscopical]

how important is the invoice-style printing

FWIW what you have is fine for my purposes, which are quite informal.

[Deozaan]

I'd just like to point out (to Perry probably) that the YouTube video has misspelled Tracker. There's an extra "t" in it.