kxzh/se-challenge

How to set up this project

• create an empty vagrant directory
  cd vagrant_directory
  git pull the files from this github repository
  vagrant up

• go to shared vagrant directory:
  cd /vagrant

• create database company:
  psql
  create database company;
  \q

• set up database:
  python database_setup.py
  (You might need to change the passwords setting at line 31 to be able to connect to the database)

• start server:
  python main.py

• open browser, type: localhost: 5000/

Implementation

Back-end

• I set up a virtual development environment using Vagrant and installed Apache2, PostgreSQL, Flask, and SQLAlchemy.
• PostgreSQL database communicates with the program through SQLAlchemy.
• I also used Flask to set up HTML templates and URLs.
• Database schema:
  expense(id, data, category, employee, description, pre_tax, tax_name, tax_amount)
  employee(p_id, name, address)
  Instead of saving each expense row directly to the database, this design can reduce data redundancy

Front-end

• I used some Bootstrap for styling the web pages and created charts with Pygal framework.
• I also used Flask(Jinja) to style the top menu button to improve user experience.
  It changes border color when selected.
• A print button is provided so that user can print the report with one click.
  I used window.print() function instead of generating a PDF file for a fast solution.
  I will try to use Pdfkit later.