Finance Tracker: A Full-Stack Personal Finance Manager

A robust, full-stack desktop application designed to help users track, manage, and visualize their income and expenses using a modern Java stack. The project now features a professional, theme-aware UI, advanced reporting, and utility modules.

It demonstrates best practices using a layered architecture for maintainability and clean separation of concerns.

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🎯 Primary Use Cases & Core Functionality

This Finance Tracker is built to give users complete control over their money with these key capabilities:

• Transaction Management: Seamlessly add, edit, and delete income and expense records.
• Categorization: Organize every transaction by categorizing it (e.g., Groceries, Rent, Salary).
• Budgeting & Goals: Set budgets for each expense category and track progress toward savings goals (monthly/quarterly/yearly).
• Data Export: Export financial data to your computer as CSV or generate detailed PDF reports for data backup and external analysis.
• User Management: Secure user login and sign-up functionality.
• Real-Time Dashboard: View your balance, recent transactions, and financial charts in real-time.
• World Currency Converter: Use a dedicated utility to convert amounts between major world currencies.

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✨ Key Features & Enhancements

In addition to core tracking, the application provides a modern user experience:

• Seamless Theme Switching: Toggle instantly between Dark Mode and Light Mode (White UI) using the switch in the top bar. All UI components are theme-aware.
• Professional Dashboard: Modern, card-based layout providing immediate summaries of Current Balance, Total Income, Total Expense, and Savings Goal progress with dynamic color coding.
• Comprehensive Reporting: Generate a detailed PDF report for any specified date range.
• UI Modernization: Significant CSS cleanup and restructure to ensure a clean, modern aesthetic across all components.

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🛠️ Technology Stack

Layer	Technology	Key Components
Frontend (Client)	JavaFX	MVC Architecture, ThemeManager utility, Custom CSS (theme-split), Gson
Backend (Server)	Spring Boot 3.3.x	RESTful APIs (@RestController), Service Layer, Spring Data JPA
Database	MariaDB / MySQL	Persistent storage for user accounts, categories, and transactions
Utilities	Java HttpClient	World Currency conversion API access
Build Tool	Maven	Dependency management and project lifecycle
JDK Version	Java 23	Modern Java runtime and language features

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🚀 Getting Started

To run this project locally, make sure you have Java 23 and a MariaDB/MySQL server running.

1️⃣ Database Setup

Make sure your database service is running. Then, create a database and user with the following commands:

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS expense_tracker_db;
CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS 'expenseuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yuvan';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON expense_tracker_db.* TO 'expenseuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

2️⃣ Configure Spring Boot Server

Navigate to the server directory and edit the file: src/main/resources/application.properties

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mariadb://localhost:3306/expense_tracker_db
spring.datasource.username=expenseuser
spring.datasource.password=yuvan
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver

3️⃣ Run the Backend Server (Terminal 1)

Execute this command from the server directory:

cd expense-tracker-springboot-server
./mvnw clean spring-boot:run

Wait for the message: Started ExpenseTrackerApplication in X.XXX seconds

4️⃣ Run the JavaFX Client (Terminal 2)

Execute this command from the client directory:

cd ../expense-tracker-client
mvn exec:java

The Finance Tracker desktop window should appear.

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🔑 Demonstration & Data Flow

UI/UX Flow

The application starts in Light Mode by default. Use the "☀ Light" / "🌙 Dark" toggle in the top-right corner to switch themes instantly.

Data Connectivity Demonstration

This project showcases end-to-end communication between JavaFX (client), Spring Boot (server), and MariaDB (database).

• Data Write Path (Sign Up): User details entered in the GUI are sent via REST API $\rightarrow$ handled by Spring Boot Service Layer $\rightarrow$ inserted into MariaDB.

• Data Read Path (Login): Credentials entered in the GUI $\rightarrow$ verified via API $\rightarrow$ retrieved using SQL SELECT query via Spring Data JPA.

🧠 Author

Yuvan Vishnu Pandi

• Contact: GitHub

🪪 License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.