BudgetApp

A simple budget management application built with ASP.NET Core MVC and Entity Framework Core.

🚀 Features

• Transaction Management: Add, update, and delete income/expenses.
• Categorization: Group transactions by categories with visual color coding.
• Dynamic Filtering: Filter transactions by name, date, and category without page reloads.
• AJAX-powered UI: Smooth user experience using AJAX for CRUD operations and filtering.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Backend: ASP.NET Core 10 (MVC)
• Database: SQL Server with Entity Framework Core
• Frontend: Razor Views, Bootstrap 5, jQuery, AJAX
• Tools: .NET User Secrets for secure configuration

📁 Project Structure

BudgetApp/
├── Controllers/         # MVC Controllers (Transactions, Categories, Home)
├── Data/                # EF Core DbContext and database initialization logic
├── Models/              # Domain entities and ViewModels
├── Validations/         # Custom validation attributes (e.g., IdValidation)
├── Views/               # Razor views organized by controller
└── wwwroot/             # Static assets (CSS, JS, Libraries)
    ├── js/              # Custom JavaScript for AJAX operations
    └── css/             # Custom styling

🏗️ Getting Started

1. Prerequisites

• .NET 10.0 SDK
• SQL Server (LocalDB or Express)

2. Clone the repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd BudgetApp

3. Configure the Database

The application uses SQL Server. You need to provide a connection string named DefaultConnection.

Using User Secrets (Recommended)

Run the following command in the BudgetApp project directory:

dotnet user-secrets set "ConnectionStrings:DefaultConnection" "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=BudgetDB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"

Using appsettings.json

Alternatively, edit BudgetApp/appsettings.json:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=BudgetDB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
  }
}

4. Run the Application

Navigate to the project directory and run:

cd BudgetApp
dotnet run

Note: The application automatically creates and seeds the database on the first run using context.Database.EnsureCreated().

5. Access the App

Open your browser and navigate to: https://localhost:5001 (or the port specified in the console output)

🔍 Key Implementation Details for Review

• Database Initialization: Check Program.cs for the EnsureCreated() logic which simplifies the initial setup by creating and seeding the database automatically.
• Seed Data: Pre-defined categories and sample transactions are configured in BudgetContext.OnModelCreating.
• AJAX Integration: CRUD operations and filtering in TransactionsController return PartialView results, which are handled by wwwroot/js/transactions.js to update the DOM without full page reloads.
• Custom Validation: See Validations/IdValidation.cs for a custom attribute used to ensure valid category selection.
• Visual Feedback: Categories use color coding defined in the database, reflected in the UI via inline styles.