md

Finance-Tracker-API

A backend API built with Django for managing personal finances, including budgets and transactions.

Key Features & Benefits

• Budget Management: Create, read, update, and delete budgets.
• Transaction Tracking: Record income and expenses with detailed information.
• User Authentication (Future): Secure user accounts for personalized finance tracking (planned feature).
• RESTful API: Designed with a RESTful architecture for easy integration with front-end applications.

Prerequisites & Dependencies

• Python 3.8+: The project is built with Python 3.
• Django 5.0+: A high-level Python web framework.
• pip: Python package installer.
• Virtualenv (Recommended): For creating isolated Python environments.

Installation & Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/abdulrahmanx9/Finance-Tracker-API.git
   cd Finance-Tracker-API

2. Create a virtual environment (Recommended):

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Linux/macOS
   # venv\Scripts\activate  # On Windows

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt # Create requirements.txt first, see below

   To create requirements.txt, you can use pip freeze > requirements.txt after installing django. However, given the provided file structure, the required dependencies are only Django. To do this:

   pip install Django
   pip freeze > requirements.txt

4. Apply Migrations:

   python manage.py migrate

5. Run the development server:

   python manage.py runserver

   The API will be accessible at http://localhost:8000/.

Usage Examples & API Documentation

While detailed API documentation is under development, here's a basic example:

• Retrieve all budgets (example):

  GET /budgets/ (Needs implementation in urls.py and views.py).

  Example using curl:

  curl http://localhost:8000/budgets/

  (Assumes a Budget model and corresponding views and URLs are defined.)

API Endpoints (To be Implemented):

Endpoint	Method	Description
/budgets/	GET	List all budgets
/budgets/	POST	Create a new budget
/budgets/{id}/	GET	Retrieve a specific budget by ID
/budgets/{id}/	PUT	Update a specific budget
/budgets/{id}/	DELETE	Delete a specific budget
/transactions/	GET	List all transactions
/transactions/	POST	Create a new transaction
/transactions/{id}/	GET	Retrieve a specific transaction by ID
/transactions/{id}/	PUT	Update a specific transaction
/transactions/{id}/	DELETE	Delete a specific transaction

Note: The API endpoints provided are a suggestion based on RESTful principles and require implementation in the Django project.

Configuration Options

The project settings are configured in app/app/settings.py. You can modify settings such as:

• SECRET_KEY: Important for security, especially in production. Change this!
• DEBUG: Set to True during development and False in production.
• ALLOWED_HOSTS: Configure allowed hostnames for deployment.
• DATABASES: Configure the database connection settings. By default, it uses SQLite.

Environment Variables:

Consider using environment variables for sensitive information like SECRET_KEY and database credentials, especially for deployment. Libraries like python-dotenv can help manage environment variables.

Contributing Guidelines

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these guidelines:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix.
3. Write clear and concise commit messages.
4. Submit a pull request with a detailed description of your changes.
5. Adhere to the project's coding style (e.g., PEP 8).
6. Include tests for new features and bug fixes.