Digital Budgeting System (DBS)

Copyright © 2025 Terrance Williams

This application is a digital implementation of the envelope budgeting system. Given an amount of money, one is able to distribute it into different "accounts" (envelopes), categories for which the money is earmarked.

Usage Documentation

Create an Account Book

When the program first begins, the user is met with a start screen prompting him or her to load an account book (see the figure below). In DBS, an account book is a file containing the data for all of the accounts of a given user. To create an account book:

1. Select File > New
2. Enter the account book owner's name.

The program will then create an empty book for that user. It can then be saved to the desired location. DBS uses the TOML language to store the data.

Accounts

Once the account book is created, the user is then presented with the account book view. This view lists all the accounts ("envelopes") the user has created. A given account can be in one of two states: active or inactive. For active accounts, users are able to make transactions (via the Transact button), transferring money to and from said accounts. Inactive accounts are "read-only"; they are there for historical purposes, but users cannot make further transactions with them. An account's state can be toggled at any time via the (De)Activate Account button.

To create an account:

1. Click the "Create Account" button at the bottom-left of the screen.
2. Enter the desired account name.
3. (Optional) Enter the description that describes the account.
4. Press Ok

That's it! The account is given a unique identifier and listed among the active accounts. From there, the user can deposit money into the account via the Transact button.

Here's the view for inactive accounts. Notice the Transact button is greyed out:

Transactions

A transaction in DBS is a transfer of money. While an active account is selected, pressing the Transact button will bring up the following dialog:

To make a deposit into the selected account, enter a positive number into the "Amount" field. A negative number is a withdrawal. The "Other Party" field determines the other side of the transaction. Pressing the drop-down will list the eligible accounts. The "External" drop down item represents a source outside of DBS. It is intended to represent jobs, stores, people, etc. that one would exchange currency with. Otherwise, the user can select from one of the active accounts. Finally, the user can write notes to clarify the purpose of the transaction.

The following image shows the result of two transactions on the "Groceries" account:

If a transaction is made between two DBS accounts, the other party is automatically updated with a transaction entry from its own perspective. So, given Accounts A and B, a deposit into Account A will be seen as a withdrawal when viewed from Account B.

NOTE: Currently, the program does not guard against overdrafts, so use caution when making transactions. This will be corrected in a future release.

Shutdown

• File > Close will close the current account book, prompting the user to save any unsaved changes.
• File > Exit or pressing the X button will shut down the program, prompting the user to save any unsaved chagnges. The currently-loaded account book will be loaded the next time the program starts.