Travel Expenses version 4.0

Travel Expenses version 4.0

Version 4.0 of the Travel Expenses app is now available on Play Store.

The code of the app has been upgraded to be suitable for the latest versions of Android.

Travel Expenses version 3.0

Travel Expenses 3.0

The Travel Expenses app, version 3.0, is now available on Google play

Travel Expenses version 3.0

Version 3.0 of the Travel Expenses app will soon be available on Google Play.

This version has a new feature: Rated items.

Rated items are items which have a value (such as reimbursements for mileage). You set the rate and then simply specify the amount of miles or kilometers when you're adding expenses. Of course you can use this feature for other things than miles or kilometers. Ounces,  grams and kilograms will also work. Liters and gallons too.

The Travel Expenses app will not contain any rated items by default in order to keep the database and the size of the app to a minimum. However, once you start up the app, you will be able to download pre-configured rated items from the Travel Expenses website. You simply have to choose your country, and the app will display a list of rated item that you can install.

For now users in the following countries will be able to download and install pre-configured rated items

• The United States of America
• Norway
• Great Britain
• Ireland
• France

If you are a user in a country which is not found above (Australia, India, Austria, Germany, Netherlands etc..), you can send me a request and I'll add the required information to the download database. Please use the e-mail address of your Google Play account (the one used to purchase the app) to contact me, or your request will be ignored. I'll need the following information (It doesn't have to be in english)

1. The name of the rated expense: (for example: IRS-standard mileage. 0.55 dollars per mile)
2. The rate : 0.55 dollars/mile
3. The value of a constant if there is one: (for France if you go over 5001 kilometers in a calendar year there's a constant added. 845 euro, and the rate per kilometer changes)

As always, you'll be able to create your own rated expense items, delete and modify. Simply go the the setup screen and scroll down to the "Rated Items" section.

Version 3.0 is still in the testing phase, but it will be available soon. No later than the 10th of January.

Travel Expenses version 2.5.1

Version 2.5.1 of the Travel Expenses app will soon be available on Google Play.

This version is made up of one bug fix.

Bug fix:

• For devices such as the nexus 7, android version 4.2, the user had to reset the device in order to retrieve exported files that were stored on external storage.

Current workaround:

• Whilst connected over usb, toggle the connection type.
• Reset the device.

Travel Expenses version 2.5

Version 2.5 of the Travel Expenses app is now available on Google Play.

This version is made up of two enhancements and two bug fixes.

Bug fix:

• If the app was not updated chronologically, the updates to the database would not be applied properly. For instance, if the user upgraded the app from version 1.5 directly to 2.4, then the app would crash on startup because of an inconsistent database. This issue has now been fixed.
• If the android system returned a currency code which was invalid, the app would crash. This issue has been fixed.

Enhancements:

• When the user is entering information in the "trip concerning" text box on the trip details screen, a list of corresponding recent entries is displayed, and the user may select one
• When the user is entering a comment of an expense item, a list of recent corresponding comments is displayed, and the user may select one

Travel Expenses version 2.4

There was a bug in version 2.3 of Travel Expenses. Version 2.4 is a bug correction release.

If the user tried to export to csv or odt any expenses from a previous version where the currency had not been selected, the app would crash.

Travel Expenses version 2.3

Version 2.3 of the Travel Expenses app is now available on Google Play.

This version of the app will include the following new features:

• For an expense item, the user will be able to select the currency used for the payment. By default the currency is the last currency selected, hence when adding several items in the same currency, the user will not have to reselect the currency for each item
• The user will also be able to select which tender type was used for a payment. It can be either credit card, debit card, check or cash.

Travel Expenses version 2.3

Version 2.3 of the Travel Expenses app is now in the testing phase.

This version of the app will include the following new features:

• For an expense item, the user will be able to select the currency used for the payment. By default the currency is the last currency selected, hence when adding several items in the same currency, the user will not have to reselect the currency for each item
• The user will also be able to select which tender type was used for a payment. It can be either credit card, debit card, check or cash.

A bug in Android

There is a bug in Android version 2.3. Any device that runs this version(2.3, 2.3.1, 2.3.2 or 2.3.3) has a problem creating valid zip files. The zip files created can be opened in some decompressers, however others will complain that the format is invalid, and not unzip the file.

This is a problem for the Travel Expenses app, because it uses zip files for creating backups and restoring them. In addition, since the Open Document files are in fact zip files with another extension (the files are named .odt instead of .zip), these too are affected. When trying to open an Open Document file that's been created with the Travel Expenses app running on a Android 2.3.x device, the file may be unreadable to Open Office, Libre Office or MS Word.

I'm working on a solution to this problem.

The workaround that the user may try is the following (this is valid for both odt files and the backups of the database)

• Create the Open Document export, or backup the database
• Copy the file from the device to a computer
• Rename the file with a .zip extension
• Decompress the file with a decompressor that works (WinRar works)
• Create a new zip file and add the files to it
• Rename the file with the correct extension
• Try to open the odt file in Open Office / Libre Office / MS Word

This problem has only recently come to my attention, hence no fix for this problem has been available earlier. 

Travel Expenses version 2.1

Version 2.1 of the Travel Expenses app is now out on Google Play.

The version 2.0 of Travel Expenses contained an error due to the parameters used when compiling the app. Please accept my apologies for letting the error get though the testing stage.

The version 2.1 has had this issue fixed.

Travel Expenses version 2.0

Version 2.0 of the Travel Expenses app is now out on Google Play.

This release includes the implementation of a new feature requested by a user.

The user may now select any third party app to use for the capture of images of bills and invoices. In order to set up the third party app, go to the setup screen, scroll down and click the select button on the "Image Capture" panel. To reset this configuration, and start using the default android camera, simply click the "Use default camera" button.

When on the expense details screen, with the Travel Expenses app configured to use a third party app, clicking the "Take receipt photo" will launch the third party app selected by the user.

Travel Expenses feature request.




A user of the Travel Expenses app recently made a feature request on this blog. This is what the user posted as a comment to version 1.9:

Travel Expenses 2.0 is currently in the analysis phase for how this feature can be implemented. Briefly explained this is how the feature will appear in the app:
The user will be able to select which "Android Activity" should handle the digital copy of the invoice or bill the user is registering.

This feature will most likely be available in April 2012.

The Travel Expenses application version 1.9 has been published on the Android Market.



This is a bug fix release.
If the user entered an invalid number in the amount dialog, by pressing the "Amount" button on the expense details screen, or if the user didn't enter a number and clicked "OK", the text on the amount button would not be a valid number. This made the app crash when saving the information to the database, because it was unable to determine the amount (parse error).

The Travel Expenses application version 1.8 has been published on the Android Market.



The new features which have been added to this version are the following

• Added a time field for the start and end of a trip respectively
• Enable to user to add a recurring expense (like breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.) to each day of a trip with a few simple clicks. For example, for a trip lasting five days, the user will be able to add a breakfast entry for each day by doing the following:
• Click the "Recurring" button on the trip details screen
• Selecting the expense type ( "Food" )
• Enter the number of items to add for each day ( in this case 1 )
• Enter the total number of items to add to the trip ( in this case 5 )
• Enter the date to start adding the items ( the date the trip starts )
• Entering the amount of the expense ( let's say 10.00 )
• Optionally entering a comment ( "Breakfast" )
• Clicking "OK"

The Travel Expenses application version 1.8 is currently in the testing phase. The release on the Android Market will likely be on or about December 11th.



The new features which have been added to this version are the following

• Added a time field for the start and end of a trip respectively
• Enable to user to add a recurring expense (like breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.) to each day of a trip with a few simple clicks. For example, for a trip lasting five days, the user will be able to add a breakfast entry for each day by doing the following:
• Click the "Recurring" button on the trip details screen
• Selecting the expense type ( "Food" )
• Enter the number of items to add for each day ( in this case 1 )
• Enter the total number of items to add to the trip ( in this case 5 )
• Enter the date to start adding the items ( the date the trip starts )
• Entering the amount of the expense ( let's say 10.00 )
• Optionally entering a comment ( "Breakfast" )
• Clicking "OK"

The Travel Expenses application version 1.7 has been published on the Android Market.




The key features which have been added to this version are:

• Export a single trip from the overview screen by long clicking it and selecting "Export"
• Added a new type of status for the trips: Ready to export
• When exporting any number of trips from the export screen, the user will be able to add page breaks between each trip.

The Travel Expenses application version 1.7 is currently in the testing phase. The testing phase is expected to last about one week, and the release of version 1.7 on the Android Market will be around december 1st.


The key features which have been added to this version are:

• Export a single trip from the overview screen by long clicking it and selecting "Export"
• Added a new type of status for the trips: Ready to export
• When exporting any number of trips from the export screen, the user will be able to add page breaks between each trip.

Version 1.8 is still being developed.

The key features of version 1.8 are the following:

• Add a time field for the start and end of a trip
• Enable to user to add a recurring expense (like breakfast, lunch, dinner etc.) to each day of a trip with a few simple clicks. For example, for a trip lasting five days, the user will be able to add a breakfast entry for each day by doing the following:
• Click the "Add recurring" button
• Selecting the expense type
• Entering the amount of the expense
• Optionnaly entering a comment
• Clicking "OK"

Version 1.8 is expected to enter the testing phase on or about December 5th.

Travel Expenses

The Travel Expenses application version 1.5 is now available on the Android Market.

This application helps you organize and file the expenses you'll have on a given trip. You'll be able to export an expense report to a CSV file or to an OpenDocument file.

It is easy to use.

The key features of version 1.5

• Backup all data to a file on the sd-card
• Restore all data from a backup file
• House keeping, to easily remove old entries

Travel Expenses

The Travel Expenses application is now available on the Android Market.

This application helps you organize and file the expenses you'll have on a given trip. You'll be able to export an expense report to a CSV file or to an OpenDocument file.

It is easy to use.

The key features of version 1.0

• Organize the expenses you have for a given business trip
• Customize the expense items
• Customize default amount for expense items
• Export an expense report
• Export to a CSV file
• Export to a OpenDocument file
• Take a photo of the receipt and store it with the expense
• Include photos of the receipts in the OpenDocument file
• Export to your SD-Card
• Export and send over email

CamServer 1.6.0.3

The new version of CamServer and CamServer Free has been uploaded to the Android Market. This version is a small bug fix upgrade. In some cases, when the app could not read the wifi status, it would crash.

New features

• Bug fix: The app would crash if it could not read the wifi status