5 ms·

Show HN: Invoicer, a Minimalist Billing App

12 points by dexterlagan 6y ago

PhillyG 6y ago
How does it know the items for the invoice? Presumably reads them from a file in the folder you've named for the customer?
- dvt 6y ago
  Looks like it: ; create a folder with the following files: ; - payee.txt - containing the company address; ; - payor.txt - containing the client's address; ; - invoice-number.txt - containing the last current invoice number. Incremented automatically; ; - tax-rate.txt - containing the tax rate (i.e. 13); ; - pay-interval.txt - containing the pay interval (i.e. 30); ; - locale.txt - containing the date locale (i.e. 'en'); ; - branch-address.txt - containing the bank branch address; ; - account-info.txt - containing the bank account information; ; - invoice-lines.txt - containing the invoice lines. ; run the program and the invoice will be generated inside the folder, sent to PDF and the printer at once.
jermaustin1 6y ago
I get what you are doing, but this should be easier, and less destructive of the input "data" you use to generate the invoice, either through a switch like "invoicer --lines invoice_lines_20210325.txt". That way you can keep your input forever, and can "query" it if you need to. I know quickbooks is overkill for most tiny businesses, but I feel this is overkill in the other direction (extreme underkill?). In QB, generating a new invoice is a button click, and it can even import everything I have "billed/assigned" to the client automatically if I didn't want to type it in (I do this with expenses and project hours).
- wheybags 6y ago
  I just have a libreoffice spreadsheet template. Where is that on the overkill underkill spectrum? Resurrection?
- dexterlagan 6y ago
  Agreed, and I'm currently looking for a more elegant solution for that very input data. I'm thinking of a very simple invoice line editor, and a way to keep the metadata for each generated invoice. Suggestions welcome! Cheers
das4119 6y ago
I like this, but I'm a python guy. Any alternatives? PDFs aren't that complex with the libraries we have now, are they?
maxbaines 6y ago
This looks nice, I do hope it can stop me using a doc editor for this job.
- maxbaines 6y ago
  Also I had not heard of racket before, so that’s interesting too https://racket-lang.org/ https://racket-lang.org/ thanks.

12 points by dexterlagan 6y ago

How does it know the items for the invoice? Presumably reads them from a file in the folder you've named for the customer?

dvt 6y ago
Looks like it: ; create a folder with the following files: ; - payee.txt - containing the company address; ; - payor.txt - containing the client's address; ; - invoice-number.txt - containing the last current invoice number. Incremented automatically; ; - tax-rate.txt - containing the tax rate (i.e. 13); ; - pay-interval.txt - containing the pay interval (i.e. 30); ; - locale.txt - containing the date locale (i.e. 'en'); ; - branch-address.txt - containing the bank branch address; ; - account-info.txt - containing the bank account information; ; - invoice-lines.txt - containing the invoice lines. ; run the program and the invoice will be generated inside the folder, sent to PDF and the printer at once.

jermaustin1 6y ago

I get what you are doing, but this should be easier, and less destructive of the input "data" you use to generate the invoice, either through a switch like "invoicer --lines invoice_lines_20210325.txt". That way you can keep your input forever, and can "query" it if you need to. I know quickbooks is overkill for most tiny businesses, but I feel this is overkill in the other direction (extreme underkill?). In QB, generating a new invoice is a button click, and it can even import everything I have "billed/assigned" to the client automatically if I didn't want to type it in (I do this with expenses and project hours).

wheybags 6y ago
I just have a libreoffice spreadsheet template. Where is that on the overkill underkill spectrum? Resurrection?
dexterlagan 6y ago
Agreed, and I'm currently looking for a more elegant solution for that very input data. I'm thinking of a very simple invoice line editor, and a way to keep the metadata for each generated invoice. Suggestions welcome! Cheers

das4119 6y ago

I like this, but I'm a python guy. Any alternatives? PDFs aren't that complex with the libraries we have now, are they?

maxbaines 6y ago

This looks nice, I do hope it can stop me using a doc editor for this job.

maxbaines 6y ago
Also I had not heard of racket before, so that’s interesting too https://racket-lang.org/ https://racket-lang.org/ thanks.