The Punchline

I’ve finally got around to releasing the source code first Code Igniter based project - BambooInvoice. BambooInvoice is free, open-source, invoicing software based on Code Igniter. It is intended for small businesses and independent contractors. My priorities are ease of use, user-interface, and beautiful code.

It’s buzzword compliant: AJAX, unobtrusive DOM scripting, script.aculo.us, valid XHTML strict, etc. The entire application degrades gracefully for users without javascript enabled, and complies with WAI priority two.

To get the code, visit BambooInvoice. There’s also a working demo available if you just want to play.

The “back-story”

Like all software, this thing is a work in progress. There is SO much that I want to finish up, but I have to release at some point. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve gotten too busy professionally to meaningfully update the software, so I want to release what I have. I AM still actively developing it.

If you are a Code Igniter programmer, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. I started it before CI had models. After the upgrade, I’ve moved most (all?) of my SELECTing into models, but there are still numerous INSERTs and such to migrate over.
2. Since I wanted this app to be fully functional without JS, the core functionality was designed without any AJAX-y goodness. I’ve now started progressively enhancing the app, but there are still a bunch of places where a more seamless user experience would benefit it.
3. Even though CI is PHP 4 and 5, the export to PDF is PHP 5 only due to the library I used.

It is functional, but not finished. I’ve been using it myself, and have had a few nerdy colleagues (special thanks to James, Cliff and Peter) work it over. Please let me know about any bugs you find.