Invoice 360 Cloud Sync - Open Source Project

Vision

Invoice 360 Cloud Sync is a free and open-source invoice system that supports cloud syncing and easy self-cloud-hosting. The app can operate locally on a device without a network connection and syncs data with the cloud when a connection is available. The server cloud is kept as simple as possible for ease of self-hosting without requiring tedious maintenance.

Project

This project aims to provide a simple yet complete invoice system for small business owners based on an existing and popular invoicing app, Invoice 360 (Please note that the current version in the Store works on local data only.) available in the Windows Store. You can follow the instructions provided here and self-host the server cloud on Microsoft Azure and make use of the syncing capabilities. Since this project is open-source, it is also possible for independent developers to extend the capabilities of the system.



Local/Private Cloud Sync

We also develop and provide a commercial Local/Private Cloud Sync Server hosted in a Windows executable.

Important Notes

Invoice 360 Cloud Sync is not for everyone. It is not a web application (SAAS) where data gets updated to the cloud immediately. If you are looking for a web app, there are many good and open-source ones available. You can find them by simply doing a search in GitHub. Invoice 360 Cloud Sync is also not a wrapper app that accesses the cloud/web directly. It is an app (on Windows) that Syncs data with the Cloud (Microsoft Azure). This is one of the most important factor to consider when choosing Invoice 360 Cloud Sync. The following are other factors to consider:

Behavior of a cloud syncing app


How Invoice 360 Cloud Sync Handles Sync Conflicts?


Invoice 360 Cloud Sync THIN Cloud

Most web and cloud applications keep their business logic on the server. This is to ensure smooth updates (when some logic changes or when a new feature is added) where it is easy to deploy a new version without requiring users to download new software. This greatly ease software deployment.

Invoice 360 Cloud is designed to be the complete opposite of this. It deliberately keeps the cloud as simple and easy as possible. Most of the logic remains in the client app. The goal is to keep the cloud as simple as possible so that a user who is self-hosting the Invoice 360 cloud will be able to maintain it easily.

On top of that, the simple and thin cloud enables Invoice 360 to allow business operations to continue even when the cloud is not available. This is very useful in circumstances where employees are on-the-go and may at times be without a reliable network connection.

Technologies

  • Windows 10 Universal SDK (Client)
  • SQLite (Client)
  • Microsoft Azure Mobile Services (Server)
  • SQL Server (Server)
  • .Net C# Programming Language (Client/Server)

History

Tutorials

Download Source

Binaries

Source

Invoice 360 Cloud Sync at GitHub



Plans

  • v0.1 (Current Available Version): Supports Single User using Multiple Devices. The main use case in this version is a single user owning multiple devices attempting to keep the data across different devices in sync. This version also allows users to test out self-hosting via the open-source server cloud source code.

    Help Appreciated

    Please report any bugs you find on GitHub.
  • v0.2: Supports Multiple Users on Multiple Devices. Help Appreciated

    Please let us know, about any features that you think should be included. We will be adding these features after v1.0.

    Current List:

    Support Invoice Statement.
    Export the data in History screen to csv.
  • v0.3: Supports import of existing local Invoice 360 data.

    The current live version of Invoice 360 in the Windows Store runs independently on local data. With its popularity, it has provided us the opportunity to connect with many users. These users have been spending a lot of time using the app and have provided valuable feedbacks. We really appreciate this and will always be grateful.

    At the expense of “messier” codes, the Invoice 360 Cloud Sync version will always have the option to compile to a version that supports the existing model. We will also introduce capabilities to enable existing uses to move to the Cloud Sync version easily.

    In short, existing users of Invoice 360, we love you.
  • v0.4: Less is More. Bug fixes, refactoring, code improvements and removal of resources that cannot be open-sourced.

    Ask not what we can add to Invoice 360 Cloud Sync. Ask what we can remove.
  • v0.5: Release of open-source Invoice 360 client codes.
  • v0.9: Beta Testing.
  • v1.0: Formal official release