CAR SART – Car Service And Repair Tracker

CAR SART is a modern Android application designed to help users track their vehicle's service history, manage maintenance schedules, and receive smart reminders.

Project Overview

This project was built incrementally in 11 stages, following modern Android development best practices. It is a complete, production-ready application.

Core Features

• Vehicle Management: Add, edit, and view multiple vehicles.
• Service History: Log all service records, including maintenance, repairs, and inspections.
• Smart Maintenance Reminders: A background worker checks for due maintenance and sends rich notifications.
• Data Persistence: All data is stored locally in an encrypted SQLCipher database using Room.
• Backup & Restore: Users can back up and restore their data to a local JSON file.
• Settings: Users can configure their preferred currency, unit system, and notification settings.

Architecture

The application follows a standard MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) architecture with a repository pattern, organized into three main layers:

• Data Layer: Responsible for data persistence and access. This layer includes Room entities, DAOs, the AppDatabase, and repositories for each data type.
• Domain Layer: Contains the core business logic of the application. This layer includes UseCases that encapsulate specific operations (e.g., AddVehicle, GetVehicles).
• UI Layer: The user-facing part of the application, built entirely with Jetpack Compose. This layer includes screens, composables, and ViewModels that expose state to the UI.

Key Technologies

• Kotlin: The sole programming language.
• Jetpack Compose: For building the entire UI.
• Hilt: For dependency injection.
• Room: For local database storage.
• SQLCipher: For database encryption.
• WorkManager: For running background tasks (maintenance checks).
• DataStore: For storing user preferences.
• Gson: For JSON serialization (used in backup/restore).

Building and Running the Project

To build and run the project, you will need Android Studio Giraffe | 2022.3.1 or later.

1. Clone the repository: git clone <repository-url>
2. Open in Android Studio: Open the cloned project in Android Studio.
3. Sync Gradle: Allow Gradle to sync the project and download all dependencies.
4. Run the app: Select the app configuration and run it on an emulator or a physical device.

Generating a Signed APK/AAB

To generate a signed release build, follow these steps:

1. Create a Keystore: If you don't already have one, create a keystore file to sign your app. You can do this through Android Studio:

   • Go to Build > Generate Signed Bundle / APK...
   • Select Android App Bundle or APK.
   • Click Next.
   • Click Create new... and fill out the form.

2. Configure gradle.properties: Once you have a keystore, create a keystore.properties file in the root of the project with the following content:

   storePassword=<your-store-password>
   keyAlias=<your-key-alias>
   keyPassword=<your-key-password>
   storeFile=<path-to-your-keystore-file>

3. Configure build.gradle.kts: In the app/build.gradle.kts file, add a signingConfigs block to the android section:

   android {
       // ...
       signingConfigs {
           create("release") {
               val keystorePropertiesFile = rootProject.file("keystore.properties")
               if (keystorePropertiesFile.exists()) {
                   val properties = java.util.Properties()
                   properties.load(keystorePropertiesFile.inputStream())
                   storeFile = file(properties.getProperty("storeFile"))
                   storePassword = properties.getProperty("storePassword")
                   keyAlias = properties.getProperty("keyAlias")
                   keyPassword = properties.getProperty("keyPassword")
               }
           }
       }
       buildTypes {
           release {
               // ...
               signingConfig = signingConfigs.getByName("release")
           }
       }
   }

4. Generate the Build: Run the following command in the terminal:

   ./gradlew assembleRelease

   Or, use the Build > Generate Signed Bundle / APK... menu in Android Studio and select your existing keystore.