invoice-maker

Description

Implementation of a script that will:

• Read information from a Google Sheet
• Convert it into a processable format
• Generate Invoice PDFs
• Email the generated Invoice PDFs

Usage

Before running, please ensure that you've done the following:

• Configured the Google sheets ID in the gs_contants.py file
• Added the credentials.json file (which contains the API KEY necessary to access the above Google Sheet) to the app directory
• Added your mail server credentials as environment variables
• Installed the necessary python dependencies

>>> cd app
>>> python3 app.py

When run, you will be prompted to enter the starting invoice # for the PDFs that get generated. This input must be an integer >= 0.

Available options (b/c I'm an extra bitch):

• -h or --help
  • Prints out all these options and what they do
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -h
• -sd or --start-date
  • Represents the start date for the invoicing period (inclusive)
  • When used, must be followed by a date in the format dd/mm/yy
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -sd 25/12/20
• -ed or --end-date
  • Represents the end date for the invoicing period (inclusive)
  • When used, must be followed by a date in the format dd//mm/yy
  • Requires either the -tp or -sd option to also be set
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -sd 25/12/20 -ed 11/04/21
• -tp or --time-period
  • Represents the length of the invoicing period
  • When used, must be followed by an integer number of weeks
  • Overrides the default time period
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -tp 4
• -ad or --adjustments-date
  • Represents the date as of which an adjustment is outstanding. This is reflective of the InvoiceDate field in the Google Sheet
  • When used, must be followed by a date in the format dd/mm/yy
  • Mandatory when -ed is set to a date prior to the current date
  • Defaults to the current date when not used
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -ed 11/04/20 -ad 10/01/21
• -ms or --mail-server
  • Represents which server to use for mailing (ie. production or test)
  • When used, must be followed by either p (denoting production) or t (denoting test)
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -ms p
  • Defaults to p
• -fo or --files-only
  • When used, skips the emailing of the generated invoice PDFs
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -fo
• -d or --debug
  • When used, prints out log statements as the script executes
  • eg. >>> python3 app.py -d

Effect of setting command line arguments

-sd	-ed	-tp	Result
☑️	☑️	☑️	Start Date and End Date provided are used as bounds; Time period is ignored
☑️	☑️	☐	Start Date and End Date provided are used as bounds
☑️	☐	☑️	End Date set to (Start Date + Time period)
☑️	☐	☐	End Date set to Current Date
☐	☑️	☑️	Start Date set to (End Date - Time Period)
☐	☑️	☐	Start Date set to OLDEST_START_DATE
☐	☐	☑️	Start Date set to (Current Date - Time Period); End Date set to Current Date
☐	☐	☐	Start Date set to (Current Date - DEFAULT_TIME_PERIOD); End Date set to Current Date

Important: When the -ms flag is set to t, the script will log the email information to a local debugging server. This will need to be run prior to running the script, and can be done so by executing the following command:

>>> python3 -m smtpd -c DebuggingServer -n localhost:1025

Defaults:

The following parameters can be configured here:

• DEFAULT_TIME_PERIOD
• OLDEST_START_DATE
• PDF_STORAGE_PATH
• INVOICE_PDF_NAME_ON_EMAIL

Environment Variables:

The following parameters will need to be defined as environment variables:

• EMAIL_USER: The email address of the sending account
• EMAIL_PASS: The password for the above email

Instructions:

1. Open .bash_profile in your favourite CLI-based text editor (The instructions below are for nano, because fuck vim)

>>> nano ~/.bash_profile

2. Add the following lines

export EMAIL_USER="<email-address-to-use-for-mailing>"
export EMAIL_PASS="<password-for-above-email>"

3. Save the .bash_profile and exit (ctrl + X followed by Y)
4. Run the following command

>>> source ~/.bash_profile