TaskBuddy

Project Overview

TaskBuddy is a task-tracking platform designed to help individuals and teams organize work, monitor progress, and complete priorities on time. The project combines a mobile-first user experience with a REST-based backend API and persistent storage.

For non-technical stakeholders, the primary purpose is straightforward: users can create tasks, group them by category, assign priority and status, break work into subtasks, and track completion through a simple interface. For developers, TaskBuddy provides a clear full-stack architecture with an Expo React Native client, a Java REST API, and a Hibernate/MySQL data layer.

Features

• Task creation with title, description, category, schedule, priority, and status
• Subtask checklist support for breaking larger tasks into manageable steps
• Task listing with filtering by status, category, and priority
• Task detail view with progress tracking based on subtask completion
• Task completion and status toggling directly from the detail screen
• Task deletion from the task list
• Onboarding flow for first-time users with local profile preferences
• Theme switching (light/dark mode) with persisted user preference
• Cross-platform client behavior for Android, iOS, and web through Expo
• CORS-enabled REST API for client-server integration

Technology Stack

Frontend (Mobile Client)

• TypeScript
• React 19
• React Native 0.81
• Expo SDK 54
• Expo Router (file-based navigation)
• AsyncStorage (local persistence for theme and onboarding data)
• React Navigation (navigation primitives used by Expo Router)
• Axios and Fetch API (HTTP communication)
• Ionicons via @expo/vector-icons

Backend (API)

• Java 20
• Apache Tomcat Embedded 11
• Jersey (Jakarta RESTful Web Services)
• Hibernate ORM 5.6
• Gson (JSON serialization and parsing)
• HK2 (Jersey dependency injection support)

Database

• MySQL 8
• Hibernate auto schema update (hbm2ddl.auto=update)

Build and Tooling

• Maven (Java dependency and build management)
• npm (JavaScript/TypeScript dependency and script management)
• ESLint (frontend linting)

System Architecture

TaskBuddy follows a layered client-server design:

• Presentation layer: Expo React Native screens handle user interaction
• API layer: Jersey controllers expose REST endpoints under /api/*
• Service layer: business logic and transaction handling in TaskService
• Persistence layer: Hibernate entities and MySQL storage

flowchart LR
   A[User] --> B[TaskBuddy Mobile App\nExpo + React Native]
   B --> C[REST API\nJersey on Embedded Tomcat]
   C --> D[TaskController]
   D --> E[TaskService]
   E --> F[Hibernate ORM]
   F --> G[(MySQL taskbuddy_db)]
   E --> H[Priority Entity]
   E --> I[Status Entity]
   E --> J[Task + SubTask Entities]

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Request Lifecycle

The lifecycle below represents a typical task operation (create/read/update/delete):

sequenceDiagram
   autonumber
   participant U as User
   participant M as Mobile App (Expo)
   participant API as TaskController
   participant S as TaskService
   participant H as Hibernate
   participant DB as MySQL

   U->>M: Perform task action (e.g., create task)
   M->>API: HTTP request (/api/tasks)
   API->>API: Parse JSON payload (Gson)
   API->>S: Invoke service method
   S->>H: Open session and transaction
   H->>DB: Execute SQL (insert/select/update/delete)
   DB-->>H: Return result
   H-->>S: Commit/rollback and map entities
   S-->>API: Return domain result
   API-->>M: JSON response + HTTP status
   M-->>U: UI refresh and feedback

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Database Design

The data model centers on tasks and their relationships to status, priority, and subtasks.

erDiagram
   TASKS {
      int id PK
      string title
      text description
      string type
      string scheduleType
      string createdAt
      int status_id FK
      int priority_id FK
   }

   SUBTASKS {
      int id PK
      string title
      boolean isCompleted
      int task_id FK
   }

   STATUSES {
      int id PK
      string name UK
   }

   PRIORITIES {
      int id PK
      string name UK
      string colorCode
   }

   STATUSES ||--o{ TASKS : classifies
   PRIORITIES ||--o{ TASKS : prioritizes
   TASKS ||--o{ SUBTASKS : contains

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Project Structure

The repository contains both mobile and backend components in one project workspace.

TaskBuddy/
├─ app/                        # Expo Router screens (UI and navigation)
│  ├─ index.tsx                # Dashboard/home screen
│  ├─ addNewTask.tsx           # Task creation flow
│  ├─ allTasks.tsx             # Task list and filters
│  ├─ taskDetails.tsx          # Task detail and progress updates
│  ├─ firstTimePage.tsx        # First-time onboarding
│  └─ context/Theme.tsx        # Theme and user preference context
├─ app-example/                # Expo starter example code kept for reference
├─ assets/                     # Images and static app assets
├─ src/main/java/lk/jiat/
│  ├─ Main.java                # Embedded Tomcat bootstrap
│  ├─ config/                  # Jersey app config and CORS filter
│  ├─ controller/              # REST controllers (`/tasks` endpoints)
│  ├─ service/                 # Business logic and transaction handling
│  ├─ entity/                  # Hibernate entities (Task, SubTask, Status, Priority)
│  └─ util/                    # Hibernate session factory utility
├─ src/main/resources/
│  └─ hibernate.cfg.xml        # Database and ORM configuration
├─ src/test/java/              # Backend test source directory
├─ pom.xml                     # Maven backend configuration
├─ package.json                # Frontend dependencies and scripts
└─ README.md                   # Project documentation