One Day of Real Usage Exposed What My App Was Missing. Here's How I Fixed It

After using the app in a real scenario, I realized there were missing features and areas for improvement. I want to enhance it by adding

1. An improved Attendance List

2. A built-in Calculator

3. Attendance List Backup functionality

4. A better system for marking attendees who have paid

Day 1: Enhancing the Attendance List & Payment Features (March 25, 2025)

The first day was all about improving the core functionality. Making the attendance list more dynamic and user-friendly. Here’s what I accomplished:

1) Attendance List Management

• Users can now add, edit, and delete attendees with ease.

• Implemented swipe gestures:

  • Swipe left to edit

  • Swipe right to delete (with a confirmation prompt to prevent accidental removal)

• Added a "Delete All" option for quick list resets.

2) Payment Tracking

• Introduced a Pay/Paid feature to track payments directly in the attendance list.

• Users can now tap on the attendee count to manually input numbers when needed.

Day 2: Backup, Import & UX Polish (March 26, 2025)

With the core features in place, Day 2 focused on data management and refinements. Thanks to my past experience with backup systems, this process was smoother than expected.

1) Built-In Calculator

• Integrated a quick calculator for easy payment calculations.

2) Backup & Import Functionality

• Users can now export their attendance lists for safekeeping.

• Seamless import option to restore data when needed.

3) UX/UI Improvements

• Renamed the app to ShuttlePay. A cleaner, more fitting name.

• Fine-tuned the interface for better navigation and aesthetics.

Overcoming a Pesky Bug: Why Sometimes, Stepping Back Is the Best Solution

During my two-day sprint to enhance ShuttlePay, I hit a frustrating roadblock:

🔴 The "Pay/Paid" button states weren’t saving properly after backing up and importing data. No matter what I tried, the imported lists always reverted to the default settings.

At first, I assumed it was a data storage issue. Maybe the backup wasn’t capturing the latest changes? I double-checked the export logic, tested different file formats, and even tweaked the state management. Still, the problem persisted.

The Breakthrough Moment

After some intense (and slightly stubborn) debugging, I decided to step away for a bit. Sometimes, the best fixes come when you’re not staring at code. Later, with a fresh mind, I revisited the issue, and there it was:

🐛 I had forgotten to call await _loadAttendees(); before generating the backup file.

This meant the app wasn’t loading the latest payment states before saving them. A simple oversight, but one that completely broke the feature.

Lesson Learned: Trust Your Brain, Not Just Tools

While AI and debugging tools are helpful, nothing replaces human intuition. Taking a break allowed me to see the problem differently. The solution was obvious once I stopped overcomplicating it.

The Fix:

1. Ensured _loadAttendees() runs before backup.

2. Verified that payment states now persist after import.

This two-day sprint was intense but rewarding. ShuttlePay is now more powerful and user-friendly than ever. Can’t wait to see how users respond!