Currently, there is no way for butterfly enthusiasts to see a new, interesting butterfly each day without manually searching for them. Along with researching new butterfly houses when traveling can be difficult and time-consuming.
Our group partnered with Reiman Gardens to update the previous version of the Butterfly of the Day App, which will provide these butterfly enthusiasts with a way to see a new butterfly every day. This is done by creating by making an IOS and Android app that will communicate with a springboot server. The server will have a database of all the butterflies, and it is in charge of setting a new one for each day. The server will also have all the data for the butterfly houses from around the world in a database that users can view from the app. We will also be making an admin website so the client can add or modify anything in the databases. This new version also includes a fully functioning widget which will refresh every day, and comes in the standard 3 sizes on IOS, and custom sizing on Android. It also includes accessibility features that enable screen readers to be used within the app. It has now has a facility of the month toggle found in settings, which, if set to on, will display a facility of the month on both the home page and widget.
The app is currently available on both Android and IOS, with links to the apps and pictures of several features listed below:
IOS Link: Butterfly of the Day - IOS
Android Link: Butterfly of the Day - Android
A home page that features the butterfly of the day's picture, common name, scientific name, a description, and the photographer's name.
A calendar, which features all of the previous butterflies of the month in the current month, up to the current day.
A Maps page, where you can find facilities near you. If you click on a facility, you can find directions to the facility, a link to their website, and some pictures of the facility itself.
A settings page, which will allow you to customise the widget found below, where you can choose to display the common name, scientific name, the date, or nothing, with the picture of the butterfly of the day. You can also choose to toggle the facility of the month switch if, on the 15th of every month, you want to see a facility on the home page and widget. You can also download a wallpaper of the current butterfly of the day. On the Android version of this app, users will be allowed to refresh their lock screen and wallpaper automatically with the new butterfly of the day, similarly to how the widget refreshes every day.
A picture of the widget can be found below:
We also created a client web interface to upload/update any and all information about facilities, butterflies, and the about sections on each of the respective apps. Pictures can be found below.
The frontend was coded in Swift on the IOS version using XCode, and Java on the Android version of the app with Android Studio. The backend service calls were coded in Java using springboot. The server is hosted by Digital Ocean to make the API calls, supplying the frontend with the information that is found on the app.