Lumina — Micro Journal (.NET MAUI)

A visually striking micro-journal app built with C# and .NET MAUI. Dark navy theme · Gold & violet accents · Custom drawn charts · Personalised insights.

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✅ Prerequisites

Tool	Version	Notes
Visual Studio 2022	17.8 or later	Community edition is free
.NET MAUI workload	.NET 8	Install via VS Installer
Android SDK	API 26+	For Android target

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🚀 How to run — step by step

1. Install the MAUI workload (first time only)

1. Open the Visual Studio Installer (search in Start menu)
2. Click Modify next to Visual Studio 2022
3. Go to Individual Components or Workloads
4. Check .NET Multi-platform App UI development
5. Click Modify / Install — this takes 5–10 minutes

2. Open the project

1. Unzip Lumina-MAUI.zip
2. Open Visual Studio 2022
3. File → Open → Project/Solution
4. Navigate to the unzipped folder and select LuminaJournal.sln
5. Wait for NuGet packages to restore (bottom status bar — ~30 seconds)

3. Choose a run target

At the top toolbar, click the green ▶ Run dropdown:

Option A — Windows (fastest, no setup)

• Select Windows Machine from the target dropdown
• Press ▶ — the app opens as a native Windows desktop app instantly

Option B — Android Emulator

1. In the run target dropdown, click Android Emulator
2. If no emulator exists: click Android Device Manager → New → pick a Pixel device with API 33 → Create
3. Start the emulator, then press ▶

Option C — Physical Android phone

1. On your phone: Settings → About → tap "Build number" 7 times to enable Developer mode
2. Settings → Developer Options → USB Debugging → ON
3. Connect via USB → accept the prompt on your phone
4. Select your device in the VS run target dropdown → ▶

4. First run

NuGet will download:

• CommunityToolkit.Maui (MVVM helpers)
• CommunityToolkit.Mvvm (ObservableObject, RelayCommand)
• sqlite-net-pcl (local database)
• SQLitePCLRaw (SQLite native bindings)

This takes ~1–2 minutes on first build. Subsequent builds are fast.

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📱 App screens

Screen	How to reach
Home	Launch screen — shows today's entry, streak, quick stats, recent entries
New Entry	Tap the ✍️ card or ➕ FAB — mood picker, energy selector, note, gratitude, tags
History	Tap "History" nav card — grouped by month, searchable, mood-filterable, deletable
Insights	Tap "Insights" nav card — unlocks after 3 entries; mood/energy charts, breakdown, recommendations

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🗂 Project structure

LuminaJournal/
├── Models/
│   ├── JournalEntry.cs       ← SQLite entity
│   └── InsightData.cs        ← Analytics result types
├── Services/
│   ├── DatabaseService.cs    ← SQLite async CRUD
│   └── InsightsService.cs    ← Analytics + recommendations engine
├── ViewModels/
│   ├── HomeViewModel.cs
│   ├── NewEntryViewModel.cs
│   ├── HistoryViewModel.cs
│   └── InsightsViewModel.cs
├── Views/
│   ├── HomePage.xaml(.cs)
│   ├── NewEntryPage.xaml(.cs)
│   ├── HistoryPage.xaml(.cs)
│   └── InsightsPage.xaml(.cs)
├── Charts/
│   ├── MoodChartDrawable.cs  ← Custom bezier line chart
│   └── EnergyChartDrawable.cs ← Custom bar chart
├── Converters/
│   └── MoodConverters.cs     ← All XAML value converters
└── Resources/
    └── Styles/
        ├── Colors.xaml       ← Full dark palette
        └── Styles.xaml       ← Global implicit styles

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🎨 Design

• Background: #080C14 deep navy
• Primary accent: #F5A623 warm gold/amber
• Secondary accent: #8B5CF6 cool violet
• Charts: custom IDrawable implementations (no third-party chart library needed)
• Data: stored locally in SQLite via sqlite-net-pcl — no internet required

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⚠️ Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
NETSDK1045 — .NET 8 not found	Install .NET 8 via VS Installer
Android emulator won't start	Enable Hyper-V or HAXM in Windows Features
NuGet restore errors	Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Restore NuGet Packages
Build error "MAUI workload not installed"	Run dotnet workload install maui in Developer Command Prompt
Windows app: "Developer Mode required"	Settings → System → For Developers → Developer Mode ON