PrepaidPhonePlanBalanceChecker

Simple command line tool to check your prepaid phone plan balance. (Not a beauty regarding SW design, but working 😉)

This tool can for example be run in a cron job to regularly check your balance and send out an e-mail notification if the balance falls below a given limit.

ℹ️ this tool has exclusively been implemented and tested for https://www.aldi-mobile.ch/ and will require adoption for other providers, but may act as an inspiration :)

How to use?

1. Download the latest release from the releases:
   
2. Create a .properties file for your phone number and provider. Use example.properties as a reference
3. You can run the tool from the console with the following short java command:

java -cp bin:lib/activation-1.1.1.jar:lib/javax.mail-1.6.2.jar balancechecker.impl.ALDISuisseBalanceChecker yourname.properties

4. Create a script if you want to use execute the program more frequently.
   ℹ️ If you want you can output the log to a file, by appending >> yourname.log to the script.
   e.g. checkbalance.sh

#!/bin/sh
java -cp bin:lib/activation-1.1.1.jar:lib/javax.mail-1.6.2.jar balancechecker.impl.ALDISuisseBalanceChecker yourname.properties >> yourname.log

5. Create a cron job to run the script weekly or so
   e.g. run every Sunday at 3 AM

0 3 * * 0 cd /path/to/your/copy/of/the/tool && checkbalance.sh

How to adopt?

If you want to use this program for other providers, proceed as follows:

1. Fork this repo
   
2. Copy balancecheker.impl.ALDISuisseBalanceChecker for your provider
3. Change the following functions for your needs:
   • validateProperties0() >>> check whether all the settings you need are set in the properties
   • getBalance() >>> perform the requests to
     1. login to your phone account
     2. retrieve the balance information
     3. parse the balance to java.math.BigDecimal
     4. logout of your account
   • main(String[] args) >>> change the third line to use your class
   • remove unnecessary constants from the top of the class
4. Create a pull request for this repo if you want this implementation to be shared:
   
   Working on your first Pull Request? You can learn how from this free series How to make a pull request
5. Create a console script and schedule a cron job if needed (see How to use? above)

Improvements needed?

If you have any request... Feel free to create an issue 😄

PS / Credits