User Guide

TAConnect is a desktop app for managing contacts, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still providing the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). It helps users quickly organize contacts into tutorial groups, tags, and custom fields (e.g., Telegram handles), with only names being mandatory. Fast CLI commands allow adding, viewing, editing, and searching contacts efficiently, while the GUI displays full details and organized lists.

Target Users: NUS Computer Science TAs

Assumptions: Users have basic computer literacy and are familiar with command-line operations.

• Quick start
• Features
  • Viewing help : help
  • Adding a person: add
  • Deleting a person : delete
  • Listing all persons : list
  • Editing a person : edit
  • Unsetting a field : unset
  • Enrolling a person : enroll
  • Unenrolling a person : unenroll
  • Marking attendance : attend
  • Unmarking attendance : unattend
  • Locating contacts: find
  • Viewing a contact : view
  • Clearing all entries : clear
  • Exiting the program : exit
  • Saving the data
  • Editing the data file
  • Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]
• FAQ
• Known issues
• Command summary

Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.
   Mac users: Ensure you have the precise JDK version prescribed here.

2. Download the latest .jar file from here.

3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your TAConnect.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar TAConnect.jar command to run the application.

5. Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it. e.g. typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window.
   Some example commands you can try:

   • list : Lists all contacts.

   • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 tg/@johndoe : Adds a contact named John Doe to the Address Book.

   • delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd contact shown in the current contact list.

   • view 2 : Displays the full details of the second contact in the current contact list.

   • unset 1 tg/ : Removes the Telegram handle of the 1st contact shown in the current contact list.

   • clear : Deletes all contacts.

   • exit : Exits the app.

   • enroll 1 c/CS2103T tut/T01 : Enrolls the first contact in the current contact list into CS2103T tutorial group T01.

   • attend 1 c/CS2103T w/1 : Marks the first contact in the current contact list as attended for CS2103T in Week 1.

6. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

Features

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Adding a person: add

Adds a person to the address book.

Format: add n/NAME e/EMAIL [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [a/ADDRESS] [tg/TELEGRAM_HANDLE] [t/TAG]…​

• You must provide both the person’s NAME and EMAIL when adding a new contact.

Tip: A person can have any number of tags (including 0)

Examples:

• add n/John Doe e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
• add n/Alex Yeoh
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 tg/@betsycrowe t/criminal
• add n/David Li tg/davidli

Deleting a person : delete

Deletes the specified person from the address book.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the person at the specified INDEX.
• The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd person in the address book.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st person in the results of the find command.

Listing all persons : list

Shows a list of all persons in the address book.

Format: list

Editing a person : edit

Edits an existing person in the address book.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [tg/TELEGRAM_HANDLE] [t/TAG]…​

• Edits the person at the specified INDEX.
• The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• Fields cannot be edited to empty values. Please use the unset command to remove a field instead.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the person will be replaced. (i.e., new tags will overwrite existing ones, not be added to them).
• Tags cannot be left empty. Use the unset command to remove all tags instead.

Tip: - Fields cannot be edited to empty values and tags cannot be left empty. Please use the unset command to remove a field instead.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com
  Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st person to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.

Unsetting a field : unset

Unsets exactly one optional field of an existing person in the address book.

Format: unset INDEX FIELD_PREFIX

• Unsets the optional field identified by FIELD_PREFIX for the person at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• FIELD_PREFIX must be exactly one of p/, e/, a/, tg/, or t/.
• The prefix must be provided without any value after it. For example, use unset 1 tg/, not unset 1 tg/@johndoe.
• n/ is not allowed because a person’s name cannot be unset.
• unset INDEX t/ removes all existing tags from the person.
• You cannot unset a field that is already missing.

Examples:

• unset 1 tg/ Unsets the Telegram handle of the 1st person.
• unset 2 e/ Unsets the email address of the 2nd person.
• unset 3 t/ Removes all tags from the 3rd person.

Enrolling a person : enroll

Enrolls a student into a specific course and tutorial group.

Format: enroll INDEX c/COURSE_CODE tut/TUTORIAL_GROUP

• Enrolls the student at the specified INDEX into the COURSE_CODE and TUTORIAL_GROUP.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer (e.g., 1, 2, 3, …).

Examples:

• enroll 1 c/CS2103T tut/T01 enrolls the 1st student into CS2103T tutorial group T01.

Unenrolling a person : unenroll

Unenrolls a student from a specific course.

Format: unenroll INDEX c/COURSE_CODE

• Unenrolls the student at the specified INDEX from the COURSE_CODE.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer (e.g., 1, 2, 3, …).

Examples:

• unenroll 1 c/CS2103T unenrolls the 1st student from CS2103T.

Marking attendance : attend

Marks a student’s attendance for a specific course and week.

Format: attend INDEX c/COURSE_CODE w/WEEK

• Marks the attendance for the student at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer (e.g., 1, 2, 3, …).
• COURSE_CODE must be a course the student is currently enrolled in.
• WEEK must be a number from 1 to 13 (inclusive).

Examples:

• attend 1 c/CS2103T w/1 marks the attendance of the 1st student for CS2103T in Week 1.
• attend 2 c/CS2101 w/10 marks the attendance of the 2nd student for CS2101 in Week 10.

Unmarking attendance : unattend

Unmarks a student’s attendance for a specific course and week.

Format: unattend INDEX c/COURSE_CODE w/WEEK

• Unmarks the attendance for the student at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer (e.g., 1, 2, 3, …).
• COURSE_CODE must be a course the student is currently enrolled in.
• WEEK must be a number from 1 to 13 (inclusive).

Examples:

• unattend 1 c/CS2103T w/1 unmarks the attendance of the 1st student for CS2103T in Week 1.

Locating contacts: find

Finds persons whose attributes matches at least one of the given keywords for every field specified in the command flags.

Format: find [n/NAME]… [p/PHONE_NUMBER]… [e/EMAIL]… [a/ADDRESS]… [tg/TELEGRAM_HANDLE]… [t/TAG]… [c/COURSE_CODE]… [tut/TUTORIAL_GROUP]…

• Although all fields are optional, the find command still needs at least one field to execute.
• Persons matching at least one keyword for a given field will be returned (i.e., OR search within a single field). e.g., find n/alex n/david will return Alex Yeoh, David Li.
• Multiple fields can be specified here; persons must match all specifie field predicates to be returned (i.e., AND search across different fields). e.g., find n/John c/CS2103T will return persons with “John” in their name AND enrolled in “CS2103T”.
• The search is case-insensitive. e.g n/hans will match Hans
• The order of the flags does not matter. e.g. find n/Alex c/CS2103T will have the same effect as find c/CS2103T n/Alex
• Partial matching is supported for longer fields (i.e. Name, Phone number, Email, Address, and Telegram handle). e.g. n/Han will match Hans
• Exact matching is used for shorter fields (i.e. Tag, Course code, and Tutorial group). e.g. c/CS210 won’t match CS2103T
• To search by tutorial group, you must also provide at least one course code (e.g., c/CS2103T tut/T01 tut/T02 tut/T03). Which means commands like find tut/T01 won’t work.
• Multiple course codes and/or tutorial groups can be provided together. The standard AND/OR rules still apply:
  • Multiple course codes (e.g., c/CS2103T c/CS2101) will match contacts in either course (OR search).
  • Multiple tutorial groups (e.g., tut/T01 tut/T02) will match contacts in either tutorial group (OR search).
  • Providing both will match contacts who are in (at least one of the courses) AND (at least one of the tutorial groups).

Examples:

• find n/John returns john and John Doe
• find n/alex n/david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li
• find c/CS2103T tut/T01 returns all contacts in CS2103T tutorial group T01.
• find c/CS2103T tut/T01 tut/T02 returns all contacts in CS2103T who are in tutorial group T01 OR T02.
• find c/CS2103T c/CS2101 tut/T01 returns all contacts in CS2103T OR CS2101 who are in tutorial group T01.
• find p/807 e/alex returns all contacts with 807 in their phone number AND alex in their email address.

• find n/alex n/david t/friends t/buddy returns contacts whose name contains “alex” OR “david”, AND who are tagged as “friends” OR “buddy”.

  

Viewing a contact : view

Displays full details of a contact in TAConnect.

Format: view INDEX

• Views all available information of the contact at the specified INDEX.
• INDEX refers to the position of the contact in the currently displayed list.
• The index must be a positive integer (1, 2, 3, …​) corresponding to an existing contact.
• Does not modify any data with only display updates.

Examples:

• view 3 Shows full details of the third contact in the current filtered list.

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from the address book.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

TAConnect data are saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

TAConnect data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/addressbook.json. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

Caution: If your changes to the data file makes its format invalid, TAConnect will discard all data and start with an empty data file at the next run. Hence, it is recommended to take a backup of the file before editing it.
Furthermore, certain edits can cause the TAConnect to behave in unexpected ways (e.g., if a value entered is outside of the acceptable range). Therefore, edit the data file only if you are confident that you can update it correctly.

Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]

Details coming soon …

FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the file that contains the data of your previous TAConnect home folder.

Known issues

1. When using multiple screens, if you move the application to a secondary screen, and later switch to using only the primary screen, the GUI will open off-screen. The remedy is to delete the preferences.json file created by the application before running the application again.
2. If you minimize the Help Window and then run the help command (or use the Help menu, or the keyboard shortcut F1) again, the original Help Window will remain minimized, and no new Help Window will appear. The remedy is to manually restore the minimized Help Window.

Command summary