User Guide

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• Introduction
  • Things to note before you begin
• Quick start
  • Understanding TAilor’s GUI
    • Command/Input box and Feedback box
    • Student List
    • Task List
• Typical usage workflow
• Commands and features
  • Common commands
    • Viewing help : help
    • Listing all students : list
    • Adding a student: add
    • Adding students from a CSV file: import-csv
    • Editing a student : edit
    • Deleting a student : delete
    • Setting a default group for a mod: set-default-group
    • Locating students: find
    • Undo or Redo a previous command : undo/redo
  • Mail commands
    • Mailing students based on their index: mail-index
    • Mailing students based on arguments: mail-x
    • Email everyone in the student list: mail-all
  • Task List commands
    • Adding a new task: newtask
    • Deleting an existing task: deltask
  • Closing Commands
    • Exiting TAilor: exit
    • Clearing all entries: clear
  • Shortcuts
  • Saving the data
  • Editing the data file
• FAQ
• Prefix usage table
• Command summary
• Signing off

Introduction

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TAilor is a desktop app for managing contacts, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you belong to the home faculty of the School of Computing, are a Teaching Assistant in NUS and can type fast, TAilor can get tedious contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps!

Things to note before you begin

• Currently, TAilor supports only typical modules offered to students from NUS, such as MA1101R and GER1000.
• There is no support for DYOM modules at the moment as they do not conform to module naming conventions followed by most NUS faculties.
• There is only support for students whose home university is NUS currently as well, so their matriculation numbers should be in the form of “A0123456X” as according to NUS. This is essentially a 7-digit number preceded by a capital letter “A” and followed by another concluding capital letter.
• This application has mail commands that use your system’s default mail application. If none was found or set, your computer will prompt you for an application to use. To use your preferred mail app, please ensure that the specified app is set as the default in your computer settings.

If the intended usage above does not fit you, don’t worry, you still can use our application. The only downside is that features may seem a little odd to you, or you may need to do some manual adjustments. Fret not, we are currently working to produce a version of TAilor that can be used by a wider range of users, so stay tuned!

Quick start

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Caution: If you are a Mac User, it may be possible that some incompatibilities may surface in the form of garbled/unreadable text in the GUI. It is advised to switch to Azul build of OpenJDK 11 to solve this issue. Please refer to this link for more information.

1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer. A link to download Java is provided here.

2. Download the latest TAilor.jar from here.

3. Move the .jar file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your TAilor Application.

4. There are two ways to start TAilor:
   1. Open the terminal on your PC and move to the directory where TAilor.jar is contained in. Then, run java -jar TAilor.jar the application. We recommend macOS users to use this method of starting the application to avoid errors.
   2. Double-click the .jar file to start the app.
      The GUI similar to the one below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
      
      
      

5. Type a command into 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 a/A0123456P e/johnd@example.com m/CS2103T g/W12 : Adds a student

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

   • clear : Deletes all students in the student list.

   • exit : Exits the app.

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

Understanding TAilor’s GUI

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As seen in the above picture, there are several components of notice for TAilor:

• Command/Input box
• Feedback box
• Student List
• Task List

The following sections will guide you through them one by one:

Command/Input box and Feedback box

In red, is the command/input box for you to enter in your commands. Simply click on the box and type away!

In green, is the feedback box given for your command.

An invalid or wrong command entered will display some error messages for you:

A correct command will produce feedback to you about what has been done. In this case, the command delete 3 was done:

Student List

This is where you can see the students that are currently added into the application.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the entries in the list:

Shown here is:

Note that the group of the student can be set to anything you want, so the meaning of it is derived upon your own usage. The example given, T02, is intended to imply that the student belongs to Tutorial Group 2.

You can choose to follow module conventions for the naming of the groups or make groupings of your own. Some additional examples are shown below:

• CS2103T groups can be W12-1 to represent the Wednesday 12PM time slot, group 1.
• CS2101 groups can be G02 to represent sectional class #2 according to the conventions followed by the module in EduRec/NUSmods
• If you are handling only one group, a simple description like lab or tutorial can suffice.

Task List

This is where you can see the tasks you have created.

Taking a closer look at one of them:

Shown here is:

Typical usage workflow

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The typical usage for a Teaching Assistant is provided as follows:

1. Launch the application from the steps given in quick start

2. Add students to the student list via the add command or the import command.
   • Edit students, if necessary, via the edit command.
3. Perform any of the actions below whenever necessary:
   • Find students via the find command.
   • Mail students via the various mail commands.
   • Manage tasks for yourself via the new task and delete task commands.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 whenever necessary.

5. Exit the application via the exit command or by pressing the close button for the application.

Commands and features

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Common commands

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Viewing help : help

Shows a popup message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help [COMMAND_WORD]

help command can be used to show either the link to the user guide or usage instructions for specific commands.

Examples :

• help will show the popup message as shown above.
• help undo will show the usage instructions for the undo command.
• help mail-x will show the usage instructions for the mail-x command.

Listing all students : list

Shows a list of all students in the student list.

Format: list

Adding a student: add

Adds a student to the student list.

Format:

• add n/NAME a/STUDENT_NUMBER e/EMAIL m/MOD g/GROUP [t/TAG]…​ or
• add n/NAME a/STUDENT_NUMBER e/EMAIL m/MOD [g/GROUP] [t/TAG]…​ if there is already a default group for the mod.

Tip: If the entered student name has more than 50 characters, the entire name may not be displayed. A recommended usage is to use initials instead.
A student can also have any number of tags (including 0).

Note:

• Only non-duplicate students can be added. Ie, we cannot add duplicate students into the student list.
• Students are considered to be “duplicate” when two students have the same email address or student number.

Examples:

• add n/John Doe a/A1234567L e/johnd@example.com m/CS2030S g/B12G
• add n/Betsy t/friend e/btsy@example.com m/CS2100 g/T1 a/a0123456x t/needshelp

Adding students from a CSV file: import-csv

Adds multiple students by importing a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file. This forgoes the hassle of adding students one by one with the add command above.

Format: import-csv PATH-TO-FILE

To prepare your CSV files, follow the instructions below:

Note: The following steps assume that you, the user, will be having manager access for the Module on LumiNUS and thus will be able to export the needed Excel sheets as directed. If you do not have that level of access, fret not! You can follow the requirements below and look at our sample csv file here to create your own file from scratch and you’re good to go!

1. Export your student list from LumiNUS Classes and Groups.
   • When choosing the format of the file, select and export the following headers:
     • Name,
     • Student Number,
     • Email, and
     • Group
2. Once exported, convert the file to a CSV file. This can be done using any modern spreadsheet software, and must be done carefully. If you are using Microsoft Office, this link may be helpful for guidance.
3. Copy the file’s path and import the file into TAilor with the above command! Your file path can be an absolute or a relative path - it doesn’t matter as long as it is valid.

Note: The file format, including choice of headers, must be adhered to for the command to work. Excel sheets downloaded from LumiNUS have 2 additional rows preceding the row containing the column headers that are included in the required CSV format. Hence, if you were to create your own CSV file, these additional rows are required as well.
A sample csv file can be found here. As such, be careful not to corrupt your csv file before importing to TAilor - something that can result from writing anything or adding information that does not abide by the expected format in the file.

Editing a student : edit

Edits the details of an existing student in the student list.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [a/STUDENT_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [m/MOD] [g/GROUP] [t/TAG]…​

• Edits the student at the specified INDEX. This index refers to the index number shown in the displayed student list.
• The index must be a positive integer (1, 2, 3, …​) and should be any one of the indexes displayed. Negative examples include:
  • edit 0 produces an error, as 0 is not a positive integer
  • edit 100 for a student list with less than 100 students, will produce an error as there is no 100^th student
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the student will be removed i.e adding of tags is not cumulative.
• You can remove all the student’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.

Examples:

• edit 1 a/A1122334X e/johndoe@example.com Edits the student number and email address of the 1st student to be A1122334X and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd student to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Deleting a student : delete

Deletes the specified student from the student list.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the student at the specified INDEX. This index refers to the index number shown in the displayed student list.
• The index must be a positive integer (1, 2, 3, …​) and should be one of the indexes displayed. Negative examples include:
  • delete 0 produces an error, as 0 is not a positive integer
  • delete 100 for a student list with less than 100 students, will produce an error as there is no 100^th student

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd student in the student list.
• find n/Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1^st student in the results of the find command.

Setting a default group for a mod: set-default-group

Sets a default group for a particular module. This replaces the previous default group, and helps reduce redundancies when adding a student using the add command.

Format: set-default-group m/MOD g/GROUP

• MOD may or may not be an existing mod in TAilor’s local database
• GROUP can be set any number of times for the same Mod. If a default group value is already set, the new group value will simply replace it as default.

Examples:

• set-default-group m/CS2101 g/G02
  

  

• followed by set-default-group m/CS2101 g/G02-MonThur4-6
  

  

Locating students: find

Finds students whose details matches all of the search parameters.

Format: find PREFIX/KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…​ [PREFIX/KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…​]…​

Tip: The format may seem daunting, but remember that everything in [] are optional! A simple find command can be in the form of find n/alex. Try it out!

• The prefixes used are the same as other commands:

Note:

• Multiple keywords can be given for each prefix.
• The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Hans Bo will match Bo Hans
• The search is case-insensitive. e.g hans will match Hans
• Keywords cannot be empty. e.g. find n/ will return an error

• Only the specified prefixes will be searched

• For names and tags, only full words will be matched e.g. n/Han will not match Hans

• For the rest, partial words will be matched e.g. e/exam will match abc@example.com

• If multiple keywords are specified for a single prefix, students matching at least one keyword will be returned e.g. n/Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang
• If multiple prefixes are specified, students matching all prefixes will be returned.

Example:

Let the initial state of the list contain these 3 students: Alex, Bernice, Charlotte.

• find n/alex bernice returns Alex and Bernice, because Alex and Bernice fit into the search arguments for the prefix name.

• find n/alex charlotte m/CS g/t01 returns Alex, because:

  • Alex and Charlotte fit within the search arguments for the prefix name and module,
  • However, only Alex has a group of T01.
  • Hence, only Alex meets the search requirements of all search prefixes provided, and is shown.

  

Undo or Redo a previous command : undo/redo

Undoes or redoes a previously entered command that changed a student, task or module.

Format: undo or redo

• undo can only undo the effects of an add, delete, edit, clear, newtask, deltask, set-default-group and import-csv commands.
• Once you undo and enter a new add, delete, edit, clear, newtask, deltask, set-default-group and import-csv command, the state that was undone will not be accessible via redo anymore.
• Note the undo command will not be able to undo the effects of TAilor clearing all of its data caused by incorrect manual editing of data while the app is closed.

Example:

Let the initial state of the list contain these 4 students: Alex, Bernice, Charlotte and David.

After delete 1, we will delete Alex and the list will not have Alex anymore.

After undo, the list will return to having Alex in it

After a redo, the list will return to the state where Alex was deleted

Mail commands

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Before you use mail commands : These mail commands use your system’s default mail application. If none was found or set, your computer will prompt you for an application to use. To use your preferred mail app, please ensure that the specified app is set as the default in your computer settings.

Mailing students based on their index: mail-index

Mails a particular student from the student list based on the index number.

Format: mail-index INDEX

• Mails the student at the specified INDEX. This index refers to the index number shown in the displayed student list.
• The index must be a positive integer (1, 2, 3, …​) and should be one of the indexes displayed. Negative examples include:
  • mail-index 0 produces an error, as 0 is not a positive integer
  • mail-index 100 for a student list with less than 100 students, will produce an error as there is no 100^th student
• This opens the default email application on the system with the specified mail address pre-filled at the receiver’s address.

Example:

• mail-index 2 would open the default mail on the system with the receivers’ field filled with the specified mail. Now, the email is ready to be sent to the student with the index 2 as shown on the application.

Mailing students based on arguments: mail-x

Mails multiple students from the contact list. This is a broader version of the mail functionality.

Format: mail-x [e/EMAIL] [g/GROUP] [m/MOD] [n/NAME]

• This opens the default email application on the system with all the mail addresses specified by the arguments.
• Anyone who matches at least one of the specified arguments will be included in the mailing list.
• This can be used to specify multiple prefix based arguments to send the same mail in a single go.
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.

Note: mail-x supports only email, group, mod and name based prefix arguments to collate email addresses. All other attributes of a student are not supported.

Example:

• mail-x e/johndoe@example.com n/Alex would open the default mail on the system with the “to” box filled with the all the mail addresses covered by the arguments specified. Now, the email is ready to be sent to johndoe@example.com and Alex.

Email everyone in the student list: mail-all

Mails everybody in the student list.

Format: mail-all

• Opens the default email application on the system with all email addresses pre-filled in the receiver’s field.

Task List commands

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Adding a new task: newtask

Adds a new Task with the given description and deadline.

Format: newtask DESCRIPTION by/DATETIME

• Description must be non-empty. Ie, it cannot consist of all spaces.
• DATETIME has to be in the format of : YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm. The format for this is shown below:

Tip: The Time and Date being input must be valid. Ie, it is not possible to input a task with a deadline of 31st February.
It is also possible to create tasks that have a deadline before the current time, for task-tracking purposes!

Note:

• There is no maximum length for the description, but using a long description may hinder usability and make it hard to see your tasks!
  • For your best experience, please describe your tasks with a (soft) limit of 40 characters, including spaces!
  • This will be improved in the future versions.

Examples:

• newtask Do Homework by/2022-03-21T23:59 creates a task with description of “Do Homework” and is due on 21 March 2022, 11:59pm.

• newtask Check Alex's lab 4 by/2022-03-31T23:59 creates a task with description “Check Alex’s lab 4” and is due on 31 March 2022, 11:59pm
  

  

Deleting an existing task: deltask

Deletes the specified task from the task list.

Format: deltask INDEX

• Deletes the task at the specified INDEX. This index refers to the index number shown in the displayed task list.
• The index must be a positive integer (ie 1, 2, 3, …​) and should be one of the indexes displayed. Negative examples include:
  • deltask 0 produces an error, as 0 is not a positive integer
  • deltask 100 for a task list with less than 100 tasks, will produce an error as there is no 100^th task

(Positive) Examples:

• deltask 2 with a task list of at least 2 tasks, deletes the 2nd task in the task list.

Closing Commands

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Exiting TAilor: exit

Simply type exit in the command box to close the application. All of your data will be stored if no unforeseen errors have occurred.

Clearing all entries: clear

Clears all entries from TAilor’s database.

Caution: Please be reminded that using the clear command clears all the information present in TAilor’s database; this includes the Student list, the Module list and also your tasks on the task manager. The clear command, however, is reversible with the aid of undo command.

Format: clear

Shortcuts

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Example:

1. Commands delete 1 find n/Bob list are entered in the app.
2. Pressing ↑ will fill the command box with list.
3. Pressing ↑ again will fill the command box with find n/Bob.
4. Pressing ↓ will then fill the command box with list again.

Saving the data

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TAilor’s data is saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save it manually.

Editing the data file

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TAilor’s data is saved as three JSON files.

• The first being Student List’s data as [JAR_file_location]/data/contactlist.json,
• The second being Task List’s data saved as [JAR_file_location]/data/tasklist.json and
• The Module List’s data being saved as [JAR_file_location]/data/modulelist.json

Advanced users are welcome to update the data directly by editing those data files.

Caution: If your changes to the data file makes its format invalid (e.g., deleting the field of a task), TAilor will discard data in all 3 files and start with no data on the next run. It is suggested that users back up copies of these files manually, before editing any of them.
To save the current state into the data files, perform any command that changes the contact list or task list (ie add new task, add new contact).
WARNING: This overrides any changes made to the data after TAilor has started, if you modified them while TAilor is running.

FAQ

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Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Download and run TAilor on your other computer and overwrite all 3 data files created with the data files that contains the data of your previous TAilor usage, as found in the locations mentioned in the above section on editing data files.

Prefix usage table

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Command summary

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Signing off

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We hope you have a great time using TAilor and that it helps make your everyday lives a little simpler. Thank you for everything that you do for the teaching community as Teaching Assistants!

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed making this application for all of you!

Warmest Regards,

Team TAilor