User Guide

Mate 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 can type fast, AB3 can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

• Quick start
• Features
  • Viewing help : help
  • Adding a person: add
  • Listing all persons : list
  • Editing a person : edit
  • Locating persons : find
  • Filtering persons : filter
  • Deleting a person : delete
  • Creating a team : createTeam
  • Listing all teams : listTeam
  • Adding a person to a team : addPersonToTeam
  • Removing a skill from a person : removeSkill
  • 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 AddressBook.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar addressbook.jar command to run the application.
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
   

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 e/johnd@example.com tg/John gh/John : Adds a contact named John Doe to the Address Book.

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

   • listTeam : Lists all teams.

   • createTeam tn/Development Team hn/Hackathon 2024 p/1 p/2 : Creates a team with the first two contacts as members.

   • clear : Deletes all contacts.

   • exit : Exits the app.

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 tg/TELEGRAM_NAME gh/GITHUB_NAME [s/SKILL[:LEVEL]]…​ [l/BOOLEAN] [h/HACKATHON]…​

• LEVEL can be: Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced (case-insensitive)
• If no level is specified for a skill, it defaults to Beginner
• BOOLEAN must be: true or false
  • l/true marks the person as looking for a team
  • l/false marks the person as not looking for a team
  • If not specified, the person is not looking for a team (default: false)
• h/HACKATHON specifies hackathons the person is interested in. Can be used multiple times to add multiple hackathons.
• Skills are displayed with color-coded backgrounds in the UI:
  • Beginner - Light green background
  • Intermediate - Light yellow background
  • Advanced - Light red background

Tip: A person can have any number of skills and hackathons (including 0).

Examples:

• add n/John Doe e/johnd@example.com tg/John gh/John s/Python:Beginner
• add n/Betsy Crowe e/betsycrowe@example.com tg/Betsy gh/Betsy03 s/C#:Intermediate s/Java:Advanced l/true h/NUSHack h/iNTUition
• add n/Alice e/alice@example.com tg/alice_tg gh/alice123 s/Docker l/true (person is looking for a team)
• add n/Bob e/bob@example.com tg/bobbygram gh/bobhub l/false h/HackNRoll (person explicitly not looking for a team but interested in HackNRoll)

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] [e/EMAIL] [tg/TELEGRAM_NAME] [gh/GITHUB_NAME] [s/SKILL[:LEVEL]]…​ [l/BOOLEAN] [h/HACKATHON]…​

• 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.
• When editing skills, new skills are added to the existing skills (i.e., adding of skills is cumulative).
• If you edit a skill that already exists (same skill name), the experience level will be updated to the new level specified.
• LEVEL can be: Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced (case-insensitive)
• If no level is specified for a skill, it defaults to Beginner
• BOOLEAN must be: true or false
  • l/true marks the person as looking for a team
  • l/false marks the person as not looking for a team
• h/HACKATHON specifies hackathons the person is interested in. Can be used multiple times to replace all hackathons.

Examples:

• edit 1 e/johndoe@example.com tg/johndoe_tg Edits the email address and Telegram name of the 1st person to be johndoe@example.com and johndoe_tg respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower s/Python:Advanced Edits the name of the 2nd person to be Betsy Crower and adds/updates the Python skill to Advanced level.
• edit 3 s/Docker:Intermediate Updates the Docker skill of the 3rd person to Intermediate level (or adds it if it doesn’t exist).
• edit 1 l/true Marks the 1st person as looking for a team.
• edit 2 l/false Marks the 2nd person as not looking for a team.
• edit 3 h/NUSHack h/iNTUition Sets the 3rd person’s interested hackathons to NUSHack and iNTUition.
• edit 4 l/true h/HackNRoll Marks the 4th person as looking for a team and sets their interested hackathon to HackNRoll.

Locating persons : find

Finds persons whose name, skills, Telegram username, or GitHub username contain any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

• The search is case-insensitive. e.g hans will match Hans
• The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Hans Bo will match Bo Hans
• Searches across multiple fields: name, skills, Telegram username, and GitHub username
• Only full words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans
• Persons matching at least one keyword in any of the searchable fields will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. find John Python will return persons with name John, or skill Python, or Telegram username John, or GitHub username Python

Examples:

• find John returns persons with name john or John Doe, or Telegram john123, or GitHub johnny
• find Java returns persons who have Java as a skill
• find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li, or anyone with Telegram username alex or GitHub username david
  

Filtering persons : filter

Filters persons based on their team-looking status and/or interested hackathons.

Format: filter [l/BOOLEAN] [h/HACKATHON [MORE_HACKATHONS]...]

• At least one of the optional parameters must be provided.
• The l/BOOLEAN flag filters for persons based on their team-looking status:
  • l/true filters for persons who are looking for a team.
  • l/false filters for persons who are not looking for a team.
• h/HACKATHON filters for persons interested in the specified hackathon(s).
• Both parameters can be used together to find persons who match the team-looking status AND are interested in specific hackathons.
• The hackathon search is case-insensitive. e.g. nushack will match NUSHack
• Only full words will be matched e.g. NUS will not match NUSHack
• Persons matching at least one hackathon keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search for hackathons).

Examples:

• filter l/true returns all persons who are looking for a team
• filter l/false returns all persons who are not looking for a team
• filter h/NUSHack returns all persons interested in NUSHack
• filter l/true h/NUSHack returns all persons who are looking for a team AND interested in NUSHack
• filter h/NUSHack iNTUition returns all persons interested in NUSHack or iNTUition

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.

Creating a team : createTeam

Creates a new team in the address book with specified team members.

Format: createTeam tn/TEAM_NAME hn/HACKATHON_NAME p/INDEX [p/INDEX]…​

• Creates a team with the specified TEAM_NAME and HACKATHON_NAME.
• Team members are specified by their INDEX numbers from the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• You can add multiple team members by specifying multiple p/INDEX parameters.
• Team names and hackathon names should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces, and should not be blank.
• Duplicate teams (same team name) are not allowed.

Tip: Make sure to use the list command first to see the current index numbers of persons before creating a team.

Examples:

• createTeam tn/Development Team hn/Tech Innovation 2024 p/1 p/3 creates a team called “Development Team” for “Tech Innovation 2024” hackathon with the 1st and 3rd persons as members.
• createTeam tn/Alpha Squad hn/AI Challenge p/2 p/4 p/5 creates a team called “Alpha Squad” for “AI Challenge” hackathon with the 2nd, 4th, and 5th persons as members.

Listing all teams : listTeam

Shows a list of all teams in the address book.

Format: listTeam

• Displays all teams with their team names, hackathon names, and member counts.
• No parameters are required for this command.

Examples:

• listTeam shows all teams currently stored in the address book.

Adding a person to a team : addPersonToTeam

Adds an existing person to an existing team in the address book.

Format: addPersonToTeam tn/TEAM_NAME p/INDEX

• Adds the person at the specified INDEX to the team with the specified TEAM_NAME.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• The team must already exist in the address book.
• A person can be a member of multiple teams.
• If the person is already a member of the specified team, an error message will be shown.
• After successfully adding a person to a team, the teams list will be displayed automatically.

Tip: Use the listTeam command first to see available teams, and list command to see the current index numbers of persons.

Examples:

• addPersonToTeam tn/Development Team p/3 adds the 3rd person in the displayed list to the “Development Team”.
• addPersonToTeam tn/Alpha Squad p/1 adds the 1st person to the “Alpha Squad” team.

Removing a skill from a person : removeSkill

Removes a skill from a person in the address book.

Format: removeSkill INDEX SKILL

• Removes the specified SKILL from 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, …​
• The skill name is case-sensitive and must match the skill name exactly.
• If the person does not have the specified skill, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

• removeSkill 2 Java removes the skill “Java” from the 2nd person in the displayed list.
• removeSkill 1 Python removes the skill “Python” from the 1st person in the displayed 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

AddressBook 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

AddressBook 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, AddressBook 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 AddressBook 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 AddressBook 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