TutorEase User Guide

TutorEase is a desktop app for freelance pre-university home tutors to manage student and guardian contacts, as well as lesson schedules, 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, TutorEase can get your contact and lesson management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

Quick start

  1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.

  2. Download the latest tutorease.jar file from here.

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

  4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar tutorease.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.
    Ui

  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:

    • contact list : Lists all contacts.

    • contact add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/311, Clementi Ave 2, #02-25 r/Student t/friends t/owesMoney: Adds a contact named John Doe to TutorEase.

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

    • clear : Deletes all contacts and lessons.

    • exit : Exits the app.

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

UI Layout

Here are the different components of the TutorEase UI: Ui Layout

  1. Command Box: The command box is where you can type your commands to interact with TutorEase.
  2. Command Output Display: The command output display is where the output and result of the commands you have entered will be displayed.
  3. Contact List: The contact list displays all the contacts that you have added to TutorEase.
  4. Lesson List: The lesson list displays all the lessons that you have added to TutorEase.

Features

Notes about the command format:

  • Words in UPPER_CASE are the parameters to be supplied by the user.
    e.g. in contact add n/NAME, NAME is a parameter which can be used as contact add n/John Doe.

  • Items in square brackets are optional.
    e.g n/NAME [t/TAG] can be used as n/John Doe t/friend or as n/John Doe.

  • Items with …​ after them can be used multiple times including zero times.
    e.g. [t/TAG]…​ can be used as (i.e. 0 times), t/friend, t/friend t/family etc.

  • Parameters can be in any order.
    e.g. if the command specifies n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER, p/PHONE_NUMBER n/NAME is also acceptable.

  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do not take in parameters (such as help, contact list, lesson list, exit and clear) will be ignored.
    e.g. if the command specifies help 123, it will be interpreted as help.

  • Prefixes is not case-sensitive.
    e.g. if command specifies n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER, N/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER is also acceptable.

  • Commands is not case-sensitive.
    e.g. if command is contact add, CONTact ADd is also acceptable.

  • If you are using a PDF version of this document, be careful when copying and pasting commands that span multiple lines as space characters surrounding line-breaks may be omitted when copied over to the application.

Viewing help : help

Shows pop-up window with a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Adding a contact: contact add

Adds a contact to the TutorEase contact list.

Format: contact add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS r/ROLE [t/TAG]…​

Remarks:

  • Add a contact with the specified details.
Field Optional/Compulsory Prefix Remarks
NAME Compulsory n/ 1. NAME should only contain alphanumeric characters, spaces and round brackets.
2. Duplicated names is strictly not allowed. Please include a unique identifier like "Ryan Tan (Sec 1)".
3. NAME with symbols like "s/o", "d/o", "D'Cruz", "Lim, Jacus", and etc will not be allowed. However, "so", "do", "D Cruz" and "Lim Jacus" are accepted, please write without these symbols.
4. NAME that are duplicated will be prompted to add a unique identifier.
5. NAME with additional white spaces in between terms will be taken as it is.
PHONE_NUMBER Compulsory p/ 1. PHONE_NUMBER can must be a non-negative integers.
2. PHONE_NUMBER can start with any number.
3. PHONE_NUMBER must have a length of at least 3.
4. PHONE_NUMBER does not have a limit on length.
5. Duplicated phone numbers is strictly not allowed.
6. Do not include "+" as we only support local contact numbers only.
EMAIL Compulsory e/ EMAIL should be of format local-part@domain with the following constraints
1.local-part should only contain alphanumeric characters and these special characters, excluding the parentheses, (+-._).
2. local-part may not start or end with any special characters.
3. local-part's special characters should not be adjacent to one another.
4. domain is made up of domain labels separated by periods.
5. After every period, ensure that each domain label has at least 2 consecutive alphanumeric characters.
6. domain must:
6a. End with a domain label at least 2 characters long.
6b. Have each domain label start and end with alphanumeric characters.
6c. Have each domain label consist of alphanumeric characters, separated only by hyphens, if any.
ADDRESS Compulsory a/ 1. ADDRESS can be in any form with any amount of characters.
2. ADDRESS with non-alphanumeric characters are accepted like "😁" too.
ROLE Compulsory r/ 1. ROLE can only be Student or Guardian.
2. ROLE need is case-insensitive, e.g. ROLE can be stUDent or GuaRDIAN.
TAG Optional t/ 1. TAG have no limits on quantity.
2. TAG can only have alphanumeric characters with no spacing.

Note:

  1. Lessons can only be added to contacts with the role of student. Therefore, if you want to add a lesson to a contact, you must first add the contact with the role of student.
  2. NAME and EMAIL are case-insensitive.
  3. TAG's that are too long might be truncated in the GUI due to limited screen size but will be stored fully in the data file.

Examples:

  • contact add n/Norbeast p/987654322131 e/norbeast@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 r/Student

contact-add-student

  • contact add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com r/Guardian a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 t/criminal

contact-add-guardian

Listing all contacts : contact list

Shows a list of all contacts in TutorEase.

Format: contact list

Editing a contact : contact edit

Edits an existing contact in TutorEase.

Format: contact edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]…​

Remarks:

  • Edits the person at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed contact list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
  • INDEX must be within the range of the displayed list.
  • 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 person will be removed i.e adding of tags is not cumulative.
  • You can remove all the person’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.
  • ROLE is not editable!
  • All constraints from contact add command still stands with contact edit command.
  • In particular, we cannot edit contact to have same name, phone number or email as existing contacts.

Examples:

  • contact 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.
  • contact edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd person to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Locating contact by name: contact find

Finds persons in contacts whose names contain any of the given keywords.

Format: contact find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

Remarks:

  • 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.
  • Only the name is searched.
  • Words will be matched fully, e.g. Han will not match Hans.
  • Persons matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang.

Examples:

  • contact find John returns john and John Doe.
  • contact find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li.
    result for 'find alex david'

Deleting a contact : contact delete

Deletes the specified contact from TutorEase.

Format: contact delete INDEX

Remarks:

  • Deletes the contact at the specified INDEX.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed contact list.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
  • INDEX must be within the range of the displayed list.
  • Deleting a student will also delete all lessons associated with the student.

Examples:

  • contact list followed by contact delete 2 deletes the 2nd contact in TutorEase.
  • contact find Betsy followed by contact delete 1 deletes the 1st contact in the results of the find command.

Adding a lesson : lesson add

Adds a lesson tied to a student with start date time, end date time, name, address and fee.

Format: lesson add sid/STUDENTID f/PRICEPERHOUR d/STARTDATETIME h/DURATION

Remarks:

  • Add a lesson with the specified details.
Field Optional/Compulsory Prefix Remarks
STUDENTID Compulsory sid/ 1. Add a lesson with the student at specified STUDENTID.
2. STUDENTID refers to the index number shown in the displayed contact list.
3. The student ID must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​, within the range of the number of students in the contact list.
PRICEPERHOUR Compulsory f/ 1. The PRICEPERHOUR refers to the price of the lesson per hour.
2. The PRICEPERHOUR must be a non-negative integer.
STARTDATETIME Compulsory d/ 1. The lesson starts at the specified STARTDATETIME in the format dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm.
2. The date time format is not fixed to any timezones.
3. Past lessons can be added for tracking purposes.
DURATION Compulsory h/ 1. The duration must be a decimal number or an integer in multiples of 0.5.
2. The duration have to be more than 0 and be at most 24.
3. The duration of the lesson is specified by the DURATION in hours.

Note:

  1. Lessons can only be added to contacts with the role of student. Therefore, if you want to add a lesson to a contact, you must first add the contact with the role of student.
  2. The student location will automatically be set to the address of the student.
  3. Addresses that are too long will be displayed fully in multiple lines in the lesson panel as tutors would need the full location of the student.
  4. The lesson added will be in sorted order of the start date time.
  5. The name of student for the lesson is linked to the student contact.
  6. The end date time of the lesson is automatically calculated based on the start date time and duration of the lesson.
  7. The PRICEPERHOUR should not exceed Java's Integer.MAX_VALUE (2147483647).
  8. For STARTDATETIME, the year has been limited to 2000 to 2100. The maximum day will depend on the year and month that is given.
  9. Lessons that overlap with existing lessons' start and end date times will not be added to the lesson panel.

Examples: lesson add sid/1 f/10 d/23-10-2024 12:00 h/1

Adds a lesson with the student at index 1, price per hour of 10, starting on 23rd October 2024 at 12:00 and lasting 1 hour to the lesson panel.

add lesson

Listing all lessons : lesson list

Shows a list of all lessons in the schedule.

Format: lesson list

Deleting a lesson : lesson delete

Deletes the lesson at the specified index from the lesson schedule. Deleting a student will also delete all lessons associated with the student.

Format: lesson delete INDEX

Remarks:

  • Deletes the lesson at the specified INDEX.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed lesson schedule.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​.
  • INDEX must be within the range of the displayed list.
  • If a lesson find operation was done prior to this, INDEX needs to be in the new range of the result of lesson find.

Examples:

  • lesson delete 2 deletes the 2nd lesson in the lessons schedule.
  • lesson find John followed by lesson delete 1 deletes the 1st lesson in the result of the lesson find command.

Finding lessons by student name: lesson find

Find lessons with students whose names contain any of the specified keywords.

Format: lesson find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

Remarks:

  • 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.
  • Only the name is searched.
  • Words will be matched fully, e.g. Han will not match Hans.
  • Lessons with students whose names match at least one of the specified keywords will be returned (i.e., an OR search). e.g. Hans Bo will return lessons with Hans Gruber if any and Bo Yang if any.

Examples:

  • View all lessons using lesson list command.
    'result before using lesson find'
  • lesson find John returns John Doe's lessons.
    result for 'lesson find John'
  • lesson find John Alice returns lessons with John Doe if any and Alice Tan if any.
    result for 'lesson find John Alice'

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from TutorEase which includes all contacts and lessons.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

TutorEase 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

TutorEase data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/tutorease.json and [JAR file location]/data/lessonschedule.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, TutorEase 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 TutorEase to behave in unexpected ways (e.g., if a value entered is outside the acceptable range, guardians having lessons). Therefore, edit the data file only if you are confident that you can update it correctly.

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 TutorEase home folder.

Q: What languages are supported for inputs?
A: Currently only the english language is supported.

Q: What are alphanumeric characters?
A: Alphanumeric characters are the combination of the alphabets (A-Z, a-z) and numbers (0-9).

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

Action Format, Examples
Add Contact contact add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS r/ROLE[t/TAG]…​
e.g., contact add n/James Ho p/22224444 e/jamesho@example.com r/Student a/123, Clementi Rd, 1234665 t/friend t/colleague
Clear clear
Delete Contact contact delete INDEX
e.g., contact delete 3
Edit Contact contact edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]…​
e.g.,contact edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
Find Contact contact find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., contact find James Jake
List Contacts contact list
Add Lesson lesson add sid/STUDENTID f/PRICEPERHOUR d/STARTDATETIME h/DURATION
e.g., lesson add sid/1 f/10 d/23-10-2024 12:00 h/1
List Lessons lesson list
Delete Lessons lesson delete INDEX
e.g., lesson delete 1
Find Lessons lesson find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., lesson find John Alice
Help help

Prefix Table

Prefix Description
n/ Name
p/ Phone Number
e/ Email
a/ Address
r/ Role
t/ Tag
sid/ Student ID
f/ Price per hour
d/ Start date time of lesson
h/ Duration of lesson

Glossary

Term Meaning
Parameters Information that must be supplied by the user.
Hard disk The primary storage device of a computer.
JSON JavaScript Object Notation, a structure for reading and writing data from a file.
JAR Java Archive, a file format used for TutorEase.
GUI Graphical User Interface.
Java The programming language that was used to create TutorEase.
Integer Follows Java convention of signed 32-bit integers. Stores values from -2^31 to 2^31-1 (-2147483648 to 2147483647)