Teletutors User Guide

Teletutors 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, Teletutors can get your contact 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 .jar file from here.

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

  4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar teletutor.jar command to run the application.
    A GUI similar to the one below should appear in a few seconds.
    Ui

  5. Pressing the up arrow key (↑) will recall the last valid command entered, allowing for modification of previous commands, similar to a command terminal

  6. Pressing the down arrow key (↓) will recall the next valid command entered, allowing for retrieval of succeeding commands, similar to a command terminal

  7. 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.

    • adds n/John Doe p/98765432 tg/G17 sn/A1234567Z : Adds a student named John Doe to the Teletutor contact list.

    • deletes n/John Doe : Deletes the contact with the name John Doe.

    • exit : Exits the app.

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

Features

Notes about the command format:

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

  • Items in square brackets are optional.
    e.g. n/NAME [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER] can be used as n/John Doe sn/A1234567Z or as n/John Doe.

  • 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, list, exit, deleteall, undo) will be ignored.
    e.g. if the command specifies help 123, it will be interpreted as help.

  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do take in parameters (such as adds, deletes) will result in undefined behaviour.

  • 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.

  • Name arguments with extra whitespaces between words will be reduced to a single whitespace. e.g. n/John Doe will be treated as n/John Doe.

  • Tutorial group and student number arguments are not case-sensitive.

    • Tutorial Groups must be in the format of a letter followed by two numbers i.e G17, Z19, T15, etc.

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaning how to access the help page.

Help

Format: help

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Undoing the previous command : undo

Undoes the previous command.
The help and closeat commands are currently not undoable (planned for future versions).

Format: undo

Student Commands

Student prefixes

Prefix Constraints Example
n/ Names should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces, and it should not be blank.
Additionally, name fields do not allow special characters like "/". Names that include "D/O" or "S/O" should be replaced by "DO" and "SO" respectively		 valid: n/John Doe
invalid: n/, n/Thiru S/o Damith
p/ Phone numbers should only contain numbers, and it should be at least 3 digits long valid: p/98765432
invalid:p/1234 5678
tg/ Tutorial group should only be in the format of a letter followed by two numbers. valid: tg/G01
invalid: tg/G1
sn/ Student number should be in the format of a letter followed by 7 numbers and a letter. valid: sn/A1234567Z
invalid: sn/1234567z

Adding a student: adds

Adds a student to the contact list.

Format: adds n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP sn/STUDENT_NUMBER

Tip: A student must have a unique student number, so if the same student number is used for a new student, the user will be informed that the student already exists in the list.

Examples:

  • adds n/John Doe p/98765432 tg/G69 sn/E1234567I
  • adds n/Betsy Crowe tg/G16 p/23456789 sn/a1234567z

Listing all students : list

Shows a list of all students in the contact list.

Format: list

Editing a student : edits

Edits an existing student in the contact list.

Format: edits INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

  • Edits the student 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, …​
  • At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
  • Existing values will be updated to the input values.

Examples:

  • edits 1 p/91234567 tg/Z19 Edits the phone number and tutorial group of the 1st person in the displayed list to be 91234567 and Z19 respectively.
  • edits 2 n/Betsy Crower Edits the name of the 2nd person in the displayed list to be Betsy Crower.

Locating student by name: view

View student(s) whose name matches the specified name exactly.

Format: view NAME

  • The given name must match the student's name exactly. e.g view John will not return John Doe's details.
  • Name is case-sensitive. e.g. view mary will not return Mary's details.
  • Name is space-sensitive. e.g. view John Doe will not return JohnDoe's details, and view JohnNg will not return John Ng's details.
  • If more than one student share the exact same name, all the students with that name will be displayed.

Examples:

  • view Alex Yeoh Displays the details of all students with the exact name Alex Yeoh.
  • view Lynette Displays the details of all students with the exact name Lynette.

Deleting a specific student : deletes

Deletes the specified student from the contact list.

Format: deletes n/NAME [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

  • Deletes the student with the specified details.
  • The student name refers to the student name shown in the displayed list of students.
  • The student number refers to the student number shown in the displayed list of students.
  • If a student number is provided, it must be in the following format A1234567B, a1234567B, A1234567b, a1234567b, ...​
  • If there is more than one student with the exact same name, the student number must be provided to differentiate between them when deleting.

Examples:

  • deletes n/John Tan deletes the student with the exact name John Tan from the contact list.
  • deletes n/Betsy sn/A0123456X deletes the student with the exact name Betsy and student number A0123456X from the contact list.

Clearing all data and deleting all students : deleteall

Deletes all students from the contact list.

Format: deleteall

Attendance Commands

Attendance prefixes

Prefix Constraints Example
n/ Names should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces, and it should not be blank.
Additionally, name fields do not allow special characters like "/". Names that include "D/O" or "S/O" should be replaced by "DO" and "SO" respectively		 valid: n/John Doe
invalid: n/, n/Thiru S/o Damith
dt/ Dates should be in the format "YYYY-MM-DD" valid: dt/2019-01-01
invalid: dt/, dt/1 Jan 2019
pr/ Attendance should either be "p" or "a". valid: pr/p, pr/a
invalid:pr/P, pr/A, pr/present, pr/absent
tg/ Tutorial group should only be in the format of a letter followed by two numbers. valid: tg/G01
invalid: tg/G1
sn/ Student number should be in the format of a letter followed by 7 numbers and a letter. valid: sn/A1234567Z
invalid: sn/1234567z

IMPORTANT: Any command that has the optional field sn/STUDENT_NUMBER can be used without the student number if the student number is not known. However, if there are multiple students with the same name, the student number is required to differentiate between them.

Marking Attendance : markat

Marks attendance of student for a particular date with the specified details.

Format: markat n/NAME dt/DATE pr/ATTENDANCE [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

Examples:

  • If Adam Lee is a unique name, markat n/Adam Lee dt/2024-12-12 pr/p marks the student with the name Adam Lee present on 2024-12-12.
  • If Mary Tan is a unique name, markat n/Mary Tan dt/2024-09-11 pr/a marks the student with the name Mary Tan absent on 2024-09-11.
  • If there are multiple students with the name Adam Lee, markat n/Adam Lee dt/2024-12-12 pr/p sn/A1234567Z marks the student with the name Adam Lee and student number A1234567Z present on 2024-12-12.
  • If there are multiple students with the name Mary Tan, markat n/Mary Tan dt/2024-09-11 pr/a sn/A0123456X marks the student with the name Mary Tan and student number A0123456X absent on 2024-09-11.

Marking Tutorial Group Attendance to Present : markpresentall

Marks all students in a tutorial group as present for a particular date

Format: markpresentall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP dt/DATE

Marking Tutorial Group Attendance to Absent: markabsentall

Marks all students in a tutorial group as absent for a particular date

Format: markabsentall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP dt/DATE

Deleting Attendance : deleteat

Deletes attendance of student for a particular date with the specified details.

Format : deleteat n/NAME dt/DATE [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

Deleting Tutorial Group Attendance : deleteatall

Deletes attendance of all students in a tutorial group for a particular date

Format : deleteatall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP dt/DATE

Getting Attendance : getat

Gets attendance of student for a particular date

  • If Adam Lee is a unique name, getat n/Adam Lee dt/2024-12-12 gets the student with the name Adam Lee's attendance on 2024-12-12.
  • If Mary Tan is a unique name, getat n/Mary Tan dt/2024-09-11 gets the student with the name Mary Tan's attendance on 2024-09-11.
  • If there are multiple students with the name Adam Lee, getat n/Adam Lee dt/2024-12-12 sn/A1234567Z gets the student with the name Adam Lee and student number A1234567Z's attendance on 2024-12-12.
  • If there are multiple students with the name Mary Tan, getat n/Mary Tan dt/2024-09-11 sn/A0123456X gets the student with the name Mary Tan and student number A0123456X's attendance on 2024-09-11.

Format: getat n/NAME dt/DATE [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

Getting Tutorial Group Attendance : getattg

Opens an attendance window for all students in a tutorial group for all dates that are currently known.

  • Executing undo will close the last window opened by this command

Format: getattg tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP

Closing Attendance Window : closeat

Closes all attendance windows if any are currently open.

Assignment Commands

Assignments are displayed with different colors based on the following criteria:

  • Green: Submitted and graded
  • Yellow: Submitted but not graded
  • Red: Not submitted but before deadline
  • Black: Not submitted but after deadline

Assignment Prefixes

Prefix Constraints Example
n/ Names should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces, and it should not be blank.
Additionally, name fields do not allow special characters like "/". Names that include "D/O" or "S/O" should be replaced by "DO" and "SO" respectively		 valid: n/John Doe
invalid: n/, n/Thiru S/o Damith
a/ Assignment names should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces, and it should not be blank.
Additionally, assignment names should be unique.		 valid: a/Assignment 5
invalid:a/ Assignmment@2
tg/ Tutorial group should only be in the format of a letter followed by two numbers. valid: tg/G01
invalid: tg/G1
sn/ Student number should be in the format of a letter followed by 7 numbers and a letter. valid: A1234567N
invalid: B1234567C, A123B
d/ Dates should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD valid: 2024-12-01
invalid: 2023-5-1, 5-1-2024
g/ Grade is an decimal number between 0 and 100 inclusive or NULL (Case Sensitive). valid: NULL, 5, 98
invalid: 101, null

Adding Assignments : adda

Adds an assignment to the specified student

Format: adda n/NAME a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME d/DEADLINE [s/SUBMISSION_STATUS] [g/GRADE] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

  • Adds an assignment to the student with NAME. If student number is provided, this adds an assignment to the student with STUDENT_NUMBER and NAME.
  • If there is more than one student with NAME, a student number must be provided.
  • Assignment names must be unique.
  • If not specified, SUBMISSION_STATUS defaults to N (i.e. not submitted).
  • If not specified, GRADE defaults to NULL (i.e. not graded).

Deleting Assignments : deletea

Deletes an assignment for the specified student

Format: deletea n/NAME a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

  • Deletes an assignment matching ASSIGNMENT_NAME to the student with NAME. If student number is provided, this deletes the assignment for the student with STUDENT_NUMBER and NAME.
  • If there is more than one student with NAME, a student number must be provided.

Editing Assignments : edita

Edits an assignment for the specified student

Format: edita n/NAME a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME [d/DEADLINE] [s/SUBMISSION_STATUS] [g/GRADE] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]

  • Edits an assignment matching ASSIGNMENT_NAME to the student with NAME. If student number is provided, this edits the assignment for the student with STUDENT_NUMBER and NAME.
  • If there is more than one student with NAME, a student number must be provided.
  • Fields which are not specified will remain unchanged after the operation.

Adding Assignments by Tutorial Group : addatg

Adds an assignment to all students from the specified tutorial group

Format: addatg tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME d/DEADLINE

  • Adds an assignment to the students with TUTORIAL_GROUP.
  • Assignments default to not submitted and ungraded.

Saving the data

Teletutors 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

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

Future Implementations [coming in v2.0]

Assignment

  • View full details i.e (Name, Submission Status, Grade and Deadline) of an assignment
    • Currently only Name, Submission Status and Grade are shown
    • Ability to view all assignments for a Tutorial Group
  • Feedback on Assignments

Attendance

  • Export all attendance records to Comma Separated Values (CSV) format
    • Allows for easy exporting to other applications like Microsoft Excel

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 Teletutors 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.
  3. For students with exceptionally long names, the window might not be long enough to accomodate the full name.
  4. There is currently no way for users to view Assignment's Dates. Will be implemented in future versions.
  5. Input field for assignment grade is case-sensitive.
  6. Students with the same phone number can be added to the list.
  7. The closeat command will not account for windows that are manually closed using the X button.

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add Student adds n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP sn/A1234567J
e.g., adds n/P Diddy p/22224444 tg/G17 sn/A1234567J
Clear Contact List deleteall
Delete Student deletes n/NAME [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g., deletes n/John Doe sn/A1234567Z
Edit Student edits INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g.,edits 2 n/James Lee p/12345678
View Student(s) view NAME
e.g., view James Jake
List list
Help help
Undo undo
Mark Attendance markat n/NAME dt/DATE pr/ATTENDANCE [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g., markat n/John Doe dt/2021-10-10 pr/p sn/A1234567Z
Mark Present for Tutorial Group markpresentall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP dt/DATE
e.g., markpresentall tg/G17 dt/2021-10-10
Mark Absent for Tutorial Group markabsentall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP dt/DATE
e.g., markabsentall tg/G17 dt/2021-10-10
Delete Student's Attendance deleteat n/NAME dt/DATE [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g., deleteat n/John Doe dt/2021-10-10 sn/A1234567Z
Delete Tutorial Group Attendance deleteatall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP dt/DATE
e.g., deleteatall tg/G17 dt/2021-10-10
Get Attendance getat n/NAME dt/DATE [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g., getat n/John Doe dt/2021-10-10 sn/A1234567Z
Get Tutorial Group Attendance getattg tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP
e.g., getattg tg/G17
Close All Tutorial Group Attendance Windows closeat
Add Assignment adda n/NAME a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME d/DEADLINE [s/SUBMISSION_STATUS] [g/GRADE] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g., adda n/John Doe a/Assignment 1 d/2021-10-10 s/N g/100 sn/A1234567Z
Delete Assignment deletea n/NAME a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER]
e.g., deletea n/John Doe a/Assignment 1 sn/A1234567Z
Edit Assignment edita n/NAME a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME [d/DEADLINE] [s/SUBMISSION_STATUS] [g/GRADE]
e.g., edita n/John Doe a/Assignment 1 d/2021-10-10 s/Y g/90
Add Assignment to Tutorial Group addatg tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP a/ASSIGNMENT_NAME d/DEADLINE
e.g., addatg tg/T15 a/Assignment 1 d/2021-10-10