User Guide

Introduction

Teaching Assistant Contact Helper (TACH) is a desktop application that helps Computer Science (CS) Teaching Assistants (TAs) (like you!) from National University of Singapore (NUS), especially those that tutor multiple tutorial groups, by managing their students in an organised manner.

You can add, edit and delete students and their tutorial groups from the list easily. You can also find students by their name or by their tutorial group.

TACH automatically sorts students in alphabetical order, and all the students’ contact details are right next to their names, so that you can get their details in a glance, and easily know which contacts belong to whom.

TACH works by typing what you want to do as commands. It is optimized for keyboard users, so if you can type fast, TACH can work even faster.

How to use this guide

The goal of this guide is to help you, the reader, to understand how to use our app better, regardless of whether you are a new user or an experienced user.

If you are a new user and want to learn how to download and set up the app, go to Quick Start.
If you have already installed the app and want to learn the basics, go to Quick Tutorial.

If you are an experienced user who wants to use the app to its full potential, or just want a quick refresher on the commands, you can look at all the commands for TACH via Commands.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• How to use this guide
• Table of Contents
• Quick Start
• Quick Tutorial
  • App Components
  • Quick Command Tutorial
• Commands
  • Viewing help : help
  • Listing all students: list
  • Adding
    • Adding a student: add
    • Adding tutorial group(s) for a student: addtg
  • Editing a student : edit
  • Finding
    • Finding students by name: find
    • Finding students by tutorial group: findtg
  • Deleting
    • Deleting a student: delete
    • Deleting a tutorial group from a student: deletetg
    • Deleting tutorial groups from all students: deletetgall
  • Clearing all entries : clear
  • Exiting the program : exit
• Input Requirements
• Saving the data
• Editing the data file
• FAQ
• Glossary
• Command Summary

Quick Start

1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer.

2. Download the latest release of TACH.jar here.

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

4. Double-click the file to start the app. The app should appear in a few seconds and look similar to the image below. Note how the app contains some sample data.
   
   
   

You’re ready to start using TACH! You can continue learning how to use TACH through the Quick Tutorial.

On the other hand, if you’re feeling confident, you can dive straight into all the Commands.

Quick Tutorial

This quick tutorial will teach you how to navigate through the app and its components, along with some basic commands that you can use right now!

App Components

Here is a quick summary of all the components of the app:
(Remember that you can resize the window!)

• Options: Various options that you can use for the app.

• Command Box: The place where you type your commands. Once you have finished typing your command, press the ⏎Enter key on your keyboard to submit your command.

• Student Box: Represents a student and all their details. It has an index, the student’s name, their contact details, and their tutorial group(s).

• Index: A number showing where the student is positioned in the current list.

• Name: The student’s name.

• Contact Details: The student’s contact details.
  • The student must have an Email, but their Telegram and GitHub usernames can be optional.

• Tutorial Group(s): The student’s tutorial group(s). The student must have at least one tutorial group.

• Results Display: Displays the results of a successful command, or an appropriate error message if the command is invalid.

Quick Command Tutorial

Now that you know what each of the components are, it’s time to learn a few commands! Commands will look like this. Type the following commands exactly into the command box and press the ⏎Enter key to submit your command. The effect of each command is described after the command itself.

1. list : Lists all the students in TACH.
   
   
2. add n/Carl Sagan e/carlsagan42@gmail.com tg/cs2100 g01 : Adds the student “Carl Sagan” with their email and tutorial group to TACH. They should appear as the 3rd person (Index 3) on the list.
   
   
3. delete 2: Deletes the 2nd person in the displayed list. Here, “Bernice Yu” should be deleted from the list.
   
   
4. find david: Finds all students that have “David” in their name. Only “David Li” should be visible to you now.
   
   
5. edit 1 n/David Lee t/DavidLee777 g/david-lee : Edits the 1st person in the visible list by changing their name, their Telegram and their GitHub. This should edit “David Li” to “David Lee” and add their Telegram and GitHub usernames.
   
   
6. findtg cs2106 t05 : Finds all students that have “CS2106 T05” as a tutorial group. In this tutorial, you should see 3 students that have “CS2106 T05” as their tutorial group.
   
   
7. list : Lists all the students in TACH again.
   
   
8. deletetgall tg/cs2106 t05 : Deletes the tutorial group “CS2106 T05” from every student. Students that have no tutorial groups afterwards will be deleted as well. In this tutorial, you should see that “CS2106 T05” is nowhere to be found, and the student “Charlotte Oliveiro” is deleted since they no longer have any tutorial groups.
   
   
9. Experiment with some commands! Try out the same commands but with different formats, or you can take a look at Commands for a few more commands that are not covered in this tutorial. When you’re ready, you can move on to the next two easy commands to complete the tutorial.
   
   
10. clear : Clears TACH of all students.
    
    
11. exit : Exits the app.

This completes the command tutorial! You’re now ready to start adding your own students!

Congratulations! You’ve learned what each component in the app is, and some basic commands that you can use right now to get started! If you want more details on what each command does, you can refer to Commands for a better understanding.

Go back to Table of Contents.

Commands

List of commands:

• Viewing help
• Listing students
• Adding
  • Adding a student
  • Adding a tutorial group
• Editing a student
• Finding
  • Finding students by name
  • Findind students by tutorial group
• Deleting
  • Deleting a student
  • Deleting a tutorial group from a student
  • Deleting a tutorial group from all students
• Clearing all entries
• Exiting the program

Viewing help : help

Opens a window showing the Command Summary and the Input Requirements, and also gives a reference to the full user guide, which is this page.

Format: help

Listing all students: list

Shows a list of all students in TACH.

Format: list

The students will be sorted in alphabetical order by their names.

Adding

Adding a student: add

Adds a student into TACH.

Format: add n/NAME e/EMAIL [t/TELEGRAM] [g/GITHUB] tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP…

Note:

• Adding a student with the exact same name as another student in TACH is not allowed.
  • e.g. If Sam exists in TACH, another Sam cannot be added again even if their contact details are different.
  • You can manually differentiate them by saving them as Sam 1 and Sam 2 for example, or use your own way of identifying them.
• Names in TACH are used to uniquely identify students. If two students who have the same name are in the same tutorial group, it would be difficult to differentiate the two students.

Examples:

• add n/John Doe tg/CS2100 G08 e/e0123456@u.nus.edu
• add n/Michael Tay e/michaelT@gmail.com t/MichaelTay g/michael777 tg/CS2103T W15-3 tg/CS2100 G08

The following image shows the output for the following command:
add n/Chloe Lee e/chloexlee@gmail.com t/chloe201 g/jchloechloe tg/CS2101 G08

Adding tutorial group(s) for a student: addtg

Adds tutorial group(s) for a student in TACH.

Format: addtg INDEX tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP…

• Adds one or more tutorial groups for the student at the specified INDEX.
• Adding of tutorial groups is cumulative. (Existing tutorial groups of the specified student will remain unchanged.)

Example:

• list followed by addtg 2 tg/CS2040S T03 adds the tutorial group CS2040S T03 for the 2nd student listed in TACH.
• find Dave followed by addtg 1 tg/CS2040S T03 tg/CS3230 T01 adds the tutorial groups CS2040S T03 and CS3230 T01 for the 1st student in the results of the find command.

Editing a student : edit

Edits an existing student in TACH.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [e/EMAIL] [t/TELEGRAM] [g/GITHUB] [tg/TUTORIAL_GROUPS]…

• Edits the student at the specified INDEX
• At least one of the optional details (Name/NUS email/Telegram/GitHub/Tutorial Groups) must be provided.
• Any details entered in the edit command will replace the original details of the student.
• Details not entered in the edit command will stay the same and not be replaced.

Note:

• Tutorial groups CANNOT be empty. edit 1 tg/ is NOT allowed.
• GitHub and Telegram CAN be empty. edit 1 g/ t/ is allowed and will set the student to have no GitHub and Telegram.

Examples:

• list followed by edit 2 t/DaveHunter g/ edits the 2nd student listed in TACH. Their Telegram will be edited to DaveHunter and they will not have any GitHub username.
• find Robert followed by edit 1 n/Bobby Smiles edits the 1st student in the results of the find command. Their name will be edited to Bobby Smiles.

The following diagram shows the output for edit 5 t/chloe201 g/chloechloe from the previous Add student command

Finding

Finding students by name: find

Finds students whose names contain all the given keywords.

Format find KEYWORD [ADDTIONAL_KEYWORDS]

• Only the name is searched.
• The search ignores cases. e.g. charles will match Charles
• The order of the keywords matters. e.g. Charles Boyle will not match Boyle Charles
• Keywords can match the name partially e.g. Char WILL match Charles
  • e.g. Charles Bo and les Boyle will match Charles Boyle, but Charle Boyle will not match Charles Boyle
• The positions of the spaces matter. e.g. Alex Lee En will not match Alex Leeen
• Students whose names contain the keyword fully or partially will be returned
  • e.g. find char will return Charles Alex Lee, Charles Boyle, and Racharl Tan if they are in the list of students

Finding students by tutorial group: findtg

Finds all students in a particular tutorial group.

Format findtg TUTORIAL_GROUP

• The search ignores cases. e.g. cs2101 g08 will match CS2101 G08
• The search ignores extra spaces between the module name and the tutorial group name. e.g. cs2101<><><>g08 will match cs2101<>g08
  • In this example, <> means a space.
  • However, e.g. cs2101<>g<>08 will not match cs2101<>g08
• Only the tutorial group is searched.
• Only the exact tutorial group will be matched e.g. CS2101 G WILL NOT match CS2101 G08
• Students with matching tutorial group will be returned. e.g. findtg CS2101 G08 will return Charles Martinet and Susan Boyle only if both of them are in the tutorial group CS2101 G08
• If there are no students with matching tutorial group, no student will be returned and an empty list is displayed.

The following diagram shows the result for findtg CS2100 T05

Deleting

Deleting a student: delete

Deletes the specified student from TACH.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the student at the specified INDEX.

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd student listed in TACH.
• find Waldo followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st student in the results of the find command.
  
  

Deleting a tutorial group from a student: deletetg

Deletes the specified tutorial group from the specified student.

Format: deletetg INDEX tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP

• Deletes the specified tutorial group of the student at the specified INDEX.
• The tutorial group must be written EXACTLY, but ignores cases. e.g. deletetg 1 tg/cs2040s t03 will delete CS2040S T03 if that person has that tutorial group, but deletetg 1 tg/cs2040s or deletetg 1 tg/cs2040st03 WILL NOT successfully delete it.
• The tutorial group cannot be deleted if it is the only tutorial group a student has. e.g. A student with only the tutorial group CS2040S T03 cannot have that tutorial group deleted.

Examples:

• list followed by deletetg 2 tg/CS2103T W15-3 deletes the tutorial group CS2103T W15-3 of the 2nd student listed in TACH (only if the 2nd student has more than one tutorial group).
• find Carmen followed by deletetg 1 tg/cs2100 g01 deletes the tutorial group CS2100 G01 of the 1st student in the results of the find command (only if the 1st student has more than one tutorial group).

Deleting tutorial groups from all students: deletetgall

Deletes the specified tutorial group from ALL students in TACH.

Format: deletetgall tg/TUTORIAL_GROUP…

• Deletes the specified tutorial group from ALL students stored in TACH.
• The tutorial group must be written EXACTLY, but ignores cases. e.g. deletetgall tg/cs2040s t03 will delete CS2040S T03 from tutorial groups of all Students, but deletetgall tg/cs2040s or deletetgall tg/cs2040st03 WILL NOT successfully delete CS2040S T03 from students in TACH.

  NOTE: After the deletion, you will see all the updated remaining students in TACH.

WARNING:

1. Students with 0 tutorial groups after the deletion will automatically be deleted.
2. ALL students in TACH will be affected. Even those not visible as a result of the find command.

Example:

• find Eve followed by deletetgall tg/CS2103T W15-3 deletes the tutorial group CS2103T W15-3 from all students in TACH, including those not visible after the find Eve command (i.e. students whose name does not contain Eve)
• deletetgall tg/CS2106 T08 tg/CS2103T W13-3 will remove tutorial groups CS2106 T08 and CS2103T W13-3 from all students in TACH. Students with 0 tutorial groups after the tutorial groups’ deletion will be deleted from TACH.

The following diagram shows the output of deletetgall tg/CS2100 T05 from the previous findtg command

Note:

• 3 students, Gwak Seo Hyeon, John Smith and Pranith Loganathan are deleted because they have 0 tutorial groups left after CS2100 T05 is deleted.

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from TACH. This means every student and all their details.

Format: clear

WARNING: This action erases all the student data stored in your computer and CANNOT be undone! Consider carefully before calling the command as you will have to re-enter the students’ details if clear is executed accidentally.

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Input Requirements

There are parameters (like Names, NUS Emails, and GitHub usernames for example) that must follow certain requirements so that TACH recognises them as valid parameters. Here is a list of requirements of every parameter to easier understand which parameters are invalid when typing a command.

In the list, a word is defined as a bunch of characters (letters, numbers, punctuation, etc.) separated by spaces. e.g. There A_RE 4 w0-rd_s. has 4 words.

Saving the data

TACH data is saved in your computer’s hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data is entered. There is no need to save manually.

Editing the data file

TACH data is saved as a JSON file under [TACH file location]/data/addressbook.json.
You should not edit the data file directly unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing!
Only advanced users who are absolutely familiar with the data format should try updating the data directly by editing the data file.

Caution: If your changes to the data file make its format invalid, TACH will consider the data corrupted and discard ALL data, starting with an empty data file in the next run. This action CANNOT be undone! Please consider making a copy of the data first before attempting to edit the data file.

Go back to Table of Contents.

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 TACH home folder.

Q: Does TACH works on both MacOS and Microsoft Windows?
A: Yes. It is supported on both systems.

Q: TACH doesn’t seem to work on my computer, how may I get help?
A: You may drop us an email here with the relevant questions: Link.

Glossary

Command Summary