StudyCircle User Guide

StudyCircle (SC) is a desktop app for NUS computing students that helps you keep track of your project groups. It helps you manage your contacts, sort them into groups, and track events within those groups.
SC is optimised for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still allowing you to see your changes in real time through a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, SC can get your contact and group management tasks done faster than traditional GUI-only apps.

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 StudyCircle.

  4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar StudyCircle.jar command to run the application.
    A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. The main elements of the interface have been highlighted in the screenshot. Note how the app contains some sample data to help you get oriented.
    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:

    • list-contacts : Lists all contacts.

    • add-contact n/John Doe p/98765432 e/e1399155 : Adds a contact named John Doe to the contact list.

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

    • clear : Deletes all contacts and groups.

    • exit : Exits the app.

  6. 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 add-contact n/NAME, NAME is a parameter which can be used as add-contact n/John Doe.

  • Items in square brackets are optional.
    e.g n/NAME [g/GROUP_INDEX] can be used as n/John Doe g/1 or as n/John Doe.

  • Items with …​ after them can be used multiple times including zero times.
    e.g. [g/GROUP_INDEX]…​ can be used as   (i.e. 0 times), g/1, g/2 g/3 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, list-contacts, exit and clear) will be ignored.
    e.g. if the command specifies help 123, it will be interpreted as help.

  • 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.

  • All commands are case sensitive.
    e.g. list-contacts is not the same as List-Contacts

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Managing contacts

Adding a contact: add-contact

Adds a contact to the StudyCircle contact list.

Format: add-contact n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL [g/GROUP_INDEX]…​

NAME Constraints:

  • case-insensitive (The system displays names in their original case but treats names like “tom” and “TOM” as the same.)
  • Should not be empty or contain only whitespace
  • Maximum length: 50 characters
  • Alphanumeric characters and spaces allowed (no consecutive spaces)
  • May include 's/o' ("son of") or 'd/o' ("daughter of") between names
  • Leading and trailing spaces are automatically removed.

PHONE_NUMBER Constraints:

  • Must contain only digits
  • Minimum 8 digits
  • Maximum 15 digits

EMAIL Constraints:

  • Must be a valid nus ID
  • Must start with ‘e’ (case-sensitive), followed by 7 digits
  • Example: e0123456
  • The domain ‘@u.nus.edu’ is added automatically — you do not need to include it

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list

Duplicate handling: Each contact must have a unique NUS email, while other fields can have duplicates.

Tip: A contact can be added to multiple groups at once by specifying multiple g/ prefixes and GROUP_INDEX should not be blank

Examples:

  • add-contact n/John Doe p/98765432 e/e1234567 adds a contact with name: John Doe, phone: 98765432, email: e1234567@u.nus.edu to the contact list.
  • add-contact n/Betsy Crowe e/e1232567 p/12345678 g/1 g/2 adds a contact with name: Betsy Crowe, phone: 12345678, email: e1232567@u.nus.edu to both the contact list and groups 1, 2.

Editing a contact : edit-contact

Edits the details of the specified contact. Only the specified fields will be overwritten.

Format: edit-contact CONTACT_INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [g/GROUP_INDEX]...

CONTACT_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed contact list.

Other parameter constraints are the same as in add-contact.

Caution: Using g/ prefix will replace the contact’s existing groups instead of adding to them.

Caution: Using g/ with blank GROUP_INDEX removes the contact from all groups.
(Example: edit-contact 1 g/ removes contact 1 from all groups.)

Examples:

  • edit-contact 1 n/John p/12345678 e/e1234567 g/1 g/2 edits the 1st contact in the current displayed contact list to name John, phone 12345678, email e1234567@u.nus.edu and adds John to group 1 and 2.

Deleting a contact : delete-contact

Deletes the specified contact from the StudyCircle contact list.

Format: delete-contact CONTACT_INDEX

CONTACT_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed contact list.

Examples:

  • delete-contact 1 deletes the 1st contact in the current displayed contact list.

Listing all contacts : list-contacts

Shows a list of all contacts with their name, phone number, email and groups (if any) in the current displayed contact list.

Format: list-contacts

Finding a contact : find-contact

Finds all contacts whose names contain any of the specified keywords and displays them as a list with index numbers.

Format: find-contact KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…​

  • KEYWORD is case-insensitive
    e.g. finding with BOB and bob will return the same result
  • One or more keyword can be entered, returning all the contacts which contain either of the keywords
    e.g. find-contact Bob Alice will return all contacts with either Bob or Alice in their names
  • The search performs partial matches — for example, find-contact ann will match names like Anna, Annette, or Joanne.

Examples:

  • find-contact rob will show the contact list with all people whose name contains rob
  • find-contact Aaron Darren will show the contact list with all people whose name contains either aaron or darren
  • find-contact Aa Da will match aaron and darren

Managing Groups

Adding a group : add-group

Adds a new group to the StudyCircle group list.

Format: add-group n/GROUP_NAME

GROUP_NAME Constraints:

  • May contain alphanumeric characters, spaces, and the following symbols: -, _, (, )
  • Must not be blank
  • Maximum length: 50 characters

Duplicate handling: Each group name must be unique. Names are case-insensitive (e.g., “Team” and “team” are treated as duplicate names).

Examples: * `add-group n/CS2103T` adds a group with name `CS2103T` to StudyCircle * `add-group n/Project Group A` adds a group with name `Project Group A` to StudyCircle

Edit a group : edit-group

Edit the specified group from the StudyCircle group list.

Format: edit-group GROUP_INDEX n/GROUP_NAME

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

Other parameter constraints are the same as in add-group.

Deleting a group : delete-group

Deletes the specified group from the StudyCircle group list.

Format: delete-group GROUP_INDEX

GROUP INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

Examples:

  • delete-group 1 deletes the 1st group in the current displayed group list.

Examples:

  • edit-group 1 n/cs2103 team 1 edits the 1st group in the current displayed group list to have the name cs2103 team 1.

Listing all groups : list-groups

Shows a list of all groups with their members and events in the current displayed group list.

Format: list-groups

Finding a group : find-group

Finds all groups whose names contain any of the specified keywords (case-insensitive) and displays them as a list with index numbers.

Format: find-group KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…​

  • KEYWORD is case-insensitive
    e.g. finding with tp and TP will return the same result
  • One or more keyword can be entered, returning all the groups which contain either of the keywords
    e.g. find-group tp CS2101 will return all groups with either tp or CS2101 in their names
  • The search performs partial matches — for example, find-group tp will match names like tp2103, rentport, or cs2103tp.

Examples:

  • find-group CA2 will show the group list with all groups whose name contains CA2
  • find-group CS 210 will show the group list with all groups whose name contains either CS or 210
  • find-group ab3 2101 will match groups named AB3 or cs2101

Managing Group Membership

Adding a member to a group : add-member

Adds the specified contacts to the specified group.

Format: add-member GROUP_INDEX c/CONTACT_INDEX [c/CONTACT_INDEX]…​

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

CONTACT_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed contact list.

Tip: You can add more than one contact to a group by specifying each extra contact with a c/ prefix, e.g., c/1 c/2 c/3.

Caution: Adding members to multiple groups at once is not supported.

Examples:

  • add-member 1 c/2 adds the 2nd contact to the 1st group.
  • add-member 1 c/1 c/2 adds the 1st and 2nd contact to the 1st group

Deleting a member from a group : delete-member

Deletes the specified contacts from the specified group.

Format: delete-member GROUP_INDEX c/CONTACT_INDEX [c/CONTACT_INDEX]…​

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

CONTACT_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed contact list.

Examples:

  • delete-member 1 c/2 deletes the 2nd contact from the 1st group.
  • delete-member 1 c/1 c/2 deletes the 1st and 2nd contacts from the 1st group

Managing Events

Adding an event to a group : add-event

Adds an event to the specified group.

Format: add-event GROUP_INDEX d/DESCRIPTION

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

DESCRIPTION Constraints:

  • Should not be blank.

Examples:

  • add-event 1 d/Report due 31/10 14:00 adds the event Report due 31/10 14:00 to the 1st group.

Editing an event in a group : edit-event

Edits an event description in the specified group.

Format: edit-event GROUP_INDEX e/EVENT_INDEX d/EVENT_DESCRIPTION

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

EVENT_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the event list of the group specified by GROUP_INDEX.

DESCRIPTION Constraints:

  • Should not be blank.

Examples:

  • edit-event 1 e/2 d/MVP Feature Specifications edits the 2nd event in the 1st group to MVP Feature Specifications

Deleting an event from a group : delete-event

Deletes the specified event from the specified group.

Format: delete-event GROUP_INDEX e/EVENT_INDEX

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

EVENT_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the event list of the group specified by GROUP_INDEX.

Examples:

  • delete-event 1 e/2 deletes the 2nd event from the 1st group.

Set repository link for the specified group.

Format: set-repo GROUP_INDEX r/REPOSITORY_LINK

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

REPOSITORY_LINK Constraints:

  • Should be a valid URL.
  • Maximum length: 200 characters.
  • Must not contain any whitespace.
  • Protocol (optional): can be http:// or https://.
  • Domain Name (required): must be valid, including a top-level domain (e.g. .com, .org).
  • Path (optional): if present, must start with /.

Caution: Setting the repo link of a group will overwrite the original repo link, if it was set.

Examples:

Retrieves the repository link of the specified group and automatically copies it to your clipboard.

Format: get-repo GROUP_INDEX

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

Examples:

  • get-repo 2 will get the repository link in 2nd group and copy it to your clipboard.

Deletes the specified repository link from the specified group.

Format: delete-repo GROUP_INDEX

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

Examples:

  • delete-repo 1 deletes repository link from the 1st group.

Group Dashboard

Showing the dashboard of a group: show-dashboard

Shows the dashboard for a group which displays the group's repo link (if any), members, events and notes.

Format: show-dashboard GROUP_INDEX

GROUP_INDEX Constraints:

  • Should match an index in the currently displayed group list.

Caution: While the dashboard is showing, editing that group's fields (members/events/repolink/name) will not update the showing dashboard and will require another show-dashboard command to update those fields.

Examples:

  • show-dashboard 1 shows the dashboard of group 1.
  • The dashboard shown will look like the image below dashboard

Saving notes into the dashboard of a group:

In the dashboard, there is a section with an editable white text box which allows you to save any notes to a group.

  • You can navigate the notes section using your keyboard's arrow keys
  • The notes section will auto-save with every keystroke
  • To clear the note box, you can click the red Clear Notes button

System commands

Clearing the StudyCircle contact book : clear

Clears the contact book of all groups and contacts.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

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

Editing the data file

StudyCircle data is 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, StudyCircle 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 StudyCircle 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.

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 StudyCircle 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. When resizing the window of StudyCircle, if the window gets too small and the description of a group's event or member name is too long, it will cause the box displaying that group to stop automatically resizing. This leads to the need to use a scroll bar to scroll through that group's events/members if there are too many items in either category.
  3. 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.
  4. If an event's description is too long, it will not wrap properly in the group dashboard window, and you will need to scroll horizontally to read the full text.

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add contact add-contact n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL [g/GROUP_INDEX]…​
e.g., add-contact n/John Doe p/98765432 e/e1234567 g/1 g/2
Delete contact delete-contact CONTACT_INDEX
e.g., delete-contact 3
Edit contact edit-contact CONTACT_INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [g/GROUP INDEX]...
e.g., edit-contact 1 n/John p/12345678 e/e1234567 g/1 g/2
Find contact find-contact KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…​
e.g., find-contact James Jake
List contacts list-contacts
Add group add-group n/NAME
e.g., add-group n/2103T
Delete group delete-group GROUP_INDEX
e.g., delete-group 3
Edit group edit-group GROUP_INDEX n/GROUP_NAME
e.g., edit-group 1 n/cs2103 team 1
Find group find-group KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…​
e.g., find-group CA1 CA2
List groups list-groups
Add members to a group add-member GROUP_INDEX c/CONTACT_INDEX [c/CONTACT_INDEX]…​
e.g., add-member 1 c/1, add-member 1 c/1 c/2
Delete members from a group delete-member GROUP_INDEX c/CONTACT_INDEX [c/CONTACT_INDEX]…​
e.g., delete-member 1 c/1, delete-member 1 c/1 c/2
Add an event to a group add-event GROUP_INDEX d/DESCRIPTION
e.g., add-event 2 d/do project work
Delete an event from a group delete-event GROUP_INDEX e/EVENT_INDEX
e.g., delete-event 1 e/2
Edit an event in a group edit-event GROUP_INDEX e/EVENT_INDEX d/EVENT_DESCRIPTION
e.g., edit-event 1 e/2 d/MVP Feature Specifications
Set repository link for a group set-repo GROUP_INDEX r/REPOSITORY_LINK
e.g., set-repo 2 r/https://github.com/AY2526S1-CS2103T-F12-1/tp
Get repository link from a group get-repo GROUP_INDEX
e.g., get-repo 2
Delete a repository link from a group delete-repo GROUP_INDEX
e.g., delete-repo 1
Show a group's dashboard show-dashboard GROUP_INDEX
e.g., show-dashboard 1
Clear StudyCircle contacts and groups clear
Exit the application exit
Help help