EduMate User Guide

Are you a busy NUS student who wants to efficiently manage your academic and social life?

We acknowledge that for brilliant individuals like yourself, the time you spend in university presents an opportunity to connect with others and establish long-lasting friendships. We have built this personalised desktop app to help YOU do just that!

Using this Guide

If you are new to this user guide, we strongly recommend you to read the Overview section. Otherwise,

• If you want to run EduMate for the first time, check out our Quick Start guide.
• If you want to learn to use EduMate, check out our Commands section for a detailed guide.
• If you want a more hands-on learning experience with EduMate, check out our Try-it-out section.
• If you want to contribute to this project, check out our Developer Guide.

For experienced users, you may refer to the Command Summary for a summarised table of all the commands available.

Table of Contents

• Using this Guide
• Table of Contents
• Overview
  • What is EduMate?
  • Understanding the Symbols
  • Glossary
• Quick Start
  • System Requirements
  • Installation Instructions
  • Try it out! (Recommended)
  • Getting Help
• User Interface
  • Breakdown of EduMate’s UI
  • Person List
  • Meet Up Recommendation Panel
  • Profile Panel
  • Scheduled Meet Up Panel
  • Command Response Box
  • Command Box
  • Help Button
  • Exit Button
• Set Your Own Profile
• Commands
  • How to interpret the command format
  • Attributes
    • Basic Attributes
      • Basic Attributes Table
    • Other Attributes
      • Group
      • Module
      • Module with Lessons
  • Basic Commands
    • Add a contact add
    • View a contact’s profile view
    • Edit a contact’s details edit
    • Delete a contact delete
    • Add a label to a contact tag
    • Remove a label from a contact untag
    • Listing all your contacts list
• Advanced Commands
  • Search Commands
    • Filter contacts by keywords find
    • Arrange contacts based on criteria sort
  • Storage Commands
    • Save a copy of EduMate save
    • Load a copy of EduMate load
  • Meet Commands
    • Suggest places to meet with your contacts meet, study, eat
  • Schedule Commands
    • Organise a meet up with your contacts organise
    • Unorganise a meet up with your contacts unorganise
• Other Commands
  • Sample some contacts sample
  • Clear EduMate clear
  • Exit the application exit
• FAQ
• Summary
  • Prefixes
  • Command Summary
• Troubleshooting
  • How to check your Java version

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Overview

The following subsections explain the overarching functionality of EduMate, as well as the various terminology we will use in this guide.

What is EduMate?

EduMate is a desktop app designed for NUS students to manage their academic and social lives. It works as an address book but has other interesting features as well. It works mostly by commands and can behave like a Command Line Interface (CLI).

Understanding the Symbols

Here is a breakdown of the different symbols and colours we will use throughout this guide.

Glossary

• Command Line Interface (CLI): A text-based user interface (UI) used to run programs, manage computer files and interact with the computer
• Graphical User Interface (GUI): A form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons
• OS: Operating System
• Mainstream OS: Windows, Linux, Unix, OS-X
• Mass Rapid Transit (MRT): Singapore’s high-speed rail system.
• Co-Curricular Activities (CCA): Another name for extra-curricular activities.
• NUS: National University of Singapore

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Quick start

System Requirements

Here is everything you need to install and set up EduMate. For the best possible experience, we recommend that you run the application on the following supported operating systems:

• Windows
• macOS (Both Intel and M1/M2 Chips)
• Linux

Do also ensure that you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer. If you don’t already have Java 11 or above on your system, head over to Oracle’s Java download page.

For users who are using MacBooks with M1 or M2 chips, you might want to head over to Azul Open JDK download page to download Java 11.

To check whether your Java version is compatible with EduMate, please refer to How To Check Your Java Version.

Installation Instructions

Step 1. Download the latest edumate.jar from here.

Step 2. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your EduMate.

Step 3. Open a command terminal, change directory into the folder where you put the jar file in via the command cd, and use the java -jar edumate.jar command to run the application.

After a few seconds, a GUI resembling the one shown below will appear. Please take note that the application already includes some sample data.

Diagram 1: The GUI upon start up

Try it out! (Recommended)

Before we dive into exploring the various features of EduMate, please choose whether you prefer a guided or unguided experience.

1. For a guided experience, please enter sample 100 in the command box located at the top left of the application. This will generate 100 sample contacts in your EduMate, which you can use to familiarise yourself with the application’s functionalities.
2. If you would like to start with a fresh EduMate, simply type clear in the same Command Box located at the bottom of the application.

As you navigate through the application, we encourage you to experiment with different commands to further enhance your understanding.

Getting help

If you require assistance while using EduMate, you may find the solution in the Commands section of this User Guide. Alternatively, you can type in the help command to access a quick reference guide.

If you need more assistance, do not hesitate to head over to our Github page and file an issue with a tag customer-assistance-required. A member of our core team will attend to you as soon as possible.

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User Interface

Our UI components have been carefully crafted to fulfil specific functions, ensuring that your experience using our platform is as seamless and user-friendly as possible.

We have chosen a light purple and white colour scheme for the application, as these cool colours promote a sense of calm and clarity, making it easier for you to focus on your work.

Diagram 2: EduMate's UI

Breakdown of EduMate’s UI

EduMate consists of the following main UI components

1. Person List
2. Meet Up Recommendation Panel
3. Profile Panel
4. Scheduled Meet Up Panel
5. Command Response Box
6. Command Box
7. Help Button
8. Exit Button

The following diagram shows the layout of components numbered exactly as above.

Diagram 3: Labelled layout of EduMate's UI components

Person List

You may locate the Person List at the center-left of EduMate. This is where you will see all your saved contacts (or sample data if you are trying out for the first time).

When viewing your contacts in EduMate, you will notice an index assigned to each contact. This index is located directly to the left of the contact’s display name, and serves as a unique identifier for each contact in your list.

Diagram 4: Person List with some contacts displayed

Meet Up Recommendation Panel

The Meet Up Recommendation Panel (located at the top right of EduMate) suggests recommendations of optimal timings and locations where you can meet your friends.

Diagram 6: Recommended timings and locations for meet ups displayed

Profile Panel

The Profile Panel allows you to display your own or your contact’s information.

The Profile Panel will display basic information such as:

1. Name
2. Phone number
3. Email address
4. Telegram Handle
5. Nearest MRT station to home
6. Modules taken in current NUS Semester
7. Groups

Diagram 8: Sample user profile displayed on Profile Panel

Scheduled Meet Up Panel

The Scheduled Meet Up Panel (located directly to the right of Profile Panel) will show your confirmed meetings with your contacts.

Diagram 9: Sample scheduled meet ups displayed

Command Response Box

The Command Response Box is where EduMate will provide some feedback on the outcome of each command you execute (e.g. success, invalid format etc).

The Command Response Box is located directly below the Profile Panel and above the Command Box , and it is also scrollable for longer command feedback messages.

Diagram 11: Successful command execution feedback shown in red

Command Box

The Command Box is where you can input the Commands when using EduMate.

The Command Box is located at the bottom of the application. You may refer to the User Interface section to locate it.

Diagram 12: Command input box in EduMate boxed in red

Help Button

Should you need help with command syntax whilst using EduMate, you may click the Help Button located at the bottom left of EduMate (see Breakdown of EduMate’s UI).

Clicking the Help Button is an alternative to the help command.

Both commands will result in a Help Window appearing which shows the various command syntax used by EduMate.

Diagram 13: Help Window of EduMate

Exit Button

Clicking the Exit Button will allow you to quit EduMate.

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Set Your Own Profile

Once you have familiarised yourself with EduMate, you are now ready to begin customising the application to suit your preferences and needs!

Step 1. Run java -jar edumate.jar. The application window will open and show you where you have left off (if you have tried out sample from earlier)

Step 2. On the Command Box, execute edit n/[YOUR NAME] p/[YOUR CONTACT NUMBER] t/@[YOUR TELEGRAM HANDLE] s/[NEAREST MRT STATION TO YOUR HOUSE] e/[YOUR EMAIL]

Step 3. To add the modules that you are studying as such : tag m/[MODULE_CODE] DAY START_TIME END_TIME

Step 4. To add groups that you currently belong to as such: tag g/[GROUP_NAME]

Step 5. You are done! Enjoy!

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Commands

EduMate is a command-driven application, which means that its various functionalities can be accessed by executing specific commands.

How to interpret the command format

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Attributes

Contacts in EduMate have two types of attributes: single-valued and multi-valued.

Single-valued attributes for each contact can only have one value. Examples of single-valued attributes include a contact’s name, phone number, email address, Telegram handle, and home station.

Multi-valued attributes, on the other hand, can have multiple values associated with a single contact. Examples of multi-valued attributes include the groups and modules that a contact belongs to.

Basic Attributes

Below, you can find the basic attributes we use to make up a person’s profile in EduMate.

Basic Attributes Table

Attribute	Description	Format	Rules	Example
Name	The name of the person.	n/NAME	- Only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces. - Must also be unique.	n/Wen Li
Phone Number	The phone number of the person.	p/PHONE_NUMBER	- Should only contain numbers. - At least 3 digits long. Maximum of 15 digits allowed.	p/89229358
Email Address	The email address of the person.	e/EMAIL	Should be of the form local@domain, where: - local consists of only alphanumeric and the special characters +, _, ., -. -domain consists of an @ symbol followed by website.	e/wenli@gmail.com
Home Station	The name of the closest MRT station to the person’s home.	s/STATION	Name of a valid MRT station.	s/Boon Lay
Telegram Handle	The Telegram Handle of the person.	t/TELEGRAM	- Should start with @ symbol - At least 5 characters long - Only combinations of letters, numbers and underscores are allowed after the @ symbol	t/@wenli

Other Attributes

Below are some special attributes that complement the Basic Attributes of a person’s profile.

Group

Description: The group that you and the person belong to.

Pattern: g/GROUP

Rules: GROUP should only contain alphanumeric characters.

Example: g/Groupmate

Module

Description: The name of the module the person is taking.

Pattern: m/MODULE

Rules: MODULE should be the name of a valid NUS module.

Example: m/CS2107

Module with Lessons

Description: The name of the module the person is taking, and a lesson associated with the module.

Pattern: m/MODULE DAY START_TIME END_TIME

Rules: MODULE should be the name of a valid NUS module. DAY should be a valid weekday of the week. START_TIME and END_TIME should be valid hour in a day.

Example: m/CS1234 mon 12 13

Basic Commands

These commands will help you to perform basic functions on EduMate. These are functions that will be expected to be present in a typical address book.

Add a contact add

You can easily add a new contact to EduMate using the add command. This allows you to quickly store their information for future reference, such as their name, phone number, email address, Telegram handle, and the closest MRT station to their home.

Once all the basic information has been added, you can then assign them to groups or modules using the tag command.

Scenario:

You want to create a new contact for a friend named Weixiang whose information does not exist in EduMate yet. You run the add command with his details following the above format.

Command entered: add n/Weixiang p/89229358 s/Boon Lay e/heavenlywang@gmail.com t/@wangkong g/Groupmate m/CS2101 m/ES2660

What you should see:

1. Weixiang’s contact is added towards the end of the Person List.
2. Weixiang’s profile appears on the Profile Panel as such (below).
3. The Command Response Box shows that Weixiang is successfully added into EduMate.

Diagram 14: A new contact: Weixiang is added to EduMate

More Examples of Usage:

View a contact’s profile view

You can use the view command to retrieve and view either your own information or a contact’s information. This will display the relevant details on the Profile Panel.

The view command retrieves and display the either your profile or the contact’s profile on the Profile Panel.

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

Since Weixiang is a new friend, you want to reach out to him to get to know him better. You want to chat with him on Telegram but cannot remember his Telegram handle. You decided to use the view command to view his profile.

Command entered: view n/Weixiang or view 101 (if you know Weixiang’s contact index)

What you should see:

Diagram 15: Weixiang's profile displayed after execution of the view command

More Examples of Usage:

Edit a contact’s details edit

With EduMate’s edit command, you can easily update the profile of a contact. You have the flexibility to modify as many fields as required, ensuring that your contact’s information is always up-to-date.

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

Suppose now after talking to Weixiang, you realised that he has just moved to Little India. You then decide to edit the Station attribute of his contact from Boon Lay to Little India. You also remembered that from the view command, Weixiang’s index in EduMate is 101.

Command entered: edit 101 s/Little India

What you should see:

Diagram 16: MRT station nearest to Weixiang's home updated to Little India after execution of the edit command

More Examples of Usage:

Delete a contact delete

If you no longer need a contact in EduMate, you can remove them using the delete command.

Scenario :

Suppose you do not need Astrid’s contact anymore and you want to delete her contact from EduMate. From the view n/Astrid Holland command, her EduMate index is 8.

Command entered: delete 8

What you should see:

Diagram 17: Astrid's contact deleted after execution of the delete command

More Examples of Usage:

Add a label to a contact tag

You can tag your existing contacts with groups and modules using this command. You can also assign lessons to the contacts to indicate their availability during specific time periods. This will enable EduMate to suggest more suitable meet up times when using the meet command.

Scenario:

Suppose you now have a senior, Amirul, taking MA2101. You are interested and might want to contact Amirul for some advice. You then tag Amirul’s contact in EduMate with the following Monday 4pm - 6pm lesson slot and its corresponding module code.

Amirul has index 6 in EduMate.

Command entered: tag 6 m/MA2101 Monday 16 18

What you should see:

Diagram 18: Amirul successfully tagged with MA2101 with a lesson from 4pm - 6pm on a Monday

More Examples of Usage:

Remove a label from a contact untag

With EduMate’s untag command, you can remove groups or modules from your existing contacts. Additionally, you can unassign lessons from a contact to indicate their availability during that specific period of time. This will help EduMate to suggest more appropriate meet up times when using the meet command.

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

You are now informed by Amirul that MA2101 is too hard and he has dropped the module. You then proceed to untag that module from Amirul’s contact.

Command entered: untag 6 m/MA2101

What you should see:

Diagram 19: Amirul after removing the MA2101 Module Tag

More Examples of Usage:

Listing all your contacts list

With the list command, you can get EduMate to display all your contacts in the Person List

Advanced Commands

Now that you have become familiar with the basics of EduMate, it’s time to explore its more advanced features. For a more guided experience, you can run the sample 100 command to navigate through this section.

Search Commands

The search commands in EduMate help you to efficiently navigate and manage your contacts. Instead of manually searching through a long list of contacts, these commands allow you to customise how EduMate displays them, making the process much more efficient.

Filter contacts by keywords find

EduMate’s find command helps you quickly locate specific contacts by searching for keywords within their fields. This tool allows you to generate a list of contacts that meet certain criteria and manage your contacts more efficiently.

To use the find command, simply type find followed by the relevant keywords or criteria.

The command can also be used with multiple prefixes to refine your search. The results returned will contain at least one keyword from each specified field. Use the find command to save time and easily locate the information you need.

Scenario:

Say you want to filter out contacts who are in the same CCA as you to study for the upcoming finals for CS2100.

Command entered: find g/CCA m/CS2100

What you should see:

Diagram 20: Only contacts tagged with CCA and CS2100 are shown

More Examples of Usage:

Arrange contacts based on criteria sort

With EduMate’s sort command, you have the power to organise your contacts in a way that’s most helpful for you. Whether you want to find out who shares the most modules with you or who’s likely to become a close friend this semester, the sort command can help you out.

By simply typing sort followed by the relevant criteria, you can sort your contacts by name, the number of shared modules, or any other specified field. This feature can help you identify potential study or social groups within your contacts, making it easier to connect and collaborate with others.

We will now teach you how to effectively use the sort command.

sort is one of the most complicated commands to get your head around. Perhaps a scenario can help you understand better!

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

Suppose you want to arrange contacts such from those that take the most number of common modules with you to the least.

If there is a tie in the number of common modules shared with you, you decide to just rank the name lexicographically.

Command entered: sort m/d n/a

What you should see:

Diagram 21: Contacts ranked according to sorting criteria specified in the Command Box

Extra Explanation:

The command sort m/d n/a would mean that EduMate would first sort contacts by decreasing number of common modules with you, and tie-break by its lexicographical ordering.

Hence, Alex Quinn is ranked higher than Amirul as Alex’s name is lexicographically smaller than Amirul even though they share the same number of common modules with you.

More Examples of Usage:

Storage Commands

The storage commands allow you to save and load your EduMate data into a file. This means you can easily backup your data and access it from different devices or share it with others.

Save a copy of EduMate save

Using the save command in EduMate, you can easily save your data into a file with a name of your choice. This allows you to back up your data and access it later or share it with others.

Load a copy of EduMate load

Using the load command in EduMate, you can easily load a previously saved data file into the application. This allows you to access your data from different devices or recover it in case of data loss.

Meet Commands

Suggest places to meet with your contacts meet, study, eat

The meet command in EduMate is used to suggest suitable meet-up locations and times for you and your contacts, based on various criteria such as availability and proximity. It is useful for finding a mutually convenient time and place to meet up with friends or study partners. EduMate also offers more specialised commands such as eat for suggesting places to eat and study for suggesting places to study.

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

After sorting your contacts, you decided to ask Tae Seong, Alex, Amirul and Kevin from your CCA to study for CS2100.

Problem is, you do not know when all of them are free! Luckily, you have EduMate to find out for you!

You can execute the study variant of the meet command whilst referring to their index on the Person List.

From here, EduMate will recommend the most optimal places and the best possible time to meet and study for the final exam.

Command entered: study 35 29 10 23

What you should see:

Diagram 22: Recommended study spots and the common available days and timings displayed

More Examples of Usage:

Schedule Commands

The organise command in EduMate is used to add meet ups with selected contacts, whether they are customised or recommended by the meet commands. The feature is useful for keeping track of your upcoming meet ups in an organised and efficient way.

In addition, EduMate offers the unorganise command, which helps you manage and clean up scheduled meet ups by removing them - making it easy to stay on top of your schedule.

Any organised meet ups will be displayed at EduMate’s Scheduled Meet Up Panel.

Organise a meet up organise

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

You have decided that Queenstown Public Library is the most conducive library and have confirmed with your friends the meeting time recommended by EduMate.

The recommendation index given by EduMate for your preferred meet up is 2.

Command entered: organise 2

What you should see:

Diagram 23: A new meet up: Thursday at Queenstown Public Library from 8pm - 11pm is added to EduMate's Scheduled Meet Up Panel

More Examples of Usage:

Unorganise a meet up unorganise

If you wish to remove a scheduled meet up from your Scheduled Meet Up Panel, simply use the unorganise command.

Scenario (Continuation from previous scenario):

Suppose Tae Seong cannot attend the meet up due to contracting Covid-19, and you have to cancel the scheduled meet up.

The scheduled meet up has the index 1 on the Scheduled Meet Up Panel.

Command entered: unorganise 1

What you should see:

Diagram 24: The Thursday study session at Queenstown Public Library from 8pm - 11pm is deleted from EduMate's Scheduled Meet Up Panel

Other Commands

Sample some contacts sample

This command was built to help you and other new users get acquainted with EduMate’s functions.

sample helps to populate EduMate with fake profiles, so you can experiment with the commands without affecting your real contacts.

Examples of Usage:

Clear the application clear

If you want to delete all your contacts from EduMate, simply type clear.

Exit the application exit

If you want to quit the application, simply type exit, or click on the Exit button located on the left of the interface.

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FAQ

Q: Can I add multiple module tags to a user?

A: Yes, you can add multiple tags to a single user by using the “Module Tagging” feature multiple times.

Q: Can I edit my own profile?

A: Yes you may! Refer to Editing a Contact’s Details

Q: How is EduMate better than Microsoft Outlook or uWave?

A: We have features that Microsoft Outlook or uWave don’t have but we think should be integrated into these platforms, like the meet up recommenders and several search functions like sort and find. It is also open-source so student developers can suggest new features, and it is easily extensible!

Q: What is the difference between tag and edit feature when it comes to tagging groups and modules?

A: When you edit a profile with the m/ prefix, the existing modules of the person gets entirely deleted and the new module is added. tag however, just adds the module for you without modifying other existing tags. The same explanation could be applied to untag as well.

Summary

Prefixes

Prefix	Representation
n/	Name
s/	Station
p/	Telegram Handle
e/	Email
g/	Group
m/	Module
d/	Day
l/	Location
T/	Time Period
	Empty

Command Summary

Action	Format (See Interpreting Command Formats)	Examples
Add a contact	add n/NAME p/PHONE...	add n/Wen Li...
View a profile	view, view INDEX, view n/NAME	view 5, view n/Wen Li
Edit a contact	edit INDEX [z/FIELD]...​, edit [z/FIELD]...​	edit 4 n/Wen Qing, edit s/NUS t/@wenqing
Delete a contact	delete INDEX	delete 3
Tag a contact	tag INDEX m/MODULE..., tag m/MODULE..., tag INDEX g/GROUP, tag g/GROUP	tag m/CS1234, tag m/CS2345 mon 12 1, tag 1 g/Friend
Untag a contact	untag INDEX m/MODULE..., untag m/MODULE..., untag INDEX g/GROUP, untag g/GROUP	untag m/CS1234, untag m/CS2345 mon 12 1, untag 1 g/Friend
Filter contacts	find z/FIELD... z/FIELD...	find n/Tan, find m/CS1231, find n/Tan m/CS1231
Sort contacts	sort [z/a]...​, sort [z/d]...​, sort [z/]...​	sort, sort n/a, sort m/ p/d
Save a copy	save FILE_NAME	save backup
Load a copy	load FILE_NAME	load backup
Suggest meet ups	meet [INDEX]...​, eat [INDEX]...​, study [INDEX]...​	meet 1 6 4, eat 10 4 7
Organise a meet up	organise INDEX, organise [INDEX]... d/DAY T/START_TIME END_TIME l/LOCATION	organise 1, organise 1 2 3 d/MONDAY T/10 12 l/NUS
Unorganise a meet up	unorganise INDEX	unorganise 1

Troubleshooting

How to check your Java version

For Windows Users

Step 1. Open up Command Prompt.

Step 2. Run the command java -version.

Step 3. Check the version number from the output.

For Mac and Linux Users

Step 1. Open up Terminal.

Step 2. Run the command java -version.

Step 3. Check the version number from the output.