User Guide

SpleetWaise builds on AddressBook Level 3 (AB3) – a desktop app for managing contacts, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still offering the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). SpleetWaise makes it easy for students to record transactions with contacts saved in the address book. If you can type fast, SpleetWaise lets you handle your contact and transaction management tasks more efficiently than traditional GUI apps.

• Quick start
• Features
  • Viewing help : help
  • Adding a person: add
  • Adding a transaction: addTxn
  • Listing all persons : list
  • Listing all transactions : listTxn
  • Editing a person : edit
  • Editing a transaction : editTxn
  • Locating persons by name: find
  • Filtering transactions: filterTxn
  • Deleting a person : delete
  • Deleting a transaction : deleteTxn
  • Clearing all entries of AddressBook and TransactionBook: clear
  • Clearing all entries of TransactionBook : clearTxn
  • Marking a transaction as done : markDone
  • Marking a transaction as not done : markUndone
  • Exiting the program : exit
  • Saving the data
  • Editing the data file
  • Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]
• FAQ
• Known issues
• Command Summary for Address Book
• Command Summary for Transactions

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 SpleetWaise.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar spleetwaise-[version].jar command to run the application (*replace [version] with the release version you chose, for example, 1.5).
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
   

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 : Lists all contacts.

   • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 : Adds a contact named John Doe to the Address Book.

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

   • clear : Deletes all contacts.

   • exit : Exits the app.

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

Features

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Adding a person: add

Adds a person to the address book.

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

• The NAME input is case-sensitive and allows a wide variety of characters but has some restrictions. Below are examples of valid and invalid inputs (non-exhaustive).
  • Valid inputs include those that contain letters, numbers, spaces, and certain special characters such as apostrophes ('), hyphens (-), periods (.), comma (,), slashes (/), ampersands (&), quotation marks ("), and parentheses (()).
  • Invalid inputs may include those that contain special characters such as *, @, #, !, ^, %, $, or other characters that are not English, such as Arabic, Chinese or Latin scripts like Æ.
• The PHONE_NUMBER input should only contain numbers, and it should be at least 3 digits long.
• The ADDRESS input can take any values, and it should not be blank.
• The REMARK input should be a string of words with a limit of 120 characters.
• The TAG input should be alphanumeric.

Important: Duplicate entries for a person cannot be added to the address book. A person is considered a duplicate if both the NAME and PHONE_NUMBER fields match an existing entry. Together, these fields must create a unique identifier for each person in the address book.

Tip: A person with an Indian name containing “s/o” denoting “son of” can be added as add n/John s\/o Jason p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01

Tip: A person with an Indian name containing “d/o” denoting “daughter of” can be added as add n/Genevieve d\/o Jason p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01

Tip: A person can have any number of tags (including 0)

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 t/criminal
• add n/Lim Yi Bo, Gavin p/98765433 e/lyb@u.nus.edu a/Blk 123, Jurong West Ave 6, #08-111 t/colleague t/classmate

Adding a transaction: addTxn

Adds a transaction to the transaction book.

Format: addTxn INDEX amt/AMOUNT desc/DESCRIPTION [date/DATE] [status/STATUS] [cat/CATEGORY]...

• The INDEX refers to the index of the person currently displayed in the address book panel (as we are adding the transaction related to the person).
• The AMOUNT accepts a decimal number with up to 2 decimal places. A - symbol should be added before the number to indicate negative amount, indicating the transaction is one that the user owes the chosen person at the index.
  • Positive Amount Transaction indicates someone owes the user an amount.
    e.g. addTxn 1 amt/12.30 desc/John owes me for dinner indicates that John owes the user S$12.30.
  • Negative Amount Transaction indicates the user owes someone an amount.
    e.g. addTxn 1 amt/-24.30 desc/I owe John for dinner indicates that the user owes John S$24.30.
  • Amount with value equivalent of 0 is not allowed and will be considered as an invalid input.
• The DESCRIPTION is case-sensitive and accepts a string of words with a limit of 120 characters.
• The DATE accepts date formatted in the form DDMMYYYY i.e.10102024.
  • The date is optional. If the date is not provided, the current date will be used.
• The STATUS accepts case-sensitive string that is either Done or Not Done.
  • The status is optional. If the status is not provided, the default status is Not Done.
• The CATEGORY input should be alphanumeric. Category will be capitalised automatically.

Tip: If the transaction happened on the current day, the date parameter can be omitted.

Tip: A transaction can have any number of categories (including 0)

Examples:

• addTxn 1 amt/12.3 desc/John owes me for dinner
• addTxn 1 amt/-24.3 desc/I owe John for dinner date/10102024
• addTxn 1 amt/-24.3 desc/I owe John for dinner date/10102024 cat/FOOD

Listing all persons : list

Shows a list of all persons in the address book.

Format: list

Tip: This command can be used to reset the filter applied on the person list caused by a find command operation.

Listing all transactions : listTxn

Shows a list of all transactions in the transaction book.

Format: listTxn

Tip: This command can be used to reset the filter applied on transaction list caused by a fitlerTxn command operation.

Editing a person : edit

Edits an existing person in the address book.

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

• Edits the person at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person 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.
• When editing remark, the existing remark of the person will be removed i.e adding of remark is not cumulative.
• You can remove the person’s remark by typing r/ without specifying any remark after it.
• 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.

Examples:

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

Editing a transaction : editTxn

Edits an existing transaction in the transaction book.

Format: editTxn INDEX [amt/AMOUNT] [desc/DESCRIPTION] [date/DATE] [cat/CATEGORY]...

• Edits the transaction at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed transaction 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.
• When editing categories, the existing categories of the transaction will be removed i.e adding of categories is not cumulative.
• You can remove all the person’s categories by typing cat/ without specifying any categories after it.
• Other parameter specification, please refer to addTxn parameter specification section.

Tip: Status can be edited via markDone or markUndone command.

Examples:

• editTxn 1 desc/Hello world edits the description of the 1st transaction to be Hello world.
• editTxn 2 cat/ Edits the 2nd transaction by removing all existing categories.

Locating persons by name: find

Finds persons whose names contain any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

• Only the name is searched.
• 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 full words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans, Rick will not match (Rick)
  • Names with special characters such as John-lary will be matched with John-lary but not john or lary.
• Persons matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang

Examples:

• find John returns john and John Doe
• find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li
  

Filtering transactions: filterTxn

Filter transactions with any combination of the following parameters:

• the specified person identified by their index in the displayed person list
• and/or amount
• and/or description
• and/or date
• and/or status
• and/or positive/negative amount
• and/or category

Format: filterTxn [INDEX] [amt/AMOUNT] [desc/DESCRIPTION] [date/DATE] [status/STATUS] [amtsign/AMOUNT_SIGN] [cat/CATEGORY]

• The command requires at least one of the above optional prefixes to be provided.
• As more prefixes are provided, the filter becomes more specific.
• The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• The AMOUNT accepts a decimal number with up to 2 decimal places. A minus (-) symbol should be added before the number to indicate negative amount, indicating the transaction is one that the user owes the chosen person at the index. Results will display transactions with the exact amount if it exists.
  • Amount with value equivalent of 0 is not allowed and will be considered as invalid input.
• The DATE accepts date formatted in the form DDMMYYYY i.e.10102024.
• The DESCRIPTION accepts a string of words.
  • The description filter is case-insensitive and allows partial matching. e.g hans will match Hansolo Danello
• The STATUS accepts case-sensitive string that is either Done or Not Done.
  • To indicate filtering for transactions that are done or not done.
• The AMOUNT_SIGN accepts case-sensitive string of either Pos or Neg
  • To indicate filtering for transactions with amount that are positive or negative respectively.
• The CATEGORY input should be alphanumeric.

Tip: The filtered condition remains active until another filterTxn command is issued or the transaction list is explicitly reset using listTxn.

Examples:

• Given the example transaction book:
  

• filterTxn 1 returns all transactions with the person Alex Yeoh. Given that 1 is the index of Alex Yeoh in the displayed person list.
  

• filterTxn 2 amt/5.5 returns all transactions with the person Bernice Yu with amount 5.50. Given that 2 is the index of Bernice Yu in the displayed person list.
  

Deleting a person : delete

Deletes the specified person from the address book.

Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the person at the specified INDEX.
  • All transactions associated with the person will also be deleted.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed person list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd person in the address book.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st person in the results of the find command.

Deleting a transaction : deleteTxn

Deletes the specified transaction from the transaction book.

Format: deleteTxn INDEX

• Deletes the transaction at the specified INDEX.
• The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed transaction list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• listTxn followed by deleteTxn 2 deletes the 2nd transaction in the transaction book.
• filterTxn 1 followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st transaction in the results of the filterTxn command.

Clearing all entries of AddressBook and TransactionBook: clear

Clears all entries from the address book and transaction book.

Format: clear

Clearing all entries of TransactionBook : clearTxn

Clears all entries from the transaction book.

Format: clearTxn

Marking a transaction as done : markDone

Marks a specified transaction from the transaction book as done.

Format: markDone INDEX

• Marks a transaction at the specified INDEX as done.
  • If an undone transaction is marked as done, a done icon , appears for the transaction in GUI (transactions that are not done should not have the icon).
  • If a done transaction is marked as done again, the transaction remains done with no warning/alert.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed transaction list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• listTxn followed by markDone 2 marks the 2nd transaction in the transaction book as done.

Marking a transaction as not done : markUndone

Marks a specified transaction from the transaction book as not done. (The terms “undone” and “not done” may be used interchangeably in Spleetwaise and its documents.)

Format: markUndone INDEX

• Marks a transaction at the specified INDEX as not done.
  • If a done transaction is marked as not done, the existing done icon for the transaction in GUI disappears.
  • if an undone transaction is marked as not done again, the transaction remains not done with no warning/alert.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed transaction list.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

• listTxn followed by markUndone 2 marks the 2nd transaction in the transaction book as not done.

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

AddressBook and Transaction 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

• AddressBook data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/addressbook.json
• TransactionBook data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/transactionbook.json
• Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]

Details coming soon …

FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and before launching the app, copy the data folder over to its home folder from your previous SpleetWaise 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 shortcutF1) 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. Case Sensitivity in Names May Result in Perceived Duplicates in Address Book: Currently, SpleetWaise treats names as case-sensitive, meaning that variations like “bob”, “bOb”, “boB”, “Bob”, “BOB”, and “BoB” are considered distinct entries (even when all Bobs have the same phone number). This may lead to perceived duplicate entries if consistent capitalisation is not used. For example, “Alex Yeoh” and “alex yeoh” would be stored as separate contacts, even if both entries have the same phone number. The intended behavior in future releases is for case-insensitive handling, where entries like “Alex Yeoh” and “alex yeoh” with the same phone number would be considered potential duplicates and a warning or alert could be displayed to the user. Until this update, users are advised to maintain consistent capitalisation when adding contacts to avoid unintentional duplicates.
4. Email Validation Allows Certain Invalid Formats: The current email validation allows some entries that may not be valid email formats. For instance, “123@123” is accepted even though it lacks a fully qualified domain. This occurs because the validation does not strictly enforce the requirement for a complete domain structure (e.g., “123.com” instead of just “123”). Future improvements aim to refine this validation to align more closely with real-world email standards. Until then, users are advised to enter email addresses in standard formats (e.g., “username@example.com”) to avoid unexpected behavior.
5. Phone Number Validation Lacks Support for International Formats: The current phone number validation requires that phone numbers only contain numeric characters and be at least 3 digits long. However, this limitation may not adequately support users with international contacts, as it lacks flexibility for common international number formats that include country codes (e.g., +65 91234567 or +1 123-456-7890). This may pose a problem for students who frequently communicate with international friends. Future improvements aim to support international phone number formats by allowing optional country codes and special characters such as + and -. In the meantime, users are advised to store international numbers in a consistent, numeric-only format (e.g., without + or spaces) to ensure compatibility with the current app constraints.
6. Lack of Support for Multiple Phone Numbers per Contact: Currently, each contact can only store a single phone number. This limitation may be inconvenient for users who need to save multiple numbers for a single person, such as a mobile and home number or alternative international contact numbers. Future enhancements may include support for storing multiple phone numbers for each contact. Until then, users who need to save additional phone numbers for a contact may consider creating a separate entry with a label in the contact’s name (e.g., “Alex Yeoh - Home” and “Alex Yeoh - Mobile”)
7. Find Command Does Not Persist Filtered State for Persons: Currently, executing commands such as add or edit resets the person filter, causing the UI to refresh. This can be inconvenient for users wishing to execute commands to the existing filtered list of persons. Future enhancements aim to retain the person filter state for such commands.

Command Summary for Address Book

Command Summary for Transactions