CulinaryContacts User Guide

CulinaryContacts is a desktop app for managing contacts and reservations in your restaurant, 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, CulinaryContacts can get your contact/reservation management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

Quickstart

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

  2. Download the latest culinarycontacts.jar from here.

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

  4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar culinarycontacts.jar command to run the application.
    A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.

    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 : 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 CulinaryContacts.

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

    • clear : Removes all persons and reservations.

    • exit : Exits the app.

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

Interpreting the GUI

Main Window

image

Component Description
Command Box Here is where you enter commands to perform actions within the app.
Result Display After executing commands in the Command Box, the Result Display shows the outcomes of your actions. This includes confirmation messages as well as command execution success and failure messages.
Active Tab The tab that is underlined is known as the active tab. This indicates whether the contacts list or the archived list is displayed in the Contacts Panel.
Contacts Panel This panel contains a list of Contact Cards.
Reservation Panel This panel contains a list of Reservation Cards.

Contact Card

image

Component Description
Contact Index Number The INDEX used in edit, delete and rsv commands.
Tags Tags are used for finding persons with the filter command.
  • The fields NAME, PHONE_NUMBER, ADDRESS and EMAIL on the contact card will be truncated if they are too long, to maintain neatness. The character limit before truncation is sufficient for most inputs so normal usage is not hindered.
  • The 'supplier' tag is green.
  • The 'employee' tag is blue.
  • The 'customer' tag is yellow.
  • All other tags are white.

Reservation Card

image

Component Description
Reservation Index Number The INDEX used in the rsvdel command.
Expiry Flag The expiry flag indicates if the date and time of the reservation is after the date and time when the application is launched, or after the date and time when rsvsort is invoked.
  • The person's NAME, PHONE_NUMBER and reservation's PAX on the reservation card will be truncated if they are too long, with the same reason as above.
  • The DATE on the reservation card is in dd/MM/yyyy format.

Features

Important terms:

  • displayed person list refers to the contacts or archived list of persons that you are currently viewing.

Notes about the command format:

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

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

  • Items with …​ after them can be used multiple times.
    e.g. [t/TAG]…​ can be used as t/supplier, t/seafood t/supplier 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 (help, list, exit, clear, alist, rsvsort) 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.

Utility

Viewing help: help

Shows the full command summary of CulinaryContacts at a glance. Press q to close the help window.

Format: help

help window

Clearing all entries: clear

Removes all persons and reservations from CulinaryContacts.

Format: clear

  • A confirmation message will be shown.
    • If user types y, all persons and reservations will be cleared and a success message will be shown: Clear successful!.
    • If user types n or anything else, the clear command will be cancelled and a message will be shown: Clear cancelled!. result for 'clear'

Saving the data

CulinaryContacts 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

CulinaryContacts data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/culinarycontacts.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, CulinaryContacts 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 CulinaryContacts 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.

Exiting the program: exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Contacts

Adding a person: add

Adds a person to the displayed person list.

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

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

  • NAME cannot be blank.
  • PHONE_NUMBER should only contain numbers, and it should be at least 3 digits long.
  • EMAIL should be of the format local-part@domain and adhere to the following constraints:
    1. The local-part should only contain alphanumeric characters and these special characters, excluding the parentheses, (+_.-). The local-part may not start or end with any special characters.
    2. This is followed by a '@' and then a domain name. The domain name is made up of domain labels separated by periods. The domain name must:
      • end with a domain label at least 2 characters long
      • have each domain label start and end with alphanumeric characters
      • have each domain label consist of alphanumeric characters, separated only by hyphens, if any
  • ADDRESS cannot be blank.
  • Duplicate names are not allowed (i.e., adding a new person with the same name as another existing person is not allowed).

Examples:

  • add n/Alex Yeoh p/87438807 e/alexyeoh@example.com a/Blk 30 Geylang Street 29, #01-40 t/supplier t/durian
  • add n/David Lee p/91031282 e/david@example.com a/Blk 436 Serangoon Gardens Street 26, #02-43 t/customer

Listing all persons in contacts list: list

Shows a list of all persons in the contacts list of CulinaryContacts.

Format: list

Editing a person: edit

Edits an existing person in the displayed person list.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [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 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.
  • Duplicate names are not allowed (i.e., editing a person's name to become the same as another existing person is not allowed).

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 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd person to be Betsy Crower and removes all existing tags.

Finding persons by name: find

Finds persons in the displayed person list whose name contains any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]...

  • 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 the name is searched.
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans.
  • Persons matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e., OR search).

Examples:

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

Filtering persons by tag: filter

Finds persons in the displayed person list that have all the given tags.

Format: filter TAG [MORE_TAGS]...

  • The search is case-insensitive. e.g supplier will match with Supplier.
  • Only full tags will be matched e.g. supplier will not match suppliers.
  • Persons matching all tags will be returned (i.e., AND search). e.g. seafood supplier will return persons with both seafood and supplier tag.

Examples:

  • filter supplier returns persons with the supplier tag.
  • filter supplier seafood returns persons with both supplier and seafood tags.

Deleting a person: delete

Deletes the specified person from the displayed person list.

Format: delete INDEX

  • Deletes 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, …​

Examples:

  • list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd person in the contacts list of CulinaryContacts.

Archive

Archiving a person: archive

Removes the specified person from the contacts list and adds the person into the archived list.

Format: archive INDEX

  • Archives the person at the specified INDEX.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the contacts list.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, ...
  • This command can only be performed while viewing the contacts list. Type list to view the contacts list.

Examples:

  • list followed by archive 1 archives the 1st person in the contacts list of CulinaryContacts.

Unarchiving a person: unarchive

Removes the specified person from the archived list and adds the person back into the contacts list.

Format: unarchive INDEX

  • Unarchives the person at the specified INDEX.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the archived list.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, ...
  • This command can only be performed while viewing the archived list. Type alist to view the archived list.

Examples:

  • alist followed by unarchive 1 unarchives the 1st person in the archived list of CulinaryContacts.

Listing all archived persons: alist

Shows a list of all persons in the archived list of CulinaryContacts.

Format: alist

alist

Reservations

Notes about reservations:

  • Currently, editing a person in the contacts list does not update the details of the same person in the reservations list.
  • If the user intends to edit the reservation details of a person, they will have to:
    1. Edit the person's details in the contacts list.
    2. Delete all reservations made by the person.
    3. Add a new reservation for every reservation deleted in the previous step with the newly updated person.

Adding a reservation: rsv

Adds a reservation to CulinaryContacts.

Format: rsv INDEX d/DATE t/TIME p/PAX

  • Adds a reservation for 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, …​
  • DATE must be in yyyy-MM-dd format.
  • TIME must be in HHmm format.
  • PAX must be a positive integer. Leading zeroes should be omitted (e.g., instead of typing p/03, type p/3).
  • 2 reservations made under the same name cannot have the same DATE and TIME (i.e., combination of DATE, TIME and name of person making reservation must be unique).

Example:

  • rsv 1 d/2024-04-17 t/1800 p/8

Deleting a reservation: rsvdel

Deletes the specified reservation from CulinaryContacts.

Format: rsvdel INDEX

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

Example:

  • rsvdel 2 deletes the 2nd reservation in CulinaryContacts.

Sorting reservations: rsvsort

Shows a sorted list of all reservations in CulinaryContacts.

Format: rsvsort

  • Upcoming reservations are always on top of expired reservations.
  • Upcoming reservations are sorted from earliest to latest.
  • Expired reservations are also sorted from earliest to latest.
  • If you add an upcoming reservation and it becomes expired while the application is open, the expiry flag will not automatically appear on the reservation card.
    • Calling rsvsort will update the reservation card to show the expiry flag.

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 CulinaryContacts home folder.

Q: Does archiving a contact affect reservations that were made under that contact?
A: No. The reservation feature is a completely independent feature from the archive feature. This means that:

  1. When a contact that has a reservation is archived, no changes will be made to that contact's reservations.
  2. An archived contact can be used to add a reservation.

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.

Command Summary

Command Format, Examples
help help
clear clear
exit exit
add add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [t/TAG]…​
e.g., add n/Alex Yeoh p/87438807 e/alexyeoh@example.com a/Blk 30 Geylang Street 29, #01-40 t/supplier t/durian
list list
edit edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]…​
e.g.,edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
find find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]...
e.g., find James Jake
filter filter TAG [MORE_TAGS]...
e.g., filter supplier seafood
delete delete INDEX
e.g., delete 3
archive archive INDEX
e.g., archive 2
unarchive unarchive INDEX
e.g., unarchive 2
alist alist
rsv rsv INDEX d/DATE t/TIME p/PAX
e.g., rsv 1 d/2024-04-15 t/1800 p/4
rsvdel rsvdel INDEX
e.g., rsvdel 1
rsvsort rsvsort