User Guide

AbsolutSin-ema is an address book that is designed as a desktop app for managing contacts, 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, AbsolutSin-ema can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

AbsolutSin-ema is designed for party planners who manage multiple contacts and events:

👥 Target Users:

• Student organizers: Managing dorm parties, graduation events (20-100 guests)
• Corporate event coordinators: Handling company parties, team building events (50-500 attendees)
• Freelance party planners: Organizing weddings, birthdays, celebrations for clients
• Venue managers: Coordinating multiple events with vendors/contacts/people and suppliers

⚡ Perfect for planners who:

• Need to quickly find vendor/contacts during event setup
• Manage budgets across multiple suppliers (catering, DJ, decorations)
• Type faster than they click and prefer keyboard shortcuts
• Handle 20+ contacts per event and want instant access
• Value organized, searchable contact databases over phone scrolling

🚀 Why CLI for Party Planning?

Speed Where It Matters:

• Find DJ contact in 2 seconds instead of scrolling through phone during setup crisis
• Add 10 vendors in 30 seconds vs minutes of form clicking
• Bulk assign contacts to parties with single commands

Real Scenarios:

• “The caterer is late, I need the backup contact NOW” → find catering backup ⚡
• “Add all these business cards from the vendor fair” → Rapid add commands
• “Check if we’re over budget for decorations” → view party_index shows remaining budget instantly

vs Traditional Apps:

• 📱 Phone contacts: Scroll, scroll, scroll… “Was it under DJ or Music?”
• 🖱️ GUI contact apps: Click New → Fill form → Click Save → Repeat 20 times
• ⌨️ AbsolutSin-ema: add n/DJ Mike p/91234567 e/mike@music.com b/800 → Done!

Table of Contents

• Quick start
• Features
  • Viewing help
  • Adding a person
  • Listing all persons
  • Editing a person
  • Locating persons by name
  • Listing all tags
  • Deleting a person
  • Managing parties
    • Adding a party
    • Editing a party
    • Deleting a party
    • Assigning contacts to a party
    • Unassigning contacts from a party
    • Viewing party participants
  • Clearing all entries
  • Undoing the previous command
  • Exiting the program
  • Saving the data
  • Editing the data file
• FAQ
• Known issues
• Command summary

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 AbsolutSin-ema.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar absolutsinema.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.
   

5. Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it. For example, typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window.

🎉 5-Minute Party Planning Tutorial

Let’s plan Sarah’s Birthday Party to see AbsolutSin-ema in action:

Step 1: Add your vendors

• add n/DJ Mike p/91234567 e/mike@music.com b/800 t/dj : Add the DJ
• add n/Bella's Catering p/87654321 e/orders@bella.com b/1200 t/catering : Add catering service
• add n/Party Supplies Plus p/76543210 e/info@partysupplies.com b/300 t/decorations : Add decorations vendor

Step 2: Create the party

• addp n/Sarah's Birthday d/25-12-2024 t/19:00 b/2500 c/1,2,3 : Create party and assign all vendors

Step 3: Check your planning

• view 1 : See who’s assigned and remaining budget
• list : View all your contacts
• find dj : Quickly find DJ contacts when needed

Other useful commands:

• undo : Undoes the most recent add, delete, edit, or clear command
• editp 1 b/3000 : Increase party budget if needed
• assign 1 c/4 : Add more vendors to the party
• exit : Exits the app

1. 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 AbsolutSin-ema.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL b/BUDGET [w/WEBSITE] [t/TAG]…​

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com w/johndoe.com b/100
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com w/betsycrowe.com p/1234567 b/250 t/photographer

Listing all persons: list

Shows a list of all persons in the AbsolutSin-ema.

Format: list

Editing a person: edit

Edits an existing person in the AbsolutSin-ema.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [w/WEBSITE] [b/BUDGET] [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.
• Budget should only contain up to 7 digits with up to 2 decimal places.
• Budget constraint: If editing a contact’s budget would cause the total cost of assignees to exceed the budget of any party the contact is assigned to, an error will be returned and the edit will not proceed.
• When editing tags, the existing tags of the person will be removed i.e. adding of tags is not cumulative.
• By typing t/ without specifying any tags after it, you remove all tags of the contact.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com w/johndoe.com b/120 Edits the phone number, email, website, and budget of the 1st person to be 91234567, johndoe@example.com, johndoe.com, and 120 respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd person to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Locating persons by name: find

Finds persons whose names contain any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

• Note: Spaces separate different keywords. Each space-separated word is treated as an individual search term.
• The search is case-insensitive. e.g hans will match Hans, HANS, or hans
• The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Hans Bo will match Bo Hans
• Full words are not needed to find a match e.g. Han will match Hans
• Persons matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang
• You can also search by tags in addition to names.
  e.g. find friend will return all persons tagged as “friend”.

Examples:

• find John returns john and John Doe
• find alex returns Alex Yeoh
  
• find friend returns all persons with the tag friend.
• find alex friend returns all persons whose name includes “Alex” or who have the tag “friend”.

Listing all tags: listtags

Lists all tags currently used in the AbsolutSin-ema.

Format: listtags

• The command displays all unique tags across all persons in alphabetical order.
• If no tags exist in the address book, a message will indicate that no tags were found.

Example:

• listtags displays all tags such as colleague, friend, supplier, etc.

Deleting a person: delete

Deletes the specified person from the AbsolutSin-ema.

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 AbsolutSin-ema.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st person in the results of the find command.

Managing parties

AbsolutSin-ema allows you to manage parties (events) and assign contacts to them.

Adding a party: addp

Adds a party to the party list.

Format: addp n/NAME d/DATE t/TIME b/BUDGET [c/CONTACT_INDEX ...]

• You may optionally assign contacts to the party using their indexes.
• Important: A contact cannot be assigned to multiple parties that occur at the same date and time.
• Budget constraint: If assigning contacts would cause the total cost of all assignees to exceed the party’s budget, an error will be returned.
• The date must be in the format DD-MM-YYYY (e.g. 25-12-2024) and cannot be before today.
• The time must be in the format HH:mm (e.g. 18:00).
• Budget should only contain up to 7 digits with up to 2 decimal places.

Examples:

• addp n/John's Birthday d/12-12-2025 t/18:00 b/5000

• addp n/Team Meeting d/01-11-2025 t/14:00 b/2000 c/1,2

  

Editing a party: editp

Edits the details of an existing party.

Format: editp INDEX [n/NAME] [d/DATE] [t/TIME] [b/BUDGET]

• Edits the party at the specified INDEX in the party list.
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Budget should only contain up to 7 digits with up to 2 decimal places.

🚧 If the party has already passed, it cannot be editted, unless it’s date is reassigned to the present/future first.

Examples:

• editp 1 d/13-12-2025 t/20:00 b/5100

• editp 2 t/15:00

  

Deleting a party: deletep

Deletes a party from the party list.

Format: deletep INDEX

• Deletes the party at the specified INDEX in the party list.

Example:

• deletep 1

Assigning contacts to a party: assign

Assigns contacts to a specific party.

Format: assign INDEX c/CONTACT_INDEX[,CONTACT_INDEX ...]

• Assigns the specified contacts to the party at the given INDEX.
• With each contact added, the budget of the party will be updated.
• Important: You cannot assign the same person to multiple parties that occur at the same date and time. Each person can only be assigned to one party per time slot.
• Budget constraint: If assigning contacts would cause the total cost of all assignees to exceed the party’s budget, an error will be returned and the assignment will not proceed.

Example:

• assign 1 c/5

  

Unassigning contacts from a party: unassign

Unassigns contacts from a specific party.

Format: unassign INDEX c/CONTACT_INDEX[,CONTACT_INDEX ...]

• Unassigns the specified contacts from the party at the given INDEX.

Example:

• unassign 1 c/2

  

Viewing party participants: view

Shows all contacts assigned to a party.

Format: view INDEX

• Displays all contacts assigned to the party at the specified INDEX.

Example:

• view 1

Clearing all entries: clear

Clears all parties, contacts, or both, from the AbsolutSin-ema.

Format: clear all/parties/contacts

Upon executing the clear command, a confirmation message will appear to prevent accidental data loss. You must confirm the action to proceed.

Warning: This will delete ALL contacts permanently. While this action can be undone, it should still be used with caution.

Undoing the previous command: undo

Undoes the most recent add, delete, edit, clear, or any party-related command. This restores AbsolutSin-ema to the state before the last command was executed.

Format: undo

Commands that can be undone:

• add - Removes the person that was added
• delete - Restores the person that was deleted
• edit - Restores the person to their previous state
• clear - Restores all contacts and/or parties that were cleared
• addp - Removes the party that was added
• editp - Restores the party to its previous state
• deletep - Restores the party that was deleted
• assign - Reverts the assignment of contacts to a party
• unassign - Reverts the removal of contacts from a party

Examples:

• After running addp n/John's Birthday d/12-12-2025 t/18:00 b/5000, typing undo will remove the party from your party list.
• After running assign 1 c/2, typing undo will unassign contact 2 from the 1st party.
• After running deletep 2, typing undo will restore the 2nd party back to your party list.

Exiting the program: exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

AbsolutSin-ema 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

AbsolutSin-ema data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/absolutsinema.json. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

FAQ

Q: How do I transfer my data to another computer?
A: Install AbsolutSin-ema on the new computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the file that contains the data of your previous AbsolutSin-ema home folder. The data file is located at [JAR file location]/data/absolutsinema.json.

Q: What happens if I accidentally delete a contact?
A: You can use the undo command to restore the deleted contact immediately after the deletion. If you have performed other commands after the deletion, you will need to add the contact again manually.

Q: Why can’t I find a contact even though I know they exist?
A: The find command only searches by name and requires exact word matches. Make sure you’re typing the exact words that appear in the contact’s name. Use list to see all contacts if needed.

Q: Can I have two contacts with the same name?
A: No, AbsolutSin-ema does not allow duplicate names. Each contact must have a unique name. If you try to add a contact with an existing name, you will get an error message.

Q: What happens if I use clear contacts or clear parties?
A: clear contacts will remove all contacts but keep your parties intact. Any parties that previously had assigned contacts will now show no participants.
clear parties will remove all parties while keeping your contacts untouched. Use clear all to remove both.

Q: Can I undo a clear all/contacts/parties command?
A: Yes. If you accidentally clear data, you can immediately type undo to restore everything to its previous state. Only one level of undo is supported.

Q: Will clearing parties also delete the contacts assigned to them?
A: No. Clearing parties only removes the party entries. The contacts themselves will remain in the contact list.

Q: Can I assign the same contact to multiple parties?
A: Yes. A contact can belong to multiple parties at once. Each party tracks its own list of assigned contacts independently.

Q: What if I unassign a contact who is not part of that party?
A: The command will show an error message. Only contacts currently assigned to that specific party can be unassigned.

Q: What happens if I use undo multiple times?
A: AbsolutSin-ema currently supports only one level of undo. Running undo again after restoring data will not revert earlier actions.

Q: How can I verify that a contact was successfully assigned to a party?
A: After using the assign command, run view INDEX (where INDEX refers to the party) to see the list of assigned contacts.

Q: What should I do if the application won’t start?
A: Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed. Check that the jar file is not corrupted by re-downloading it. Make sure you’re running the command java -jar absolutsin-ema.jar from the correct directory. See the Troubleshooting section for more detailed steps.

Q: Can I backup my data?
A: Yes, simply copy the absolutsinema.json file from the data folder to a safe location. You can restore it later by copying it back. It’s recommended to backup your data regularly.

Q: Are my contacts searchable by phone number or email?
A: Currently, the find command only searches by name and tag. To find contacts by other fields, use the list command to view all contacts and manually search through them.

Q: What characters are allowed in names and addresses?
A: Names can contain letters, numbers, and spaces. Addresses can contain any characters including special symbols, making them flexible for international addresses.

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