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TAsker is a desktop app for Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the NUS School of Computing (SoC) to manage student administration, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI).

TAsker provides 3 main features to help you to manage student administration:

  1. Student Details Management
  2. Class Attendance Management
  3. Consultation Management

It retains the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, TAsker can get your administrative tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

This user-guide has been written with equivalent effort by all members of the TAsker development team. For

Table of Contents

Quick Start

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

  2. Download the latest TAsker.jar from here.

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

  4. Double-click the file to start the app. The graphical user interface similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.
    :bulb: Note: On newer macOS machines with stricter security settings from Apple, you might need to Ctrl-click on the file, then click on “Open” for your very first run of TAsker. This ensures that TAsker is trusted by your machine. You can then continue to double-click the file for your subsequent runs.

  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 students that you manage in TAsker.

    • addn/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com t/johndoe m/A0123456B tg/friends : Adds a student named John Doe (with his associated data) to TAsker.

    • delete3 : Deletes the 3rd student shown in the students’ details list.

    • clear : Deletes all students from TAsker.

    • exit : Exits TAsker.

  6. Refer to Navigating the User Inteface for details on how to navigate TAsker’s interface.

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

The user interface of TAsker comprises of the few main elements as shown in this diagram:

UI Intro

  1. Top Context Menu

    Allows you to:

    • easily exit the app by clicking on “File”
    • easily access the user guide by clicking on “Help”

  2. Command Box

    Main location to interact with all of TAsker’s features. Type all of TAsker’s commands into this box.

  3. Result Display

    The output of all commands run via the Command Box will be displayed here.

  4. Data Display

    All of TAsker’s data will be shown and updated here. Navigate across different types of student data by clicking on the tabs.

  5. Location of Saved Data File

    This tells you the location of the file where all of TAsker’s data is saved in. This helps you to locate the TAsker data file, so that you can copy TAsker’s data to make manual backups or shift TAsker’s data to another computer.

Features

TAsker primarily uses text-based commands that are entered via the Command Box to interact with its features. The commands typically follow the format shown below:

[Verb] [index of Item or Student (for certain commands)] [Parameters (for certain commands)]

For example, a command like add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com t/johndoe m/A0123456B will add a student (add is the verb), with parameters:

  • “98765432” as phone number
  • “johnd@example.com” as email
  • “johndoe” as Telegram username
  • “A0123456B” as matriculation number

In this case, the index is not needed as the add command does not manipulate existing students’ data. The sections for each feature below will document the command needed, as well as it’s associated mandatory and optional parameters.

:information_source: 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 [tg/TAG] can be used as n/John Doe tg/friend or as n/John Doe.

  • Items with …​ after them can be used multiple times including zero times.
    e.g. [tg/TAG]…​ can be used as ` ` (i.e. 0 times), tg/friend, tg/friend tg/family 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.

  • Any invalid parameter tags will be parsed as literals.
    e.g. If we pass the n/a/James in as a parameter, since a/ is an invalid parameter tag, it will attempt to interpret a/James as a NAME, rather than treating a/ as a parameter tag and James as its field.

  • Extra inputs to commands will be ignored.
    e.g.

    • list 1, 1 will be ignored,

    • exit abc, abc will be ignored.

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the User Guide (this page).

Format: help

Expected Output

Running help

Adding a student : add

This is used when we want to save student data into TAsker.

For administrative purposes, teaching assistants usually need the following information from their students:

  • Telegram handles
  • Email
  • Name
  • Telegram
  • Matric Number

They also need the ability to TAG students, for providing more details about each student, such as their tutorial class, performance and so on.

This feature allows them add all of the above information for a student.

Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL t/TELEGRAM m/MATRIC_NUMBER [tg/TAG]…​

:bulb: Tip: A student can have any number of tags (including 0). The rest of the parameters can only be inputted once.

Examples:

  • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com t/johndoe m/A0123456B
  • add n/Betsy Crowe tg/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com t/betsy_crowe m/A0201234C p/1234567 tg/groupmate

Expected Output

Running add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com t/johndoe m/A0123456B

Listing all students : list

This is useful when you want to view the information of all students.

The information is displayed under the Students Tab.

Format: list

Expected Output

Running list

Editing a student : edit

If you need to update a student’s information, you can use this feature to do so.

In the event you are trying to delete a student instead, see the delete command below.

You can just provide the relevant fields you want to update to the command.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [t/TELEGRAM] [m/MATRIC_NUMBER] [tg/TAG]…​

  • Edits the student at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed student list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
  • At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
  • If the index is a positive integer, the format for each optional field will be checked in the above order before the index’s validity is verified.
  • If all inputs are valid, the existing values will be updated to the input values.
  • When editing tags, the existing tags of the student will be removed i.e adding of tags is not cumulative.
  • You can remove all the student’s tags by typing tg/ 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 student to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
  • edit 2 n/Betsy Crower tg/ Edits the name of the 2nd students to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Before Editing

After Editing

Locating students by name : find

If you only remember fragments of a student’s name, you can use feature to lookup that student.

This command finds students whose names contain any of the given keywords.

You can use the list command if you want to view all students again.

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
  • Students 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

Expected Output

Running find alex david

Deleting a student : delete

Deletes the specified student from the address book.

You may use this to remove incorrectly added students.

Format: delete INDEX

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

Examples:

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

Clearing all students : clear

This clears all entries from the list of students.

When starting up for the first time, TAsker is provided with mock data. clear can be used to remove all the data to start from a clean slate.

You may also want to use this when starting a new semester, to remove information of the previous semester’s students.

Format: clear

Checking for a student’s attendance : showatt

Shows the attendance for tutorial on a specified date.

Format: showatt INDEX d/DATE

Examples:

  • showatt 1 d/12/12/2020 checks if the first student in the list attended class on 12th December, 2020.

    For example if “John” was our first student, we would get the following response if he was present:

    John was present on 2020-12-12

    If he was absent we would get this instead:

    John was absent on 2020-12-12

Marking student’s attendance : attend

Marks the student as present for tutorial on a specified date.

Format: attend INDEX d/DATE

Expected Output

Running attend 1 d/12/12/2000

Examples:

  • attend 1 d/12/12/2000 Marks the student at index 1 as present on 12 December 2000.
  • attend 2 d/12/01/2002 Marks the student at index 2 as present on 12 January 2002.

Unmarking student’s attendance : unattend

Marks the student as absent (default) for tutorial on a specified date.

Format: unattend INDEX d/DATE

Examples:

  • unattend 1 d/12/12/2000 Marks the student at index 1 as absent on 12 December 2000.
  • unattend 2 d/12/01/2002 Marks the student at index 2 as absent on 12 January 2002.

Expected Output

Running unattend 1 d/12/12/2000 (This particular illustration requires attend 1 d/12/12/2000 to be ran first)

Adding a consultation : add-consult

Adds a consultation to the address book.

Format: add-consult n/NAME d/DATE tm/TIME a/LOCATION ty/TYPE

:bulb: Tip: There are only 2 types of consultations, Personal or Group. They can inputted in any case too!

Examples:

  • add-consult n/John Doe d/10/10/2020 tm/18:00 a/SOC Basement ty/personal
  • add-consult n/Ann Lim d/30/05/2020 tm/11:00 a/Tembusu College ty/group

Expected Output

Running add-consult n/John Doe d/10/10/2020 tm/18:00 a/SOC Basement ty/personal

Deleting a consultation : del-consult

Deletes a consultation from the address book.

Use this to indicate a consultation has been completed or remove incorrect consultation slots.

Format: del-consult INDEX

Examples:

  • del-consult 1

Expected Output

For del-consult 1

Listing all consultations : list-consult

Shows a list of all consultations that has been arranged with your students.

You may click on the Consultations tab to view the full list of consultations.

Format: list-consult

Expected Output

Running list-consult

Archiving data files : archive

Creates a copy of all current data, tagged with the current date and time.

Running this command will create a new json file containing all your saved data, in your /data folder.

Format: archive

Example:

  • archive creates a json file called tasker_2020-11-09_2113.json as shown below.

Expected Output

Running archive

Exporting attendance : exportatt

Exports attendance to a csv file in data/attendance_YYYY-MM-DD_HHmm.csv

Running this command will create a new csv file in your /data folder. Each column corresponds to a student and each row corresponds to a date. Every cell is marked with either ATTENDED or ABSENT depending on whether the student has attended that day.

Format: exportatt

Example:

  • exportatt creates a csv file called attendance_2020-11-09_2055.csv as shown below.

Expected Output

Running exportatt

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How do I start using TAsker?
A: Refer to our Quick Start Guide here.

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Install the app in the other computer and overwrite the data folder that TAsker creates with the data folder from your previous TAsker installation. The data folder should be in the folder where TAsker is installed to.

Q: Can I import existing spreadsheets of my students?
A: This is not supported at the moment.

Q: How many students can I store?
A: More than you will ever teach in a lifetime.

Q: How do I save my data?
A: TAsker data is automatically saved in the hard disk after the execution of any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Q: How do I submit a bug report?
A: Open an issue on our github repository.

Command Summary

Action Format, Examples
Add Student add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL t/TELEGRAM m/MATRIC_NUMBER [tg/TAG]…​
e.g., add n/James Ho p/98765432 e/jamesho@example.com t/james-ho m/A0202345B tg/F11
Edit Student edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [t/TELEGRAM] [m/MATRIC_NUMBER] [tg/TAG]…​
e.g.,edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
Find Student find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., find James Jake
List Students list
Delete Student delete INDEX
e.g., delete 3
Clear All Students clear
Show Attendance showatt INDEX d/DATE
e.g., showatt 1 d/12/12/2020
Marking Attendance attend INDEX d/DATE
e.g., attend 1 d/12/12/2000
Unmarking Attendance unattend INDEX d/DATE
e.g., unattend 1 d/12/12/2000
Add Consultation add-consult n/NAME d/DATE tm/TIME a/LOCATION ty/TYPE
e.g., add-consult n/John Doe d/10/10/2020 tm/18:00 a/SOC Basement ty/personal
Delete Consultation del-consult INDEX
e.g., del-consult 1
List Consultation list-consult
Archive Data Files archive
Export Attendance exportatt
Help help
Exit exit