Mentorstack User Guide

  • Mentorstack helps Computer Science (CS) tutors efficiently manage and track student contacts, attendance, participation, progress, and streamlines communication.
  • It simplifies student management across different levels and courses while catering to tech-savvy users who may prefer a command-line interface (CLI).

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 Mentorstack.

  4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar mentorstack.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 g/M p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com s/CS2103 : Adds a contact named John Doe to the Mentorstack.

    • 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

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] [s/SUBJECT] can be used as n/John Doe s/CS2103 or as n/John Doe or as s/CS2103.

  • Items with …​ after them can be used multiple times.
    e.g. [s/SUBJECT]…​ can be used as s/CS2103, s/CS2103 s/LAJ1201 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.
    except for view where one filter-value pair is treated as one parameter e.g. view f/s v/CS f/n v/al is equivalent to view f/n v/al f/s v/CS

  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do not take in parameters (such as help, list, exit and clear) will be ignored.
    e.g. if the command specifies help 123, it will be interpreted as help.

Notes about fields in Mentorstack:

  • Mentorstack supports operations over 5 different fields: (Name, Gender, Phone, Email, Subject).
  • Listed below are the restrictions for each field.

Name

  • Names should only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces, and it should not be blank. (Case-sensitive)

Gender

  • Gender should be 'F' or 'M' only. ('f', 'm' will be converted to 'F', 'M' respectively)

Phone

  • Phone numbers should only contain numbers, and it should be at least 3 digits long.

Email

  • Emails 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.

Subject

  • Subject names should be alphanumeric. (Case-sensitive)

Notes about student entries in Mentorstack:

  • Each student entry in Mentorstack must have valid parameters for the following fields:
    • Name
    • Gender
    • Phone
    • Email
    • Subject
  • Students must have 1 or more subjects, each subject can be marked as finished or unfinished.
  • Students can be archived, in which case they will be moved to the archive list where they cannot be edited.
  • Two student entries are considered the same entry if they have the same Name (case-sensitive).
  • Mentorstack does not allow duplicate entries.
    • Alex Yeoh is a duplicate of Alex Yeoh, but is a different entry from alex yeoh.

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.

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaning how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Adding a student: add

Adds a student to the address book.

Format: add n/NAME g/GENDER p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL s/SUBJECT…​

Tip: A student can have any number of subjects (> 0).

A student can only have F or M as gender inputs.

Examples:

  • add n/John Doe g/M p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com s/CS2103
  • add n/Betsy Crowe g/F s/CS2103 e/betsycrowe@example.com p/1234567 s/LAJ1201

Listing all students : list

Shows a list of all students in the address book.

Format: list

Editing a student : edit

Edits an existing student in the address book.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [g/GENDER] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [s/SUBJECT]…​

  • 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.
  • Existing values will be updated to the input values.
  • When editing subjects, the existing unfinished subjects of the student will be removed (i.e. adding of subjects is not cumulative).
  • Finished subjects cannot be edited (i.e. They do not need to be specified again when editing unfinished subjects).
  • Cannot edit students who are already archived.

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 s/CS2103 Edits the name of the 2nd student to be Betsy Crower and changes their subjects to only CS2103.

Locating students by name: find

Finds students whose names contain 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.
  • Partial words will be matched e.g. Han will 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

    result for 'find alex david'

Filtering students by specific predicates: view

Filters students based on values specified for different fields.

Format: view [[f/FIELD] [v/VALUE]]…​

  • Listed below are the keys for FIELD. Use keys to refer to the corresponding field (i.e. f/n refers to NAME).
  • There are 6 different keys:
Key Field
n NAME, filters entries containing VALUE
g GENDER, filters entries containing VALUE
p PHONE, filters entries containing VALUE
e EMAIL, filters entries containing VALUE
s SUBJECT, filters entries containing VALUE
a ARCHIVED, filters entries by archived status (t for archived, any other value for non-archived)
  • Values are case-insensitive.
  • For NAME and SUBJECT, partial words will be matched e.g. Han will match Hans, CS will match CS2103
  • For SUBJECT, only unfinished subjects will be considered e.g. finished subjects are not counted by the filter.
  • For PHONE and EMAIL, partial words will be matched e.g. 123 will match 12345678, john will match john@doe.com
  • view with no arguments will just list all students.
  • view will also list all students when given invalid format e.g.view 123 or number of filters does not match number of values e.g. f/n f/n f/n v/bob.
  • view returns error message Invalid filter type or value. if the format is correct but there are some invalid filters or values.
  • view can have multiple filters applied for any field (can be the same field) e.g. view f/n v/bob f/n v/jes.
  • Students matching all filters will be returned (i.e. AND search).
  • Fields and values given will match the order in which they are specified (i.e. First instance of f/ will match first instance of v/)

Examples:

  • view f/n v/john returns john and John Doe.

  • view f/s v/CS returns all entries taking CS courses.

  • view f/p v/12345678 f/e v/john@doe.com returns only entries partially containing PHONE AND EMAIL.

  • view f/a v/ returns all unarchived entries

  • view f/a f/n f/n f/n v/ returns all entries since number of values does not match number of filters

  • view f/abcde v/ returns Invalid filter type or value. as it is in the correct format but the filter is invalid

    result for 'view f/s v/cs'

Deleting a student : delete

Deletes the specified student from the Mentorstack.

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, …​
  • Input can contain multiple indices.

Examples:

  • list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd student in Mentorstack.
  • find Bernice followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st student in the results of the find command.
  • list followed by delete 2 3 deletes the 2nd and 3rd student in Mentorstack.

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from Mentorstack.

Format: clear

Undo an operation : undo

  • Undoes the previous operation in Mentorstack.
  • Undo applies to all operations that modify the Mentorstack data storage e.g. the archive command can be undone, but the view command cannot.
  • Undo can only undo operations in the current session.

Format: undo

result for 'undo'

View statistics : stats

  • Views statistics of Mentorstack, supports subject-based statistics.
  • Shows gender distribution and total students.

Format: stats [s/SUBJECT]

Examples:

  • stats shows the gender-based statistics of Mentorstack.
  • stats s/CS2103 shows the statistics of students currently enrolled in CS2103.

Mark a student : mark

  • Marks a student in Mentorstack.
  • Marked students will have a red circle next to their name.
  • Input can contain multiple indices.
  • Students remain marked if they have already been marked.
  • Archived students cannot be marked.

Format: mark INDEX…​

Examples:

  • list followed by mark 1 3 marks the 1st and 3rd student in the current list.

result for 'mark'

Unmark a student : unmark

  • Unmarks a student in Mentorstack.
  • Input can contain multiple indices.
  • Students remain unmarked if they have already been unmarked.
  • Archived students cannot be unmarked.

Format: unmark INDEX…​

Examples:

  • list followed by unmark 1 3 unmarks the 1st and 3rd student in the current list.

Archive a student : archive

  • Archives a student in Mentorstack.
  • Archives students are moved to the archive list.
  • Input can contain multiple indices.
  • Will display students who are not archived after the command.

Format: archive INDEX…​

Examples:

  • list followed by archive 1 3 archives the 1st and 3rd student in the current list.
  • Lists the students in the archive list.
  • Input arguments after showarchive will be ignored. (showarchive 1 will be treated same as showarchive)

Format: showarchive

Unarchive a student : unarchive

  • Unarchives a student in Mentorstack.
  • Unarchived students are moved back to the main list.
  • Input can contain multiple indices.
  • Operation can only be performed on students in the archive list.
  • Will display students who are archived after the command.

Format: unarchive INDEX…​

Examples:

  • showarchive followed by unarchive 1 3 unarchives the 1st and 3rd student in the archived list.

Indicate that a student has finished a subject : finish

  • Indicates that a student has finished a subject.
  • Finished subjects are still shown but will be marked as a different colour.

Format: finish INDEX s/SUBJECT…​

  • Input can only contain subjects that students have enrolled in.
  • Input can contain multiple subjects.
  • Finished subjects remain finished.
  • Subjects of archived students cannot be finished.

Examples:

  • finish 2 s/CS2103 marks CS2103 as completed by student 2.

result for 'finish'

Indicate that a student has not finished a subject : unfinish

  • Indicates that a student has not finished a subject.
  • Primarily used as a reversal operation for finish

Format: unfinish INDEX s/SUBJECT…​

  • Input can only contain subjects that students have enrolled in.
  • Input can contain multiple subjects.
  • Unfinished subjects remain unfinished.
  • Subjects of archived students cannot be unfinished.

Examples:

  • unfinish 2 s/CS2103 marks CS2103 as not completed by student 2.

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Changing Mentorstack theme

Mentorstack provides 3 visual themes to suit your preferences. You can change the theme by navigating to the View menu.

Number Theme
1 Dark
2 Pink
3 Light

Mentorstack will always launch the Dark theme by default.

Viewing bar chart statistics

Mentorstack provides users with the option to view the number of students enrolled in each subject in the current active list as a bar chart. Users may view these statistics by navigating to the View menu.

Saving the data

Mentorstack 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

Mentorstack data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/mentorstack.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, Mentorstack 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 Mentorstack 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.

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 Mentorstack 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 shortcut F1) 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.

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add add n/NAME g/GENDER p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL s/SUBJECT…​
e.g., add n/James Ho g/M p/22224444 e/jamesho@example.com s/CS2103 s/LAJ1201
Clear clear
Delete delete INDEX..
e.g., delete 1 3
Edit edit INDEX [n/NAME] [g/GENDER] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [s/SUBJECT]…​
e.g.,edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
Find find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., find James Jake
List list
View view [[f/FIELD] [v/VALUE]]…​
e.g.,view f/n v/john f/s v/CS
Undo undo
Stats stats [s/SUBJECT]
e.g., stats s/CS2103
Mark mark INDEX…​
e.g., mark 2
Unmark unmark INDEX…​
e.g., unmark 2
Archive archive INDEX…​
e.g., archive 2
Showarchive showarchive
Unarchive unarchive INDEX…​
e.g., unarchive 2
Finish finish INDEX s/SUBJECT…​
e.g., finish 2 s/CS2103
Unfinish unfinish INDEX s/SUBJECT…​
e.g., unfinish 2 s/CS2103
Exit exit
Help help