RealConnect is 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, Real Connect can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

Table of Contents

  1. Quick Start
  2. Command Structure
  3. Features
  4. FAQ
  5. Known issues
  6. Parameter Requirements
  7. Command Summary
  8. Coming Soon

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 your AddressBook.

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

Command Structure

Real Connect uses the following intuitive command structure:

Commands on existing users

E.g. add: <Command> <X/parameter...>

Commands on Non-existing users

E.g. addProperty: <Command> <Index> <X/parameter>

Functional commands

E.g. help: <Command>

X/ is a placeholder for prefixes

Command Format

💡 Tip

All Commands are case-insensitive.

💡 Tip

Note that for some commands, although multiple of the same field may be entered, only the last one will be recorded.

Features

: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 [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 including zero times.
    e.g. [t/TAG]…​ can be used as   (i.e. 0 times), t/friend, t/friend t/family etc.

  • Parameters to the functions may have specific requirements. More information can be found here. See Parameter Requirements

  • 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 (such as help, list, exit and clear) 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.

Viewing help : help

Command Format:
help

  • Provides help information.

help message

Adding a person : add

Adds a new contact with details such as name, phone number, physical address, birthday, email, and remarks. Note that although multiple birthdays and remarks may be entered, only the last one will be recorded.

Command Format:
add n/FULL NAME p/PHONE NUMBER a/ADDRESS e/EMAIL [b/BIRTHDAY] [r/REMARK]…​ [t/<TAG>]…​

  • n/ Full name (mandatory) (Alpha-numeric only, space allowed) (exact duplicate not allowed, case-sensitive)
  • p/ Phone number (mandatory) (duplicate allowed as shared organization contact number may be used)
  • a/ Address (mandatory) (duplicate allowed as shared organization address may be used)
  • b/ Birthday (optional) (duplicate allowed)
  • e/ Email (mandatory) (duplicate allowed as shared organization email may be used)
  • r/ Remark (optional) (multiple allowed but only the last one will be recorded) (duplicate allowed)
  • t/ Tag (optional) (Alpha-numeric only, no space allowed) (multiple allowed and all will be added) (duplicate allowed)
💡 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/Alice Tan p/91234567 a/123 Orchard Road, #10-01 b/1990-08-15 e/alice.tan@example.com r/Interested in modern properties t/prospect t/followUp
  • add n/Ben Johnson p/87654321 e/benben@gmail.com a/456 Clementi Avenue, #02-15 t/client r/Prefers suburban areas b/1985-05-23
  • add n/Clara Lim p/99887766 a/789 Punggol Way, #07-05 e/clara.lim@example.com t/lead t/premium

Listing all persons : list

Displays all persons stored in the address book.

Command Format:
list

  • Shows a list of all saved contacts.

Sorting contacts : sort

Sorts the contact list by name, either in ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) order.

Command Format:
sort ORDER

  • ORDER must be either asc for ascending (A-Z) or desc for descending (Z-A).
  • If an invalid or no order is provided, an error message will be shown.

Examples:

  • sort asc – Sorts contacts in alphabetical order (A-Z).
  • sort desc – Sorts contacts in reverse alphabetical order (Z-A).
⚠️ Warning

The sort function will only sort the current list of contacts, newly added contacts after sorting will not be in sorted order.

Editing a person : edit

Edits an existing person in the address book. Note that although multiple birthdays and remarks may be entered, only the last one will be recorded.

Command Format:
edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [r/REMARK] [b/BIRTHDAY] [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, …​, and cannot exceed the number of persons in the address book.
  • 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.
  • You can remove the person’s remark by typing r/ without remark message.
  • You can remove the person’s birthday by typing b/ without birthday date.
  • Note that edit tag will overwrite exist list of tags to the new list of tags entered. Make sure to copy the existing tags you want to keep when editing.
  • Note that history and property cannot be edited
  • Edit the name of a contact to a name of another existing contact 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 clears all existing tags.
  • edit 3 a/456 Clementi Road #02-15 r/Looking for a new property Edits the address of the 3rd person to 456 Clementi Road #02-15 and adds a remark indicating they are Looking for a new property.
  • edit 4 n/James Lee b/1989-07-20 t/friend t/premium Edits the name of the 4th person to James Lee, sets their birthday to 1989-07-20, and updates their tags to friend and premium.
  • edit 5 p/98765432 t/ Edits the phone number of the 5th person to 98765432 and removes all existing tags.

Store Birthday of a Contact: birthday

Stores a contact’s birthday. Note that although multiple birthdays may be entered, only the last one will be recorded.

Command Format:
birthday INDEX b/BIRTHDAY

  • b/ The contact’s birthday yyyy-mm-dd format.

Examples:

  • birthday 1 b/1990-05-15 adds birthday 1990-05-15 to the person at index 1.
  • birthday 1 b/ and birthday 1 both removes the existing birthday of the person at index 1.

Birthday Reminder

Displays a contacts’ birthday if they are happening within a week from the system’s current date.

⚠️ Warning

Note that the reminder is only shown when the application is launched, any command feedback shown will clear the reminder. To view the reminder again restart the application.

Command Format: None, as it is an automatic feature.

Birthday Reminder Example

Adding history to a person : log

Edits an existing person in the address book.

Format: log INDEX [d/DATE] l/LOG

  • Adds a new history entry to 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, …​, and cannot exceed the number of persons in the address book.
  • Date is optional, and must be no earlier than the date of creation of the person, and not in the future, if to be included.
  • If date is not included the date of the history entry to be added will be today, system time, by default.
  • Date format must be in yyyy-mm-dd.
  • Log message cannot be empty.
  • Newly added contact will be initialized a default log entry Created on the date of creation.
  • Logs are visible in detail view of each person, use view command to check out.

Examples:

  • log 1 d/2024-11-16 l/meet up add a log entry to the first person in the address book, meet up on 2024-11-16. result for 'log 1 d/2024-08-08 l/meet up' result for 'view 1'

  • log 2 l/had lunch together add a log entry to the 2nd person in the address book, had lunch together on today. result for 'log 2 l/had lunch together' result for 'view 2'

Remarking a person : remark

Add or edit remark to an existing person in the address book. Note that although multiple remarks may be entered, only the last one will be recorded.

Format: remark INDEX r/[REMARK]…​

  • Add or edit remark to 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, …​, and cannot exceed the number of persons in the address book.

Examples:

  • remark 1 removes remark of person at index 1.
  • remark 1 r/ also removes remark of person at index 1.
  • remark 1 r/remark message adds remark message remark message to the 1st person, existing remark will be overwritten. result for 'remark 1 r/remark message'
  • remark 1 r/first remark r/second remark adds remark message second remark to the first person. result for 'remark 1 r/remark message'

Single page person view : view

Shows all the information related to a contact on a single page.

Format: view INDEX

  • The search is based on the most updated contact list.
  • Opening a new window will automatically close the previously opened window.
  • Shows 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:

  • view 1 Shows the person located as index position 1 in the address book. result for 'ViewWindow'
⚠️ Warning

The view window is optimized as a pop-up, hence while there is no limit to word entries, multiple long entries (i.e., above 50 characters) may be truncated.

💡 Tip

If lower sections in the detail window are not displayed in full due to small screen size or long list length, resize the window or using the scroll bar for better visual experience.

💡 Tip

You can resize the detail window to extremely small size in case it blocks view of other windows.

Adding a Property : addProperty

Add a property listing to an existing person in the address book. Note that although multiple of the same field may be entered, only the last one will be recorded.

Format: addProperty INDEX address/ADDRESS town/TOWN type/TYPE size/SIZE bed/NUMBER_OF_BEDROOMS bath/NUMBER_OF_BATHROOMS price/PRICE

  • Add a property to 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, …​, and cannot exceed the number of persons in the address book.
  • The property details include the address, town, property type, size, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and price. All fields are required.
  • Size is in square meters.

Success output when a property is added: Add Property Success Message

Existing properties in a view window: Properties in View Window

Examples:

  • addProperty 1 address/123 Main St town/Springfield type/Condo size/85 bed/2 bath/2 price/500000 adds a property with the specified details to the 1st person in the list.
  • addProperty 2 address/45 Elm St town/Anytown type/HDB size/70 bed/3 bath/1 price/350000 adds a property to the 2nd person in the list.

Closing single page person view : close

Closes the UI page that shows the information of the person.

Format: close

  • This will close the last opened window.

Examples:

  • close Will close the window that is currently open, and do nothing if there is no window open.

Locating persons by name: find

Finds persons whose names contain any of the given keywords.

⚠️ Warning

Commands that alter the ordering of the original list like favourite and sort will show the full list again.

💡 Tip

Note that the list given by find may not be complete, therfore it is recommended to use list to display the full list, before carrying out operations on other contacts that may be hidden by find command.

Command Format: find KEYWORD [ADDITIONAL_KEYWORDS]

  • The search is case-insensitive. e.g hans will match Hans
  • The order of the keywords does not matter. For example, 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., an OR search). For example, Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang

Examples:

  • find John returns John Doe result for 'find John'
  • find Amy go returns Amy Wee, William Go
    result for 'find Amy go'

Marking a person as favourite: favourite

Mark a specific person from the address book as favourite by assigning a special favourite tag. Using this command on an already favourited person will remove the person from favourite by removing the special favourite tag.

Format: favourite INDEX

  • Mark the person at the specified INDEX as favourite.
  • If the person is already marked favourite, the person is removed from favourite.
  • 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 favourite 2 marks the 2nd person in the address book as favourite. result for 'favourite 2'

Format: favourite

  • Bring all persons marked as favourite to the front. Note that when the list is modified, e.g. some contacts are unfavourited, the user needs to use favourite command again to sort by favourite in the modified person list.

Examples:

  • favourite followed by favourite 2 brings the previously 2nd person who has been marked to the front (1st). result for 'favourite'

Examples:

  • favourite 1 when person at index 1 is already favourite. result for 'favourite'

Deleting a person : delete

Deletes the specified person from the address book.

Command 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 address book.
  • find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st person in the results of the find command.
⚠️ Warning

Deleting a contact while its view window is up will not close the view window. Users are strongly encouraged to close the view window using close command before deleting.

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from the address book.

Command Format:
clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

⚠️ Warning

Users are strongly encouraged to use close command to close view windows and exit command to close the application when there is a person detail window active. Closing by clicking the close button may cause the detail window to not automatically closed.

Command Format:
exit

Saving the data

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

⚠️ Warning

If your changes to the data file makes its format invalid, AddressBook 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 AddressBook to behave in unexpected ways (e.g., if a value entered is outside of 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 AddressBook 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.

Parameter Requirements

Parameter Requirement Example
Name Only Alpha-numeric ❌ Shanmugam S/O Balakrishnan
✅ Shanmugam Son of Balakrishnan
✅ Chris Paul 3
Birthday yyyy-mm-dd ❌ 2021/09/09
❌ 09-09
✅ 2021-09-09
Log Date yyyy-mm-dd ❌ 2021/09/09
❌ 09-09
✅ 2021-09-09
Email local-part@domain
The local-part should only contain alphanumeric characters and these special characters (+_.-). The local-part may not start or end with special characters.
The domain name must:
- End with a domain label at least 2 characters long.
- Have each domain label start and end with alphanumeric characters.
- Consist of alphanumeric characters, separated only by hyphens, if any.		 ❌ 1/@d10
❌ hello@a.c
✅ 1@a.com
✅ ho@gmail.com
Address No constraint (right-to-left scripts will be displayed left-to-right) ✅ 123 Orchard
✅ 乌节路 123 号
✅ 123 بستان
Tag Only Alpha-numeric, no space ❌ follow-up ✅ followUp
✅ 123

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add Contact add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [b/BIRTHDAY] [r/REMARK] [t/TAG]
e.g., add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
Clear All Contacts clear
Delete Contact delete INDEX
e.g., delete 3
Edit Contact edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [r/REMARK] [b/BIRTHDAY] [t/TAG]
e.g., edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
Find Contacts find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., find John
List All Contacts list
Help help
Sort Contacts sort asc/desc
e.g., sort asc
Log Interaction log INDEX [d/DATE] l/<InteractionDetails>
e.g., log 123 d/2024-09-16 l/Discussed property updates
Add/Edit Remark remark INDEX r/<remark message>
e.g., remark 1 r/Interested in waterfront property
View Contact view INDEX
e.g., view 123
Favourite Contact favourite INDEX (on not favourited person)
e.g., favourite 123
Unfavourite Contact favourite INDEX (on already favourited person)
e.g., favourite 123
Add Property addProperty INDEX address/ADDRESS town/TOWN type/TYPE size/SIZE bed/NUMBER_OF_BEDROOMS bath/NUMBER_OF_BATHROOMS price/PRICE
e.g., addProperty 1 address/123 Main St town/Springfield type/Condo size/85 bed/2 bath/2 price/500000
Add/Edit Birthday birthday INDEX b/<yyyy-mm-dd>
e.g., birthday 1 b/2001-03-04

Coming soon:

Editing and deleting log entries

  • Currently RealConnect does not support editing or deleting history logs. This feature is designed as such due to the nature of logging, of which modification or postmortem addition is not encouraged. However to tolerate user mistakes such as accidental wrong input, editing and deleting of log will be implemented and added to RealConnect.

    Editing and deleting of properties

  • Currently, users can only add properties to contacts, but they cannot edit existing properties or delete any contact’s properties. As RealConnect is primarily a tool for real estate agents, this limitation is recognized as a feature gap, as properties often need updates or corrections due to market changes or evolving client requirements. To address this, RealConnect will implement property editing and deletion functions, allowing agents to maintain more accurate and current property records. These updates aim to improve flexibility and support efficient management of listings in an agent’s portfolio.

    More flexible date input formatting

  • Currently, RealConnect only supports the date format yyyy-mm-dd, which may be restrictive for some users. To improve usability, the platform will expand its accepted date formats to include more common variations, such as dd-mm-yyyy, dd Month yyyy (e.g., 22 May 2001), and potentially region-specific formats. This enhancement will provide users with greater flexibility and make the platform more accessible to diverse user groups, reducing the chance of input errors due to date formatting.

    Confirmation upon unusual input when adding properties

  • Currently RealConnect accepts any non-negative integer values for property attributes number of bathrooms and bedrooms. Additional confirmation dialog will be implemented in the future to prompt the user to confirm unusually large input like 2000 bathrooms, to mitigate the chance of user mistakes.

    Allow closing App by clicking close button

  • RealConnect as a CLI App currently support closing the application by command exit, force closing by clicking the close button of the window while person detail window is up may cause the detail card window to not close properly. In the future our team will focus on the GUI interaction more to resolve this issue.