EstateContacts User Guide

EstateContacts is a desktop address book app for managing contacts, optimized for use via a Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, EstateContacts can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

Table of Contents

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 AddressBook.

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

    • listc : Lists all contacts.

    • addc n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 s/Plumbing : Adds a contact named John Doe to EstateContacts.

    • delc 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 addc n/NAME, NAME is a parameter which can be used as addc 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 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.

Contractor features

Adding a contractor : addc

Adds a contractor to EstateContacts.

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

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

Examples:

  • addc n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 s/Plumbing
  • addc n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 s/Electrical t/criminal

Listing all contractors : listc

Shows a list of all contractors in EstateContacts.

Format: listc

Locating contractors by name or service : findc

Finds contractors whose names (n/) or service (s/) contain any of the given keywords.

Format: findc n/KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS] or findc s/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 exact words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans
  • Contractors matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang

Examples:

  • findc n/John returns john and John Doe
  • findc n/alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li
    result for 'find alex david'

Deleting a contractor : delc

Deletes the specified contractor from EstateContacts.

Format: delc INDEX

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

Note: Deleting a contractor will not delete their associated maintenance tasks. Any tasks previously assigned to the deleted contractor will still appear in the task list, but the contractor will be shown as Unknown (deleted). It is recommended to delete associated tasks via delt before deleting a contractor.

Examples:

  • listc followed by delc 2 deletes the 2nd contractor in EstateContacts.
  • findc n/Betsy followed by delc 1 deletes the 1st contractor in the results of the findc command.

Editing a contractor : editc

Edits the details of the contractor identified by the index number shown in the displayed contractor list.

Format: editc INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [s/SERVICE] [t/TAG]...

  • Existing values will be overwritten by the input values.
  • At least one field must be provided.

Example:

  • editc 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com

Maintenance task features

Adding a task : addt

Adds a maintenance task and assigns it to a contractor in EstateContacts.

Format: addt f/FACILITY d/DATE (YYYY-MM-DD) c/CONTRACTOR_INDEX

  • FACILITY must be between 1 and 50 characters.
  • DATE must be in YYYY-MM-DD format and must not be in the past.
  • CONTRACTOR_INDEX refers to the index number shown in the currently displayed contractor list.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Caution: Always run listc before using addt to ensure the contractor index refers to the full list. If you run findc first and then use addt, the index will be based on the filtered list which may assign the task to the wrong contractor.

Tip: A task cannot be added if another task for the same facility on the same date already exists.

Examples:

  • listc followed by addt f/Sports Hall d/2026-12-01 c/2 adds a task for Sports Hall on 1 Dec 2026 assigned to the 2nd contractor in the full list.
  • listc followed by addt f/Function Room d/2026-06-20 c/4 adds a task for Function Room on 20 Jun 2026 assigned to the 4th contractor.

Listing all tasks : listt

Shows a list of all tasks in EstateContacts.

Format: listt

Sorting tasks by date : sortt

Sorts the maintenance task list by date (ascending).

Format: sortt

Deleting a task : delt

Deletes the specified task from EstateContacts.

Format: delt INDEX

  • Deletes the task at the specified INDEX.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed maintenance tasklist.

Marking a task as complete : donet

Marks the specified maintenance task as completed.

Format: donet INDEX

  • Marks the task at the specified INDEX as done.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed maintenance tasklist.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
  • A task that has already been marked as done cannot be marked again.

Examples:

  • listt followed by donet 1 marks the 1st task in the task list as completed.

Viewing maintenance history for a facility : history

Shows a list of all maintenance tasks associated with a specific facility.

Format: history f/FACILITY_NAME

  • Lists all tasks for the specified facility.
  • If no tasks are found, a message will indicate that no maintenance history exists for that facility.

Examples:

  • history f/Sports Hall displays the maintenance history for the "Sports Hall".
  • history f/Function Room displays the maintenance history for the "Function Room".

Generating a monthly report : report

Generates a summary report of all completed maintenance tasks for the specified month.

Format: report m/YEAR-MONTH

  • YEAR-MONTH must be in the format YYYY-MM e.g. 2026-12.
  • Only completed tasks (marked via donet) are included in the report.
  • Tasks are grouped by contractor, showing their name, service, tags and task count.

Examples:

  • report m/2026-12 generates a report for December 2026.
  • report m/2026-06 generates a report for June 2026.

General features

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all contractor entries from EstateContacts.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

EstateContacts 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

EstateContacts data 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.

Caution: 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 the acceptable range). Therefore, edit the data file only if you are confident that you can update it correctly.

Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]

Details coming soon ...

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.

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add addc n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS s/SERVICE [t/TAG]…​
e.g., addc n/James Ho p/22224444 e/jamesho@example.com a/123, Clementi Rd, 1234665 s/Plumbing t/friend t/colleague
Clear clear
Delete delc INDEX
e.g., delete 3
Edit editc INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [s/SERVICE] [t/TAG]…​
Find findc n/KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS] or findc s/KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., findc n/James Jake
List listc
Sort sortt
History history f/FACILITY_NAME
e.g., history f/Sports Hall
Help help
Done donet INDEX
e.g., donet 1
Report report m/YEAR-MONTH
e.g., report m/2026-12