TAHub is a desktop app for Teaching Assistants to manage students, 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, TAHub can get your student management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

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 TAHub.

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

    • add n/John Doe sn/A1234567J p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com tele/john_doe : Adds a student named John Doe to TAHub.

    • delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd student shown in the current list.

    • clear : Deletes all students.

    • exit : Exits the app.

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

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 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

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Adding a person: add

Adds a person to TAHub.

Format: add n/NAME sn/STUDENT_NUMBER p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL tele/TELEGRAM [t/TAG]…​

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

Examples:

  • add n/John Doe sn/A0123456Z p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com tele/john_doe
  • add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com tele/betsy_crowe sn/A1234567G p/1234567 t/criminal

Listing all students : list

Shows a list of all students in TAHub.

Format: list

Editing a student : edit

Edits an existing student in TAHub.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [tele/TELEGRAM] [t/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.
  • 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 t/ 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 t/ Edits the name of the 2nd student to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Locating students by name: find

Finds persons 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.
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Han will not 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

Examples:

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

Deleting a student : delete

Deletes the specified student from TAHub.

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 TAHub.
  • find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st student in the results of the find command.

Adding a student record: record

Creates or updates the weekly record for a specific student.

Format: record INDEX week/WEEK_NUMBER att/ATTENDANCE_SCORE sub/SUBMISSION_SCORE part/PARTICIPATION_SCORE

  • Creates a record for 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, …​
  • WEEK_NUMBER is an integer from 1 to 13 (inclusive).
  • ATTENDANCE_SCORE is 0 (absent) or 1 (present).
  • SUBMISSION_SCORE is 0 (not submitted) or 1 (submitted).
  • PARTICIPATION_SCORE is an integer from 0 to 5 (inclusive).
  • All fields are required.
:bulb: Note: Running the command again for the same WEEK_NUMBER overwrites that week’s record for the selected student.

Examples:

  • record 1 week/1 att/1 sub/0 part/4
  • record 2 week/5 att/0 sub/1 part/5

View student record: view

Displays the weekly records of a specific student.

Format: view INDEX

Examples:

  • list followed by view 2 views the 2nd student in TAHub.
  • find Betsy followed by view 1 views the 1st student in the results of the find command.

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from TAHub.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

TAHub 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

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

:exclamation: Caution: If your changes to the data file makes its format invalid, TAHub 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 TAHub 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.

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 TAHub 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 sn/STUDENT_NUMBER p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL tele/TELEGRAM [t/TAG]…​
e.g., add n/James Ho sn/A1234567z p/22224444 e/jamesho@example.com tele/hames_ho t/friend t/colleague
Clear clear
Delete delete INDEX
e.g., delete 3
Edit edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [sn/STUDENT_NUMBER] [tele/TELEGRAM] [t/TAG]…​
e.g.,edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
Record record INDEX week/WEEK_NUMBER att/ATTENDANCE_SCORE sub/SUBMISSION_SCORE part/PARTICIPATION_SCORE
e.g., record 1 att/1 sub/0 part/4
Find find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., find James Jake
List list
View view INDEX
e.g., view 2
Exit exit
Help help