TA-Assist is a desktop app for Teaching Assistants (TA) to keep track of students’ particulars and allocate marks for attendance and assignments. It is optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

This User Guide provides brief documentation on how you can install the application and describes how each feature should be used. Start by looking at the quick start guide to get you started.

Quick Start

  1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed on your computer.
  2. Download the latest taassist.jar from here.
  3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your TA-Assist.
  4. Double-click the file to start the app. The GUI similar to the one below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains sample data.

sample gui

Features

:information_source: Before diving into the features, the examples in this guide are formatted with the following conventions:

  • Words in UPPER_CASE are the parameters to be supplied by you.
    • 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 [c/CLASS_NAME] can be used as n/John Doe c/CS1231S or as n/John Doe.
  • Items with ... after them can be used multiple times.
    • e.g. c/CLASS_NAME... can be used as c/CS1101S or c/CS2030 c/ST2334.
  • Parameters, excluding index 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.
    • e.g. while assign INDEX c/CLASS_NAME is acceptable, assign c/CLASS_NAME INDEX is not acceptable.
  • If a parameter is expected only once in a command, but you specified it multiple times, the parser takes only the last occurrence of the parameter.
    • e.g. if you specify p/12341234 p/56785678, only p/56785678 will be taken.
  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do not take in parameters (such as help, list, exit, and clear) are ignored by the parser.
    • e.g. if you specify help 123, the parser interprets it as help.
  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do not expect such parameters may be parsed incorrectly.
    • e.g. if you specify addc c/CS1231S n/CS2030S, the parser interprets it as adding a class named “CS1231S n/CS2030S”, which is not a valid class name. Hence, TA-Assist throws an error.
  • All parameters and their constraints have been provided in the Appendix for your reference.

Modes

In TA-Assist, you can switch into a mode called focus mode, which lets you run tasks that are specific to a class. Therefore, some commands can only be executed when you are in focus mode. Commands that you can run in the default (unfocused) mode can also be run in focus mode. On the other hand, commands that are available only in focus mode cannot be executed in the default mode.

Let’s first begin with the commands available in the default mode.

Commands

Command Format
help help
add add n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER][e/EMAIL][a/ADDRESS][c/CLASS_NAME...]
edit edit INDEX [n/NAME][p/PHONE_NUMBER][e/EMAIL][a/ADDRESS]
delete delete INDEX
find find KEYWORD...
list list
addc addc c/CLASS_NAME...
deletec deletec c/CLASS_NAME...
assign assign INDEX... c/CLASS_NAME
unassign unassign INDEX... c/CLASS_NAME
listc listc
exit exit
focus focus c/CLASS_NAME
clear clear

Click here for the commands only available in the focus mode.

View help: help

Format: help

  • If TA-Assist is unable to redirect you to the page, i.e. due to a non-existent browser, unsupported operating system, etc., the following dialog box will be shown instead: help message

    You can click on the “Copy URL” button to copy the URL shown in the help window, then paste the URL into the address bar of your favourite browser to visit this User Guide page.

Add a student: add

Format: add n/NAME [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [c/CLASS_NAME...]

  • Adds a student named NAME into TA-Assist.
  • To add a student with class attributes, the class must exist in TA-Assist.

Examples:

  • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 c/CS2103T
  • add n/Betsy Crowe a/Betsy street p/62353535 c/CS1231S c/CS1101S

Edit a student: edit

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS]

  • Edits student data at the specified INDEX.
  • Only specified fields are modified.

Examples:

  • edit 2 n/John Doe changes the 2nd student’s name to John Doe.
  • edit 4 e/john.doe@example.com a/38 College Avenue East, 138601 changes the 4th student’s:
    • E-mail to john.doe@example.com.
    • Address to 38 College Avenue East, 138601.

Delete a student: delete

Format: delete INDEX

  • Deletes the student at the specified INDEX.

Examples:

  • list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd student in the student list.
  • find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st student in the results of the find command.
  • focus c/CS2103T followed by delete 3 deletes the 3rd student in the CS2103T class.

Locate student by name: find

Format: `find KEYWORD…

  • The search is case-insensitive, i.e. Joh matches with john and JOHN.
  • The search is performed on the currently displayed student list.
  • To clear the current search, use the list command.

Examples:

  • find bert finds students with bert in their name (case-insensitive), i.e. Edbert Geraldy, Bert Hendrick, Gerard Albert, etc.
  • find ben chris finds students with either ben or a chris in their name, i.e. chris ben, wonders ChRIs, bEn ten, etc.

  • find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li.

List all students: list

Format: list

  • The displayed list of students contains all the students in TA-Assist.

Add classes: addc

Format: addc c/CLASS_NAME...

  • Adds the classes with the specified names.
  • Class names are converted to uppercase.
    • e.g. addc c/cs1101s adds a class CS1101S.
  • Class names are case-insensitive.
    • e.g. If a class with the name CS1101S already exists, addc c/cs1101s does not add another CS1101S class.

Examples:

  • addc c/CS2103T c/CS2100 adds the classes named CS2103T and CS2100.

Delete classes: deletec

Format: deletec c/CLASS_NAME...

  • Deletes the classes with the specified names.
  • Class names are case-insensitive.

Examples:

  • deletec c/CS2103T c/CS2100 deletes the classes named CS2103T and CS2100.

Assign students to class: assign

Format: assign INDEX... c/CLASS_NAME

  • Assigns students specified by the given indices to an existing CLASS_NAME class.
  • The class name is case-insensitive.
  • If a specified student is already assigned to the class, the assignment for that student will be skipped.

Example:

  • list followed by assign 1 3 5 6 c/CS1231S assigns the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th student in the displayed student list to the CS1231S class.

Unassign students from class: unassign

Format: unassign INDEX... c/CLASS_NAME

  • Unassigns students specified by the given indices from an existing CLASS_NAME class.
  • The class name is case-insensitive.
  • If a specified student is not assigned to the class, the unassignment for that student will be skipped.

Example:

  • list followed by unassign 1 3 5 6 c/CS1231S unassigns the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th student in the displayed student list from the CS1231S class.

List classes: listc

Format: listc

Exit the program: exit

Format: exit

Enter focus mode: focus

Format: focus c/CLASS_NAME

  • Enters focus mode for the class named CLASS_NAME.
  • The class name is case-insensitive.

  • If successful, the GUI changes to one that is similar to the one below:

Example:

  • focus c/CS2100 enters focus mode for the CS2100 class, allowing you to manage data relating to CS2100.

Clear all existing data: clear

Format: clear

Focus Mode Commands

The following commands are ONLY available in focus mode.

Command Format
list list
adds adds s/SESSION_NAME... [d/DATE]
deletes deletes s/SESSION_NAME...
grade grade INDEX... s/SESSION_NAME g/GRADE_VALUE
scores scores s/SESSION_NAME
view view INDEX
export export
unfocus unfocus

Click here for commands that are also available in default mode.

List all students in the class: list

Format: list

  • The list of students only shows the students that are assigned to the currently focused class.

Create sessions: adds

Format: adds s/SESSION_NAME... [d/DATE]

  • Creates new sessions with names SESSION_NAME on the same DATE. If the DATE field is empty, the current date is used instead.
  • The DATE field should follow the format YYYY-MM-DD.
  • Session names are capitalised (i.e. the first character of each word will be converted to upper-case. The remaining characters of the word will be converted to lower-case).
    • e.g. adds s/tutorial ONE adds a session Tutorial One. adds s/_tutorial_2 adds a session _tutorial_2.
  • Session names are case-insensitive.
    • e.g. If a session Lab 1 already exists, adds s/lab 1 does not create another Lab 1 session.

Example:

  • adds s/Lab1 s/Tutorial1 d/2022-08-11 creates sessions Lab1 and Tutorial1 on 11 August 2022.

Delete sessions: deletes

Format: deletes s/SESSION_NAME...

  • Deletes the sessions with the specified names.
  • Session names are case-insensitive.

Examples:

  • deletes s/Lab1 s/Assignment3 deletes the session named Lab1 and Assignment3.

Grade session: grade

Format: grade INDEX... s/SESSION_NAME g/GRADE_VALUE

  • Grades the students specified by the given indices on the session SESSION_NAME with a grade of GRADE_VALUE.
  • GRADE_VALUE must be a number between 0 and 1000 (decimal points are allowed).
  • GRADE_VALUE will be rounded to 2 decimal places.
  • The session name is case-insensitive.

Example:

  • grade 1 2 s/Lab 1 g/93 gives the students at index 1 and 2 a grade of 93 for the session Lab 1.

Show students’ grades for a session: scores

Format: scores s/SESSION_NAME

  • Shows the grades of all students for the session SESSION_NAME.
  • The session name is case-insensitive.

Example:

  • scores s/Tutorial 11 shows the grades of all students for the session Tutorial 11, as shown below.

    In the above example,

    • Edbert Geraldy, Lin Zechen, Ng Jing Xue, and Rezwan Arefin have been allocated a score of 100.0 for Tutorial 11.
    • Tutorial 11 for Xu Yi has not been graded, hence her cell has been marked red.

View session grades of student: view

Format: view INDEX

  • Shows the grades of the student at index INDEX for the currently focused class.
  • Only sessions that are graded for the student will have the grades displayed.

Example:

  • grade 2 s/Lab 1 g/93 then view 2 returns 1. Lab 1: 93, which is the grade of the student at index 2 for the session Lab 1.

Export class data: export

Format: export

  • The exported class data includes:
    • Names of students in the class.
    • Names of sessions for the class.
    • The grades of the students for each session.

  • An example generated CSV file when opened in Microsoft Excel:

    Example Excel file

    • The first column shows all the student names.
    • Subsequent columns show the grades of students for various sessions (e.g. David Li scores 0 for Tutorial 1).

Exit focus mode: unfocus

Format: unfocus

  • Alternatively, you can exit focus mode by clicking on the button shown here.

Automated Data Backup

On each launch of TA-Assist, if the save data loads without error, a backup of the save data is made and saved to data/taassist.json.bak. If you need to revert a catastrophic change, you may simply quit the app and overwrite data/taassist.json with the backup file.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: How do I install Java?

A: You may refer to Oracle’s JDK Installation Guide.

Q: I double-clicked the JAR file but was unable to start the app. What do I do?

A: Open your preferred terminal and navigate to the directory the JAR file is located in. Then type in java -jar TaAssist.jar to run the application.

Q: How do I transfer my data to another computer?

A: Install the app on the other computer and overwrite the empty data file it creates with the file that contains the data of your previous TA-Assist home folder.

Appendix

Parameters and Constraints

For all parameters, the following constraints are applied:

  • As TA-Assist uses prefixes such as p/ and c/ to identify the start of a new parameter, all parameters have the implicit constraint that they must not contain prefixes of another parameter if that other parameter is being used in a command.
    • e.g. You cannot add a student with the address Commongrove n/123A as the n/123A prefix will be parsed by TA-Assist as the Student’s name.

The following is the list of all parameters used in TA-Assist along with their constraints:

  • INDEX
    • Indices must be positive integers.
    • Indices must be within the indices shown in the displayed list.
  • KEYWORD
    • Search keywords cannot contain spaces.
  • n/NAME
    • Student names must not be empty.
    • Student names must only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces.
  • p/PHONE_NUMBER
    • Phone numbers must only contain numbers.
    • Phone numbers must be at least 3 digits long.
  • e/EMAIL
    • E-mails must be of the format local-part@domain, i.e. johndoe+work@s.mail.com.
    • local-part must only contain alphanumeric characters and these special characters, excluding the parentheses, (+_.-).
    • domain is made up of domain labels, separated by periods.
      • Each domain must end with a domain label of at least 2 characters long.
      • Each domain label must start and end with alphanumeric characters.
      • Each domain label must consist of only alphanumeric characters, separated only by hyphens if any.
  • a/ADDRESS
  • c/CLASS_NAME
    • Class names must be alphanumeric.
    • Class names must not exceed 25 characters.
  • s/SESSION_NAME
    • Session names must not be empty.
    • Session names must only contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, and spaces.
  • d/DATE
    • Dates must be of the format YYYY-MM-DD, i.e. 25th May 2022 must be written as 2022-05-25.
    • Dates must be valid, i.e. 2001-02-29 is not a valid date because the year 2001 is not a leap year.
  • g/GRADE_VALUE
    • Grades must be a non-negative numerical value, i.e. 0, 100.0, and 12.34.
    • Grades will be rounded to two decimal places.