HackAssist is a desktop application which aims to help manage tasks in software development hackathons. In hackathon projects, task management is often hectic because we are required to complete a large number of tasks in a short amount of time. However, with HackAssist, we aim to make your task management workflow easier, so you can focus on building your hackathon project :)

This guide provides an overview on how to perform the main functionalities of HackAssist: People Management and Tasks Management.

For advanced users, you can go straight to the Command Summary.

Quick start

  1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer.
    • To check if you have Java installed, please open up a terminal (search for Command Prompt on Windows and Terminal on Mac OS) and type in java -version. This will show your java version, if you have it installed.
    • If you do not have Java 11 or above installed, please proceed to this link and download the appropriate Java for your operating system.

  2. Download the latest HackAssist.jar from here.

  3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your HackAssist.

  4. Double-click the file to start the app. A GUI similar to the one shown below will appear in a few seconds. Note how HackAssist contains sample data for you to experiment with.
    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:

    • listTasks : Lists all tasks in the task list.

    • addTaskn/Create profile page d/User profile pr/medium c/frontend dl/2023-01-01 : Adds task Create profile page to the task list.

    • deleteTask1 : Deletes the first task from the task list.

    • help : Displays help text.

    • exit : Exits the app.

Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

Layout

Ui

Ui

  1. Command Box: This is where you key in your commands. Press Enter to execute it.

  2. Feedback Box: This is where you can see the response from HackAssist when you execute a command. You will either see a confirmation message, or an error message informing you what went wrong with your command.

  3. Tabs: This is where you can choose for HackAssist to display Members or Tasks List

  4. Members/ Tasks List: This is where the current list is displayed which includes details about each member (person in your team) or task.

  5. Storage Location: This is where you can see the location of HackAssist data file.

  6. Tasks List Setting: This portion displays what the current sort and filter setting for Tasks List are, if any.

Features

This section provides information on how you can use HackAssist commands for people management and tasks management. You can click General to learn about general commands, People Management to learn about commands specific to People Management, or Task Management to learn about commands specific to Task Management.

Before you learn any commands, please read the following notes about HackAssist command format.

: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.

  • If a parameter is expected only once in the command but you specified it multiple times, only the last occurrence of the parameter will be taken.
    e.g. if you specify p/12341234 p/56785678, only p/56785678 will be taken.

  • Any parameters given 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.


General

Viewing help: help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message

Format: help

Clearing all entries: clear

Clears all contacts and tasks from the application.

Format: clear

Exiting the program: exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

HackAssist 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

HackAssist data are saved as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/addressbook.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, HackAssist will discard all data and start with an empty data file at the next run.


People Management

Adding a person: add

Adds a new person to the address book.

  • Note: You cannot add a task if another task with the same name already exists in the task list.

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

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

Refer to the Person Parameters section for details about the format of each parameter.

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

Deleting a person: delete

Deletes the specified person from the address book.

  • Note: This will delete the person permanently

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, which should be Betsy.

Editing a person: edit

Edits an existing person in the address book. The values inside [] indicate optional fields Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [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, …​
  • At least one of the optional fields must be provided, otherwise you would not be updating anything.
  • Existing values will be updated to the input values.
  • None of the provided optional fields may be of the same value as the original value
  • When editing tags, all existing tags of the person will be removed and completely replaced with the new tags.
  • You can remove all the person’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.
  • To edit what tasks a person is assigned to, instead of editing the person, edit the relevant task. The edit will be reflected in the person list after you edit the task. There is no way to edit a task using the edit person command.

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.

Locating persons 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 names of people will be considered.
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Han will not match Hans
  • Persons matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. only one keyword has to match). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang, despite the fact that neither match Hans Bo (both names match at least one word)

Examples:

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

Listing all persons: list

Shows a list of all persons in the address book. This command can be used to reset the displayed person list after a find command.

Format: list


Task Management

The following commands are for viewing and managing your hackathon tasks. These tasks may be related to software development, product design, project presentation etc. Each task can be assigned to a person to represent that they are responsible for completing that task.

Adding a task: addTask

Adds a task to the task list. Note that you cannot add a task if another task with the same name already exists in the task list.

Format: addTask n/TASK_NAME d/DESCRIPTION pr/PRIORITY c/CATEGORY dl/DEADLINE [pe/EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED]

  • If the optional parameter pe/EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED is provided, the task will be assigned to that person. If not, it will remain unassigned. This might be useful at the beginning of your project when you are scoping out the tasks that need to be done.

Refer to the Task Parameters section for details about the format of each parameter.

Examples:

  • addTask n/Fix toggle d/Fix dark mode button pr/low c/frontend dl/2022-12-12 adds task Fix toggle to the task list
  • addTask n/Fix routing d/Handle routing for POST req pr/high c/backend dl/2022-11-11 pe/john@example.com adds task Fix routing to the task list and assigns it to person with email john@example.com

Deleting a task: deleteTask

Deletes a task from the task list.

  • Note: The task will be permanently deleted. To mark a task as completed but have it remain in the task list, use the editTask command instead.

Format: deleteTask INDEX

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

Examples:

  • deleteTask 1 deletes the first task from the displayed task list

Editing a Task: editTask

Edits the parameter(s) of an existing task in the task list. You can also use this command to mark tasks as completed or to assign the task to a person in your team.

Format: editTask INDEX [n/TASK_NAME] [d/DESCRIPTION] [pr/PRIORITY] [c/CATEGORY] [dl/DEADLINE] [pe/EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED] [do/IS_DONE]

  • Edits the task at the specified INDEX. The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed task list. It must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​ and less than or equal to the number of tasks in the task list.
  • At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
  • None of the provided optional fields may be of the same value as the original value
  • Existing values will be updated to the input values.
  • To un-assign a person from a task, write none in the EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED field, i.e. pe/none.
  • To mark a task’s status as completed or not completed, write true or false in the IS_DONE field, e.g. do/true.

Refer to the Task Parameters section for details about the format of each parameter.

Examples:

  • editTask 2 c/frontend pe/charlotte@example.com edits the category of the 2nd task in the displayed task list to be frontend and assigns the task to the person with email charlotte@example.com.
  • editTask 4 do/true marks the 4th task in the displayed task list as completed.

Finding a Task using keywords: findTask

Finds tasks with names or descriptions that contain any of the given keywords.

Format: findTask KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]...

  • The search is case-insensitive. e.g. fix will match Fix
  • The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Toggle fix will match Fix toggle
  • The name and description are both searched.
  • Only full words will be matched e.g. Dark will not match Darkmode
  • Task with names or descriptions matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). e.g. Fix will return Fix toggle, Fix routing

Examples:

  • findTask fix returns Fix toggle and Fix routing
  • findTask dark returns Fix routing (description: Fix dark mode button)

Filtering tasks: filter

Filters the task list based on either CATEGORY or DEADLINE or both. Use this when you want to view only tasks in a certain category or before a certain deadline.

Format: filter [c/CATEGORY] [dl/DEADLINE]

  • Filters the task list based on the parameters provided.
  • At least one of the optional parameters must be provided.
  • Only tasks that match the filter condition will be displayed in the task list.
  • To remove the filter, use the listTasks command.

Refer to the Task Parameters section for details about the format of each parameter.

Examples:

  • filter c/backend displays only tasks that have backend as CATEGORY
  • filter c/backend dl/2022-12-12 displays only tasks that have backend as CATEGORY and DEADLINE on 2022-12-12 or before

Viewing all tasks: listTasks

Displays all existing tasks in the task list. Use this after using the filter command to remove the filter.

Format: listTasks

Sorting tasks: sort

Sorts the task list by the specified field in the specified order. For instance, you can sort tasks in descending order of PRIORITY to help you decide which tasks should be done first.

Format: sort [pr/ORDER] [dl/ORDER]

  • Exactly one of the optional parameters must be provided.
  • Use the pr/ parameter to sort by PRIORITY.
  • Use the dl/ parameter to sort by DEADLINE.
  • Order must be either asc for ascending or desc for descending.

Examples:

  • sort pr/asc sorts tasks by PRIORITY in ascending order

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add Person add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [t/TAG]…​
e.g., add n/James Ho p/22224444 e/jamesho@example.com a/123, Clementi Rd, 1234665 t/friend t/colleague
Delete Person delete INDEX
e.g., delete 3
Edit Person edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]…​
e.g.,edit 2 n/James Lee e/jameslee@example.com
Find Person find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., find James Jake
List People list
Clear All Entries clear
Help help
Add Task addTask n/TASK_NAME d/DESCRIPTION pr/PRIORITY c/CATEGORY dl/DEADLINE [pe/EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED]
e.g., addTask n/Fix toggle d/Fix dark mode button pr/low c/frontend dl/2022-12-12 pe/charlotte@example.com
Edit Task editTask INDEX [n/TASK_NAME] [d/DESCRIPTION] [pr/PRIORITY] [c/CATEGORY] [dl/DEADLINE] [pe/EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED] [do/IS_DONE]
e.g., editTask 2 c/frontend pe/charlotte@example.com
Delete Task deleteTask INDEX
e.g., deleteTask 1
List Tasks listTasks
Find Task findTask KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]...
e.g., findTask refactor
Filter Tasks filter [c/CATEGORY] [dl/DEADLINE]
e.g., filter c/backend dl/2022-12-12
Sort Tasks sort [pr/ORDER] [dl/ORDER]
e.g., sort pr/asc

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 HackAssist home folder.
Q: Do I need internet to run HackAssist?
A: Internet is not needed to run the application.
Q: Will my data be lost after closing the application?
A: No, your data will be stored in the HackAssist.json file. Data will only be lost if HackAssist.json file is deleted.
Q: How do I backup my data?
A: Create a copy of the HackAssist.json file in another directory.
Q: What is the difference between member (members) and person (people)?
A: Member (or team member) refers to Person objects in the contact.

Glossary

Word Definition
GUI Graphical User Interface - The visual representation of the application
Parameter Inputs provided after the main command. For example, c/uiux is a parameter to the command filter c/uiux,
JSON file A file format (JavaScript Object Notation) used for storing data

Appendix

Person Parameters

Parameter Format
n/NAME Should contain only alphanumeric characters and spaces
d/PHONE_NUMBER Should contain only numbers
e/EMAIL Has 2 parts separated by a ‘@’ character.

The first should only contain alphanumeric characters and these special characters, +_.-

The second part should consists of one or more labels. These labels should :
- have start and end with alphanumeric characters,
- have be at least 2 characters long
- have be separated only by hyphens, if any.
c/ADDRESS No restriction on what characters can be entered in this field

Task Parameters

Parameter Format
n/NAME Should contain only alphanumeric characters and spaces
d/DESCRIPTION Should contain only alphanumeric characters and spaces
pr/PRIORITY Should be either high, medium, or low (case-insensitive)
c/CATEGORY Should be one of the following (case-insensitive):
- database
- frontend
- backend
- uiux
- presentation
- others
dl/DEADLINE Should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD and after the current date
pe/EMAIL_OF_PERSON_ASSIGNED Should be the email address of an existing person (case-insensitive) in your contacts. For the editTask command, it can also be none, i.e. pe/none.
do/IS_DONE For editTask command only. Should be either true or false (case-insensitive)