User Guide

Sparrow is a desktop app for managing tasks and vocabulary, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI).

• Quick start
• Features
  • Viewing help : help
  • Adding a task
    • Adding a Todo : todo
    • Adding an Event : event
    • Adding a deadline : deadline
  • Locating task by name : find
  • Marking a task as completed : done
  • Deleting an item : delete
  • Adding a vocab : vocab
  • Defining a word : define
  • Listing all tasks/vocab : list
  • Exiting the program : bye
  • Saving the data
• Command summary

Quick start

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

Features

Notes about the command format:

• Words within < > are the parameters to be supplied by the user. e.g. in todo <DESCRIPTION>, DESCRIPTION is a parameter to be supplied as todo buy monkey

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Adding a task

3 kinds of tasks can be added: Todo, Event, Deadline.

Adding a Todo : todo

Adds a todo to the task list.

Format: todo <DESCRIPTION>

Example of usage:
todo find crew for ship

Expected outcome:

Aye Aye Captain! I've added this task:
    [T][✘] find crew for ship

Adding an Event : event

Adds an event to the task list. An event must contain the event date.

Format: event <DESCRIPTION> /at <DATE>

Note the /at and date format YYYY-MM-DD.

Example of usage:
event Attend Brethren Court meeting /at 2020-10-31

Expected outcome:

Aye Aye Captain! I've added this task:
    [E][✘] Attend Brethren Court meeting (at: 31 Oct 2020)

Adding a deadline : deadline

Adds a deadline to the task list. A deadline must contain a due date.

Format: deadline <DESCRIPTION> /by <DATE>

Note the /by and date format YYYY-MM-DD.

Example of usage:
deadline Find fountain of youth /by 2020-12-31

Expected outcome:

Aye Aye Captain! I've added this task:
    [D][✘] Find fountain of youth (by: 31 Dec 2020)

Locating task by name : find

Searches task list for tasks containing the given keyword.

Format: find <KEYWORD>

Example of usage:
find meeting

Expected outcome:

I found tasks matching your search:
1. [E][✘] Attend Brethren Court meeting (at: 31 Oct 2020)

Marking a task as completed : done

Marks a task as done. Task number corresponds to the latest view of the task list.

Format: done <TASK NUMBER>

Example of usage:
done 1

Expected outcome:

Great job! I've marked this task as completed:
    [E][✓] Attend Brethren Court meeting (at: 31 Oct 2020)

Deleting an item : delete

Deletes a task/word from the respective list. Item number corresponds to the latest view of the category list.

Format: delete <CATEGORY> <ITEM NUMBER>

Example of usage:
delete tasks 2

Expected outcome:

Jolly riddance! I've deleted this task:
    [E][✓] Attend Brethren Court meeting (at: 31 Oct 2020)

Example of usage:
delete vocab 3

Expected outcome:

Jolly riddance! I've deleted this word:
    outlaw

Adding a vocab : vocab

Adds a word to the vocabulary list. Accompanying definition is optional.

Format: vocab <WORD> <DEFINITION>

Example of usage:
vocab pirate A good guy who sails the seas

Expected outcome:

pirate has been added t' yer vocabulary list.

Defining a word : define

Returns definition of a word in the vocab list.

Format: define <WORD>

Example of usage:
define pirate

Expected outcome:

A good guy who sails the seas

Listing all tasks/vocab : list

Displays all tasks/vocab (depending on argument specified).

Format: list <CATEGORY>

Example of usage:
list tasks

Expected outcome:

Here are the tasks in your list:
1. [T][✘] This is an undone todo
2. [D][✓] This is a completed deadline (by: 18 Sep 2020)
3. [E][✘] This is an event (at: 25 Dec 2020)

Example of usage:
list vocab

Expected outcome:

Here are the words in your list:
1. Pirate
2. Ship
3. Rum
4. Treasure

Exiting the program : bye

Exits the program.

Format: bye

Saving the data

Sparrow data will be saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. There is no need to save manually.

Command summary