About BookFace

BookFace replaces a paper-based system or manual tracking of books, providing greater speed/efficiency in identifying where a book is, or when it is due. It also adds a member-tracking system to handle an increasing number of library members.

Quick Start

  1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer.

  2. Download the latest BookFace.jar from here.

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

  4. Open command prompt/terminal within the same directory of the folder and type java -jar BookFace.jar to start the app. The GUI will appear similar to the image below. 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 users

    • add user n/John Smith p/87006163 e/student123@gmail.com

    • delete user 1

    • clear all

    • exit

  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 user n/NAME, NAME is a parameter which can be used as add user 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 ignored (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 parameter prefixes such as n/ or a/ appear at the start of a word, they will be interpreted as parameters even if they were intended to be a part of the person’s name. v1.5 will include the ability to escape prefixes.
    e.g a/John Doe t/The Wide a/iger will be interpreted as “iger” for the author’s name and “The Wide” for the book’s title, instead of “John Doe” for the author’s name and “The Wide a/iger” for the book title.

  • Extraneous parameters for commands that do not take in parameters (such as help, list users, exit and clear all) will be ignored.
    e.g. if the command specifies help 123, it will be interpreted as help.

  • Note that indexes always refer to the currently displayed user/book list and not the original user/book list.
    e.g. if your user list has 5 users, and you enter find user Alex and get 1 user displayed under the user list, delete user 1 will always delete the user that is currently displayed.

  • Any whitespace between the start of a parameter prefix such as n/ and the end of the preceding parameter will be ignored.
    e.g. the parameter p/ in p/999999      n/John will be interpreted as 999999 and not 999999      .

Adding a book : add book

Adds a book to the library.

Format: add book t/TITLE a/AUTHOR

  • The title must only contain alphanumeric characters, punctuations and spaces, while the author must only contain alphanumeric characters and spaces.
  • If the specified title and author match an existing book (ignoring the title’s case), the book will be flagged as a duplicate of an existing book.

Examples:

  • add book t/The Life of John a/Emily Dunce

Adding a user : add user

Adds a user to the library.

Format: add user n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL [t/TAG]...

Examples:

  • add user n/Jenny Brown p/12345678 e/foo@gmail.com

Deleting a book : delete book

Deletes a book from the library. If the book is on loan, it must be returned before deletion.

Format: delete book INDEX

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

Examples:

  • delete book 99

Deleting a user: delete user

Deletes a user from the library. If the user has any loans, they must be returned before deletion.

Format: delete user INDEX

  • Deletes the user 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:

  • delete user 12

Loaning a book : loan

Loans a book to some user, which has a due date.

Format: loan USER_INDEX BOOK_INDEX [DUE_DATE]

  • Loans the book to some user at their respective specified INDEXES.
  • The indexes refer to the index number shown in the displayed user and book list respectively.
  • The indexes must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
  • The respective specified INDEXES must be present in their lists.
  • The books that are loaned out will appear at the top of the book list after relaunching the app.
  • If due date is not specified, a default due date of 14 days from today is set when the book is loaned out.
  • Due date formats such as dd/MM/yyyy, yyyy-MM-dd or even text such as next sunday, tomorrow or two mondays ago would work.
  • Compound/complex statements or other date formats not stated below may not work properly. (Fix coming in v1.5) Eg. one month and two weeks later or 2022-10-31 next sunday will not work properly.
  • Some invalid due date inputs in February may be assumed to be correct. Refer to example below.
:bulb: Tip: {DAY} refers to Sunday, Monday…Saturday or day(s)/week(s)/month(s)/year(s) Date formats that will work: dd/MM/yyyy, yyyy-MM-dd, next {DAY}, following {DAY}, last {DAY}, past {DAY}, yesterday, today, tomorrow, (any positive integer) {DAY} later, (any positive integer) {DAY} ago.

:information_source: Notes about the command format:

  • Next strictly refers to next week while following refers to the upcoming weekday/weekend. Eg. On Monday, “next wednesday” refers to nine days later while “following wednesday” refers to two days later.

  • Last strictly refers to last week while past refers to the last occurrence of weekday/weekend. Eg. On Wednesday, “last monday” refers to nine days ago while “past monday” refers to two days ago.

  • Later and ago when used for Sunday, Monday…Saturday refers to the number of Sunday, Monday…Saturday that has passed/yet to pass. Eg. On Monday, “two sundays ago” refers to 8 days ago while “two tuesdays ago” refers to 13 days ago.

Examples:

  • loan 3 2 loans the second book in the book list to the third user in the user list. The due date is set to 14 days from today.
  • loan 3 2 2018-08-08 loans the second book in the book list to the third user in the user list. The due date is set to 2018-08-08.
  • loan 3 2 tomorrow loans the second book in the book list to the third user in the user list. The due date is set to tomorrow (with respect to system time).
  • loan 3 2 31/02/2022 loans the second book in the book list to the third user in the user list. The due date is set to 2022-02-28 as it is reasonably assumed that the last day in February is meant for the due date.

Returning a book : return

Returns the book which is loaned by some user.

Format: return INDEX

  • Returns the book which is loaned by some user at the book’s specified INDEX.
  • The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed book list respectively.
  • The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Examples:

  • return 2 returns book number two (which has been previously loaned).

Finding books : find book

Finds a book using keywords.

Format: find book KEYWORD [KEYWORD]...

  • Find books that matches the searched keywords for either title or author.
  • The search is case-insensitive.
    e.g. computer will find Computer
  • The keywords do not need to be an exact match of the title or author.
    e.g. rith will find algorithms
  • The search will return all books that match at least one keyword.
    e.g. Introduction to will find Introduction for dummies and How to Cook

Examples:

  • find book ss will find Ulysses and Darkness within.
  • find book under the will find Undercover and The Grapes of Wrath.

Finding users : find user

Finds a user using keywords.

Format: find user KEYWORD [KEYWORD]...

  • Finds users that matches the searched keywords for name.
  • The search is case-insensitive.
    e.g. john will find John
  • The keywords do not need to be an exact match of the name.
    e.g. enc will find spencer
  • The search will return all books that match at least one keyword.
    e.g. Steven Koh will find Steven Low and Koh Yew Ying

Examples:

  • find user wa will find Mohammad Rizwan and Wallace Andrew.
  • find user John Sim will find John Goh and Sim Chee Ming.

Editing a book : edit book

Edits a book in the library.

Format: edit book INDEX (must be a positive integer) [t/TITLE] [a/AUTHOR]

Examples:

  • edit book 7 t/The Broken House

Editing a user : edit user

Edits a user who is registered with the library.

Format: edit user INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [t/TAG]...

:information_source: Notes about the Edit command:

  • Although the format specifies that the fields are optional, the command still requires 1 field to be provided in order for it to work
  • If you are inserting additional tags to a user, you must list all the present tags first since the command overrides the current tags with the ones in the Edit command

Examples:

  • edit user 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com

List all books : list books

Shows a list of all books in BookFace.

Format: list books

List all users : list users

Shows a list of all users in BookFace.

Format: list users

List all books and users : list all

Shows all users and books

Format: list all

Show all books that are loaned : list loans

Lists all the books that are currently loaned out and the people who loaned them.

Format: list loans

Show all books that are overdue : list overdue

Lists all the books that are overdue and the people who loaned them.

Format: list overdue

Clearing all entries : clear all

Clears all book and user entries from BookFace.

Format: clear all

Changing the Theme

Changes the theme of BookFace.

Select either the Light or Dark theme by clicking on Theme in the menu bar.

Exit BookFace : exit

Exit the BookFace program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

BookFace 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

BookFace data are saved as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/bookface.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, BookFace will discard all data, log a warning about the invalid format and start with an empty data file at the next run.

FAQ

Q: How do I clear the sample data on BookFace?
A: Simply use the clear all command.

Q: Is it normal for the order of the books to change upon restarting the application?
A: Yes; it is a perfectly normal behaviour for the application if there are loaned books in the book list, as the intention is to show books that have been loaned as a priority in the list upon starting the app. Following this answer, the order of the book list does not immediately change after a loan or return command in order to prevent confusion in the sudden reordering of books while the app is in use.

Command summary

Action Format, Examples
Add book add book t/TITLE a/AUTHOR
E.g: add book t/James and The Giant Peach a/Roald Dahl
Add user add user n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL [t/TAG]...
E.g: add user n/John Doe p/91234567 e/johndoe@outlook.com t/friend
Delete book delete book BOOK_INDEX
E.g: delete book 1
Delete user delete user USER_INDEX
E.g: delete user 1
Loan book loan USER_INDEX BOOK_INDEX [DUE_DATE]
E.g: loan 1 1 or loan 1 1 2022-12-28
Return book return BOOK_INDEX
E.g: return 1
Find book find book KEYWORD [KEYWORD]...
E.g: find book Peach
Find user find user KEYWORD [KEYWORD]...
E.g: find user John Sim
Edit book edit book BOOK_INDEX [t/TITLE] [a/AUTHOR]
E.g: edit book 7 t/The Broken House
Edit user edit user USER_INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [t/TAG]...
E.g: edit user 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com
List books list books
List users list users
List all list all
List loans list loans
List overdue list overdue
Clear clear all
Exit exit