Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Target Audience with assumptions

3. Quick start

4. Commands

5. Main Features

6. Known issues

Appendix A: Technical Glossary

Appendix B: FAQ

1. Introduction

1.1. Introducing BookKeeper

Welcome to BookKeeper — the user-friendly desktop app designed specifically for you, an aspiring florist ready to take on the fast-paced world of the floristry business. You’ve decided on selling flower bouquets, and are looking for cheap and efficient ways to bring your business to the next level.

BookKeeper helps you manage your clients and orders. We have designed this application with your needs in mind, and we hope to make managing your business a breeze.

Our user guide will be your go-to resource to master Bookkeeper’s different features. Inside, you will find detailed explanations of our different features. Whether you are a greenhorn or an experienced practitioner, our guide has you covered.

This guide is broken down into 5 main sections,

  • Introduction (this)
  • Quick Start
  • Command Details
  • Command Cheat Sheet
  • FAQ and Glossary

Got questions? Check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for quick answers to the common queries we receive. Thank you for choosing BookKeeper! Without further ado, let us jump right into the guide.

1.2. What’s New in BookKeeper release v1.4

BookKeeper v1.4 contains the following new features and improvements.

  • Order management enhancements
    • Improved functionalities for efficient order management, with features like add, delete and edit orders.
  • Link Client to Orders
    • Seamlessly links clients to their respective orders for comprehensive tracking and management
  • Provides bug fixes
    • Fixed minor bugs to ensure the smooth operation of the application

1.3. Product Description

BookKeeper is like an address book, providing a working platform that can effectively manage user information and orders. This efficiently manages customer relationships as it maximises user productivity.

1.4. Unique Selling Points

1.4.1. Centralised Platform

BookKeeper offers a centralised platform where you can effortlessly store and search for client information, keeping all your vital data organised and accessible at your fingertips.

1.4.2. Efficiency

With its intuitive command-line interface, BookKeeper is faster and more efficient than traditional methods like CRMs or Excel sheets. Spend less time navigating complex menus and more time serving your customer’s needs.

1.4.3. Tailored for Florist Businesses

We understand the unique needs of florists, which is why BookKeeper comes equipped with customizable fields, tags, and seamless integration with e-commerce platforms.

1.4.4. Cost-Effective

Designed with small businesses in mind, BookKeeper is not only powerful but also cost-effective. Say goodbye to expensive software solutions that drain your resources.

2. Target Audience with assumptions

2.1. Target Audience

BookKeeper is specifically designed for small florist businesses, catering to the unique needs and challenges they face in managing client relationships and orders. Our target audience includes small florist shops, independent floral designers, and boutique flower businesses.

2.2. Assumptions

  1. Our application is made with the assumption that users are members of the florist industry and will understand the needs as well as the terminology used by florists. They can either be business owners, managers, or employees and are looking for a tailored solution to streamline their operations.
  2. Users are presumed to have a basic understanding of computer operations and software usage. This can help them to navigate easily through the application and follow the instructions to download and use BookKeeper, as provided in this guide.
  3. While prior experience with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and command line interfaces (CLIs) can help users to familiarise themselves with BookKeeper fast, BookKeeper is also entry-level-friendly so that we can accommodate users of all levels of technical expertise.

3. Quick start

  1. Ensure you have Java 11 and above installed in your system.
    • You may check if you have Java installed by opening your command prompt or terminal, and type:
      java --version
      • If Java is installed, you should ensure that it is currently running on version “11.x.xx”.
      • img_2.png
        • If you encounter an error, or if your version does not match our specified requirements, you may visit the Official Oracle website to download the Java JDK required to run this project.

  2. Download the latest bookkeeper.jar release from here.

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

  4. Open your terminal or command prompt in your system.

  5. cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar bookkeeper.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

  6. 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:
    • Listing all contacts:
      • Command: list
    • Adding a new Client:
      • Command add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
      • Adds a new client named “John Doe” to BookKeeper.
    • Adding a new Order:
      • Command order 1 d/1xRoses c/20.99 by/20-10-2030 10:00
      • Adds a new order for 1 Rose, at $20.99 that is to be delivered by 20-10-2030 10:00.
    • Delete an existing Client.
      • Command delete 1
      • Deletes the client with an index of 1.
    • Clear BookKeeper
      • Command clear
      • Clears all clients and orders.
    • Exit
      • Command exit
      • Closes the application.
  7. Refer to the Main Features below for details of each command.

4. Commands

4.1 Command summary

4.1.1 Client

Action Format, Examples
Add 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/VIP t/Customer
Clear clear
Delete delete INDEX
e.g., delete 3
Edit 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 find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]
e.g., find James Jake
List list
Help help

4.1.2 Order

Action Format, Examples
order order INDEX by/DEADLINE c/PRICE d/DESCRIPTION
e.g., order 3 by/23-07-2024 00:00 c/99.99 d/1xRoses
deleteOrder deleteOrder INDEX
e.g., deleteOrder 3
editOrder editOrder INDEX by/DEADLINE c/PRICE d/DESCRIPTION s/STATUS
e.g., editOrder 1 by/23-07-2024 10:10 c/40 d/1xRoses s/COMPLETED

5. Main 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/VIP, t/VIP t/MEMBER 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.

  • Names are case-sensitive.
    e.g. the names John Doe and John doe are considered unique.

  • 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.

  • Leading 0’s are ignored for commands which require use of INDEX. (e.g. 1, 01, 000001 are all valid index inputs for the index 1)

5.1. Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

help message Format: help

:information_source: Additional Notes:

  • You can press F1 on your keyboard to access the Help page too.

5.2. Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from BookKeeper.
Format: clear
clear

5.3. Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.
Format: exit

5.4. Adding a client: add

Adds a client to BookKeeper.
Format: add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL a/ADDRESS [t/TAG]…​

:information_source: Additional Notes:

  • Name must be unique, clients with exact same name is not allowed.
  • A client can have any number of tags (including 0).
  • Tags do not accept whitespaces (e.g. “VIP 2” is not accepted, “VIP2” is accepted).
  • Tags only accept 0-9 and a-z.
  • Names only accept 0-9 and a-z and are case-sensitive.
    • Two persons with the same name are not allowed, but two persons with the same name but different cases are allowed.
  • Phone number must be numeric and at least 3 numbers. It must not contain spaces “ “, brackets () or hyphens -, plus + , or other symbols.
  • Emails must not have consecutive special characters. E.g. “john..doe@example.com” is not accepted.

Example: add n/Betsy Crowe e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Beauty World p/1234567 t/VIP

add client

More examples:

  • add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01
  • add n/Jane Low p/95357481 e/jane@example.com a/Bukit Batok, block 312, #08-01 t/Member
  • add n/Alex Yeoh p/92157481 e/AY@example.com a/Bukit Batok, block 32, #07-01 t/VIP
  • add n/David Li p/98353481 e/David@example.com a/Bukit Batok, block 462, #07-02 t/Customer

5.5. Editing a client : edit

Edits an existing client in BookKeeper.
Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]…​

:information_source: Additional Notes:

  • Edits the client at the specified INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list. The index must be a positive integer e.g. 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 client will be removed i.e. adding of tags is not cumulative.
  • You can remove all the client’s tags by typing t/ without specifying any tags after it.
  • See add client for more information on the constraints of each field.

Example: edit 1 n/Betsy Crower t/. Edits the name of the 1st client to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

edit client

More examples:

edit 2 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number and email address of the 2nd client to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.

5.6. Deleting a client : delete

Deletes the specified client from BookKeeper.
Format: delete INDEX

:information_source: Additional Notes:

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

Example:

  • list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd client displayed in BookKeeper.

delete client delete client

More examples:

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

5.7. Listing all clients : list

Shows a list of all clients in BookKeeper.
Format: list
list clients

5.8. Locating clients by name: find

Finds clients whose names contain any of the given keywords.
Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]…

:information_source: Additional Notes:

  • 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
  • Clients matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. an “OR” search). e.g. Hans Bo will return Hans Gruber, Bo Yang

Example:

  • find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li

find clients

More examples:

  • find John returns john and John Doe

5.9. Adding an order: order

Adds an order into BookKeeper.
Format: order INDEX by/DEADLINE c/PRICE d/DESCRIPTION

:information_source: Additional Notes:

  • Adds an order to the client at the specified INDEX. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​, and the index must exist in the Client list.
  • All fields must be provided.
  • The order of the fields does not matter (e.g. both order INDEX by/DEADLINE c/PRICE d/DESCRIPTION and order INDEX d/DESCRIPTION c/PRICE by/DEADLINE are acceptable)
  • The status of new orders are automatically set to “PENDING”.
  • Please specify by/DEADLINE field in DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM.
    • Deadlines can be set to a date before a date before today to mean that an order is overdue. E.g. if your order was due yesterday, but you have not completed the order, you can put yesterday’s date. This lets you track if you have orders that are overdue.
  • For the c/PRICE field, do note that any decimal places after 2 will be rounded.
    • E.g. 2.999 will be rounded up to 3.00.
  • The order list will be sorted according to their deadline.
    • Meaning, if there are two orders, one due on 10-10-2025 10:00 and another due on 10-10-2025 10:30, the order with the deadline of 10-10-2025 10:00 will have an index of 1, and the other order will have an index of 2.

Examples:

  • order 1 d/1xRoses c/40 by/23-07-2024 00:00

add order

More examples:

  • order 3 by/07-07-2024 00:00 c/88.88 d/99xRoses
  • order 1 by/23-05-2024 16:00 c/58.90 d/1xLily

5.10. Deleting an order: deleteOrder

Deletes the specified order from BookKeeper.
Format: deleteOrder INDEX

:information_source: Additional Notes:

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

Examples:

  • deleteOrder 2 deletes the 2nd order in the order list.

delete order delete order

5.11. Editing an order : editOrder

Edits an existing order in BookKeeper.
Format: editOrder INDEX [by/DEADLINE] [c/PRICE] [d/DESCRIPTION] [s/STATUS]

:information_source: Additional Notes:

  • Edits the order at the specified INDEX. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​ and the index must exist in the Order list.
  • Command can work without any optional fields provided.
  • Existing values will be updated to the input values.
  • There are 3 possible statuses (they are all case-insensitive):
Status Information
PENDING All orders are automatically set to PENDING
COMPLETED When the order is delivered successfully
CANCELED When the order is canceled

Examples:

  1. editOrder 1 by/05-05-2024 16:00 c/58.90 d/1xRoses s/PENDING edits the Deadline and Description of the 1st Order list.

edit order

  1. editOrder 1 s/COMPLETED edits 1st order status to “COMPLETED”.

edit order

Saving the data

BookKeeper 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

BookKeeper data is saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/bookkeeper.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, BookKeeper 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 BookKeeper 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.

6. 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.

Appendix A: Technical Glossary

Java - the programming language that the application was written in, as well as the process in which the application is run

JSON (Javascript Object Notation) - a file format used to store data which is understandable for both end users and computers. BookKeeper stores its data inside bookkeeper.json.

Command Line Interface (CLI) - a user interface that allows users to interact with the computer software by typing commands into the console. The CLI is one method which BookKeeper application can be launched

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) - a program that simplifies managing of clientele and their needs.

GUI (Graphical User Interface) - is a type of user interface that allows users to interact through buttons and text.

Appendix B: FAQ

Q: I cannot run the application.
A: Ensure you have Java 11 and above installed in your system.

  • You may check if you have Java installed by opening your command prompt or terminal, and type:
    java --version
  • If Java is installed, you should ensure that it is currently running on version “11.x.xx”.
  • img_2.png
  • If you encounter an error, or if your version does not match our specified requirements, you may visit the Official Oracle website to download the Java JDK required to run this project.

Q: What command do I use to […].
A: You can access the help page by clicking the Help button on the application.

Q: How do I back up and restore data?
A: Your data is stored in the same directory you downloaded the application in. In that directory, search for a directory called data. In that directory, it is called bookkeeper.json. You may copy bookkeeper.json to another location to back it up, and you may copy another bookkeeper.json to restore existing data.

Q: Can I access the application from multiple devices at once?
A: Not at the moment. It is something that we are working on, though.

Q: Can I access this application without internet connection?
A: BookKeeper is designed to work fully offline.

Q: The application is not working!!!
A: Contact us at here.

Q: How do I update my application?
A: You may download the latest release here.