User Guide

What Is BandConnect++?

Unlock your musical potential with BandConnect++ !

BandConnect++ is a powerful desktop app that helps independent music producers manage their musician contacts and create perfect bands with ease.

Say goodbye to the tedious process of scrolling through your phone contacts and noting down every potential musician for your dream bands! With BandConnect++, you own the freedom to experiment with various hypothetical band makeups. You can

• create a new band from scratch
• add/remove your musician contacts to/from the band
• check if their instruments and genres are a perfect match.

What’s more, BandConnect++ has a convenient and intuitive Command Line Interface (CLI) that allows you to perform all the tasks with just a few keystrokes. It may be a little daunting at first, but don’t worry! We have prepared a comprehensive user guide to get you started and answer your confusion. Once you get the hang of it, your efficiency will be brought to a whole new level!

So, no more waiting! Let’s start creating your first dream band now!

Using the Guide

This user guide walks you through the essential features of BandConnect++, familiarises you with the CLI commands, GUI interface, and provides the best help we can if problem arises. We have made this guide beginner-friendly so that anyone who has used a software application before should have no trouble understanding it!

Whether you are new to our application or a seasoned user, you can always find something useful in this guide.

• For first-time users, please go to the Quick Start section to start an end-to-end tutorial that gets you onboard. Should you encounter any difficulty understanding the terminology, don’t forget to refer to the Glossary!

• For experienced users who have used BandConnect++ before, if you need help in remembering a particular command, please see Command Summary. You can also refer to the Features section for a more detailed explanation of each command.

If you encounter any problems along your journey, please take a look at the Troubleshooting section and also refer to our FAQ for more information.

Throughout this guide, we also use coloured boxes to provide any extra information that you may find useful.

Keep an eye out for them!

Table of Contents

• What Is BandConnect++?
• Using the Guide
• Table of Contents
• Quick Start
• Features
  • Features for managing musicians
    • Add musician: add
    • Delete musician: delete
    • Edit musician: edit
    • Find musicians: find
  • Features for managing bands
    • Create band: addb
    • Add musician to band: addm
    • Find band: findb
    • Remove musician from band: removem
    • Edit a band: editb
    • Delete a band: deleteb
  • General features
    • Get help: help
    • List all musicians and bands: list
    • Show all valid instruments and genres: tags
    • Save data
    • Clear data: clear
    • Exit app: exit
• Command summary
  • List of Valid Instruments/Genres
  • Musician Command summary
  • Band Command summary
  • General Command summary
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Troubleshooting
• Glossary

Quick Start

1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer. If you have never downloaded it before, download from here.

2. Download the latest version of BandConnect++.

3. Move the file to the home folder you want to access the app.

   Recommended: Drag the downloaded file to your desktop so that you can access it from there.

4. From the home folder, open “Terminal” on MacOS or “Command Prompt” in Windows, and type java -jar BandConnect++.jar to run the application. A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds.

   

   • Musicians are displayed in the left panel.
   • Bands are displayed in the right panel.

   
   The app already contains some sample data to help you get started.

5. To execute a command, enter it in the command box and press Enter to execute it. The following are some example commands you can try:

   • help : Open the help window.
   • list : Lists all contacts.
   • add n/Alice Lovelace p/98757287 e/alicel@example.com i/bass g/rock: Adds rock bassist Alice Lovelace.
   • addb n/Maverick g/rock: Adds a rock band named Maverick.
   • findb TheoryX: Finds the band named “TheoryX” and views its members.
   • exit : Exits the app.

   
   

   Please refer to the Features below for details of each command.

Back To ToC

Features

add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL [t/TAG]…​  [i/INSTRUMENT]…​  [g/GENRE]…​ 

Back To ToC

Features for managing musicians

Add musician: add

Scenario:

You have just met a talented musician and see him/her as a potential fit for your dream band. Let’s add him/her to your contact list.

Format:

add n/NAME p/PHONE_NUMBER e/EMAIL [t/TAG]…​ [i/INSTRUMENT]…​ [g/GENRE]…​

Examples:

• add n/Hans Leonhart p/98765432 e/hansl@music.com t/german i/violin g/classical

  This command adds Hans Leonhart to your contact list. He plays the violin and specialises in classical music. He is also one of the few German musicians you know.

Things to Note

• To add the instruments and genres the musician specialises in using the i/ and g/ prefixes, you can only add the ones included in a pre-defined list of instruments and genres.

Upon success:

A success message like below will be displayed.

New musician added: Hans Leonhart; Phone: 98765432; 
Email: hansl@music.com; Tags: [german]; 
Instruments: [violin]; Genres: [classical]

Upon failure:

1. If you input a musician which is already in your contact book (i.e. a musician with either the same name, the same phone number, or the same email as an existing contact). You will be shown an error message like below. Please re-enter the correct information.

    This musician already exists in your contact list
   

2. If you provide invalid arguments for any of the parameters (name, email, etc.) you will be shown the corresponding error message with the correct format to follow. Please re-enter the correct information.

Back To ToC

Delete musician: delete

Deletes a musician from your contact list.

Scenario:

You have just found out that a musician contact is outdated and no longer relevant. Let’s find his/her index in the My Musicians panel and delete him/her from your list.

Format:

delete INDEX

Examples:

• delete 1

  This command deletes the musician at index 1 in the My Musicians panel.

Upon success:

You will see a message indicating successful removal of the musician contact in the musician panel like below:

Deleted Musician: Hans Leonhart; Phone: 98765432; 
Email: hansl@music.com; Tags: [german]; 
Instruments: [violin]; Genres: [classical]

Upon failure:

Should you input an index out of the range of the current My Musicians list, you will see the error message below:

The musician index provided is invalid

Please verify that the index is correct and try again.

Back To ToC

Edit musician: edit

Scenario:

You have just found out that a musician contact has changed his/her phone number and email. Let’s edit his/her contact information.

Format:

edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [t/TAG]…​ [i/INSTRUMENT]…​ [g/GENRE]…​

Examples:

• edit 1 p/98765430 g/pop

  This command edits the phone number of the musician at index 1 in the My Musicians panel to 98765430 and changes his/her preferred genre to pop.

Things to Note

• At least one of the optional field to edit must be provided.
• The INDEX refer to the index number shown in the currently displayed My Musicians list. The index must be a positive integer, e.g. 1, 2, 3, …​
• If you would like to edit a musician not currently shown, please use the list command first before editing.
• When editing tags/instruments/genres, the existing tags/instruments/genres of the musician will be removed i.e adding of tags/instruments/genres is not cumulative.
• You can remove all tags/instruments/genres of the musician by inputting an empty tag/instrument/genre field, e.g. edit 1 t/ i/ g/.

Upon success: A success message like below will be displayed.

Edited Musician: Hans Leonhart; Phone: 98765430; 
Email: hansl@music.com; Tags: [german]; 
Instruments: [violin]; Genres: [pop]

• Before: From list state, Hans Leonhart’s genre is classical and his phone number is 98009432

• After: Hans Leonhart’s genre is changed to pop and his phone number is changed to 12344321

Upon failure:

1. If you provide no argument for the musician to be edited, e.g. edit 1, you will see an error message like below:

    At least one field to edit must be provided.
   

2. If you provide invalid arguments for any of the parameters (name, email, etc.) you will be shown the corresponding error message with the correct format to follow. Please re-enter the correct information.
3. If you have provided at least one optional field to edit in the correct format yet the index provided is out of range, you will see the error message below:

    The musician index provided is invalid
   

   Please verify that the index is correct and try again.

Back To ToC

Find musicians: find

Scenario:

You are about to form a band and are looking for musicians who play certain instruments and specialises in certain genres. Let’s find them in your contact list!

Format:

find [n/NAME]…​ [t/TAG]…​ [i/INSTRUMENT]…​ [g/GENRE]…​

Examples:

• find n/John n/Joe i/violin

  This command finds all musicians whose names contain “John” or “Joe” AND play the violin.

• find t/available t/friendly i/piano g/jazz

  This command finds all musicians whose tags contain “available” or “friendly” AND play the piano AND specialises in jazz.

Things to Note

• At least one of the optional field to find must be provided.
• The argument for each field must contain only one word. It cannot be empty and cannot contain multiple words separated by whitespaces.
• The search is case-insensitive. e.g. john will match John
• Only full words will be matched e.g. guit will NOT match guitar

Upon success:

The My Musicians panel will update to show all matching musicians, while the My Bands panel will list all bands.

For example, when the input command is find g/rock i/guitar i/piano

My Musicians panel will display all 3 musicians whose genres contain “rock” AND instruments contain “guitar” or “piano”

Upon failure:

1. If you provide no argument for the find command, you will see an error message indicating the command format is invalid with the correct format to follow.
2. If you provide empty arguments for any of the fields, e.g. find n/ i/, you will see an error message below:

    The argument(s) provided must not be empty.
   

3. If you provide arguments of more than one word separated by whitespaces for any of the fields, e.g. find n/John Doe you will see the error message below:

    The argument(s) provided must not contain more than one word.
   

   Please ensure the argument contains one and only one word.

Back To ToC

Features for managing bands

Create band: addb

Scenario:

Now, with all the musician contacts in your list, you are ready to create your first band!

Format:

addb n/BANDNAME [g/GENRE]…​

Examples:

• addb n/My Garage Band g/rock

  This command creates a rock band named “My Garage Band”.

Things to Note:

• The name of the band must be unique.

• To add the genres the band specialises in using the g/ prefix, you can only add the ones included in a pre-defined list of genres.

Upon success:

You will see a message indicating successful addition of the band like below:

New band added: My Garage Band; Genres: [rock]

Upon failure:

1. Should you input a band which is already in your contact book (i.e. have the same name as an existing band), you will see an error message showing the possible error. Please input a different name.
2. Should you try to add a band with invalid genre tags, i.e., addb n/My Garage Band g/water , you will see a message like below:

    Genre tags names should be a valid genre name.
    For a list of valid genres, please use the command 'tags'
   

Back To ToC

Add musician to band: addm

Scenario:

You have just created a band and are ready to experiment with some cool band makeups. Let’s add some musicians to the band!

Format:

addm b/BAND_INDEX m/MUSICIAN_INDEX…​

Examples:

• addm b/1 m/1 m/2

  This command adds the first and second musicians in the My Musicians contact list to the first band in the My Bands list.

Things to Note:

• BANDINDEX and MUSICIANINDEX must be positive integers 1, 2, 3, …​
• You can only add musicians to one band at a time. Adding musicians to multiple bands in a single command is currently not supported.

Upon success:

You will see a message indicating successful addition of the musician into the band. The My Bands panel will update to show only the band which the new musicians are added in. The My Musicians panel will update to show all the members of that band.

For example, when we want to add musicians to a blues/jazz band called “Neo Pixel” (3rd in band panel):

1. Let’s first find all musicians who are proficient in blues or jazz with find g/blues g/jazz

2. Let’s add all 4 musicians to band “Neo Pixel” with addm b/3 m/1 m/2 m/3 m/4. On the right, My Bands panel will display the band “Neo Pixel”. On the left, My Musicians panel will display all musicians in that band.

Upon failure:

1. Should you input an index that is out of range (e.g. musician index 4 when there are 3 musicians, or band index 2 when there is 1 band), you will see an error message below:

    The musician index provided is invalid
   

   or

    The band index provided is invalid
   

2. If the musician(s) you are adding is/are already in the band, you will see an error message below:

    One or more of the musicians already exist in the band
   

3. If you input more than one field for the prefix b/, meaning you are trying to add musicians to multiple bands, e.g. addm b/1 b/2 m/1, you will see an error message below:

    You can only add musicians to one band at a time
   

Back To ToC

Find band: findb

Scenario:

You have created a few bands and added several musicians to each band. Now, you would like to find a particular band and view all the members in it.

Format:

findb BANDNAME

Examples:

• findb TheoryX

  This command finds the band named “theory X” and displays all the members in it.

Upon success:

On the left, My Musicians panel will display all musicians in the band. On the right, My Bands panel will display the band of interest.

For example, if we want to view all members in band “TheoryX” with command findb TheoryX

• Before: From list state

• After: On the left, My Musicians panel will display all musicians in “TheoryX”. On the right, My Bands panel will display only “TheoryX”.

Upon failure:

If you input an invalid band name, you will see an error message as shown below.

Band does not exist!

Please input a valid band name and enter the command again.

Back To ToC

Remove musician from band: removem

Scenario:

After experimenting with the band makeups, you may think that a musician is not a good fit for the band and would like to remove him/her from it.

Format:

removem b/BANDINDEX m/MUSICIANINDEX

Examples:

• removem b/1 m/1

  This command removes the first musician in the My Musicians contact list from the first band in the My Bands list.

Things to Note:

• BANDINDEX and MUSICIANINDEX must be positive integers 1, 2, 3, …​
• Unlike the addm command, you can only remove one musician from a band at a time.

Upon success:

On the left, My Musicians panel will correctly display all musicians in the band, without the deleted musician. On the right, My Bands panel will display the band of interest.

For example, we want to remove John Doe from band TheoryX.

• Before: First double-check the band members in TheoryX with findb TheoryX.

• After: Remove John Doe at position 1 with removem b/1 m/1. You will see a message indicating successful removal of the musician from the band like below:

Upon failure:

1. Should you input an index that is out of range (e.g. musician index 4 when there are 3 musicians, or band index 2 when there is 1 band), you will see an error message as shown below.

    The musician index provided is invalid
   

   Please input a valid index and try again.

2. If the musician does not exist in the band, you will see an error message as shown below.

    Musician (details of the musician omitted here) is not in the band
   

   Please verify that the index of the musician is correct or input a different musician and try again.

Back To ToC

Edit a band: editb

Scenario:

You may want to change the name of the band or add/remove the genres of the band as a whole besides adding/removing musicians from the band. This is just as easy as creating the band with addb, which you might have already done!

Format:

editb INDEX n/NEWNAME g/GENRE…​

Examples:

• editb 1 n/Ace g/jazz

  This command changes the name of the first band in the My Bands panel to “Ace” and its genre to “jazz”.

Upon success:

You will see a message indicating successful editing of the first band in the band panel like below:

Edited Band: Ace; Genres: [jazz]

Upon failure:

1. Should you input an index out of the range of the current My Bands list, you will see the error message below:

    The band index provided is invalid
   

2. Should you attempt to change the name of the band to an existing band name stored by the program, you will see the error message below:

    This band already exists in the addressbook.
   

   Please verify that the index is correct and try again.

3. Should you try to specify an invalid genre for the band i.e. editb 1 g/poP , you will see a message like below:

    Genre tags names should be a valid genre name.
    For a list of valid genres, please use the command 'tags'
   

   Please refer to the list of valid genres and try again.

Back To ToC

Delete a band: deleteb

Scenario:

You have finished experimenting with the band makeups and gotten your perfect band. Let’s delete the rest of the bands since you no longer need them.

Format:

deleteb INDEX

Examples:

• deleteb 1

  This command deletes the first band in the My Bands panel.

Upon success:

You will see a message indicating successful removal of the first band in the band panel like below:

Deleted Band: Ace; Genres: [jazz]

Upon failure:

Should you input an index out of the range of the current My Bands list, you will see the error message below:

The band index provided is invalid

Please verify that the index is correct and try again.

Back To ToC

General features

Get help: help

If you need help any time, you can access a link to our user guide.

Format: help

You will see a window like below, click Copy URL, paste the link in any web browser to view this user guide.

Back To ToC

List all musicians and bands: list

You can view all musicians and bands in their separate panels. This command helps you easily identify any changes made to the contact list.

Format: list

Back To ToC

Show all valid instruments and genres: tags

You may want to view all valid instrument and genre tags for musicians and bands.

Format: tags

Back To ToC

Save data

BandConnect++ data are saved in the hard disk automatically after any command that changes the data. You don’t have to worry about saving data manually, we take care of that for you!

Back To ToC

Clear data: clear

Clears all data in the application.

Format: clear

Back To ToC

Exit app: exit

Exits the application.

Format: exit

Congratulations! You are now ready to use BandConnect++ !

You can always refer back to each feature above for detailed explanation and tips. Or, if you need help remembering the syntax, please see below for a more succinct command summary!

Back To ToC

Command summary

List of Valid Instruments/Genres

Back To ToC

Musician Command summary

Back To ToC

Band Command summary

Back To ToC

General Command summary

Back To ToC

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I install Java 11?
A: Follow this link for steps to download Java 11.

Q: How do I transfer my data to another Computer?
A: Go to the application’s home directory and copy the data/addressbook.json file containing your data into the empty data folder created by BandConnect++ on the other computer.

Q: Why is BandConnect++ not displaying all musicians/bands?
A: It’s possible that the application may not be displaying all musicians/bands due to previous commands that have filtered either of the lists. If you’re encountering this issue, consider using the list command to display all musicians and bands.

Q: What if I accidentally close BandConnect++ without using the exit command? Do I lost all my data?
A: Not to worry! BandConnect++ automatically saves all data after each change you make, so no data is lost.

Q: What if I encounter a bug or want to suggest a new feature?
A: We value all feedback from our users! Please open an issue to report a bug or suggest a feature on our GitHub Repository

Q: Do I need an active internet connection to use BandConnect++?
A: No, BandConnect++ does not require an internet connection to be used. However, you’ll need an internet connection to download it.

Q: How do I check if I am using Java 11?
A: The method to check the Java version you use will be different for every operating system.

• Windows users:
  Click on the ‘Windows’ key and search for ‘Command Prompt’
  
• Mac users:
  Click on ‘F4’ and search for ‘Terminal’
• Linux users:
  Click on ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Alt’ + ‘T’ keys simultaneously
• Once the application is open, type java -version and hit ‘Enter/ Return’.
• The application should state your Java version, as shown below:
• If you do not see 11.__.__, or if you do not have Java installed, follow the instructions here to download Java 11.

Back To ToC

Troubleshooting

Back To ToC

Glossary

Back To ToC