HitList User Guide

HitList is a desktop app for managing contacts, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you can type fast, HitList can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

HitList is targeted at headhunters who need to manage a large number of contacts and companies, but it can be used by anyone who needs to manage their contacts efficiently.

---

Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.
2. Mac users: Ensure you have the precise JDK version prescribed here.
3. Download the latest .jar file from here.
4. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your HitList.
5. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar hitlist.jar command to run the application.
6. A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note how the app contains some sample data.

7. 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.
8. Some example commands you can try:
   • add /n John Doe /p 98765432 : Adds a contact named John Doe to the HitList.
   • list : Lists all contacts.
   • delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd contact shown in the current list.
   • clear : Deletes all contacts.
   • exit : Exits the app.
9. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

---

Features

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. edit INDEX [/n NAME] [/p PHONE] can be used as edit 3 /n John Doe or as edit 3 /p 98765432
• 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
• 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.

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Adding a contact : add

Adds a contact to the HitList.

Format: add /n NAME /p PHONE_NUMBER [/e EMAIL] [/a ADDRESS]

• The NAME and PHONE_NUMBER parameters are mandatory.
• All other parameters are optional.

Examples:

• add /n John Doe /p 98765432

• add /n Betsy Crowe /p 87654321 /e betsy.crowe@gmail.com /a 321, Clementi Rd, 123465

Editing a contact : edit

Edits an existing contact in the HitList.

Format: edit INDEX [/n NAME] [/p PHONE] [/e EMAIL] [/a ADDRESS]

• Edits the contact at the specified INDEX.
• The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed HitList.
• The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …
• At least one of the optional fields must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.

Examples:

• edit 1 /p 91234567 edits the phone number of the first contact to 91234567

• edit 2 /n Betsy Crower edits the name of the second contact to Betsy Crower

Deleting a contact : delete

Deletes the specified contact from HitList.

Format: delete INDEX

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

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the second contact in HitList

• find Irfan followed by delete 1 deletes the first contact in the results of the find command

Format delete /n CONTACT_NAME

• Deletes the contact with the specified name from HitList.
• The contact name must exactly match an existing contact in HitList.

Example:

• list followed by delete /n David Li deletes the contact named David Li from HitList

Listing all contacts : list

Shows a list of all contacts in the HitList.

Format: list

Locating contacts : find

Finds contacts whose names match any given prefix.

Format: find [KEYWORD]...

• Name search is case-insensitive. e.g. han matches Hans
• Name search uses prefix matching. e.g. Han matches Hans
• If multiple name keywords are given, a contact matching any one of them is returned.

Examples:

• find John returns john and John Doe

• find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li

Adding a contact group : grpadd

Adds a contact group to the HitList.

Format: grpadd /g GROUP_NAME

Examples:

• grpadd /g Admins

• grpadd /g Experienced

Deleting a contact group : grpdel

Deletes the specified contact group from HitList.

Format: grpdel /g GROUP_NAME

Examples:

• grpdel /g Admins

• grpdel /g Unemployed

!NOTE Deleting a contact group does not delete the contacts in that group from HitList. It only deletes the group itself and the association of the contacts to that group. e.g. if John Doe is in the Students group, and the Students group is deleted, John Doe will still be in HitList but will no longer be associated with any contact group.

Group Names are currently case-sensitive, so Students and students are considered different groups. Hence, deleting students will not delete the Students group.

Listing contacts in a contact group : grplist

Lists all the contacts who are members of a specified contact group.

Format: grplist /g GROUP_NAME

Examples:

• grplist /g Students

• grplist /g Experienced

Assigning a contact to a contact group : grpassign

Adds an existing contact to an existing contact group.

Format: grpassign /n NAME /g GROUP_NAME

• The contact name must exactly match an existing contact in HitList.
• The group name must exactly match an existing contact group in HitList.

Examples:

• grpassign /n Alex Yeoh /g Experienced

• grpassign /n Betsy Crowe /g Students

Unassigning a contact from a contact group : grpunassign

Removes an existing contact from an existing contact group.

Format: grpunassign /n NAME /g GROUP_NAME

• The contact name must exactly match an existing contact in HitList.
• The group name must exactly match an existing contact group in HitList.
• The contact must already belong to the specified group.

Examples:

• grpunassign /n Alex Yeoh /g Experienced
• grpunassign /n Betsy Crowe /g Students

Adding a company : cmpadd

Adds a company to the HitList.

Format: cmpadd /c COMPANY_NAME /d COMPANY_DESCRIPTION

• The company name must be unique and not the same as any existing company in HitList.
• The company description can be any string which does not include / or start with spaces.

Examples:

• cmpadd /c Google /d Tech giant

• cmpadd /c Meta /d Social media giant

Deleting a company : cmpdel

Deletes the specified company from HitList.

Format: cmpdel /c COMPANY_NAME

• The company name must be an existing company in HitList.
• The company name typed must be the exact company name registered in HitList.

Example:

• cmpdel /c Google deletes a company named Google from hitList.

• cmpdel /c Meta deletes a company named Meta from hitList.

Listing all Companies : cmplist

Shows a list of all companies in the hitList.

Format: cmplist

Adding a role to a company : roleadd

Adds a role to a specified existing company in the HitList.

Format: roleadd /r ROLE_NAME /d ROLE_DESCRIPTION /c COMPANY_NAME

• The role name must be unique within the company and not the same as any existing role in that company.
• The role description can be any string which does not include / or start with spaces.
• The company name must be an existing company in HitList.
• The company name typed must be the exact company name registered in HitList.

Examples:

• roleadd /r Quality Assurance Engineer /d Ensures software products meet quality standards by developing test plans /c Google Inc. adds a role named Quality Assurance Engineer to the company Google.

• roleadd /r DevOps Engineers /d Manages infrastructure and automates deployment processes, bridging the gap between development and IT operations /c Meta Platforms, Inc. adds a role named DevOps Engineers to the company Meta.

Deleting a role from a company : roledel

Deletes a role from a specified existing company in the HitList.

Format: roledel /r ROLE_NAME /c COMPANY_NAME or roledel INDEX /c COMPANY_NAME

• Deletes a role from the company by either specifying the role name or the role's index number.
• The role name must be an existing role within the company.
• The index refers to the position of the role in the company's role list (1-based indexing).
• The company name must be an existing company in HitList.
• The company name typed must be the exact company name registered in HitList.

Examples:

• roledel /r "Quality Assurance Engineer" /c Google Inc. deletes the role named Quality Assurance Engineer from the company Google Inc.

• roledel 1 /c Meta Platforms, Inc. deletes the first role listed in the company Meta Platforms, Inc.'s role list.

Clearing all entries : clear

Clears all entries from the HitList.

Format: clear

[!CAUTION] This command deletes all contacts, contact groups, companies, and roles from the HitList. Use with caution. The action is irreversible and there is no confirmation prompt before the action is executed.

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

HitList 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

HitList data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/hitlist.json.

Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

Caution: If your changes to the data file make its format invalid, HitList 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 HitList to behave in unexpected ways, for example, if a value entered is outside the acceptable range. Therefore, edit the data file only if you are confident that you can update it correctly.

Archiving data files [coming in v2.0]

Details coming soon ...

---

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 HitList home folder.

---

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.

---

Command summary