FinCliq - User Guide

FinCliq is a desktop app for financial advisors to manage contacts and meetings, 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, FinCliQ can get your contact management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps.

Table of contents

Quick start

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

2. Download the latest fincliq.jar from here.

3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your own personal FinCliq application.

4. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the
   java -jar fincliq.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.
   

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 : List all clients.

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 : Adds a contact named John Doe to FinCliq.

• delete 3 : Deletes the 3rd clients shown in the current list.

• clear : Deletes all clients.

• exit : Exit the app.

Refer to the Features & Commands section below for details of each command.

Features & Commands

General Functions

Viewing help : help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Format: help

Clearing all entries : clear

Clear all entries from FinCliq.

Format: clear

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

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

Editing the data file

FinCliq data are saved automatically as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/fincliq.json. Advanced users are welcome to update data directly by editing that data file.

Caution: If your changes to the data file makes its format invalid, FinCliq 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 FinCliq to behave in unexpected ways (e.g., 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.

Client Functions

Adding a client: add

Adds a client to FinCliq.

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

• The client’s name must be provided and must be alphanumeric.
• Duplicate clients with the same name are not allowed.

Tip: A client can have any number of tags (including 0)

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/John street, block 123, #01-01 adds a client named John Doe with phone number 98765432, email johnd@example.com, and address John street, block 123, #01-01 to FinCliq.
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/friend e/betsycrowe@example.com a/Newgate Prison p/1234567 t/criminal adds a client named Betsy Crowe with email betsycrowe@example.com, address Newgate Prison, phone number 1234567 and tag criminal to FinCliq.
  

Listing all clients : list

Shows a list of all clients in FinCliq.

Format: list

Editing a client : edit

Edits an existing client in FinCliq.

Format: edit CLIENT_INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE] [e/EMAIL] [a/ADDRESS] [t/TAG]…

• Edits the client at the specified CLIENT_INDEX. The index refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list. 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.
• 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.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st client to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/ Edits the name of the 2nd client to be Betsy Crower and clears all existing tags.

Locating clients by name: find

Finds persons whose names contain any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

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

Examples:

• find John returns john and John Doe
• find alex david returns Alex Yeoh, David Li
  

Deleting a client : delete

Deletes the specified client from FinCliq.

Format: delete CLIENT_INDEX

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

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd client in FinCliq.
• find Betsy followed by delete 1 deletes the 1st client in the results of the find command.

Filter client by tag : filter

Filter through clients by a specific tag provided.

Format: filter TAG

• TAG refers to the tag given to clients
• Displays all clients with the specified tag
• There should only be one tag provided else an error would be shown
• Tags should be a single word only

Examples:

• filter friends Displays all clients with the tag friends

Meeting Functions

Adding a Meeting: addMeeting

Adds a meeting for a specific client in FinCliq.

Format: addMeeting clientIndex/CLIENT_INDEX dt/DATE_TIME d/DESCRIPTION

• CLIENT_INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• CLIENT_INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, ….
• DATE_TIME format should be DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM, e.g., 02-01-2025 12:00, and should be after the current date and time
• DESCRIPTION refers to what the meeting is about. Format should be a single string and be alphanumeric, e.g. d/Meeting-Sales Pitch, is not allowed.

Rejected Scenarios:

• Different clients with the same meeting date and time but different description.
• Same client with the same meeting date and time but different description.
• Same client with the same meeting date and time and description.

Examples:

• addMeeting clientIndex/1 dt/02-01-2025 12:00 d/Sign life plan Adds a meeting with description “Sign life plan” and meeting date 02-01-2025 12:00 to client with index 1.
• addMeeting clientIndex/2 dt/06-01-2025 15:00 d/Meeting to discuss finances Adds a meeting with description “Meeting to discuss finances” and meeting date 06-01-2025 15:00 to client with index 2.
  

Listing all Meetings for a Client: view c

Shows a list of all meetings for a specific client.

Format: view c CLIENT_INDEX

• CLIENT_INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• CLIENT_INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, ….
• For CLIENT_INDEX to be valid, CLIENT_INDEX must be the index number belonging to a client in the displayed client list

Example:

• view c 1 Lists all meetings of the first client.
  

Editing a Meeting: editMeeting

Edits an existing meeting for a client.

Format: editMeeting clientIndex/CLIENT_INDEX meetingIndex/MEETING_INDEX n/DESCRIPTION dt/DATE_TIME

• CLIENT_INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed client list.
• CLIENT_INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, ….
• MEETING_INDEX refers to the index number of the meeting for the specific client.
• MEETING_INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, ….
• DATE_TIME format should be DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM, e.g., 02-01-2025 12:00, and should be after the current date and time

• DESCRIPTION refers to what the meeting is about. Format should be a single string and be alphanumeric, e.g. d/Meeting-Sales Pitch, is not allowed.

• Edits the meeting specified by MEETING_INDEX for the client specified by CLIENT_INDEX. Both indexes must be positive integers 1, 2, 3, ….
• All the fields (clientIndex, meetingIndex, description, date and time), must be provided.
• Existing values will be updated to the input values.
• When editing descriptions, the existing descriptions of the meeting will be removed i.e. adding of descriptions is not cumulative.
• Do note that the prefix for meeting description here is “n/”, not “d/”. Future enhancements will include standardising prefixes across different commands.
• Does not allow editing a meeting such that it becomes similar to an existing meeting. Follows the aforementioned addMeeting logic.

Examples:

• editMeeting clientIndex/1 meetingIndex/2 n/starbucks meeting dt/01-01-2025 12:00 Edits the description, date and time of the 2nd meeting of the 1st client.
  

Deleting a Meeting: deleteMeeting

Deletes a specific meeting for a client.

Format: deleteMeeting clientIndex/CLIENT_INDEX meetingIndex/MEETING_INDEX

• Deletes the meeting specified by MEETING_INDEX for the client specified by CLIENT_INDEX. Both indexes must be positive integers 1, 2, 3, ….

Example:

• deleteMeeting clientIndex/1 meetingIndex/1 Deletes the first meeting for the first client.
  

FAQ

Q: I realised that persons and clients are both used in the user guide. What is the difference between them?
A: In FinCliq, persons and clients are used interchangeably. A person is a client in FinCliq.

Q: How do I use the app?
A: This app is designed to help you keep track of your clients and meetings with them.
To keep track of your clients/meetings, you can follow the various commands in the user guide and enter the commands according to the specified format.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of clients/meetings I can store in the app?
A: No, there is no limit to the number.

Q: Are the clients/meetings storage persistent between application restarts?
A: Yes. We have implemented a storage feature that would populate the information inside FinCliq based on a .json file.

Q: When entering my name, some characters do not show up. Is this the intended behaviour?
A: Yes, currently, only our app only supports english names, although we intend to support this in the future.

Q: I entered a date and time that was before the current time, and it fails to add. Is this the intended behaviour?
A: Yes. We implemented this so that people would not enter meetings that occur in the past, and to simplify the scheduling of meetings for financial advisors.

Q: I entered a meeting for the same client with the same date and time but different description, and it fails to add. Is this the intended behaviour?
A: Yes. We implemented this with the intention that our user (a financial advisor) is only booked for one type of meeting agenda at a particular date and time, to simulate real life scenario.

Q: I entered a meeting for a different client with the same date and time and description, and it succeeds to add. Is this the intended behaviour?
A: Yes. We implemented this with the intention that our user (a financial advisor) can be meeting two different clients, who may be friends, at the same date and time to discuss the same agenda, to simulate real life scenario where it might not always be a 1 to 1 meeting.

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.
2. When entering a command with an invalid format, the application will prompt you to re-enter the command while providing the correct format to follow.

Command summary

Client Functions

Meeting Functions

General Functions