User Guide

FlashBack is a desktop application for managing notes, optimized for use via a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). This application allows the improvement of student performance via improved accessibility and organisation of notes, together with interactive sessions that enhance memory retention.

Table of Contents

• Quick start
• Application layout
• Features
  • Main mode
    • Viewing help: help
    • Adding a new flashcard: add
    • Editing a flashcard: edit
    • Listing all flashcards: list
    • Deleting a flashcard: delete
    • Viewing a flashcard: view
    • Finding flashcards: find
    • Filtering flashcards: filter
    • Clearing all flashcards: clear
    • Undoing a command: undo
    • Redoing a command: redo
    • Sorting all flashcards: sort
    • Entering review mode: review
    • Viewing statistics of flashcards: stats
    • Adding an alias: alias
    • Exiting the program: exit
    • Saving the data
    • Editing the data file
    • Editing the preferences file
  • Review mode
    • Showing next flashcard: n
    • Showing previous flashcard: p
    • Showing answer: a
    • Hiding answer: h
    • Reviewing a flashcard as correct: t
    • Reviewing a flashcard as wrong: f
    • Quitting review mode: q
• FAQ
• Command Summary
  • Main mode command
  • Review mode command

Quick start

1. Ensure you have Java 11 or above installed in your Computer.
2. Download the latest FlashBack.jar from here.
3. Copy the file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for your FlashBack.
4. Double-click the file to start the app. The GUI should appear in a few seconds.
   
   
   
   
5. Below are some commands you can try, type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it:
   • help : Opens the help window.
   • addq/ What is the Einstein’s Equation? a/e=mc^2 c/Physics p/High t/ModernPhysics: Adds a new flashcard named What is the Einstein's Equation? to FlashBack.
   • view2: Views the 2nd flashcard shown in the current list.
   • delete1: Deletes the 1st flashcard shown in the current list.
   • clear: Deletes all flashcards.
   • exit: Exits the application.
6. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

Application layout

The figures below explain the different components in FlashBack.
Main window


Review mode


Brief explanation of each component:

Features

Main mode

Viewing help: help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.



Format: help

Adding a new flashcard: add

Adds a new flashcard to the flashcard list.
Format: add q/QUESTION a/ANSWER c/CATEGORY p/PRIORITY [t/TAG]...

Note:
The TAG is optional when adding a new flashcard.
Tag(s) should be alphanumeric, and there should not be any spacing between characters.
Priority can only take 1 out of 3 values: High, Mid or Low, case-sensitive.

Examples:

• add q/Einstein’s Equation a/e=mc^2 c/Physics p/High
  
  
  
  
• add q/Independence day of Singapore a/August 9th 1965 c/History p/Mid t/Singapore

Editing a flashcard: edit

Edits an existing flashcard in the flashcard list.

Format: edit INDEX [q/NEW QUESTION] [a/NEW ANSWER] [c/NEW CATEGORY] [p/NEW PRIORITY] [t/TAG]...

• Edits the flashcard at the specified INDEX.
• At least 1 updated card field must be provided for modification.
• If the tag field is specified in the command, all existing tag(s) will be removed and replaced by the new tag(s).
• New tag(s) should be alphanumeric, and there should not be any spacing between characters.
• New priority can only be Low, Mid or High, case-sensitive.

Examples:

• edit 1 p/Low
  
  
  
  
• edit 3 q/What is the time complexity for Quick Sort? t/Algorithms

Listing all flashcards : list

Shows all flashcards in the flashcard list.

Format: list

Deleting a flashcard : delete

Deletes a specific flashcard from the flashcard list.
Format: delete INDEX

• Deletes the flashcard at the specified INDEX.

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd flashcard in the flashcard list.
  
  Before executing command delete 2:
  
  
  

  
  After executing command delete 2:
  
  

Viewing a flashcard : view

Views a specific flashcard from the flashcard list.

Format: view INDEX

• Views the flashcard at the specified INDEX.

Examples:

• view 2 shows the 2nd flashcard (in the displayed flashcard list).
  
  

Finding flashcards : find

Finds flashcards containing any of the given keywords in FlashBack.

Format: find KEYWORD [MORE_KEYWORDS]

• The search is case-insensitive. e.g. equation will match Equation
• The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Newton Equation will match Equation Newton
• Partial words can be matched when searching. e.g. Wh will match What? but What? will not match What
• Any flashcard’s fields (e.g. question, answer, category, priority, and tag) matching any keyword will be returned.

Tip: You can list all flashcards again by using list command

Examples:

• find computer will return cards with computer in any of its fields.
  
  
  
  
• find computer formula will return cards with computer or formula in any of its fields.
  
  
  

• find phy will return cards with phy contained in any of the words in any of its fields.
  
  
  

Filtering flashcards: filter

Filter flashcards based on specified field input in FlashBack.

Note: You can only filter by question, category, priority, and tag.

Format: filter [q/QUESTION] [c/CATEGORY] [p/PRIORITY] [t/TAG]

• The filter is case-insensitive. e.g. equation will match Equation
• Must filter by at least 1 field, but not every field is required.
• Can filter by multiple keywords for each field. e.g. filter q/einstein math
• The order of the keywords does not matter. e.g. Newton Equation will match Equation Newton
• The order of the field input does not matter. e.g. filter q/QUESTION c/CATEGORY is same as filter c/CATEGORY q/QUESTION
• Filtered flashcards must match all field inputs. e.g. filter q/einstein p/mid will only display flashcards with question containing einstein and mid priority.
• Partial words can be matched when filtering. e.g. Wh will match What? but What? will not match What

Tip: You can list all flashcards again by using list command.

Examples:

• filter q/charles recursion will return cards with charles or recursion contained in its question.
  
  
  
  
• filter p/mid q/formula will return cards with formula contained in its question and mid priority.
  
  
  

  
  

• filter c/com t/ran will return cards with com contained in its category and rancontained in any of its tags.
  
  
  

Clearing all flashcards : clear

Clears all flashcards from FlashBack.

Format: clear

Undoing a command : undo

Restores FlashBack to the state before the most recent undoable command was executed.

Note: Only commands that modify FlashBack’s content can be reversed. (add, delete, edit and clear).

Format: undo

Examples: delete 3



clear

undo will reverse the clear command.



undo will reverse the delete 3 command.

Redoing a command : redo

Redoes the most recent action that was undone (reverses the undo command).

Format: redo

Examples: clear



undo will reverse the clear command.

redo will reverse the undo command.

Sorting all flashcards: sort

Sorts all flashcards in display according to a given option.

Note: You can only sort by priority or question.

Format: sort OPTION ORDER
Examples:

sort priority -a will sort the flashcards by ascending priority (Low to High).
sort priority -d will sort the flashcards by descending priority (High to Low).
sort question -a will sort the flashcards by question in ascending alphabetical order.
sort question -d will sort the flashcards by question in descending alphabetical order.

Before sort command is executed.



After sort priority -a command is executed.

Entering review mode: review

Reviews list of flashcards that is in display.
When the user enters review in the command box, this new window will appear.



Format: review

Note: The flashcards in Review Mode are appeared in random order.

Viewing statistics of flashcards: stats

Shows the statistics of an individual flashcard, or the statistics of all flashcards.

The following statistics are displayed:

• Number of times the user reviewed the flashcard(s).
• Number of times the user reviewed the flashcard(s) and got the correct answers.
• The correct rate of the flashcard(s). i.e The number of correct answer reviews over the total number of reviews.
• The wrong rate of the flashcard(s). i.e The number of wrong answer reviews over the total number of reviews.

Format: stats [INDEX]

Note: If a valid INDEX is provided, the statistics of the flashcard identified by the provided index is shown. If the INDEX is omitted, FlashBack will display overall statistics for all flashcards in the current list.

Examples:

stats 2 shows the statistics of the 2nd flashcard in the list.

stats shows the overall statistics of the current flashcard list.

Adding an alias: alias

Defines an alias for a command in FlashBack.

Note: You can only add alias for Main mode commands. The alias should also not have the same name as commands in both the main and review modes.

Format: alias cmd/COMMAND al/ALIAS

Examples:

alias cmd/delete al/d creates an alias d for command delete.

d 1 shows the usage of alias d.

Exiting the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

FlashBack 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

FlashBack data are saved as a JSON file [JAR file location]/data/flashback.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, FlashBack will discard all data and start with an empty data file at the next run.

Editing the preferences file

The user preferences are saved as a JSON file [JAR file location]/preferences.json. Similar to the data file, advanced users are welcome to update the preferences and alias mapping directly by editing that data file.

Caution: If your changes to the preferences file makes its format invalid, FlashBack will discard all preferences and start with an empty data file at the next run. Also, if your changes to the alias mapping is invalid, for example mapping add to delete, FlashBack will deem the entire alias mapping corrupted and will start with an empty alias mapping.

Review mode

Showing next flashcard : n

Moves on to the next flashcard.
Format: n
Example:

Showing previous flashcard : p

Moves back to the previous flashcard.
Format: p
Example:

Showing answer : a

Displays the answer of the current flashcard.
Format: a
Example:

Hiding answer : h

Hides the answer of the current flashcard.
Format: h
Example:

Reviewing a flashcard as correct: t

Marks that the user got the answer correct for the current flashcard.

Note: This command can only be executed if the answer of the current flashcard is shown.

Format: t
Example:

Reviewing a flashcard as wrong : f

Marks that the user got the answer wrong for the current flashcard.

Note: This command can only be executed if the answer of the current flashcard is shown.

Format: f
Example:

Quitting review mode : q

Quits the review mode and goes back to the main window.
Format: q
Example:

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 FlashBack home folder.

Command summary

Main mode command

Review mode command