User Guide

UniSave is a desktop app for managing expenses, 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, UniSave can get your financial management tasks done faster than traditional GUI apps. Choose a section from the table of contents below and start using UniSave.

• Table of Contents
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Quick start
  • 3. Features
    • 3.1 Clear data: clear
    • 3.2 Set budget : set-b
    • 3.3 Add an expense: add
    • 3.4 Edit an expense: edit
    • 3.5 Delete an expense: delete
    • 3.6 View an expense : view
    • 3.7 View categories : view-c
    • 3.8 Add description to expense
    • 3.9 Delete description of expense
    • 3.10 Filter expenses
      • 3.10.1 Filter by category: filter-c
      • 3.10.2 Filter by date: filter-t
      • 3.10.3 Filter by description: filter-d
    • 3.11 List all expenses : list
    • 3.12 Sort expenses
      • 3.12.1 Sort expenses by the amount of each expense: sort-a
      • 3.12.2 Sort expenses by the date of each expense: sort-t
    • 3.13 Exchange Currency : exchange
    • 3.14 Show Currency Codes: show-codes
    • 3.15 Show Exchange Rates: show-rates
    • 3.16 Show Statistics: show-stats
    • 3.17 View help: help
    • 3.18 Exiting the program : exit
    • 3.19 Saving the data
  • 4. FAQ(Frequently Asked Question)
  • 5. Glossary
  • 6. Command Summary

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1. Overview

UniSave is your desktop finance manager. It is an application that helps you manage your finance by tracking your spending, setting budget for each month, as well as viewing your expenses in various categories. Moreover, UniSave allows tracking expenses in different currencies.

UniSave targets university students who tend to incur a large amount of spending, including tuition fees, housing fees, transport and so on. It is catered especially for students who are more familiar with desktop applications and type fast. UniSave is available for the Linux, Windows and Mac OS operating systems.

2. Quick start

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

2. Download the latest UniSave.jar from here.

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

4. For Windows user, double-click the file to start the app. For MacOS user, open your terminal and set the directory to be the same as UniSave, enter java -jar UniSave.jar. In a few seconds, you should see a GUI similar to the diagram below. Note the app contains some sample data.
   

5. Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it.
   

   Some example commands you can try:

   • list : Lists all expenses.

   • set-b 1000 : Set the budget of UniSave to be 1000 SGD (Singapore Dollar is the Default Currency for UniSave).

   • add a/50 c/entertainment t/1 d/yayymovie! : Adds an expense of 50 SGD under category entertainment you spent 1 day ago (i.e. yesterday), with yayymovie! description.

   • exchange cc/cny : Change the currency of the whole expense book to Chinese Yuan (CNY is the currency code for Chinese Yuan).

   • show-stats : Show a statistic overview of all your expenses.

   • delete1 : Deletes the expense with index 1.

   • exit : Exits the app.

6. Refer to the Features below for details of each command.

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3. Features

• 3.1 Clear data: clear
• 3.2 Set budget : set-b
• 3.3 Add an expense: add
• 3.4 Edit an expense: edit
• 3.5 Delete an expense: delete
• 3.6 View an expense : view
• 3.7 View categories : view-c
• 3.8 Add description to expense
• 3.9 Delete description of expense
• 3.10 Filter expenses
  • 3.10.1 Filter by category: filter-c
  • 3.10.2 Filter by date: filter-t
  • 3.10.3 Filter by description: filter-d
• 3.11 List all expenses : list
• 3.12 Sort expenses
  • 3.12.1 Sort expenses by the amount of each expense: sort-a
  • 3.12.2 Sort expenses by the date of each expense: sort-t
• 3.13 Exchange Currency : exchange
• 3.14 Show Currency Codes: show-codes
• 3.15 Show Exchange Rates: show-rates
• 3.16 Show Statistics: show-stats
• 3.17 View help: help
• 3.18 Exiting the program : exit
• 3.19 Saving the data

Commands

3.1 Clear data in UniSave : clear

You can use this command to clear the sample data when you first launch the app, or use it whenever you want to start a new expense book.

Note : Budget will be cleared when you use this command.

Format: clear

Example:

• clear: Clear all data in UniSave.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.2 Set budget : set-b

Set the budget for UniSave. Default budget is 0 Singapore Dollar (SGD). When total spending exceed the budget, UniSave will remind you to set a new budget.

Format: set-b BUDGET

Example:

• set-b 500: Set the budget to 500.

Note :

1. You can change the Currency before setting budget with command exchange cc/CURRENCY_CODE, so that you can set your budget in another currency. to see a full list of supported currencies with their currency codes use command show-codes.
2. Budget should only be positive numbers.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.3 Add an expense: add

Add a new expense to UniSave.

Format: add a/AMOUNT c/CATEGORY [t/DATE] [d/description]

Note :

1. The amount of an expense should only be positive numbers.
   
2. Date can be entered in one of these two forms:
   i) Enter date as a single integer, corresponding to number of days ago.
   E.g: 1 means you made the expenses one day ago.
   (Note that when date is given as a single integer, it should not be less than 0 or greater than 3650.)
   ii) Enter date as the exact date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
   E.g: 2020-10-28
   
3. The date and field are optional but amount and category are compulsory.
   
4. When the same field is entered more than once, the last one is chosen.
   E.g. There are t/2 and t/3 being entered, t/3 will be chosen.
   
5. When the date field is left empty, the default is today.
   When description field is left empty, the default is no description.
   
6. You may enter each field in a different order. That means add a/100 c/food t/1 d/milk tea membership card gives the same result as add t/1 d/milk tea membership card c/food a/100.
   

Examples:

• add a/100 c/food t/1 d/milk tea membership card
• add a/50 c/entertainment t/2020-09-28 d/yayymovie!
• add a/100 c/food

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.4 Edit an expense : edit

Edit the expense at the specified INDEX.

Format: edit INDEX [a/AMOUNT] [c/CATEGORY] [t/DATE] [d/DESCRIPTION]

Note :

1. The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the expense list.
2. The INDEX must be a positive integer greater than 0. eg. 1, 2, 3, …
3. If no field is provided, no change will be done.

Examples:

• edit 1 a/10.2: Edit amount of the first expense to 10.2.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.5 Delete an expense: delete

Deletes the expense at the specified INDEX.

Format: delete INDEX

Note :

1. The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the expense list.
2. The INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …

Examples:

• list followed by delete 2 deletes the 2nd expense in the expense list.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.6 View an expense : view

View an expense in the expense list.

Format: view INDEX

Note :

1. The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed expense list.
2. The INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …

Examples:

• view 3 views the amount, category, date and description of the third expense displayed in the list.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.7 View categories : view-c

Show all existing categories in the expense list. Note that a category is added automatically when you add an expense.

Format: view-c

Examples:

• view-c: View all types of categories saved for expenses.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.8 Add description to expense : add-d

Add a description to an existing expense in the finance book.

Note :

1. The newly added description will override the existing description of the specified expense.
2. If you input add-d 2, this is invalid as the “d/” prefix is missing. If you put the description field as “d/” or “d/ “ (with blanks only), then the existing description will be removed.

Format: add-d INDEX d/DESCRIPTION

• Add description field to the expense at the specified INDEX. The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the displayed expense list. The index must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​
• Existing description will be overwrote to the new description.

Examples:

• add-d 3 d/movies: Add the description field movies to the 3rd expense.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.9 Delete description of expense: delete-d

Delete the description field of an existing expense.

Format: delete-d INDEX

• Deletes the description of the expense at the specified INDEX.
• The INDEX refers to the index number shown in the expense list.
• The INDEX must be a positive integer 1, 2, 3, …​

Note :

• The description field of the specified expense will still exist, just that it will be empty.

Examples: delete-d 6 Deletes the description field of the 6th expense.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.10 Filter Expenses

Filters for specific expense(s) based on the input command.

3.10.1 Filter by category: filter-c

Show all the expenses whose category match the specified category.

Format: filter-c CATEGORY

Examples:

• filter-c entertainment: Filter all the expenses under category entertainment.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.10.2 Filter by date : filter-t

Show all the expenses whose date match the specified date.

Format: filter-t YYYY-MM-DD or filter-t NUMBEROFDAYSAGO

Note :

1. NUMBEROFDAYSAGO is used to specify how many days ago from current day.
2. It accepts number from 0 to 3650 (10 years).

Examples:

• filter-t 3: filter all the expenses that are saved on 3 days ago from current day.
• filter-t 2020-10-23: filter all the expenses that are saved on 2020-10-23.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.10.3 Filter by description : filter-d

Show all the expenses whose description contains the specified description.

Format: filter-d DESCRIPTION

Note :

• Multiple description input is allowed.

Examples:

• filter-d movie: filter all the expenses which description has the keyword movie.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.11 List all expenses : list

You can list out all the expenses stored in UniSave.

Format: list

Examples:

• list: list all the expenses in UniSave.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.12 Sort the expenses

Sort the expense(s) based on the input command.

3.12.1 Sort expenses by the amount of each expense: sort-a

Sort the expenses in specified order.

Format: sort-a descending sort-a ascending

Note :

• Only ascending or descending order is valid.

Examples:

• sort-a ascending: sort the expenses according to amount in ascending order.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.12.2 Sort expenses by the date of each expense: sort-t

Sort the expenses according to date in specified order.

Format: sort-t ascending sort-t descending

Note :

• Only ascending or descending order is valid.

Examples:

• sort-t ascending: sort the expenses according to date in ascending order (i.e. from past to present.).

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.13 Exchange Currency : exchange

Convert the currency of UniSave from current currency to the input currency of the currency code,

Note :

1. Currency code is case-insensitive. E.g. cny is the same as CNY.
2. Use command show-codes to see a full list of currency codes supported by UniSave.

Format: exchange cc/CURRENCY_CODE

Example: exchange cc/CNY: Change UniSave’s current currency to CNY currency.

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.14 Show Currency Codes: show-codes

Show a full list of supported currencies with their corresponding currency codes.

Format: show-codes

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.15 Show Exchange Rates: show-rates

Show a full list of exchange rates adapted by UniSave. Note that the exchange rates were last updated at 2020-10-31 from currency-layer website, there may be a slight inaccuracy compared to current exchange rates.

Format: show-rates

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.16 Show Statistics: show-stats

Show a statistic overview of the expenses, such as the total number of expenses as well as the total spending in each category.

There are arranging in descending order in which the category that you spent the most will be on the first row.

Format: show-stats

Examples: show-stats

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.17 : View help: help

Opens a window with a link that directs you to our user guide, and a table shows all the commands of UniSave.

Format: help

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.18 Exit the program : exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

3.19 Saving the data

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

Navigate back to the feature list: Features

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4. FAQ(Frequently Asked Question)

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 UniSave home folder.
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5. Glossary

Term	Explanation
UniSave	UniSave refers to the name of the application.
Expense	An expense consists of an amount spent in some currency, the date on which you spend the money, a category that you classify this spending into, and a description so that you can recall the details when you view this spending again later.
CLI	A command-line interface (CLI) processes commands to a computer program in the form of lines of text.
GUI	The graphical user interface is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with a computer program through graphical icons instead of text-based user interfaces or text navigation.

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6. Command Summary

Action	Format, Examples
Clear data	clear
Set budget	set-b BUDGET e.g., set-b 1000
Add	add a/AMOUNT c/CATEGORY [t/DATE] [d/DESCRIPTION] e.g., add a/100 c/food
Edit	edit INDEX [a/AMOUNT] [c/CATEGORY] [t/DATE] [d/DESCRIPTION] e.g., edit 1 a/12
Delete	delete INDEX e.g., delete 3
View	view INDEX e.g., view 5
View categories	view-c
Add description	add-d INDEX d/DESCRIPTION e.g., add-d 5 d/had dinner
Delete description	delete-d INDEX e.g., delete-d 5
Filter by category	filter-c CATEGORY e.g., filter-c food
Filter by date	filter-t YYYY-MM-DD e.g., filter-t 2020-02-20
Filter by description	filter-d DESCRIPTION e.g., filter-d movies
List	list
Sort by amount	sort-a ORDER e.g., sort-a acsending
Sort by date	sort-t ORDER e.g., sort-t descending
Exchange Currency	exchange cc/CURRENCY_CODE e.g., exchange cc/CNY
Show Currency Codes	show-codes
Show Exchange Rates	show-rates
Show Statistic	show-stats
Help	help e.g., help
Exit	exit e.g., exit