TalentFolio User Guide

TalentFolio is a powerful yet easy-to-use application designed for hiring managers to efficiently manage information on job candidates. It is optimized for users who prefer a Command Line Interface (CLI) while still having the benefits of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). If you're a fast typist, TalentFolio can significantly speed up your hiring workflow!

Table of Contents

1. Quick start
   a. Install Java (if not already installed)
   b. Download TalentFolio
   c. Set up TalentFolio
   d. Running TalentFolio
   e. Using TalentFolio
   f. Need more help?
2. Features
   a. Viewing help: help
   b. Showing a person's details: show
   c. Adding a person: add
   d. Listing all persons: list
   e. Editing a person: edit
   f. Linking an attribute name to a website: link
   g. Locating persons by name: find
   h. Deleting a person: delete
   i. Clearing all entries: clear
   j. Filtering candidates by attributes: filter
   l. Sorting entries by an attribute: sort
   m. Sorting entries by the numerical value of an attribute: sort-num
   n. Undoing the last data change: undo
   o. Navigating past commands: ↑ ↓
   p. Exiting the program: exit
   q. Saving the data
   r. Editing the data file
3. FAQ
4. Known issues
5. Command summary

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Quick start

Follow these simple steps to get TalentFolio up and running:

1. Install Java (if not already installed)

TalentFolio requires Java 17 or later to run. Check your Java version by opening a terminal or command prompt and typing:
java -version
If Java is not installed or is an older version:

• Windows/Linux users: Download and install the latest Java Development Kit (JDK) from Oracle's website.
• Mac users: Follow the instructions and ensure you have the precise Java Development Kit (JDK) version prescribed here.

2. Download TalentFolio

Get the latest version of TalentFolio from our official release page. Download the latest .jar file available.

3. Set up TalentFolio

Move the .jar file to the folder you want to use as the home folder for TalentFolio. This folder will store the TalentFolio application data. We recommend choosing a convenient location that you have read, write and execute permissions for.

4. Running TalentFolio

Open a command terminal:

• Windows users: Press Win + R, type cmd, and hit Enter.
• Mac/Linux users Open the Terminal app.
  Navigate to the folder where you placed the .jar file. You can do this using the cd command. For example:
  cd path/to/your/folder
  Run the following command in the terminal to launch the application:
  java -jar talentfolio.jar
  After a few seconds, the TalentFolio application should open, and you should see a GUI similar to the one shown below. Note that the app contains some sample data. It is recommended to clear the sample data before your own personal use as it will not be automatically overwritten.
  

TalentFolio's graphical user interface

5. Using TalentFolio

Type the command in the command box and press Enter to execute it. For example, typing help and pressing Enter will open the help window.
Some example commands you can try:

• list : Lists all candidates.

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com : Adds a candidate named John Doe to the database.

• edit 1 a/GPA=3.9 ra/CAP : Adds a GPA and removes a CAP from the 1st candidate shown in the current list.

• filter a/Major=Computer Science : Filters all candidates who major in Computer Science.

• sort a/Graduation Year : Sorts candidates in alphabetically ascending order of Graduation Year.

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

• clear : Deletes all candidates.

• undo : Undoes the last command.

• exit : Exits the app.

6. Need more help?

For a complete list of features and detailed instructions of each command, check out the Features section below.
Enjoy using TalentFolio to streamline your hiring process!

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Features

Viewing help: help

Shows a message explaining how to access the help page.

Help message window

Format: help

Showing a person's details: show

Shows the specified person's details in the right panel.

Format: show INDEX

• You can also view a person's details by clicking on them in the left panel.

Example:

• show 1 shows the details of the 1st person.
  Results after typing show 1

Adding a person: add

Adds a person to the database.

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

Examples:

• add n/John Doe p/98765432 e/johnd@example.com adds a person named John Doe with phone number 98765432 and email address johnd@example.com.
• add n/Betsy Crowe t/C++ e/betsycrowe@example.com p/1234567 t/Java a/Major=Data Science and Analytics adds a person named Betsy Crowe with phone number 1234567, email address betsycrowe@example.com, tags C++ and Java, and an attribute named Major with the value Data Science and Analytics.

Listing all persons: list

Shows a list of all persons in the database.

Format: list

Editing a person: edit

Edits an existing person in the database.

Format: edit INDEX [n/NAME] [p/PHONE_NUMBER] [e/EMAIL] [t/TAG]… [rt/TAG_TO_REMOVE]… [a/ATTRIBUTE_NAME=ATTRIBUTE_VALUE]… [ra/NAME_OF_ATTRIBUTE_TO_REMOVE]…

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

Examples:

• edit 1 p/91234567 e/johndoe@example.com Edits the phone number and email address of the 1st person to be 91234567 and johndoe@example.com respectively.
• edit 2 n/Betsy Crower t/Top candidate Edits the name of the 2nd person to be Betsy Crower and adds a tag Top candidate.
• edit 3 rt/SQL Edits the 3rd person, removing the tag SQL.
• edit 1 a/Graduation Year=2027 Adds or edits an attribute named Graduation Year to the 1st person.
• edit 1 ra/Graduation Year Removes the attribute named Graduation Year from the 1st person.

Linking an attribute name to a website: link

Associates an attribute name with a website URL for all candidates. This means that you can visit the website by clicking on the attribute in a person's detailed view (which can be shown by clicking on them or by using the show command).

Format (to add a link): link a/ATTRIBUTE_NAME=SITE_LINK

• Associates ATTRIBUTE_NAME with SITE_LINK. This change applies to all persons that have an attribute with this name. Attributes with this name that are added in the future will also be linked to this site URL.
• Note that the beginning of the URL (usually https://) has to be included too.

Format (to remove an existing link): link ra/ATTRIBUTE_NAME

• Removes the association between ATTRIBUTE_NAME and the website it was associated with.

Examples:

• link a/github=https://github.com/
  • You can now visit https://github.com/ATTRIBUTE_VALUE by clicking on the attribute.
  • For example, if a person has an attribute with the name GitHub and the value pochitaro2025 (usually their username), you will be directed to https://github.com/pochitaro2025!
• link ra/github
  • This will delete the association between github and https://github.com/.
  • Clicking the attribute now will have no effect.

Clicking on the attribute GitHub: example-alexyeoh opens
the link https://github.com/example-alexyeoh

Locating persons by name: find

Finds persons whose names contain any of the given keywords.

Format: find KEYWORD…

• You must specify at least one keyword.
• You can specify more than one keyword.
• The search is case-insensitive. For example, hans will match Hans.
• The order of the keywords does not matter. For example, Hans Bo will match Bo Hans.
• Only the name is searched.
• Words containing the keyword as a substring will be matched. For example, Han will match Hans.
  • Note that the substring must be continuous. For example, Has will not match Hans.
• Persons matching at least one keyword will be returned (i.e. OR search). For example, Hans Bo will match Hans Gruber, Bo Yang

Examples:

• find John matches any person with John as a substring in their name.
• find alex david matches any person with alex OR david as a substring in their name.
  Results after typing find alex david

Deleting a person: delete

Deletes the specified person.

Format: delete INDEX

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

Examples:

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

Clearing all entries: clear

Clears all entries.

Format: clear

Filtering candidates by attributes: filter

Filters the candidates based on whether they have a specific attribute or not.

Format: filter a/ATTRIBUTE_NAME=ATTRIBUTE_VALUE…

• You must specify at least one attribute.
• You can specify more than one attribute:
  1. If you specify multiple attributes of the SAME name, candidates who meet ANY one of them will be shown.
  2. If you specify multiple attributes of DIFFERENT names, candidates who meet ALL of them will be shown.
  3. You can specify attributes of different names, with multiple values of each. In this case, the 1st rule will be applied first, followed by the 2nd rule (see Examples).
  4. The order of input attributes does not matter (see Examples).
• Both ATTRIBUTE_NAME and ATTRIBUTE_VALUE are matched case-insensitively.

Examples:

For the last command example,

You can also obtain the same result with filter a/Major=Computer Science a/Graduation year=2027 a/Major=Mathematics, because the order of the arguments does not matter.

Results after typing filter a/Major=Computer Science
a/Major=Mathematics a/Graduation year=2027

Sorting entries by an attribute: sort

Sorts the current view of entries by the value of the specified attribute name in alphabetically ascending or descending order.

Format: sort a/ATTRIBUTE_NAME [o/ORDER]

• Entries without the specified attribute will be placed at the back while preserving their relative order.
  • In this case, a warning will indicate the last entry in the current view that contains the specified attribute name, if any; otherwise, it will display a warning that the specified attribute is missing.
• ATTRIBUTE_NAME is matched case-insensitively. For instance, a command sort a/graduation year can sort all entries that have an attribute with name Graduation Year.
• If no ORDER is specified, entries will be sorted in ascending order by default. Otherwise, the first character of the user input (case-insensitive) will determine the order: if it starts with 'a', entries will be sorted in ascending order; if it starts with 'd', they will be sorted in descending order.
• Attribute names are tolerant of typos. If no attribute with the specified attribute name is found due to a minor typo, the app corrects it with a warning message.

Example:

• sort a/major sorts entries in ascending order according to their Major alphabetically.
  • Entries without Major as an attribute will be sorted to the end of the list.
• sort a/locaton o/desc sorts entries in descending order according to their Location alphabetically.
  • Note that locaton can be autocorrect to Location with a warning.

Results after typing sort a/locaton o/desc

Sorting entries by the numerical value of an attribute: sort-num

Sorts the current view of entries by the numeric value of the specified attribute name in ascending or descending order.

Format: sort-num a/ATTRIBUTE_NAME [o/ORDER]

• For each attribute value which can be parsed into a number, its numerical value will be stored.
• Entries without the specified attribute will be placed at the back while preserving their relative order.
  • In this case, a warning will indicate the last entry in the current view that has the specified attribute, if any; otherwise, it will display a warning that the specified attribute is missing.
• If there is at least one entry with the specified attribute name and some of these entries lack a valid numerical value, those entries will be placed at the back while preserving their internal order.
  • In this case, a warning will indicate the last entry in the current view that contains a valid numerical value, if any; otherwise, it will display a warning that numerical values are completely missing.
• ATTRIBUTE_NAME is matched case-insensitively. For instance, a command sort a/graduation year can sort all entries that have an attribute with name Graduation Year.
• If no ORDER is specified, entries will be sorted in ascending order by default. Otherwise, the first character of the user input (case-insensitive) will determine the order: if it starts with 'a', entries will be sorted in ascending order; if it starts with 'd', they will be sorted in descending order.
• Attribute names are tolerant of typos. If no attribute with the specified attribute name is found due to a minor typo, the app corrects it with a warning message.

Example:

• sort-num a/expected salary sorts entries numerically (in ascending order) according to their Expected Salary.
  • Entries without a numerical value for Expected Salary will be placed at the end of the list, with those having Expected Salary as an attribute but lacking a valid numerical value appearing first.
• sort-num a/GPA o/desc sorts entries numerically (in descending order) according to their GPA.

Results after typing sort-num a/GPA o/desc

Undoing the last data change: undo

Undoes the last data change. Also clears any existing filters applied.

For instance, suppose a user intended to type delete 5 but accidentally types and executes delete 4. They can just type undo to restore the deleted entry.

Note that commands that do not change the underlying data will be skipped -- such as filter, find and show.

Format: undo

• Only changes since the app was opened can be undone.
• Changes that are undone cannot be redone. However, you can simply re-execute the command. Previous commands can be retrieved by navigating past commands using ↑ ↓ key-presses.
• undo can be used multiple times in succession to undo more changes.
• Clears all applied filters.
• Does not work after exiting and re-opening the app. Using undo on a freshly opened app will not change anything.

Examples:

• delete 4, then undo will get the result: Last data change command undone: delete 4
• sort-num a/Graduation Year, then undo will get the result: Last data change command undone: sort-num a/Graduation Year
• Assuming the app was just opened, the following actions will get the result There is no change to undo!. Note that existing filters will not be cleared, as the command was not successful:
  • show 3 then undo
  • find n/Alex then undo
  • filter a/Graduation Year=2025 then undo
• delete 4, then filter a/Graduation Year=2026, then undo will skip over the filtering. It will undo delete 4 and clear the filter

Navigating past commands: ↑ ↓

Navigates through command history, replacing the text in the command box with the past executed command.

Format: Press the up arrow (↑) or down arrow (↓) key while the command box is selected.

• The up arrow (↑) key shows the previous executed command while the down arrow (↓) key shows the next executed command.
• ENTER is not required to be pressed for navigation.
• No error message will be shown if attempting to navigate beyond the first and last executed commands.
  • If attempting to navigate beyond the first executed command, the first executed command will remain shown.
  • If attempting to navigate beyond the last executed command, the command box will be emptied.
• Only successfully executed commands are stored in the command history.
• Executing any command successfully will reset the last executed command to the command that was just executed.
• Editing the command shown without execution will not change the previous and next executed commands.
• After editing the command shown, navigating to previous or next executed commands will discard any edits done (these edits will not be maintained when navigating back).

Exiting the program: exit

Exits the program.

Format: exit

Saving the data

TalentFolio 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

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

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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 TalentFolio home folder.

Q: How do I manage multiple candidates with the same name?
A: While the app does not currently allow candidates with the same name, you can mitigate this by slightly modifying the name based on your use case. For instance, with 2 candidates of the name "John Tan", the second candidate "John Tan 2" or "John Tan (NUS)". Note that names are case-insensitive, naming them "John Tan" and "john tan" wouldn't work.

Q: Can I sort students by multiple different attributes?
A: You can perform multiple rounds of sorting, since sorting by an attribute name will preserve the relative order of candidates that have the same attribute value for that attribute name. For example, if you want to sort primarily by graduation year and have candidates with the same graduation year sorted by GPA, you can do sort a/GPA, then sort a/Graduation Year.

Q: Does TalentFolio support international phone numbers?
A: We will implement that in the future, but phone numbers currently must be all numeric. However, phone numbers still work without spaces and hyphens. One possible workaround is to use a 00 prefix to denote the + symbol.

Q: What can I do if I accidentally delete an entry?
A: No worries, you can simply undo the last command!

Q: What can I do if I accidentally press Enter when I was typing my command halfway, and the command executed?
A: If the command executed changes any data, you can use undo to undo the data change. Then, to continue typing the last command, you can use the arrow key ↑ to retrieve the command you typed halfway, and resume typing it.

Q: Is there a limit to how many candidates I can add?
A: There is no limit we impose. However, with an excessively large number of candidates, the app would use more computer memory, which may cause your computer to lag.

Q: Does linking create a new attribute?
A: No. link is intended for portfolio websites. For instance, the default data links github attribute to https://github.com/, so that if a user has an attribute github=example-username, that attribute will have a link to https://github.com/example-username. Linking is intended to be universal, and not user-specific.

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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. If you minimize the Help Window and then run the help command (or use the Help menu, or the keyboard shortcut F1) again, the original Help Window will remain minimized, and no new Help Window will appear. The remedy is to manually restore the minimized Help Window.
3. If using Linux or Unix, clicking on links will not open them. Instead, the link will be copied to the system clipboard, and a window will appear to notify you that the link has been copied. You will have to paste the link into your browser manually.
4. If names, phone numbers, emails, tags, or attributes are too long, the data may not display correctly and may be truncated with "...". You can expand the window width to view the complete text.

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Command summary