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Moolah Manager - User Guide

1. Introduction

Financial bookkeeping via traditional mobile applications has always been a hassle due to the repetitive clicks needed to manage monetary transactions. With Moolah Manager, you will be encouraged to take ownership of managing your finances via a time-saving and efficient command-line (CLI) interface.

The main features of Moolah Manager include:

The application is optimised for use with a keyboard and all you need is to just type in your commands into a terminal. Moreover, if you are a fast-typist, the recording and querying of transactions can be performed efficiently.

Written by: Chua Han Yong Darren

2. About This Guide

2.1. What is in Moolah Manager

With an intuitive CLI platform, you can make full use of a plethora of features provided by Moolah Manager! Moreover, Moolah Manager saves the monetary transactions list everytime it is updated, so that you don’t have to. If you are a first-time user, don’t forget to check out the Getting Started section too.

Managing Records of Monetary Transactions

You can add, delete, and edit monetary transaction entries to keep their records up-to-date. Moolah Manager also features the ability to modify dates of transactions and add categories to better classify the expenses.

Related Commands: add,edit, list, find, delete, purge

Gathering Financial Insights

As for statistics, Moolah Manager supports the viewing of summarised expenses in daily, weekly and monthly formats. This enables you to better understand your expenses, and savings across various time periods. In addition, Moolah Manager also shows which category of expenses users spend more on so that they can better manage spending.

Related Commands: stats s/categorical_savings, stats s/monthly_expenditure, stats s/time_insights

General Budgeting and Moolah Reminders

Beyond just tracking expenses, Moolah Manager analyzes your monthly spending habits and give you reminders on your savings. You will also be able to allocate a monthly budget to better stick to your plans.

Related Commands: budget

Written by: Paul Low

2.2. Command Format

General illustrations about the text format used for the commands in this guide can be found below.

  1. The first word in the command refers to the command word to be supplied by the user. The command words are case-insensitive.
    1. e.g. bye, BYE and bYe will all be interpreted as the same.
  2. Words in UPPER CASE refer to the parameters in each command. Each parameter must be prepended with a tag.
    1. e.g. in delete e/ENTRY, delete is the command word, while ENTRY is a parameter expected after the tag e/.
  3. Parameters in square brackets are optional.
    1. e.g. help [o/detailed] can be used as help o/detailed or help.
    2. Note that the parameter detailed is written in lower case here, which means, only the exact wording is accepted.

  4. Each parameter is separated by a space. Users are not allowed to use spaces in their parameter.

  5. Each parameter can only be used at most once.

Written by: Chia Thin Hong

3. Getting Started

3.1. Setting Up

  1. Ensure that you have Java 11 or above installed. If not, kindly install Java’s latest version.

  2. Download the latest version of Moolah Manager from here. As shown in Figure 1 below, click on the duke.jar file from the latest version available.


    Figure 1: How to Download Moolah Manager

  3. Copy the file to the folder that you wish to use as a home folder for Moolah Manager. The data saved during the application will reside in your <home_folder>/data folder.
  4. Launch a command prompt or terminal and run the command java -jar duke.jar to start the application.
  5. Moolah Manager will display a greeting message and a remaining budget for the current month.
  6. If you encounter any issues when setting up and hereon, do check out the FAQ section.

Written by: Chua Han Yong Darren

3.2. Viewing Help

Display basic or detailed help information explaining the commands available in the application.

Format: help [o/detailed] [q/COMMAND]

Parameter Description
detailed A detailed version of the guide.
COMMAND A case-insensitive command word to search for. It should either be help, add, edit, list, find, delete, purge, stats or budget.

Important Information:

Examples:

Expected Output:

Viewing Basic Help

help
____________________________________________________________
Gotcha! Here are the commands that you may use:
Command Word: HELP
Display basic or detailed help information explaining the commands available in the application.
Usage: help [o/detailed] [q/COMMAND]

Command Word: BUDGET
Set the amount for monthly budget, with a value from 1 to 10^13 (Ten Trillion).
Usage: budget b/BUDGET

Command Word: ADD
Add a new transaction entry, which could be either an "expense" or "income" into the transactions list.
Usage: add t/TYPE c/CATEGORY a/AMOUNT d/DATE i/DESCRIPTION
... (Similar output for other commands truncated)
____________________________________________________________

Viewing Detailed Help for Delete Command

help o/detailed q/delete
____________________________________________________________
Gotcha! Here are the commands that you may use:
Command Word: DELETE
Delete a transaction entry from the unfiltered list of transactions.
Usage: delete e/ENTRY
Parameters information:
- ENTRY: A list entry value for the transaction. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 1000000.

____________________________________________________________

Written by: Chia Thin Hong

4 Managing Transactions

4.1. Adding a Transaction

Add a new transaction entry, which could be either an expense or income into the transactions list.

Format: add t/TYPE c/CATEGORY a/AMOUNT d/DATE i/DESCRIPTION

Parameter Description
TYPE The type of transaction. It should either be expense or income.
CATEGORY A category for the transaction. It can be any word without numeral, symbol or spacing.
AMOUNT The amount of the transaction. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 10000000 (Ten Million).
DATE The date when the transaction took place on. It must be in ddMMyyyy format, e.g. 29102022.
DESCRIPTION More information regarding the transaction. It can be any word without any spacing.

Important Information:

Examples:

Expected Output:

Adding an Expense Transaction

add t/expense c/transport a/1 d/02102022 i/bus_fare
____________________________________________________________
I have added the following Expense transaction:
[-][transport] $1 at Oct 02 2022 | Description: bus_fare
Remaining budget for Oct 2022: $999. Keep it up!
____________________________________________________________

Adding an Income Transaction

add t/income c/bonus a/10000000 d/03102022 i/thank_you_boss
____________________________________________________________
I have added the following Income transaction:
[+][bonus] $10000000 at Oct 03 2022 | Description: thank_you_boss
Remaining budget for Oct 2022: $1000. Keep it up!
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Yong Chin Han

4.2. Editing a Transaction

Edit a transaction entry from the list of transactions.

Format: edit e/ENTRY [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [a/AMOUNT] [d/DATE] [i/DESCRIPTION]

Parameter Description
ENTRY A list entry value for the transaction. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 1000000.
TYPE The type of transaction. It should either be expense or income.
CATEGORY A category for the transaction. It can be any word without numeral, symbol or spacing.
AMOUNT The amount of the transaction. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 10000000 (Ten Million).
DATE The date when the transaction took place on. It must be in ddMMyyyy format, e.g. 29102022.
DESCRIPTION More information regarding the transaction. It can be any word without any spacing.

Important Information:

Examples:

Expected Output:

Editing a Transaction

edit e/1 t/expense c/food
____________________________________________________________
I have edited the following Expense transaction:
[-][food] $20 at Jan 30 2022 | Description: banana_pudding
Remaining budget for Jan 2022: $980. Keep it up!
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Brian Wong Yun Long

4.3. Listing the Transactions

List all or some transactions based on selection by the ascending order of transaction date. If tag filters are used, the transactions retrieved from the records must match all the filter tags that have been specified in order to be recognized as a valid record.

Formats:

list [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [d/DATE]
list [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [d/DATE] [m/MONTH] y/YEAR
list [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [d/DATE] p/PERIOD n/NUMBER
Parameter Description
TYPE The type of transaction. It should either be expense or income.
CATEGORY A category for the transaction. It can be any word without numeral, symbol or spacing.
DATE The date when the transaction took place on. It must be in ddMMyyyy format, e.g. 29102022.
MONTH The month which the transaction falls on. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 12, where 1 represents January.
<!> MONTH parameter must be used together with the YEAR parameter.
YEAR The year which the transaction falls on. It is a positive whole number ranging from 0 to 9999, where 0 represents Year 0.
PERIOD The period which the transaction falls on. It should either be days, weeks or months.
<!> PERIOD parameter must be used together with the NUMBER parameter.
NUMBER The last N number of days, weeks or months. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 100.
<!> NUMBER parameter must be used together with the PERIOD parameter.

Important Information:

Examples:

Expected Output:

Listing All Transactions in November 2022

list y/2022 m/11
____________________________________________________________
Here are your transaction records:
Indexes are not shown as your transactions have been consolidated for specific time periods.
If you need to know an entry's index, use the Find command to search by description.
[-][food] $80 on Nov 13 2022 | Description: toilet_cake 
[+][education] $20 on Nov 30 2022 | Description: sold_my_pe_bugs
____________________________________________________________

Listing All Transactions in the Last 4 Weeks

If today’s date is 4 November 2022, the range will be 10 October to 30 October 2022.

list n/4 p/weeks
____________________________________________________________
Here are your transaction records:
Indexes are not shown as your transactions have been consolidated for specific time periods.
If you need to know an entry's index, use the Find command to search by description.
[-][beauty] $40 on Oct 11 2022 | Description: bought_a_facial_wash
[+][salary] $2000 on Oct 20 2022 | Description: worked_at_the_cinema
[-][food] $120 on Oct 25 2022 | Description: enjoyed_my_steamboat
____________________________________________________________

Listing All Transactions in the Last 1 Month with a Date as 20 October 2022

If today’s date is 4 November 2022, the range will be 1 October to 31 October 2022. However, only records on 20 October 2022 will be shown as each entry must match all the filter tags specified.

list d/20102022 n/1 p/months
____________________________________________________________
Here are your transaction records:
Indexes are not shown as your transactions have been consolidated for specific time periods.
If you need to know an entry's index, use the Find command to search by description.
[+][salary] $2000 on Oct 20 2022 | Description: worked_at_the_cinema
____________________________________________________________

Listing All Transactions in the Last 7 Days (or Past 1 Week) for Expenses on Leisure

If today’s date is 4 November 2022, the range will be 28 October to 3 November 2022.

list t/expense c/leisure n/7 p/days
____________________________________________________________
Here are your transaction records:
Indexes are not shown as your transactions have been consolidated for specific time periods.
If you need to know an entry's index, use the Find command to search by description.
[-][leisure] $40 on Nov 2 2022 | Description: went_for_salon_treatment
[-][leisure] $120 on Nov 3 2022 | Description: spa_at_sentosa
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Chua Han Yong Darren

4.4. Searching for Transactions

Find a specific or multiple transactions based on any keyword that have been specified.

Format: find k/KEYWORD

Parameter Description
KEYWORD A case-insensitive word that matches the partial or full description of a transaction entry. It can be any word without any spacing.

Example:

Expected Output:

find k/worked_at
____________________________________________________________
Here are the transaction records that match your search expression:
1: [+][salary] $2000 on Oct 20 2022 | Description: worked_at_the_cinema
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Chua Han Yong Darren

4.5. Deleting a Transaction

Delete a transaction entry from the list of transactions.

Format: delete e/ENTRY

Parameter Description
ENTRY A list entry value for the transaction. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 1000000.

Examples:

Expected Output:

delete e/1
____________________________________________________________
I have deleted the following transaction:
[+][food] $20 at Jan 30 2022 | Description: banana_pudding
Remaining budget for Jan 2022: $1000. Keep it up!
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Brian Wong Yun Long

4.6. Purging all Transactions

Delete all transaction entries from the list of transactions. User must enter ‘Y’ to confirm the purge.

Format: purge

Expected Output:

purge
____________________________________________________________
Are you sure you want to proceed with this command? Please enter 'Y' to confirm.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Y
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
All your transactions have been purged.
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Brian Wong Yun Long

5. Budgeting and Financial Insights

5.1. Viewing the Categorical Savings

View the total savings of all transactions in each category.

Format: stats s/categorical_savings

Expected Output:

stats s/categorical_savings
____________________________________________________________
Here are your net categorical savings:
[bonus] $540
[transport] -$10
[salary] $2000
[food] -$80

____________________________________________________________

5.2. Viewing the Monthly Expenditure

View the total income, expense and savings values of all transactions in each month.

Format: stats s/monthly_expenditure

Expected Output:

stats s/monthly_expenditure
____________________________________________________________
Here is a summary of your monthly expenditure:
[Sep 2022]
Income: $2000
Expense: $20
Savings: $1980
Budget: $10000
Spending Habit: Wow, keep up the good work. You saved at least two-third of your income.
In terms of monthly budget, you have kept yourself well within the budget!

[Oct 2022]
Income: $0
Expense: $10001
Savings: -$10001
Budget: $10000
Spending Habit: You spent way more than what you have earned for the current month. Please spend wisely based on your income.
In terms of monthly budget, you have spent more than your budget planned!

____________________________________________________________

5.3. Viewing the Financial Insights for Specific Time Periods

View monthly expenditure, total income, expense and savings values of all transactions in the specified time period.

Formats:

stats s/time_insights y/YEAR [m/MONTH]
stats s/time_insights p/PERIOD n/NUMBER
Field Description
MONTH The month which the transaction falls on. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 12, where 1 represents January.
<!> MONTH parameter must be used together with the YEAR parameter.
YEAR The year which the transaction falls on. It is a positive whole number ranging from 0 to 9999, where 0 represents Year 0.
PERIOD The period which the transaction falls on. It should either be days, weeks or months.
<!> PERIOD parameter must be used together with the NUMBER parameter.
NUMBER The last N number of days, weeks or months. It is a positive whole number that is from 1 to 100.
<!> NUMBER parameter must be used together with the PERIOD parameter.

Important Information:

Examples:

Expected Output:

Viewing the Financial Insights for November 2022

stats s/time_insights y/2022
____________________________________________________________
Here are the categorical savings and expenditure summary for
Year: 2022, Month: 11

-----Categorical Savings-----
[salary] $3040
[food] -$100

-----Expenditure Summary-----
Income: $3040
Expense: $100
Savings: $2940
Budget: $1000
Spending Habit: Wow, keep up the good work. You saved at least two-third of your income.
In terms of monthly budget, you have kept yourself well within the budget!
____________________________________________________________

Viewing the Financial Insights for the Last 3 Weeks

If today’s date is 4 November 2022, the range will be 10 October to 30 October 2022.

stats s/time_insights p/weeks n/3
____________________________________________________________
Here are the categorical savings and expenditure summary for
The last 3 weeks:

-----Categorical Savings-----
[bonus] $540

-----Expenditure Summary-----
Income: $540
Expense: $0
Savings: $540
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Paul Low

5.4. Managing the Budget

Set the amount for monthly budget, with a value from 1 to 1013 (Ten Trillion).

Format: budget b/BUDGET

Field Description
BUDGET An estimate of expense for every month. It is a positive whole number ranging from 1 to 10^13 (Ten Trillion).

Important Information:

Examples:

Expected Output:

budget b/52013149999
____________________________________________________________
You have successfully updated the budget.
Monthly budget set as: $52013149999
Remaining budget for current month: $52013140000
REMINDER: Continue to stay within your budget for this month! Good fortune!
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Chia Thin Hong

6. Others

6.1. Persistent Data

Our program comes with a storage feature to ensure user data gets saved each time Moolah Manager is stopped and restarted. If you are accessing Moolah Manager via our JAR file release, the storage file, duke.txt would be newly created in a newly created data folder in your current directory.

In duke.txt, the monthly budget value would be stored on the 1st line, with the different transaction entries on subsequent lines. When Moolah Manager is started, the program will attempt to store the budget and transaction values locally into the program.

If the duke.txt data is in incorrectly formatted when Moolah Manager is started, none of the data would be stored into the program. An error message would be shown to inform users of the corrupted data and recommend editing the entries correctly. Suppose users want to continue with the program in the current state without updating the corrupted duke.txt data, they can enter any command which would add or alter the budget / transaction values which promptly overwrites the duke.txt data.

We DO NOT recommend editing duke.txt unless you are familiar with the storage syntax of the program to prevent lose of data.

Written by: Yong Chin Han

6.2. Exiting the Application

Exit the application.

Format: bye

Expected Output:

bye
____________________________________________________________
Goodbye and see you soon.
____________________________________________________________

Written by: Brian Wong Yun Long

7. Command Summary

7.1. Command Syntax

OPTIONAL tags are enclosed with SQUARE BRACKETS “[” and “]” in the command syntax in the table below.

Action Command Syntax Examples
Viewing Help help help
Viewing Help (Detailed) help o/detailed [q/QUERY] help o/detailed
help o/detailed q/budget
Adding a Transaction add t/TYPE c/CATEGORY a/AMOUNT d/DATE i/DESCRIPTION add t/expense c/transport a/1 d/02102022 i/bus_fare
add t/income c/bonus a/10000000 d/03102022 i/thank_you_boss
Editing a Transaction edit e/ENTRY [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [a/AMOUNT] [d/DATE] [i/DESCRIPTION] edit e/1 t/expense c/food <br/> edit e/2 a/10 d/10202022 i/games
Listing the Transactions list [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [d/DATE] list
list c/food d/13092022
Listing the Transactions for a Specific Year or Month list [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [d/DATE] y/YEAR [m/MONTH] list t/income d/30092022 y/2022
list t/income d/30092022 y/2022 m/9
Listing the Transactions for the Last N Days, Weeks or Months list [t/TYPE] [c/CATEGORY] [d/DATE] p/PERIOD n/NUMBER list p/days n/7
list p/weeks n/4
list p/months n/1
Searching for Transactions find k/KEYWORD find k/bus_fare
find k/transport
Viewing the Categorical Savings stats s/categorical_savings stats s/categorical_savings
Viewing the Monthly Expenditure stats s/monthly_expenditure stats s/monthly_expenditure
Viewing the Financial Insights for a Specific Year or Month stats s/time_insights y/YEAR [m/MONTH] stats s/time_insights y/2022
stats s/time_insights y/2002 m/10
Viewing the Financial Insights for the Last N Days, Weeks or Months stats s/time_insights p/PERIOD n/NUMBER stats s/time_insights p/weeks n/3
stats s/time_insights p/months n/12
Managing the Budget budget b/BUDGET budget b/9999999999999
budget b/1
Deleting a Transaction delete e/ENTRY delete e/3
Purging all Transactions purge purge
Exiting the Application bye bye

7.2. Information for Parameters

Parameter Description Restrictions
COMMAND A case-insensitive command word to search for. help, add, edit, list, find, delete, purge, stats or budget.
TYPE The type of transaction. expense or income.
CATEGORY A category for the transaction. Any word without numeral, symbol or spacing.
AMOUNT The amount of the transaction. A positive whole number ranging from 1 to 10000000 (Ten Million).
DATE The date when the transaction took place on. ddMMyyyy format, e.g. 29102022.
DESCRIPTION More information regarding the transaction. Any word without any spacing.
ENTRY A list entry value for the transaction. A positive whole number ranging from 1 to 1000000.
MONTH The month which the transaction falls on. A positive whole number ranging from 1 to 12, where 1 represents January.
<!> MONTH parameter must be used together with the YEAR parameter.
YEAR The year which the transaction falls on. A positive whole number ranging from 0 to 9999, where 0 represents Year 0.
PERIOD The period which the transaction falls on. days, weeks or months.
<!> PERIOD parameter must be used together with the NUMBER parameter.
NUMBER The last N number of days, weeks or months. A positive whole number ranging from 1 to 100.
<!> NUMBER parameter must be used together with the PERIOD parameter.
KEYWORD A case-insensitive word that matches the partial or full description of a transaction entry. Any word without any spacing.
BUDGET An estimate of expense for every month. A positive whole number ranging from 1 to 10^13 (Ten Trillion).

Written by: Yong Chin Han

8. FAQ

Q: Why does running the command java -jar duke.jar in the command prompt or terminal not open up the application?

Q: How do I view commands while the app is running?

Q: Can I directly input values into the duke.txt file?

Q: What should I do if most of my transactions are incorrect?

Q: What is the purpose of using the different statistics commands?

Written by: Paul Low