v0.2

Howly User Guide 🔮

Howly is a local memory-retaining, desktop chatbot app for managing tasks, optimized for use via a Graphic User Interface (GUI). Howly helps you keep track of your daily to-dos, deadlines and events, themed upon Howl's Moving Castle.

• Quick Start
• Features
  • Adding a ToDo: todo
  • Adding a Deadline: deadline
  • Adding an Event: event
  • Marking / Unmarking a task: mark or unmark
  • Updating a Task: update
  • Finding a Task with a specific description: find
  • Finding a Task with a specific date: finddate
  • Adding a ToDo: todo
  • Adding a Deadline: deadline
  • Adding an Event: event
  • Marking / Unmarking a task: mark or unmark
  • Updating a Task: update
  • Finding a Task with a specific description: find
  • Finding a Task with a specific date: finddate
  • Exiting the app: bye
• Command Summary
• FAQ

Quick Start 💻

1. Ensure you have Java 17 or above installed in your Computer.
   Mac users: Ensure you are using an exact Azul JDK version prescribed here.

2. Download the latest .jar file from here.

3. Open a command terminal, cd into the folder you put the jar file in, and use the java -jar howly.jar command to run the application.
   A GUI similar to the below should appear in a few seconds. Note that you'll be greeted by Howly with no tasks stored yet.

   

4. Type the command in the command box and press Enter or click Send to execute it.

5. Some example commands you can try:

   • todo meet friend : Adds a task named meet friend to the task list.
   • list : Lists all tasks.
   • mark 1: marks the task with index 1 with an X.
   • delete 1: deletes the task with index 1 and updates task list.

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

Features 📒

Important

Notes about the command format:

• Words in UPPER_CASE are the parameters to be supplied by the user.
  • e.g. in todo DESCRIPTION, DESCRIPTION is a parameter which can be used as todo eat meal.
• Parameters cannot be in any order.
  • e.g. if the command specifies deadline DESCRIPTION /by YYYY-MM-DD, deadline /by YYYY-MM-DD DESCRIPTION is NOT accepted.

Adding a ToDo: todo

Adds a task with a task name.
Format: todo DESCRIPTION
Example: todo meet friend
Outcome: Adds the todo to your task list. Run list to check!

Adding a Deadline: deadline

Adds a task with a specific deadline date.
Format: deadline DESCRIPTION /by YYYY-MM-DD
Example: deadline return book /by 2026-12-01
Outcome: Adds the deadline to your task list.

Adding an Event: event

Adds a task that occurs during a specific time period.
Format: event DESCRIPTION /from YYYY-MM-DD /to YYYY-MM-DD
Example: event project meeting /from 2026-02-11 /to 2026-02-12
Outcome: Adds the event to your task list.

Marking / Unmarking a task: mark or unmark

Marks or unmarks the task specified by the index.
Format: mark INDEX
Example: mark 1
Outcome: Adds or removes an X in the checkbox of the specified task.

Updating a Task: update

Updates the description of an existing task.
Format: update INDEX NEW_DESCRIPTION
Example: update 1 buy more flowers
Outcome: Changes the description of the first task.

Finding a Task with a specific description: find

Finds and lists all tasks with the description specified after the find command.
Format: find DESCRIPTION
Example: find friend
Outcome: Lists out all tasks with matching description specified.

Finding a Task with a specific date: finddate

Finds and lists all tasks with the date specified after the finddate command.
Format: finddate YYYY-MM-DD
Example: find 2026-01-11
Outcome: Lists out all tasks with matching date specified.

Exiting the app: bye

Displays a bye message and closes the app within a second.
Format: bye
Example: bye
Outcome: Task list is automatically stored for next user session and app closes.

Command Summary ⏩

Action	Format, Examples
Add Todo	todo DESCRIPTION e.g. todo buy bread
Add Deadline	deadline DESCRIPTION /by YYYY-MM-DD e.g. deadline return book /by 2026-12-01
Add Event	event DESCRIPTION /from YYYY-MM-DD /to YYYY-MM-DD e.g. event project meeting /from 2026-02-11 /to 2026-02-12
Mark/Unmark Event	mark INDEX or unmark INDEX e.g. mark 1 or unmark 1
Update	update INDEX NEW_DESCRIPTION e.g. update 1 read chapter 2
Delete	delete INDEX e.g. delete 3
Find	find DESCRIPTION e.g. find book
Find Date	finddate DATE e.g. finddate 2026-01-11
List	list
Exit	bye

FAQ

Q: Is my data still saved if I run the chatbot on another local device?
A: No, data from your current local device is not shared with another device, nor will this data be automatically populated in the storage of the chatbot when you run on another local device. Ensure you copy current content in /data/howly.txt and paste it in the same text file location in your other local device.

Q: Where is the howly.txt file located?
A: The file is automatically created in a folder named data within the same directory where you placed the howly.jar file.

Q: What Java version do I need to run Howly?
A: Ensure you are using an exact Azul JDK version prescribed here. You can check your version by typing java -version in your terminal.

Q: What happens if I accidentally edit the howly.txt file and the app crashes?
A: Howly will attempt to load the file, but if the format is invalid, it may start with an empty list. It is recommended to back up your howly.txt(have the content stored somewhere) before manual editing.

v0.1

A-Jar

Merge branch 'branch-A-Jar' back to master branch