Error message not specific: should be something along the lines of student id already in use rather than the student already exists

[sciphi-123]

Input: add sn/Simon Lim id/A01A pn/John Cena p/81234567 e/johnd@example.com a/312, Clementi Ave 2, #02-29

Expected Output: Something along the lines of the student id already being in use (as the student doesn't exist in the CareBook)

Actual Output: This student already exists in the CareBook.

Screenshot:

Justification for severity label: The lack of a clear indication of the error's exact location significantly hampers the user experience. Vague error messages can lead to unnecessary confusion and delay, as users must go through trial and error to locate the issue. In critical scenarios, this could cause serious disruption to the user’s workflow, leading to mistakes or incomplete data entry.

[nus-pe-script]

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Team's Response

Since the student ID is assigned by the daycare and uniquely identifies a specific student, it only makes sense that the teacher enters a student ID along with the corresponding student name. In this context, it is valid for the app to indicate that the student already exists when a duplicate ID is entered. It would not make sense for the app to allow the same ID to be reused, as each ID is intended to represent a unique individual.

Items for the Tester to Verify

❓ Issue response

Team chose [response.Rejected]

• I disagree

Reason for disagreement: The issue here is with the clarity of the message, as it does not exactly pinpoint where the issue lies.

The message merely states that the student already exists in the CareBook, but from the user's POV, the student's details have not been added yet.

Since there are so many fields (student name, student id, parent name etc), it is difficult to immediately identify which field is causing a failure in the addition.

What would be clearer is to state that the student id is already in use, rather than the student already exists. By highlighting the id field is where the issue lies, it would be much easier to identify the part of the input which is causing the issue, among the many input fields.

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