TimeTracker


Time Tracker

Download and Screenshots	User Manual	Version History

What is new?

TT hasn't been updated in a while, this is due to the fact that I am working
on a new project. As soon as it is complete I will look at all the feature 
requests for a new version of TT. (14 May 2008)


4.4.0 - (13 Sep. 2007 ) Fixed bug with system date format when calculating
                        current week uptime.
                        Fixed bug which allowed task nodes to be dragged.
                        Fixed bug where time part in the tree view was also
                        dragged.

What is it?

TimeTracker (TT) is a PC activity monitor for Windows.

Ever spent the day in front of your PC, only to wonder at 5pm what you did that
day? TT will tell you.

TT will sit in your system tray and check every second which window is currently
active on your desktop. The active window is the one you are currently typing or
clicking in, and should be an accurate estimate of what you are working on.
TT captures the window caption from the title bar and tracks the active time for
that window.

TT also allows the traditional feature of manual timers, you may enter your own
task name and either double click (or use Space or Enter) to start/stop the task
timer.

The main aim of TT is though to be a time tracking tool that requires very little
little user intervention. Who wants to do the boring work of timesheets? Rules
allow TT to be able to tell which window activity belongs to which user task.
Rules can be one or more partial window captions or file names, when any one
of these conditions are met TT will start the task timer. When the conditions
cease, TT will stop the task timer.

The window and task active times can be saved to CSV (comma separated value)
files.

TT was designed to use very little computer resources, especially when running
minimized.

TT does not need to be installed, simply run the exe file.

The main functions of TT are available in a popup menu, right click anywhere in
the window or on the system tray icon to display the popup menu.

What it is not?

TT does not capture keystrokes or mouse clicks.
TT does not use the Internet.
TT does not use the Windows registry and will run from any USB flash disk.

What does it run on?

TT was tested under Windows 98, XP and Vista. It should also run under 95 and
2000.

Settings

The application settings are stored in the 'TimeTracker.ini' file. The options
that can be changed are:

TransparencyPercentage=30    ;Sets the see-through % of the main window
                              (XP only)
FilterView=0                 ;Same as the Filter Windows popup menu item
FilterCutoffSeconds=120      ;When a window is active for less than this value
                              it is not displayed in the list
ListRefreshRateSeconds=1     ;When TT is not minimzed, this is the update rate 
                              of the displayed list
AlwaysOnTop=0                ;Same as the Always On Top popup menu item
IdleCutoffSeconds=60         ;The value where no mouse or keyboard input is 
                              considered to be idle state
IgnoreWindowCaptions=0       ;Only capture process file names
PromptWhenClosing=1          ;Remove the "Save List" dialog box when closing 
                              the application
SaveTasksOnly=0              ;Same as the "Save Tasks Only" popup menu item.
AutoSave=0                   ;Same as the "Auto Save" popup menu item. 
                              Automatically saves the list when the application 
                              is closed.
ListGridLines=1              ;Turn on/off grid lines in the list view.
UptimeSave=1                 ;Automatically saves the uptime value.
SaveHourFractions=0          ;In addition to time saved as hh:mm:ss, it is
                              also saved in fractions of hours.
LockStationAfterIdleSeconds=0;Same as Ctrl+Alt+Delete and "Lock Workstation".
                              0 disables, higher than 10s enables.
                              (2000, NT, XP, Vista)

To enable a setting use '1', to disable use '0'.

Rule file format

Rules are stored in txt files with this format:

Taskname="Window Caption1", "Window Caption2", "Window Caption3", "File name"

The window captions and file names are case-sensitive. They are considered to be
fragments, if the caption or file name forms part of any active window caption or
its owner file name then the rule conditions are satisfied.

To add a rule, select "Add Rule" from the popup menu.

Hints and Tips

Place TT in your Windows Startup folder to launch whenever Windows boots.

To hide all window captions, set the FilterCutoffSeconds value very high.

The keyboard can be used to edit tasks. "+", "Insert" to add a task, "-",
"Del" to remove a task.

Use OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel to import the CSV file.

If the amount of windows in the list at the end of the day is staggering,
try to use the IgnoreWindowCaptions option. This will ignore the caption
in the window title bar and only record the owner file name of that window.

Click on a column header to sort that column.

Under Windows Vista do not place the .exe under the 'Program Files' folder.
Vista uses folder virtualization to prevent file updates in that folder.
This affects the 'Uptime.csv' file.

Do NOT show TT to your boss! :-)

THE END