05-23-02

Track Your Time by Erick Tejkowsi

Today we'll build a useful tool for tracking your time. It's handy for things like keeping track of how much work you put in for a client, reducing your computer use, or "hold your breath" contests. Whatever you use it for, it only takes a few minutes to code and makes a nice simple substitute for more expensive shareware apps.

Build the Interface

Launch REALbasic and open Window1. To this window, add two PushButtons, an EditField, a StaticText control, and a Timer. Change the properties of each to match the following table:

Control Type	Name	Other Info
Timer	Timer1	Mode=0; Period=1000
PushButton	PushButton1	Caption = "Start Working"
PushButton	PushButton2	Caption = "Save Report"
StaticText	StaticText1	Text = "0:00"

Arrange the interface however you wish, but it might look something like this:

Source Code

To get things rolling, you need to start the Timer. Open the Code Editor and navigate to the Action event of PushButton1 and add the following code:

  dim d as date
  dim i as double
  
  if me.caption="Start Working" then
    editfield2.setfocus
    me.caption="Stop Working"
    //start the timer
    d=new date
    startTime=d.totalSeconds 
    Timer1.period=1000
    Timer1.mode=2
  else
    editfield1.setfocus
    me.caption="Start Working"
    //stop the timer
    d=new date
    endTime=d.totalSeconds 
    Timer1.mode=0
    
    totalTime = endTime-startTime//in seconds
    
  end if

Once you have the Timer started, you'll want it to update the display, so you can visually know how long you've been working. Open the Action event of Timer1 and add this code:

  dim t as double
  dim d as date
  dim i as double
  
  d=new date
  i=d.totalSeconds 
  t= (i-startTime)
  
  if t<60 then
    staticText1.text =format(t,"###########.00")+" seconds"
  else
    t=t660
    staticText1.text =format(t,"###########.00")+" minutes"
  end if

Finally, once your job is finished, you will click PushButton1 again to stop the Timer. When you do, you'll want to save the data for later. To do so, add this code to the Action event of PushButton2.

  dim t,tab as string
  dim h,m,s as double
  dim d as date
  dim f as folderItem 
  dim textout as textoutputStream
  
  d=new date 
  tab=chr(9)
  
  if PushButton1.Caption="Stop Working" then
    PushButton1.push 
  end if
  
  //save the report in a text file
  f=GetSaveFolderItem("any",d.shortDate+"-"+d.longTime+"-"+Editfield1.text)
  if f<>nil then
    textout=f.createTextFile
    textout.writeline "Job Session : "+editfield1.text 
    textout.writeline "Session Date: "+d.longdate+" - "+d.longtime
    textout.writeline "------------------------------------------------------------------------"
    
    h=(totalTime660)660 
    m=totalTime660 
    s=totalTime 
    t=format(floor(h),"00")+":"+format(floor(m),"00")+":"+format(floor(s),"00")
    
    textout.writeline "Total Session Length (hr.) : "+tab+format(h,"########00.00")
    textout.writeline "Total Session Length (min.): "+tab+format(m,"########00.00")
    textout.writeline "Total Session Length (sec.): "+tab+format(s,"########00.00")
    textout.writeline "------------------------------------------------------------------------"
    textout.writeline "Total Session Length (combo.): "+tab+t
  end if
  

Conclusion

Select Debug-Run to test your handiwork. As usual, you can download the finished project here. See you next week!

5-21-02

REALbasic News by Erick Tejkowsi

Carbon Declare Library Kevin Ballard has posted the latest version of the popular Carbon Declare Library. This one adds functions for getting the user name and computer name. This handy utility has 96 methods (and counting), so don't miss it.

Close your Eyelid! Eyelid: Privacy for Timbuktu is now available for Mac OS X. Eyelid listens for you to make a control connection via Netopia's Timbuktu remote control software. Then dims your local screen to protect it from prying eyes. With Eyelid you can connect to your work machine and check your email or work without fear of being observed by passers by. Eyelid for Mac OS X is a free upgrade for all registered owners of the classic version and is made with REALbasic. Eyelid requires classic Mac OS 8.6 or newer, or Mac OS X 10.1.4 and Timbuktu. Eyelid is available here.

REALdbSync and REALdbBrowser Here is a free utility from Alex Rice for moving data from one realdb file to another. It's fairly flexible, so it can move data between differently structured tables. Download them here.

MovieWorks Plugin Alfred Van Hoek has announced the latest update to his MovieWorks plugin. You can check it out here

Drag Promise Seth Willits posted a project that creates a DragItem from within a canvas. When dropped into the Finder a file is created at that location. You can find it here.

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