Time Log Documentation
----------------------

Time Log is a simple OPL application I cobbled together for
myself, so it was never intended to make anyone else happy.
It just seems that several other people were interested in
tracking their time with the S3, so I figured I'd send it
up.

A Note for S3 Users:

I originally wrote this program on the S3, so there's not
much that's S3a specific. Mainly just the application type
and the screen dimensions. If you really want to run it,
you should be able to chop it so it would.

What the program does:

Time Log basically lets you "stamp" your time as the day
goes by. As you change projects, you stamp the time clock
again, and Time Log keeps track of what you stamped and
when. At the end of the week, Time Log generates a simple
report that shows you by day how many hours you spent on
what. Simple, eh?

Installing the Program:

Time Log looks for a couple of files in a directory named
\TLO\ on the internal drive (this is good since you'll
probably flush this file every week, and it sorts every
time you report). The code won't make the directory, so you
probably want to add this before you run it. It will,
however, build its own data files if it doesn't find them,
so all you have to do is build the directory.

You can install the OPA file in any \APP\ directory you
choose.

If you plan to translate or chop the source code, you'll
want to install the icon file as well. It's called
TIME_LOG.PIC (it's an S3a icon... sorry S3 users).  The
source wants to see it in the \ICN\ directory on the
default drive (wherever you're translating), so make sure
it's there or alter the code to look in the right place.

Once you have all the files in the right place, use Psion-I
to install the application on the system screen.

Using the Program:

Time Log uses two data files: One contains project names
and the other contains time stamp data. You should set up
at least one project to apply your time to, but I bet
you'll set up more than that.

There's one special project named "Non-Project." If you
include this project name, hours assigned to it will not
show up on the report. This is important if you don't want
to report on your lunch, sleeping hours, or time spent in
the restroom (for some this may be important, but for me it
isn't). I always think of stamping this project as
"punching out."

You'll find all of the other features on the menu. You can
also access them using straight letter keys or Psion-key
combinations. In a nutshell, they go like this:

         E Enter new projects
         U Update existing projects
         D Delete existing projects (This just removes the
           master project record. It won't delete any time
           stamps you already have against it.)
ENTER or T New time stamp
         K Clear time stamp database
         C Countdown timer
         W Weekly report
         X Exit

Limitations:

This program is designed as a WEEKLY time tracking system.
I dump the file every Friday after I get my time into the
company time tracking system. You can do it any way you
want, but the report only totals by days of the week, so
you'll have to modify that if you want to do it differently.

The countdown timer lets you set an alarm some number of
minutes in the future with whatever message you want (I do
the "I'll just do this for 10 minutes and then go on to
something else" trick on myself to get pesky projects
started). It works, but it freezes the Time Log program
until the alarm goes off (if anyone with the SDK or docs
wants to tell me how to fix this, I'd love to hear it).

The project list must be read into a string to allow the
lookup routine to work, so if your list is longer than 256
characters in all, something is going to get chopped off.

Disclaimers:

I didn't do anything fancy with this program at all. It
doesn't check for files on all drives or anything like
that, and the countdown timer is a sloppy, last-minute hack.
If you have any ideas, hints, or suggestions, please pass
them along, but I won't promise to act on them.

Since I don't expect anyone to be impressed, I don't expect
anyone to pay for this (just the same, if you were to mail
me a check for some amount of dollars, I certainly wouldn't
send it back). If you can get some use out of this program,
more power to you. That's what the S3a is all about anyway.

Send any remarks, beefs, complaints, spare change, loose
women, good jokes, folding money, or back issues of WiReD
Magazine to:

Brian Wilson
921 St. Croix Court
Orlando, FL  32835
Compuserve 71371,1415
Internet   p01107@psi.com