Z88 Tabs on time

Keeping track of your tasks made easy by Ian Summers Volume 6 Number 12 February 1989 MICRO USER - Page 53 IF you're lucky enough to use a Z88 you will probably be wondering how you ever managed without it. The diary is a very useful utility for logging time spent on various activities, but it doesn't automatically include time of day - and adding everything up when a project is finished is a real chore. But the Z88 has an internal clock and you can easily have a Basic program running while you're working on something else - hence the Logger. This simple utility can be used to keep a close track of time spent on a large number of different projects - it never stops running and its data is kept saved in a file so the information is not lost even with a soft reset. Download Logger from here and transfer it across to your Z88. Type RUN and you never need to stop it because all its functions are available from the main menu and the Z88 index can be accessed as normal by pressing [] I. To use Logger just decide what project or application you are going to work on next and also the activity within that application, and enter this information at the prompts - the date and time are taken care of automatically. If you change your mind halfway through, enter END at either the application or activity prompt. Whenever you want to take a break from logging press B at the main menu. Also, the last few entries can be edited by pressing E. This is very useful if you forget to tell Logger that you're taking a break for lunch, for example. You simply press B when you get back and edit the time to when you actually started your break. The log file can be cleared by pressing C, and press Escape to change the log file. Entering END at the new file prompt will make the program stop. The option to print the log is activated by P. This creates a file for you to load in to PipeDream for printing later - for long logs this may take a few minutes. Be patient and you will be provided with a document with the same file name as the log but ending in an L. When you request a print of the log all the entries are grouped together according to the application name that you have given them. Line 60 contains several variables that you may want to modify. If there are insufficient applications try increasing mx. The device and directory where the log files are stored can be changed from the default :RAM.0/ by changing the value of Dr$. As the program stands all entries that begin after 6:30 pm will be flagged with a ^ as possible overtime. By altering the values of O and O$ it is possible to change both the time and the symbol.

An example log                       Application (all activities of the same application grouped)   Hours and minutes taken to accomplish activity (Ones marked ^ were started after 18:30 hours. Entries of less than a minute are not printed)         Log of file: TESTLOG       Friday 29th July 1988            17:24  LOGGER  1:28 WRITING DRAFT ARTICLE        19:22  LOGGER  0:02^ PRINTING DRAFT        19:24  LOGGER  0:28^ READING AND MARKING CORRECTIONS   START TIME  19:53  LOGGER  0:22^ TYPING IN CHANGES    20:15  LOGGER  0:10^ FINAL CHECKING ON SCREEN        20:25  LOGGER  0:02^ PRINTING ARTICLE        20:27  LOGGER  0:28^ CREATING PRINT FILE OF LOG        20:30  LOGGER  0:28^ ADDING PRINT FILE OF LOG TO ARTICLE        ARTICLE                  LOGGER    2:38  TOTAL (hrs:mins)                           Total hours for TESTLOG are 2:38

POSSIBLE PITFALLS

Don't call your application anything beginning with an asterisk or it will be ignored. Don't include any commas in filename, application or activity. Any activity that lasts less than a minute will be ignored but the time will be added to the application total. Don't delete the file called Control. If you must tamper with the log file press Escape and specify the same log file - it's not possible to edit any entries that were entered before pressing Escape. LOGGER.BAS or LOGGER.zip Take a look at SEN Diary - another one of Ian Summers's creations.