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Features / Requests: API for developping a time tracking widget linked with ClockingIT ?

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    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2007
     permalink
    Hi,

    I just got into ClockingIT, after a bit of research, looking for a free web-based solution for project and task planning. This sounds like there are a ton of software to do that, but it is not when you're looking for a good time tracking feature. I love that feature in Clocking IT!

    Moreover, I love the whole software and i think the developer(s) is(are) doing a great job!! :)

    However, i am looking for a dashbord OSX widget to track my time easily on the different tasks, without the need of opening a new tab in firefox each time, or keeping Clocking IT open. Is there an existing software that allows me to do that? Is there a web-based window that can be dedicated to this Clocking IT feature (like a window with just a select box with projects and tasks, and a start/stop button for time tracking) ?

    If not, i would gladly have a try to develop such a feature.. is there an API or a way to template Clocking IT ? In fact, it is not a new feature, it is more about design - a simple page with only tasks, maybe with automatic time stop/start upon selection.

    There is a OSX widget that can handle a web page (URL) and display it as a widget in the dashbord, maybe it is the easyiest way to achieve this.

    Thinking about a more advanced feature, we could use google gears to get this working offline also, to track time even without internet connection... why not ;)

    Thanks for your attention

    Aurélien

    PS : sorry if my english is not that good, im from France ;)
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2007
     permalink
    First off, thanks for the praise, I really appreciate it. And it's just me coding this thing, so I can only work on one feature at a time. :-)

    I've somewhat started on an API, but it stalled as I've always had to tweak / change other more important things. I did this as I toyed a bit with a Python/gtk tray applet which was supposed to let you track time without having to keep the browser up all the time. It could also notify you of events via system notifications integrated into your OS instead of trying to grab your attention on a webpage you've probably minimized. I didn't get horribly far, but I was able to list out my projects at least, and build a right-click menu for selection of tasks.

    I'm probably more geared towards a small simple window with a list of tasks and some basic filtering / sorting, as well as a simple way to start and stop (and pause later on) the timer. I don't view myself as much of a designer, so if you (or anyone else) want to have a go at creating a mockup of how this could look, feel free. Once that's in place, it shouldn't take too long to implement.

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2007
     permalink
    This is great! I will definitely try to make a mockup this week end. By design you mean web design? I assume you need a pair of html / css template to put the relevant project/task data into?
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2007
     permalink
    I can make most html / css myself, so a jpeg would do fine.

    It's not the most advanced page, so might as well keep it simple. :-)

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2007
     permalink
    Hum... i dont really know if i need to do a jpeg.. :) you say indeed it is a very simple page. Here is how i see it :

    ----------------
    [Select a project]
    [Select a task (in current milestone only?)]
    icon
    ----------------

    Other possibility :
    ----------------
    [Select a project]
    [Select a milestone]
    #1 task line <--- task line with the already existing start/stop button
    #2 task line
    ...
    #n task line
    ----------------

    Does it look like ok?

    Do you think it is easy to implement? I think the "onchange" trigger of the project box should stop any running timer. The "onchange" select box should stop any running timer and start the new task timer automatically. (except if user selects "Select a task")

    Well... it seems that all features already exist... it is just a matter of making a little standalone timer (and thus "widgetable") page :)

    If you think it is easy to implement, it would add a great utility to the whole application : for the everyday use on the desktop (i am thinking of osx and vista browser encapsulator widgets)

    Well, i dont know if i can do anything to help... just tell me

    Aurélien
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2007
     permalink
    I'll give it a shot and see how it works out.

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2007
     permalink
    Ok let me know if you need feedback!

    I can take care of adding proper documentation in the wiki for setting up this widget with OSX, Yahoo Widgets and Vista.

    BTW, a cool feature woul be a javascript timer, on top of the page, wich would display current time spent vs estimated task time. I dont personnaly need it, but i did see it on most other real time trackers so i assume its a good feature :)

    Thanks again for your attention!

    Aurélien
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2007
     permalink
    I'll let you know when I have something to try. Probably going to be a few days, as I've been working on the new chat non-stop the last week, and need to get out of 'chat-mode'. :-)

    (Thanks for the note about the total/estimate time counter, never used any other time-tracking product so I've added it and we'll see how it works out.)

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthorjtkornel
    • CommentTimeNov 26th 2007
     permalink
    That was a very good idea, looking forward to trying it out.

    If we have an API in place, we might do other interesting integrations too, like an Eclipse-plugin, that would be neat.
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 26th 2007 edited
     permalink
    Nice work with the new chat system!

    About the widget page, i thought about another thing : on the bottom of displayed tasks, why not display a quickadd form with just the title of the task to type, and a "create" button.

    I had this idea when figuring how I would use this window : when dealing with a project, there are always new tasks / bugs which show up anytime of the work. The tracker is already setup on the active project/milestone, so we just need a description for a new task.

    The goal of this tracker, IMHO, is to get work done for, let's say, a whole day, without having to log in the application, and traking any task I will have been working on.

    Here the ugly mockup :)

    --------------------------------
    (timer)(etw)
    [customer/project select box]
    [milestone select box]
    #1 task
    #2 task
    ...
    #n task
    [New task description](create)
    ---------------------------------

    Notes :
    Line 1 : A big font javascript timer showing the timer running, and a small font estimated time of work
    Line 2 : Project select box (maybe the customer ID could be in the URL if needed, for people working on a lot of projects with lots of customers, so there are one widget page for each client?)
    Line 3 to n+2 : tasks within the selected project/milestone
    Line n+3 : quickadd a task in the selected project/milestone

    Any suggestion welcome :)

    Thanks

    Aurélien
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2007
     permalink
    Here is the mockup image i came up with some copy/paste :)

    Mockup
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2007
     permalink
    Wow, and here it is in a OSX "safari widget"... too bad it is just an image ;-)

    OSX ClockingIt Time Tracker
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2007
     permalink
    Looks great! I've somewhat started on this, but it'll take a little while to get the custom functionality in place.

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthorgabriel
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2007
     permalink
    This is awesome. This will be great in widget form. I think that it would be really, really useful to be able to add new projects just as easily as new tasks. It could just be another field right above or below the "New task + Enter" field that's mocked up here.

    I start new projects a lot, some of them go places, others don't, but it's annoying to have to wait for a separate page to load to type in the name of a new project.

    Thanks for all your hard work on this.
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2007
     permalink
    Timer Window

    Hopefully getting it deployed this weekend.

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthoraurelien
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2007
     permalink
    Cool !! It looks great !!

    Aurelien
    • CommentAuthorjtkornel
    • CommentTimeJan 21st 2008
     permalink
    I tried this on iPod touch (with the january 2008 software) and it works, but it opens in a logical window which is much larger than the physical window, so I have to zoom and scroll to use it. It does not seem like javascript in the link works, maybe there is another way to enforce the width in pixels?

    Otherwise it looks really nice, and is a useful tool!
  18.  permalink
    This looks great. Any intentions on making a windows "tray-icon'ed" version of this?

    I've been using clockingit for a while now and it's the best tool I've seen, but the lack of a messenger style interface creates some usage resistance. The ability to have a wee-icon on my tray, where I can click just to switch task, start/pause, and launch the site would kick ass.
    • CommentAuthorfred
    • CommentTimeMar 7th 2008
     permalink
    a OSX widget would be really awesome.
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeMar 8th 2008
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    hcervantes: You could possibly try and put it in a Bubbles style application? Shouldn't really be too hard, but as I don't run windows, I can't really test it. :-)

    fred: No idea how to create OSX widgets, as I don't run that either. ;-)

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthorland0
    • CommentTimeMar 9th 2008 edited
     permalink
    but as I don't run windows, I can't really test it. :-)

    fred: No idea how to create OSX widgets, as I don't run that either. ;-)


    So basically what you are saying is that you have virtually 0 downtime and you get to experience complete freedom from lock in? :D

    Me too. :) Shhh don't tell. ;)
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2008
     permalink
    http://ajaxian.com/archives/mozilla-prism-update-makes-it-easy-to-create-wrappers - might be usable as well.

    -- erlend
    • CommentAuthorhcervantes
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2008
     permalink
    erlend: Thanks for the bubbles tip. I've installed it and it's doing a great job.

    For who's interested: I've also found a great Firefox plugin, MinimizeToTray, that allows you to click on the minimize button with the right button, and this minimizes the window to a tray icon. This also works great with the timer window.

    personally, i'm going for bubbles, since it runs automatically on startup, but I think both of these can really make a difference when it comes to making your team keep using this app
    • CommentAuthorphilooo
    • CommentTimeApr 2nd 2008
     permalink
    Where can we download this widget :)
    It would really nice to have someone making a Windows version... I just discovered ClockIT and Ithink it gots all I need.

    My 2 cents: there could be a little bit more Ajax to add more quickly things and move tasks around a bit more. like dragging tasks under another to create an automated 'dependency'... things like that.
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008
     permalink
    What widget? The only widget I know of is the one I added for iGoogle, which you can add from your Overview page.

    I've tried drag and drop task sorting, and it's fine for just a couple of tasks but any more renders the browser pretty unusable. :-(

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthorjoe.maffia
    • CommentTimeMay 16th 2008
     permalink
    Well indeed an API will be great... in the meantime I just did an AIR application like the "timer window".

    Look and work pretty well in Windows, Mac and Linux :)
    • CommentAuthoradmin
    • CommentTimeMay 16th 2008
     permalink
    Do you have a screenshot you can mail me at admin@clockingit.com? Or post on the net somewhere? Application available for other users?

    I wanna seee! :-)

    -- Erlend
    • CommentAuthordarkpollo
    • CommentTimeMay 19th 2008
     permalink
    :)
    Thanks Joe, can we try it? :D
    • CommentAuthormichael
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2008
     permalink
    Hey Joe would ya mind posting a link to the AIR app you made? :)
    • CommentAuthoridonny
    • CommentTimeAug 19th 2008
     permalink
    You can use Mozilla Prism to create a desktop (similar to Air and the other Mac OS App I cannot recall) to catch the URL of the time widget and run it as a standalone web widget in your app tray

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