Hello,

I would love to have a simple stopwatch counter for timing my work. I'm aware of KTimeTracker and Timoid, but none really have the features I want. Here is what I'm looking for:

-Exactly the 'Timer' plasma applet, but counts up instead
-Have a button I can press to pause/resume the timer (aka: assign a certain keyboard button to pause/resume stopwatch)

I would think this would be very easy! I like how the timer Applet works - how it can be in the panel at the bottom, and I can see the current time and that it is counting. With KTimeTracker I can forget to pause/resume the timer if I'm doing something else temporarily. Timoid doesn't seem to count reliably for long times.

And if you could provide me with whatever I need to install it, be some quick build instructions or a binary that would be great.

If your applet works I'll PayPal you $20 as an incentive for the feature request. Only one person though please, so maybe if you are going to do it post a message so someone else doesn't waste their time! I don't want to own the code, commit it to KDE or whatever. The $20 is purely an incentive.

Thanks,

-Colin

PS: I'm using FC12 on a 64-bit machine

Hey,

I've done once almost exactly what you need. Simple stopwatch counter with start/stop button, starting counting from 0 every month. It's not a plasmoid, just a pure Qt4 app, but I can make it a plasmoid quite simply.

Let me know the details about your requirements if you're interested

See ya,
mck182

Cool - that works too! If I can put it on top of everything that is just as good really. The real 'requirement' is that I can make the time always visible (be through the panel, or just always on top).

What I am using in Windows looks like this (in case inline doesn't work:http://i763.photobucket.com/albums/xx279/encrypted99999/windows_stopwatch.png) :


Out of the way, no extra stuff! That is key because I don't want buttons or anything else on my screen all the time.

If you had a screenshot, feel free to use my fake photobucket account (user/pass = encrypted99999/stone1).

-Colin

Yeah I had something pretty much the same, it just had one button under the clock to pause/resume the stopwatch. It also had a tray icon with some additional controls.

But I've got it at home, so I'll send you the screenshot when I get home in the evening.

So how do you wish to temporarily pause the counter? I could make it pause for example just by clicking on it and then resume with another click.

mck182

Sure - click works. Ideally I was hoping I could also assign a key-stroke to it.

As an example the current one has the multimedia 'Pause/Play' button assigned to pause/resume the counter.

coflynn wrote:Sure - click works. Ideally I was hoping I could also assign a key-stroke to it.

As an example the current one has the multimedia 'Pause/Play' button assigned to pause/resume the counter.

Shouldn't be a problem, I'll make you a shortcut chooser option, so you can set it to whatever key(s) you want.

Alright, so I'll make it as an always-on-top borderless window with systray icon, so you can control it (hide temporarily, show back, enable/disable always-on-top, pause/resume, quit - these things are already implemented, but if you don't want it, just say and I'll take them out . Is that alright?

And now the counting part. Should it set itself to zero like every 1st day in month or do you want it to just count up and up and have a possibility to reset it manually (via systray menu)? And if it should reset itself every now and then, do you want to also have a history present for viewing?

That should be all I need to know...I guess you can have it by tomorrow evening

mck182

I modified the Timer plasmoid to count up. Here you go.

It doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, so mck182's will probably be better when he finishes it.

@Alec

Cool, thanks! I've seen other requests for the same thing, so if it really is that easy I'm sure other people would like to see it commited. But since I said to mck182 I'd do it I've got to go with him sorry!

> do you want it to just count up and up and have a possibility to reset it
> manually (via systray menu)?

Yeah thats all I need, sounds perfect!

Regards,

-Colin

But since I said to mck182 I'd do it I've got to go with him sorry!

Thanks

Finally got home and here you go with the screenshot:

Here you see it with the systray icon (it uses ktimer icon) and opened control menu.

I'm working on that keyboard shortcuts part right now, but otherwise it's all working already. One last question: Do you want it to save the time when you close the counter so it can continue where it stopped when it's run again?

Sure - if it's not too much problem!

Regards,

-Colin

PS: Were you going to release the source? If not we can move this to e-mail, but otherwise keep it public.

coflynn wrote:@Alec

Cool, thanks! I've seen other requests for the same thing, so if it really is that easy I'm sure other people would like to see it commited. But since I said to mck182 I'd do it I've got to go with him sorry!

No problem, I did it because I thought it would be useful for me

coflynn wrote:Were you going to release the source? If not we can move this to e-mail, but otherwise keep it public.

I was thinking about releasing it maybe on kde-apps.org. But in fact, I guess this is up to you as you're paying for the code, so if publishing feels unfair to you, I'll keep the code private, no problem at all. However I would definitely move the payment details etc. to email.

Anyway, got it mostly finished. As you don't have email filled in your profile, drop me a PM with your address and I'll send you the code with details on building.

Cheers
mck182

Hello,

No please, do release it! The $20 was an incentive to get someone interested quicker than just filing a feature request

But I'd rather see the code release to the public, and don't want to own it. I think other people could find your stop-watch useful!

Will send a PM though.

Regards,

-Colin

coflynn wrote:No please, do release it! I think other people could find your stop-watch useful!

Alright, finally got the time to do the the necessary modifications needed for releasing and so here it is: http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=117273

You may want to download this newer version, as it now installs itself and also adds a menu entry. Enjoy


Cheers,
mck182