Project Time Track

For Delphi and Visual Basic

Release 2.0


Thanks for trying PTT. Comments, suggestions and bug reports are welcome.

http://www.optimasw.cjb.net
E-mail: support@optimasw.cjb.net

Copyright (c) 1998-1999 Optima Software Ltd.

Last update: 07 Nov 1999.


Introduction

PTT - Project Time Track is a wizard (addin) that keeps track automatically of your work on projects. It is useful for programmers who bills for time on projects or just wants a simple solution for keeping track of work time.

The information on the projects can be grouped (by project, session, username, day, week and month) and sorted (by project, session, username, day, week, month, total time, work time and idle time).

There are versions of PTT for Delphi 4 and 5, Visual Basic 6, and shortly for C++ Builder 4 and Visual C++ 6.

How It Works

PTT monitors all your activities while you are working on IDE. Some activities monitored are opening and closing projects, compiling, source code and form changes.

Handling these information PTT controls AUTOMATICALLY, for each work session, the opening and closing date/time, the total open time, the idle time, and the effective work time.

PTT creates a new file (extension .PTT) for each project to save the persistent historic information. If, for any reason this file is deleted, PTT creates another, however all project historic information is lost.

Feature List

How to Install - Delphi Version

PTT is provided as a zipped file. Upon unzipping, it generates a local directories containing all necessaries files for installing both : Delphi4, and Delphi5, each of which contains the pertinent files for installation to the proper version of Delphi. Another local directory Doc is generated that includes the documentation files.

Using the install program

  1. Unzip the PTT file to directory of your choice.
  2. Execute the installer corresponding to the proper version of Delphi ("InstallD4.exe" for Delphi 4 or "InstallD5.exe" for Delphi 5).
  3. For installation to be complete Delphi needs to be re-initialized.

Manual installation

  1. Unzip the PTT file to directory of your choice.
  2. Choose Menu: Component|Install Component.
  3. Press button "Add" in the Install Components dialog box.
  4. Press the "Browse" button to find file TTExpert40.bpl (or TTExpert50.bpl if you have Delphi 5). Then press the OK button and PTT has been installed.

After installation, PTT adds the menu item "Project Time Track" to menu "View", and starts to keep track of your work on yours projects.

Packages Dependencies

TTExpert40.bpl uses vcl40.bpl and vclsmp40.bpl packages.
TTExpert50.bpl uses vcl50.bpl and vclsmp50.bpl packages.

How to Install - Visual Basic Version

PTT is provided as a zipped file. Upon unzipping, it generates one local directory: VB6, which contain the pertinent files for installation. Another local directory Doc is generated that includes the documentation files.

Using the install program

  1. Unzip the PTT file to directory of your choice.
  2. Execute the installer "InstallVB6.exe".
  3. For installation to be complete VB needs to be re-initialized.

Manual installation

  1. Unzip the PTT file to directory of your choice.
  2. Use a utility such as Regsvr32.exe to register PTT ActiveX components (PTTAddIn.dll and PTTLib.dll) on your system.
  3. Include the line "PTTAddIn.PTTAddInClass=3 " in the [Add-Ins32] section of the Vbaddin.ini file located on WINDOWS directory.
  4. For installation to be complete VB needs to be re-initialized.

After installation, PTT adds the menu item "Project Time Track" to menu "View", and starts to keep track of your work on yours projects.

How to Use

PTT can be operated in two different modes: IDE project group driven or IDE project group independent.

When PTT Dialog is shown from IDE and there is at least one open project, it is not allowed to open existing PTT files. In other words, PTT is being commanded by IDE, therefore the projects that are open in your IDE are the ones that are being controlled by PTT and appear in PTT Dialog.

However, if PTT Dialog is shown from IDE and there are NOT open projects, it’s allowed to open and/or close existing PTT files. Actually this operation mode is similar to PTTViewer, except for the fact that username can be changed in this mode and can’t in PTTViewer.

PTT can also be accessed through the PTTViewer utility. PTTViewer allows opening the PTT files from outside IDE. Besides it allows projects data be analyzed in project groups different from the project groups defined in its respective IDE. This can be made even among project data of different tools. For example, it is possible to analyze the data of a project of VB jointly with another of Delphi 4. In this case, of course, you need to have both versions of PTT.

Username Mechanism

To each work session in a project is associated an username. This username can be defined during the initialization of the IDE, when PTT shows a username dialog box. The username can defined through Tools Tab on PTT interface.

PTT always suggests the user currently logged onto the system. If there is not a user currently logged then the user "anonymous" will be considered. The startup dialog can be disabled, and if you do this PTT will consider then user currently logged onto the system. The last used usernames are stored to facilitate its choice.

NOTE: PTT just controls the username for effect of work session documentation, there is not any association between PTT and windows 9x or NT security.

Activity Detection (differences between VB and Delphi)

Due to a difference among Visual Basic and Delphi environments, PTT also has a basic behavior difference.

This difference refers to the form as PTT treats files that are open in IDE but are not formally associated to an open project, or are associated the more than an open project. The problem is that PTT needs to know for which project the activities detected in these files will be attributed. See below the policy adopted for each environment:

Visual Basic

File not associated to an open project:

This option doesn't happen in the VB6; therefore it is not a problem.

File associated the more than an open project:

The VB6 is also well behaved on this situation. The VB Addin API allows PTT to know to which project the file being used refers.

Delphi

File not associated to an open project:

If an activity is detected in a file in this situation, it will be attributed to the active project, in case there is one.

File associated the more than an open project:

In this case, if the file belongs to active project the activity will be attributed to this one, in other case, the activity will be attributed to all projects that own the file.

Limitations

PTT is not able to work with projects that are in some specific directories. The directory depends on the environment:

Visual Basic

All the directories below the Template directory, defined in the edit box "Template Directory" of the dialog Tools|Options|Environment

Delphi 4

All the directories below the Windows directory.

Delphi 5

All the directories below the Projects directory in the Delphi installation directory.

Registration

PTT is distributed as an unregistered trial version. Unregistered versions are limited to 10 work sessions. When a new session is added, the first one is lost to conform to limitation.

Registering entitles you to receive e-mail technical support and get free updates and fixes for a year.

Go to http://www.optimasw.cjb.net for actual price and registering information.

If you would like to register PTT for Delphi 4 and 5, you can enter the registration online on the Internet at http://shareit1.element5.com/programs.html?productid=107125. Alternatively, you can go to http://www.shareit.com and enter the program number there: 107125.

If you would like to register PTT for Visual Basic 6, you can enter the registration online on the Internet at http://shareit1.element5.com/programs.html?productid=130140. Alternatively, you can go to http://www.shareit.com and enter the program number there: 130140.

If you do not have access to the Internet, you can register via phone, fax or postal mail. Please print out this form, and fax or mail it to:

ShareIt!
element 5 AG
Sachsenring 69
50677 Koeln
Germany

Phone: +49-221-2407279
Fax: +49-221-2407278

E-Mail: register@shareit.com

US and Canadian customers may also order by calling 1-800-903-4152. (Orders only please! We cannot provide any technical information about the program.)

US check and cash orders can be sent to our US office at:

ShareIt! Inc.
PO Box 844
Greensburg, PA 15601-0844
USA

Tel. 724-850-8186
Fax. 724-850-8187

Disclaimer

THIS SOFTWARE IS INTENDED TO USE AS IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. ANY DAMAGE FROM MODIFYING AND USING THIS VERSION IS NOT OPTIMA RESPONSIBILITY.

BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS SOFTWARE MAY BE USED, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.