[Plugin] SUClock - v3.1a - 02 Apr 24 - Tracking time in SU

Krisidious

Fredo

I was wondering what the capabilities were for employees. could this be installed on an employee's computer to track his time? and I know it could. but could it be a protected file? how would you know that no one had edited the file for time tracked? if someone sends me their file will it show the clock on it and how much time has been used?

just thinking outloud... and as I have said before, fantastic plugin Fredo...

Ben Ritter

Fredo, thank you. Ben

halroach

For all those times when you worked hard on a model but forgot to track the time you've spent on it... and really wished you had...
You could have a little check in the plugin preferences to 'track time for untitled projects'.
This would generally eliminate all time spent with Sketchup, that is unaccounted for. great for spying too when you think about it...

a step further could be to have an option to rename the untitled time/projects in retrospect and assign that time to an existing or new project.

What do you think?

halroach

Just thought of another use.
At my modeling and rendering department, we generally tend to share the work on models between us. It would be nice to have a worker ID or computer ID which would be assigned for each time track.
Then we could see how much time each of us spent on the same project.

I really like this plugin!

fredo6

@unknownuser said:

Just thought of another use.
At my modeling and rendering department, we generally tend to share the work on models between us. It would be nice to have a worker ID or computer ID which would be assigned for each time track.
Then we could see how much time each of us spent on the same project.

I really like this plugin!

SUClock is not really designed for concurrent multi-user on a network, because it uses local temporary files to track the information.
One possibility is that I give the option to put all files on a shared drive

Another possibility is that each user has his own .suclock files, but I give the option to issue statistics on a several .suclock files. Note however that you can already do this with the Excel exports.

Fredo

COSEDIMARCO

Hi Fredo,
I've two request for future realeses, if possible.

had the opportuny to export statistics in other formats such as HTML or tabbed TXT? I'd like to paste them in my blog posts.
Track usage of all your plugins.

At last, great plugins like all of yours

fredo6

@cosedimarco said:

had the opportuny to export statistics in other formats such as HTML or tabbed TXT? I'd like to paste them in my blog posts.

No problem, this is simple to do.

@cosedimarco said:

Track usage of all your plugins.

SUClock only tracks 'interactive' plugins, that is those based on the Sketchup::Tools class, typically where you can click and do things in the screenport UI.
All my plugins are enabled in their latest version.

By the way, interactive scripts written by other writers can easily be tracked too.
They just need to insert a single line of code in the activate() method of their tool


def activate
   ....
   LibFredo6.register_ruby 'Name of the Plugin' if defined?(LibFredo6.register_ruby)
   ....
end

Fredo

COSEDIMARCO

Ok. Thanks a lot.

SketchUpNoobie

@unknownuser said:

NEW RELEASE: SUCLOCK 1.2a - 03 May 11

Nice! Thanks.

It's June though.

fredo6

NEW RELEASE: SUCLOCK 1.2a - 03 Jun 11

This release adds some functional enhancements and problem fixing based on feedback received from users

Alarm to Target:

The principle is to set a target time and an alarm threshold for the project, so that you are warned when the effective time spent is close and then above the target time.
The clock will indicate visually where you stand in the achievement of your target. Say that you set a target time at 4h, with a threshold of 75%:
Suclock Alarm modes 0.png Suclock Alarm modes.png

Statistics reports:
I included the possibility to generate reports in several formats (I may add more).
Suclock Export Formats.png
HTML is not implemented yet. I need to made changes to LibFredo6, so it will be available in a next release. You can set up the default format in the Default Parameters dialog box.

Cropping of the clock window:
As the exact rendering of the clock window depends from too many settings (Operating system, browser version, etc…), I simply made the height of the clock window a parameter that you can change in the Default Parameters dialog box. Default height is 50 pixels.

Multi-user environment:
If you wish several users to work on the same projects across the network, then you need to configure SUClock with a temporary directory located on a shared drive (as well as the suclock files indeed).
You can set the network path of the temporary directory in the Default Parameters dialog box.
Suclock Temp files.png

Reset projects and Import data from another project:
You can reset a project to Zero. This will erase all data irreversibly.
You can import data from another project into the current project. Optionally, you can then reset to zero this other project.
CAUTION: In version 1.2, I did not provision an Undo for these two functions. So please use with care!
Suclock Reset Merge.png

Update is published in main post.

Fredo

spence

Fredo,

Thank you for the plugin, this is fantastic This will come in very handy. This type of time tracking should be build into all productive software programs. It would be nice to be able to track your time, then again in some ways it's bad, It may prove I'm not that productive

rastus127

Great looking plugin Fredo!! But I'm having trouble loading it into S8 plugins folder. I keep getting an error that says "The item SUClock%201 can not be moved because "Sketchup" cannot be modified". But it loaded itself at the bottom of the list of folders. I'm on a Mac and have loaded other plugins most times with success, sometimes not. Maybe its just me. if you know what I'm doing wrong I'd rely appreciated any help you can give. Thanks.

     Paul

fredo6

@rastus127 said:

Great looking plugin Fredo!! But I'm having trouble loading it into S8 plugins folder. I keep getting an error that says "The item SUClock%201 can not be moved because "Sketchup" cannot be modified". But it loaded itself at the bottom of the list of folders. I'm on a Mac and have loaded other plugins most times with success, sometimes not. Maybe its just me. if you know what I'm doing wrong I'd rely appreciated any help you can give. Thanks.
Paul

Paul,

The presence of the "%20" indicates that you probably downloaded or unzipped the files with a tool that does not convert properly file names (%20 is the the replacement for Space). Can try with a different tool.
You may also have some permission access issues on your Mac

Fredo

publied

thank You! very nice and useful script!

COSEDIMARCO

Thanks for export!

halroach

Hi Fredo,

Now that the plugin works over the network, do you think it can be possible to assign, in the default parameters/in the main menu, a Username.
It could be username for each computer or you could even have multiple usernames for one computer, though I think that wouldn't be necessary.

The idea would be to track time for a project with the ability to see how much time each user spent on it and at what time during the project each user was involved... would be great for a gantt chart...

COSEDIMARCO

Hi Fredo
attached there's the Italian Translation for SuClock

I think i've found a couple english mistakes:

"Threshold when clock in displayed in warning mode" --> "Threshold when clock is displayed in warning mode
"
"ERROR: you can import data from the same current project
" --> "ERROR: you can't import data from the same current project
"

Italian Translation

fredo6

NEW RELEASE: SUCLOCK 1.3a - 08 Oct 11

This release fixes problems encountered with Mac OSX Lion and Safari 5.1 (no images in the clock window)

Update is published in main post.

Fredo

Krisidious

how does one go about adding time to a model? I already worked on it and forgot to hit the SUClock?

is there a way to auto start SUClock with every new model?

TIG

Fredo

I have a'SUClock' related issue.
If I deactivate the 'SUClock' Extension and restart Sketchup then when I try to run some of your tools [BezierCurve and RoundCorner] - I get a Ruby Console error like this Error: #<NoMethodError: undefined methodregister_ruby' for SUClock:Module>
C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/BZ_Dir_14/bezierspline_main.rb:496:in activate' ... I deduce that this is because those two tools' test for the definition? of 'SUClock', which returns 'true', because IT IS defined, and partially loaded, but because it's inactive with the Extension being disabled, then the relevant 'register_ruby' method isn't available - so I get the error.
If I have SUClock loading at all, then I must always have it active in the Extensions list, otherwise it breaks your other two tools when try to use them.
Of course stopping SUClock loading all together avoids this, as then it's then never 'defined?'.
But this is awkward, this Extension should be capable of being simply deactivated, as I do not use it that often: the whole point of an Extension is you load it as it is needed.
Your two problem tools need their code recasting, for example using something like this that prevents the failure being an issue...
**(begin;**SUClock.register_ruby('BezierSpline')**;rescue;end)**if defined?(SUClock) needed in two lines.
**(begin;**SUClock.register_ruby('RoundCorner')**;rescue;end)**if defined?(SUClock) needed once.
this works fine for me, but it really ought to be 'built-in'