Time Tracker in real time

[akamarathonman]

Hi Everyone,
I'm using Acad 2007 with Windows XP
I'm looking for a lisp routine that will track current time on in a
drawing. I know AutoCAD has the "TIME" command, but my boss wants it
to be able to display a running time in the tray with the snap and all
those other toggle switches. If possible he would like to be able to
click on the time displayed in the tray to turn it on or off when you
leave or return.
Has anyone seen anything like this?

I've tried columbus and it wasn't right for what I need. Chronos seemed like it could work, but it's external and my boss wants it to be encorporated into Autocad like I described.

Thanks,

Joe

[framedNlv]

Someone posted a link to this one in one of the threads:
http://www.bitcomputing.com

Chris

[akamarathonman]

Thanks for the reply. I tried it, but that time tracker tracks all programs that are open. I need one that will only track AutoCAD. So far the best one I've found is Chronos. It does a good job, but I need one that is integrated into AutoCAD.

Joe

[T.Willey]

You might be able to do one in a more powerful language than Lisp, so you might have to hire someone to do it for you.

I think it could be done in .Net, but that is just a guess.

[robert.1.hall72202]

It would be nice if there was a timer that stopped the clock after 2 minutes of
not doing anything on the computer. It could also restart once the user starts
to work on the drawing and log itself when the drawing is closed.

I might be asking for too much, but it would be nice to have.

[Tom Beauford]

I know AutoCAD has the "TIME" command, but my boss wants it to be able to display a running time in the tray with the snap and all
those other toggle switches. If possible he would like to be able to click on the time displayed in the tray to turn it on or off when you leave or return.
Has anyone seen anything like this?

Sure, go to http://www.manusoft.com/Software/Freebies/Index.stm and look for AcadStatButton.zip under Miscellaneous on the left side. Also check out http://archsymb.com//index.php?optio...d=29&Itemid=52. I played with them a few years back, but Autocad has since added all the switches I need. To get the edit time use the Express Tool EDITTIME with some lisp like:

 (DEFUN C:EdTime (/ Julian Day DecHr Hr DecMin Min Sec EdTime)
 (setq Julian (acet-getvar '("BNS_EDITTIME_TOTAL"))
	   Day (fix Julian)
	   DecHr (*(- Julian Day)24)
	   Hr (fix DecHr)
	   DecMin (*(- DecHr Hr)60)
	   Min (fix DecMin)
	   Sec (rtos(*(- DecMin Min)60)2 0)
	   EdTime (strcat (rtos Day 2 0) " days, " (rtos Hr 2 0) ":" (rtos Min 2 0) ":" Sec " HHMMSS.")
 )
 (prompt EdTime)
 (princ)
);END EdTime

Should be doable.

[Coolmo]

Doesn't the command "EDITTIME" do all of this? you can set a timeout limit and turn it on and off whenever you want.

[robert.1.hall72202]

Doesn't the command "EDITTIME" do all of this? you can set a timeout limit and turn it on and off whenever you want.

How do you view the time?
I see a bunch of settings for edittime, but I do not see where the
time is kept.

[robert.1.hall72202]

Sure, go to http://www.manusoft.com/Software/Freebies/Index.stm and look for AcadStatButton.zip under Miscellaneous on the left side.

If you read through some of the bug fixes, then you might want to stay away
from statbutton. Looks like a few bugs were present that crash autocad.
I have used some of the free downloads from manusoft and have also
experienced undesired behavior in AutoCad.

[Tom Beauford]

How do you view the time?
I see a bunch of settings for edittime, but I do not see where the
time is kept.

It's stored in the enviromental variable "BNS_EDITTIME_TOTAL". The routine I posted above provides one access.
Unfortunatly since "EDITTIME" is an Express Tool and must be turned on to start tracking time it could never be as accurate as management would like. Editing time for blocks and xref's can't be tracked either. This routine will give a rough approximate estimate of editing time which is better than nothing, but not something usefull for billing purposes.