GNOME User's Guide
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# Applications

GNOME Time Tracker is the only utility in the `gnome-utils` package that shows up under the Applications item of the Main Menu.

## GNOME Time Tracker Introduction

### What is GNOME Time Tracker?

`GNOME Time Tracker` is a program for managing workflow and keeping track of the time spent on a given project. Once you have learned to use `GNOME Time Tracker` effectively, it can be of great help. You can use it to optimize your work and decide if you are spending too much time on unimportant tasks. You can count the hours you spend on a project that is billed by the hour. You may discover many other ways`GNOME Time Tracker` can work for you.

`GNOME Time Tracker` can be started by selecting Time Tracking Tool from the Applications submenu of the Main Menu, or by running the command gtt on the commandline.

### Using GNOME Time Tracker

`GNOME Time Tracker` can be used to keep track of the amount of time you spend on different things you do. You do this by defining several projects and then, as you go through the day, telling`GNOME Time Tracker` which project you're working on. It will tell you how much time you spend on each project each day, the total time spent on each project, and the amount of time logged on all projects each day.

Unfortunately, `GNOME Time Tracker` isn't particularly smart: it won't turn the timer off for you if you take a break for a quick game of solitaire and it turns into several hours of distraction. When you stop work on a project, be sure to turn off the timer by clicking the Timer button or using Stop from the Timer menu. As long as you remember to do this, your work will be recorded effectively. You can, however, alter the times from the Properties dialog if they are incorrect. See for more information.

`GNOME Time Tracker` can inform you about your project times in several ways. For each project, it maintains a timer for the amount of time you have spent on the project today, and how much time you have spent on it total. In addition,`GNOME Time Tracker` counts how much time you have spent on all projects in the current day. This last figure is the one displayed in the lower left hand corner of the status bar.

When you first start `GNOME Time Tracker`, you see the Main window, as shown in .

Figure 37. GNOME Time Tracker Main Window

The main window consists of four areas. There is a menu bar (see ) and a toolbar (see ) at the top of the window, a status bar (see ) at the bottom of the window, and between the toolbar and the status bar, a scrollable project list (see ). When you start`GNOME Time Tracker` for the first time, this area will show just one project, which is titled "empty".

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| You can customize the appearance of the main window in the preferences dialog. See for more information about changing the toolbar, project list, and time display.

### GNOME Time Tracker Menus

Nearly all menu items in `GNOME Time Tracker` have a shortcut or accelerator key. Shortcuts appear right after the name of the menu item on the menus.

The menu bar consists of four menus: File, Edit, Timer and Help.

File

  This menu contains the following commands:

  — New Project ( Ctrl-N ) New Project brings up the New Project dialog so you can create a new project.

  — Reload Configuration File ( Ctrl-L ) This loads the last saved version of the configuration file, `$HOME/.gnome/gtt`. This file is saved every time `GNOME Time Tracker` quits, and it holds information about your preferences and projects. If you choose this menu item, your projects will revert to their status at the time of the last configuration file save.

  — Save Configuration File (Ctrl-S) This function saves information about your projects and preferences in the configuration file `$HOME/.gnome/gtt`. `GNOME Time Tracker` saves this information automatically every time you quit, and tries to do so even when it crashes. Still, it never hurts to save your project information from time to time.

  — Quit (Ctrl-Q) Quits `GNOME Time Tracker`. Quitting automatically saves project data and updates the logfile.

Edit

  This menu contains the following commands: Cut (Ctrl-X) — Removes an item from the project list, saving it in memory if you want to paste it back in somewhere else.

  Copy (Ctrl-C) — Duplicates a selected project, copying it to memory.

  Paste (Ctrl-V) — Places the project in memory onto the task list. Projects are inserted before the selected item. If no item is selected, they will appear at the bottom of the list.

  Clear Daily Counter — This function is a quick way to clear the daily counter for the currently selected project. You can use it if you want to time a process more than once. This is useful if you want to track how long a PPP connection to the internet lasts, or for timing compilation and other repeated tasks. This command does not affect the global timer.

  Properties... — This selection opens the Properties dialog for the currently selected project. Here you can view and edit the name, description, and times for your project. Note that this is the same action as the Props button on the toolbar. See for more information.

Settings

  This menu contains only one command: Preferences, which launches the Preferences Dialog. See for more information.

Timer

  This menu contains the following commands: Start (Ctrl-A) — Starts the timer on the selected project.

  Stop Timer (Ctrl-Z) — Stops the timer.

  Toggle Timer (Ctrl-T) —This item toggles the timer on or off.

Help

  This menu contains the commands: Manual — Shows this manual.

  Introduction — Displays the introduction to this manual and to `GNOME Time Tracker` generally.

  Working with GTT — Displays the section of the manual about working with `GNOME Time Tracker`.

  The Main Window — Help with the Main Window.

  Dialogs — Displays information about the various dialog boxes that `GNOME Time Tracker` will display.

  About — Displays copyright and author information for `GNOME Time Tracker`.

### GNOME Time Tracker Toolbar

The toolbar is another way to speed up your most frequently performed operations in `GNOME Time Tracker`. Each icon in it is a shortcut to one of the menu functions. By default, the buttons are:

- New,which opens the New Projectdialog.

- Props,which opens the Properties dialog.

- Timer, which toggles the timer between on and off.

- Prefs, which opens the Preference dialog.

- Manual, which opens this manual.

- Quit, which quits `GNOME Time Tracker`.

You can choose which functions appear in the toolbar from the Preferences dialog. See for more information.

### GNOME Time Tracker Project List

The Project List contains a list of all your projects and indicates which project is active at any given time. It also shows the attributes of each project. You can alter those attributes from the Preferences dialog (see ).

#### What is a Project?

A project consists of the following:

- A title, which is displayed in the project list.

- A daily timer, which will be automatically reset each day, and which you can zero as you please.

- A total time timer, which holds the total amount of time spent on the project.

- A brief description of the project.

#### The State of a Project

A project has two states, selected and unselected. You can only select one project at a time.

If a project is not selected, nothing happens.

If a project is selected, but the timer is not running, the select-project shell command has been run and not terminated. No changes, however, are made to the log file.

If a project is selected and the timer is running, the shell command is executed and the log file is updated.

This might be confusing at first, but in combination with the shell commands (see ) you can use the variations in state to maintain more accurate and readable project logs.

Example 1. Using Project States

I have set the `GNOME Time Tracker` shell commands to update my `.project` file when I switch or deselect a project. I don't want to alter the file if I'm just taking a short break from a project. So, when I get up to get coffee, I stop the timer instead of deselecting the project. This leaves the `.project` file alone without counting the time I spend away from the project.

#### Working with the Project List

The project list is located in the central area of the main window. It shows the list of projects and which project is currently selected. Each line corresponds to one project, and displays the total and daily time logged for that project, as well as its title and description.

You can select a project by clicking on it with the left mouse button. Pressing the left mouse button again on a selected project deselects it. Note that you can only have one project selected at any given time.

To get a popup menu for a project, click the right mouse button on it. If the project wasn't selected, it will now receive the selection, and the Edit menu will be displayed.

### GNOME Time Tracker Status Bar

The first field of the status bar displays the sum of all projects' daily time. If you didn't zero a daily counter, it reflects the total time you have worked on your projects today.

The second field holds the title of the currently selected project. If no project is selected, the display reads: `no project selected`.

The far right corner of the status bar holds a small clock if the timer is running. If the timer is off, the space is blank.

### Customization of GNOME Time Tracker

To change default settings, select the Preferences command in Settings menu. This launches the Preferences dialog, shown in . There are two tabs of preferences in the window.

Figure 38. `GNOME Time Tracker` Preferences Dialog

### The Toolbar Preferences Tab

This tab contains two sections of buttons: `Toolbar` and `Toolbar Segments`

- The `Toolbar` contains the following checkboxes:

  - Show Toolbar Icons

  - Show Toolbar Texts

  - Show Tooltips

  They determine whether icons and their descriptions appear on the toolbar, and whether tooltips describing the button appear when the mouse pointer hovers over a toolbar item.

- The `Toolbar Segments` checkboxes determine which shortcut buttons appear on the toolbar:

  - `Show 'New'`

  - `Show 'Save', 'Reload'`

  - `Show 'Cut', 'Copy', 'Paste'`

  - `Show 'Properties'`

  - `Show 'Timer'`

  - `Show 'Preferences'`

  - `Show 'Quit'`

### Other Settings

There are three sections within the Misc tab.

`Display`

  The Display box contains three check-boxes:

  - `Show Seconds`

  - `Show Status Bar`

  - `Show Table Header`

  They toggle whether seconds appear in the timer displays, and whether the status bar and table header appear in the Main Window
`Shell Commands`

  There are two shell commands executed by `GNOME Time Tracker`. One is executed when you switch between projects, and the other when you deselect a project or quit the application.

  - `Switch Project Command`: This shell command is executed every time you select a project which was previously unselected. If you use `%s` in this command, `GNOME Time Tracker` will replace that with the title of the selected project. I use the following entry to update my `.project` file: `echo '%s' >~/.project`

  - `No Project Command` This shell command is executed every time you deselect a project or exit `GNOME Time Tracker`. To complete the example above, I use this command: `rm -f ~/.project`

`Logfile Preferences`

  The Logfile Preferences area contains a Use Logfile Checkbox, which determines whether you use a logfile at all, and the following text entry boxes, governing its behavior:

  - `Filename` Determines the path and name of the log file. This should be the complete path and filename, without variables like $HOME or ~.

  - `Entry Start` This is the string which marks the start of a log entry. It can include the same variables the `Entry Stop` can.

  - `Entry Stop` This string marks the end of a log entry. Both this string and the `Entry Start` can contain the following variables:

    - `%t` — The project's title.

    - `%d` — The project's title.

    - `%t` — The project's description.

    - `%T` — The total time logged on the project, in the format Hours:Minutes:Seconds.

    - `%h` — The number of hours logged on the project today.

    - `%H` — The number of hours spent on the project today, in two digits.

    - `%m` — The number of minutes spent on the project today.

    - `%M` — The number of minutes spent on the project today (00-59).

    - `%s` — The number of seconds spent on the project today.

    - `%S` — The number of seconds spent on the project today (00-59).

  - `Timeout in secs` — This value represents the minimum time a project must be selected before it will be logged. This is useful if you don't want to log very short tasks, or if you click on the wrong project first. For example, suppose you wanted to start working on a letter to your friend Joe, and so you selected the project Letter to Joe), but that reminds you that you have to prepare a list of Christmas presents first (Joe has asked you to give him some good ideas). So, you switch to the project Xmas presents. You wouldn't want the project Letter to Joeto be in your logfile, because you didn't really start it yet. I would suggest you set this value at least to 10 seconds.

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  | Note that a project will not get logged until you either quit `GNOME Time Tracker`, switch to another project, or de-select that project. Don't be confused when you look at your logfile and your current project still isn't listed, even if it has been running for two hours.

### OK, Apply and Close

If you are pleased by the changes you have made, click OK to activate the changes and have the dialog go away.

If you want to see what your changes will look like without closing the window, press Apply to activate the values while keeping the dialog open.

If you don't want to activate your changes, press Close. That will close the dialog, but will not save any of the changes you have made. This does not reverse any changes activated by the Apply command. Note that pressing Apply and then Close has the the same effect as pressing OK.

### The Properties Dialog

In this dialog, you can view and edit all the properties of a project:

- `Project Title` You can change the title of a project here.

- `Project Description` You can give the project a more detailed description if you like.

- `Project Time Today` This is the daily time you worked on the project today. You can edit this time here.

- `Project Time Total` This is the total time you worked on a project. You can edit this time here.

### The New Project Dialog

This dialog is fairly small. It just wants to know what you want to call the new project. Just enter a title for the new project and press OK. If you change your mind and don't want `GNOME Time Tracker` to add a new project, press Cancel.

## GDict

`GDict` provides dictionary definitions of words, using any server that supports the dict protocol, an Internet standard for client/server dictionary applications.

To run `GDict`, select GDict from the Utilities submenu of the Main Menu, or type gdict -a on the command line.

`GDict` can also be started via a panel applet. To add this applet to a Panel, right-click on the panel and choose Applets->Utility->GDict, or type gdict on the command line.

## Using GDict

`GDict` can be used to obtain dictionary definitions of words from local or remote dictionary servers. It can check spelling and look up words based on imprecise spelling using various pattern matching techniques. This section describes basic usage of `GDict`.

### Basic usage

Starting `GDict` opens the Main window, shown in Figure 39.

Figure 39. GDict Main Window

`GDict` automatically connects to its default server, giving you an error message if it is unable to connect.

To get a definition of a word, type the word in the text bar immediately below the toolbar, and click on the Lookup button on the toolbar or the Enter or Return key.

`GDict` connects to the server and, if a definition is found, returns it in the main text window.

If no word is found, `GDict` will automatically open its spell check window and run a spell check on it. More information on spell-checking is available in Figure 40

If you type in a search string using regular expressions, `GDict` opens the spell-checking window and begins a search for words matching the pattern typed. For example, typing ^h[ie]ll returns "hell," "hill," and all words beginning in "hill" or "hell". Regular expressions are a powerful pattern-matching technique that are beyond the scope of this document. However, a few rules can be mentioned: square brackets around a set of letters means "any of these letters," a period (.) means "any letter", and the pattern ".*" means "any sequence of zero or more letters." Details can be found using the help browser by asking for man:regex or man:grep.

By default, `GDict` uses the server at dict.org and searches all of its databases for a word that is a perfect match for the word you typed in. You can change the server in use, the databases it searches and the search strategy (allowing it to search for wound-alike words, for example, or use wildcards) in the preferences dialog, shown in Figure 41 in the section called Customization.

If you type in a word and click on the toolbar button labeled spell, `GDict` opens the spell checker window, shown in Figure 40.

Figure 40. GDict Spell Checker Window

This window returns a list of possible spellings, based on a search strategy for similar words. The search is executed on the server, not by `GDict`, and the types of search strategies available vary. A pull-down menu showing the various strategies available on the server is labelled `Search Strategy`. This menu allows you to change search strategies and conduct a new search by clicking on Find Words.

In the spell checker window, you can also look up a word once you've found a correct spelling. To do so, click on the word, then click on Lookup Word. The definition will appear in the program's main window.

### Menus

The menu bar, located at the top of the Main Window, contains the following menus:

File

  This menu contains: Lookup which looks up a word, Spell which launches a spelling help window, and Exit which is self-explanatory.

Edit

  This menu contains nothing.

Settings

  This menu contains Preferences, which opens the Preferences Dialog.

Help

  This menu contains:

  - Manual — shows this manual.

  - About — shows basic information about `GDict`, such as the author's name and the application version number.

## Customization

To change the application settings, select Preferences from the Settings menu. This opens the Preferences dialog, shown in Figure 41.

Figure 41. Preferences Dialog

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| When opening the `Preferences dialog`, `GDict` conducts a brief conversation with the server selected, then customizes the listing in the dialog according to the server's capabilities. The dialog shown in uses the default server, www.dict.org.

The properties in the `Server` tab are:

- Server — The name of the server used by `GDict`. www.dict.org is the default. You may use any other server that supports the Internet "dict" protocol.

- Port — The port number `GDict` uses to connect. 2628 is the standard.

- Database: — In its initial conversation with the selected server, `GDict` downloads a list of dictionary databases available for searching. This pull-down menu allows you to select one or all of the databases for your searches.

- Default strategy: — In its initial conversation with the selected server, `GDict` downloads a list of search strategies available on the server. This pull-down menu selects the default strategy to be used for spell-checking, or when you type in a string that does not exactly match a word in the dictionary database being searched.

The properties in the `Fonts` tab are:

- Headword, Pronunciation, Etymology, Example, Main Body, Sub-number, Part of Speech and Cross-reference — When `GDict` returns a definition, it uses different fonts and colors to distinguish the various parts of the definition returned. This tab allows you to customize those fonts and colors.

  Clicking on the "ABC" icon next to each item opens a standard GNOME font selection window. Clicking on the colored box next to each item opens a standards GNOME color selection window.

After you have made all the changes you want, click on OK to apply the changes and close the Properties dialog. To cancel the changes and return to previous values, click the Cancel button.

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