Re: Tracking time with MobileOrg

From: Richard Moreland <rlm@ncogni.to>
To: Jeff Kowalczyk <jtk@yahoo.com>
Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Tracking time with MobileOrg
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 18:55:45 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <F1BD228D-5581-452C-A8DF-083B92D3A8E8@ncogni.to> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <loom.20101006T202915-444@post.gmane.org>

Hi Jeff,

I'm glad you mentioned this.  It is on my list of things to work on next.

I still need to coordinate it with Carsten to make sure the approach is sound and that he can support me by updating org-mobile.el.

My plan for the UI is this:

- Two methods to clock in a new task:  First, you can tap and hold on a node, then click the 'Clock in' button.  Alternatively, you can open up the node details page and click a similar 'Clock in' button.

- To clock out, you can use the same method, but the button would say 'Clock out' instead.  Since it would be tedious to find the current clocking item, I'm considering...

- A tab/icon at the bottom for Clocking (like the 4 existing icons at the bottom).  I may make it optional in the Settings page.  If you are clocking, there will be an indicator on the icon letting you know so, perhaps by overlaying the clock time on the icon somehow.

- If you click on the clocking icon at the bottom, a list of recently clocked tasks will be shown, with the active one being highlighted.  You can stop the running clock, or start the clock on any of your recent items.

When you sync and run org-mobile-pull, the time logs would be added to the correct nodes (I'll need Carsten or a volunteer to help me integrate this part).

I believe this workflow would make it easy to clock in (either by navigating to the node in the outline, searching for it on the Search page, or identifying a recently clocked item) and clock out.

I haven't covered any type of reporting within the app, I was hoping to keep things relatively simple.  But if there is a need for this let me know.  Perhaps clicking on an entry in the recently clocked list could display the start/stop times and some summary info.

Let me know what you think, it would help to have some feedback on the workflow before I begin.

Thanks,
Richard

On Oct 6, 2010, at 2:41 PM, Jeff Kowalczyk wrote:

> Can the current version of MobileOrg be used for a simple time tracking
> workflow? (i.e. does it have an easy clock in and clock out?)
> 
> My wife has a need for a simple time tracking application on the iPhone. The
> only number needed is total hours spent per period (e.g. month) on one task, the
> full-time job.
> 
> I use Org Mode for my own worklogs, and would do any necessary pre-templating
> and post-processing on the resultant Org file, if a rapid-capture strategy can
> be worked out for MobileOrg.
> 
> Given how much I use and like Org Mode myself, I'd be really pleased if we can
> work with Org as a file format for this application, rather than some
> closed-source app.
> 
> Thanks,
> Jeff
> 
> 
> 
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