Feedback Appreciated

[smctainsh]

Hi,

I've been working on another project. :) This time, it is a program that allows you to record the time spent on a project (for example, a web project) and automatically generate an invoice when you've recorded all the time spent on it. I've called it Time Sheet.

I'd appreciate any feedback on the program, the idea, or the website (a link is provided at the bottom of this post). Also, I'd love to know if you would personally use it.

Edit: I've now released Time Sheet Alpha 3. I've kept the changelog for Alpha 2 below for reference.

Alpha 3:

# Added the ability to restore the list of jobs from a backup

# Added a To Do list

# Added all toolbar items from the main window to the popup menu on the tray icon

Alpha 2:

# Changed border style of main window to single and removed maximize box.

# Added a tray icon and the ability to minimize to the tray

# Fixed: The timer would continue when stopped, if not paused first

# Fixed: Time output would be incorrect after 59 minutes and 59 seconds

# Added a method for backing up the list of jobs and tasks

# Currency values are now rounded to 2 decimal places regardless of whether the digits are zeros

# Added the ability to edit the description and hours worked for tasks

# When allocating time to a job, you are now asked whether you want your timer to be cleared or not

Also, I've added a survey to the Time Sheet website, with a few questions about the program and website. If you could take the time to complete this survey, I would greatly appreciate it. :)

Download: Time Sheet Alpha 3

Website

Known Issues: While testing it, I've noticed that the timer display starts acting strange after 1 hour. I'm working on fixing this for the Alpha 2 release. - fixed in Alpha 2

Thanks in advance,

Smctainsh

Edited July 15, 2008 by smctainsh

[Sikh]

Nice Website and Program.

Im a web designer but I do it for free atm, Im young and startnig college soon, so I just want to do all the jobs i can for free and always have been since i started webdesign at the age of 13 lol.

But anyway, its a great program for people to go "here's a print out" and thats it.

I hate trying to figure out how many hours I put in the project and then be like "yeah I worked that hard".

Now I have a program to do it.

Oo btw, Ive tried something like this but I was coding it in basic, it worked, but the print out and invoice didnt. It was peeving me so i gave up.

Well, Keep it up. This thing goes final, and you release it as a final progrma with updates, Ill pay for it too!!

But I would prefer something like this free just so I can learn how you did it. Or if you cna share, what language nad what did you do?

Cheers.

[duritz]

neat idea. i always hated doing time sheets at offices, now there is a program to do it for you@!

[smctainsh]

Nice Website and Program.

Im a web designer but I do it for free atm, Im young and startnig college soon, so I just want to do all the jobs i can for free and always have been since i started webdesign at the age of 13 lol.

But anyway, its a great program for people to go "here's a print out" and thats it.

I hate trying to figure out how many hours I put in the project and then be like "yeah I worked that hard".

Now I have a program to do it.

Oo btw, Ive tried something like this but I was coding it in basic, it worked, but the print out and invoice didnt. It was peeving me so i gave up.

Well, Keep it up. This thing goes final, and you release it as a final progrma with updates, Ill pay for it too!!

But I would prefer something like this free just so I can learn how you did it. Or if you cna share, what language nad what did you do?

Cheers.

Thanks. :D I initially created it as I develop websites, and needed something that would record how long I'd been working for, and then I could just add it to a job and then email off an invoice when I was done. Glad to know that you like it. :)

I created this program in C#, and when it is released, it will have updates and a built-in update program so you can check for updates.

neat idea. i always hated doing time sheets at offices, now there is a program to do it for you@!

Thanks, glad to know you like it. :D

Anything you'd like to see in it or you think I could improve on?

Thanks for the feedback so far guys - I really appreciate it.

Smctainsh

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Good website (Can't use the software as I'm on OS X :p), I like the little pop-up notifications. :)

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

Good website (Can't use the software as I'm on OS X :p), I like the little pop-up notifications. :)

I agree: cool website but I can't use the software as I am on Linux. Any chance of a Java version that would work on all platforms?

[smctainsh]

Good website (Can't use the software as I'm on OS X :p), I like the little pop-up notifications. :)

I agree: cool website but I can't use the software as I am on Linux. Any chance of a Java version that would work on all platforms?

Thanks for the kind words; I really appreciate it. :D The program is coded in C# and I will most certainly boot into Ubuntu now and attempt to get it running under Mono or something similar. I'll post back here with the progress.

Smctainsh

[sachleen]

Looks good, installing right now :)

update:

Looks good, but a few things I dont like.

1. why is the main window resizable? It doesnt really matter but since no other content goes there it doesn't really need to be. Or you could increase the size of the timer as the window gets larger.

2. minimize to tray feature would be nice. If I'm going to have this open for hours, it should sit in the tray.

[Popcorned1]

Rather than make this an offline tool, you'd be better off making a web version.

See www.toggl.com for inspiration.

[smctainsh]

Looks good, installing right now :)

update:

Looks good, but a few things I dont like.

1. why is the main window resizable? It doesnt really matter but since no other content goes there it doesn't really need to be. Or you could increase the size of the timer as the window gets larger.

2. minimize to tray feature would be nice. If I'm going to have this open for hours, it should sit in the tray.

Thanks for your feedback. :) I'll look into the window resizing and a minimize-to-tray feature - both sound like very good suggestions.

Rather than make this an offline tool, you'd be better off making a web version.

See www.toggl.com for inspiration.

I was thinking of having both an offline and online version. What do you think? Thanks for the suggestion. :)

Linux/Mac Update: I've looked into it and some modifications are required to make it work in Mono. I'll keep testing it and give you a further update later.

Smctainsh

[rson451]

i've not tested this as i'm also on linux, but looks good from reading the website.

steve how the hell do you always come up with ideas for projects? i can never think of anything.

[pixelfuze]

Excellent idea steve, it's always a pain managing time and invoices. I'm installing it right now :)

[CrispCreations]

Thanks steve, this looks like a handy tool to have a round, it's damn hard keeping track of the time once you get your head buried in a project, looking forward to giving this a try in a real word scenario (got an upcoming project I'll test it with, see how it compares to my current manual methods)

Might I suggest built in PDF generation for a future release (rather than the need for a t/party pdf printer app).

btw, nice to see a simple, built for purpose site to go with it too, very nice (Y)

[smctainsh]

i've not tested this as i'm also on linux, but looks good from reading the website.

steve how the hell do you always come up with ideas for projects? i can never think of anything.

Thanks. :) I'm looking into getting it working in Linux under Mono.

Hehe, I usually come up with ideas from problems I have (e.g. recording time worked on websites) and then go from there. ;)

Excellent idea steve, it's always a pain managing time and invoices. I'm installing it right now :)

Thanks for the kind words. :D I'm looking forward to your feedback.

Thanks steve, this looks like a handy tool to have a round, it's damn hard keeping track of the time once you get your head buried in a project, looking forward to giving this a try in a real word scenario (got an upcoming project I'll test it with, see how it compares to my current manual methods)

Might I suggest built in PDF generation for a future release (rather than the need for a t/party pdf printer app).

btw, nice to see a simple, built for purpose site to go with it too, very nice (Y)

I know what you mean - time can sometimes fly by. I'm looking forward to hearing what you opinions of it are in a real world scenario. :D

PDF generation sounds like a fantastic idea. I'll most certainly look into it. :D Thanks for the kind words.

Smctainsh

[CrispCreations]

I know what you mean - time can sometimes fly by. I'm looking forward to hearing what you opinions of it are in a real world scenario. :D

Heh, fly by it does :) (perhaps you could add some built in reminders/alarms - eat, sleep, more coffee etc. lol)

I've found it makes my manual approach more efficient, remembering to click pause is a lot less hassle than noting the time, but it's had the effect of me making notes more regularly too. (pause -> note time -> make brew -> return)

Only small gripe so far is the warning when closing that time is unallocated, even if I just allocated it, apart from that, nothing not to like about it, does what it's supposed to without any fuss (Y)

[smctainsh]

Heh, fly by it does :) (perhaps you could add some built in reminders/alarms - eat, sleep, more coffee etc. lol)

I've found it makes my manual approach more efficient, remembering to click pause is a lot less hassle than noting the time, but it's had the effect of me making notes more regularly too. (pause -> note time -> make brew -> return)

Only small gripe so far is the warning when closing that time is unallocated, even if I just allocated it, apart from that, nothing not to like about it, does what it's supposed to without any fuss (Y)

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. :) The point you mentioned about the warning of unallocated time has now been corrected - you are now prompted as to whether you would like your timer cleared or not after allocating time. I could also add an option to automatically clear the timer after allocating if that would be desirable. :)

I've now released Time Sheet Alpha 2, with many updates as requested by the users on this forum. See the first post for more information. :D

Thanks to everyone whose replied so far. :D Also, I'm still looking into getting Time Sheet working in Linux and Mac environments. :)

Smctainsh

[smctainsh]

Has anyone got feedback on this latest release? :)

Smctainsh

[smctainsh]

I've now released Time Sheet Alpha 3; details are in the first post. :D

Smctainsh