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I did exactly this in 1995. A little system tray app that you clicked to start, clicked to stop (the icon changed when running). Hover over it and it would show not only the total time but the £ earned! (I called it DoshClck - when written filenames were only 8 characters...). I later updated it in VB5 with a few added features, a right-click menu to adjust hourly rate. Later (with laptops!) a bit of a morale booster during boring meetings; a subtle mouseover would show how much dosh I'd earned just sitting there bored.
I still have the code but it's dependent on VB5 runtimes... The Win95 version, complete with installer for VB5 runtime, is available at https://codeproject.derektp.co.uk/doshclock95.zip[^]
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Johnny J. wrote: Yes, I COULD roll my own in a matter of hours, but why would I want to spend even a couple of hours reinventing something that already exists?
1) because it will help develop your programming skills
2) because a 3rd. party app with the features you want may require purchase, and, if your app has other users, possibk=le licensing issues.
Johnny J. wrote: Apart from that, I know myself too well: If I made my own application, I would spend hours and hours improving, polishing, tweaking, etc. Time that could be well spend doing the real task instead....
Whether self-knowledge implies the ability to consciously change behavior, rather than just predict it ... is an interesting question,
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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BillWoodruff wrote: because it will help develop your programming skills
I've been programming for some 40 odd years, so trust me Bill, there's nothing in this that could remotely develop my programming skills... 
I just want a quick and (if necessary) dirty solution. 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
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Johnny J. wrote: I just want a quick and (if necessary) dirty solution.
Pen and the wrapper paper from your lunch?
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: Pen and the wrapper paper from your yesterday's lunch?
How will he record the morning hours? 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: How will he record the morning hours?
There's a roll of note-paper in the bathroom.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Johnny J. wrote: programming for some 40 odd years, so trust me
... no
I've been programming about 40 years, I can create a C# main-windowless Win SystemTrayApp with toggling custom start-stop notify-icons, and, menu choices on right-click, in under 30 minutes ... adding a Timer, and serialization of on-off time data ... maybe another fifteen minutes.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Please do it. And put a link to the download. Should be free, of course. I could really use something like this. And I am sure many others could too. You'd earn the respect and eternal gratitude of all of us.
I use KeePass and feel the same way about the developer that created it. If I ever met him I would thank him personally.
I have been programming for 44 years and I'm still learning somethin new almost every day. I don't think I could do an app like this. though. 
Yeah! You right!
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Slow Eddie wrote: I don't think I could do an app like this. though.
I bet you underestimate yourself, but, unless you try, you will never know.
A SystemTrayApp is not rocket-science.
I think it's better if I spend my limited screen-time (visual impairment) helping other CP members at the beginning of their years of programming, as well as my on-going self-education
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Slow Eddie wrote: Please do it. And put a link to the download.
What would you like for dessert ?
I think I will post a working example in a week, or ao,
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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My dessert is usually Vanilla ice-cream. 
Seriously I will be on the lookout for the example.
Things are never as bad as they seem. They are usually a lot worse.
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Sure you can, but if you want to make a program that's actually worth using, and looks reasonably nice, it's more work than that, and you know it.
FYI: I have now completed the application, and it has taken me some 5 hours to get everything the way I wanted it, including making icons etc.
I could have told you EXACTLY how long it had taken, had I had an application I could start and stop in the system tray to record time spent on a certain project. But I didn't have that!
So there is 5 hours gone I could have spent on something else. And even if what you say is true (which it isn't), it would still have been 45 minutes spent unnecesarily had I been able to find such an application.
Furthermore, it's 5 hours I'm not going to get paid for, despite the fact that the program is going to be used for work management.
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
modified 19-Apr-21 11:22am.
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Johnny J. wrote: . And even if what you say is true (which it isn't)
troll.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Please to share? I could use this myself.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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rnbergren wrote: Please to share?
Okay, I will post in the next week.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Seeing that it takes only 45 minutes, you should have posted it 4 hours ago! 
Bet mine is better...
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
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Johnny J. wrote: I want to be able to start and stop it by clicking its icon in the system tray
I am going to guess that not many of these apps exist for good reason. I, personally, would forget to click the stop button all the time.
just track your time in a spread sheet and call it a day. google sheets if you don't already have Excel and want to go free and in the cloud.
I have been tracking my billable time for clients and projects in a spreadsheet for years, not including my employers project software (TFS, DevOps, etc.) but that is not related directly to billable timesheets.
good luck.
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Slacker007 wrote: I, personally, would forget to click the stop button all the time.
Well, not everybody are the same. You can't judge the rest of the world on the basis on how you do.
Slacker007 wrote: just track your time in a spread sheet and call it a day.
Didn't I just mention in the OP that that is how I'm doing today, and it's not working for me?
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
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best of luck in your quest.
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That is a very interesting concept. It wouldn't work for me, because I work on different projects using the same applications. But apart from that, I like the idea...  
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
modified 20-Apr-21 4:55am.
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Yes, this is what I was afraid of - When they wanted to implement a similar software in our area, our SW guys said - "All fine, but I am only doing Visual Studio for different projects all day" 
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... and the next one could be european soccer[^]. What a mindset ! "Let's make our own closed league because ... well, because we can !"  
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