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* Hot!Stat *
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(v1.1)
Do Not Stamp Software
PO Box 467
Des Plaines, IL USA 60016
(c) copyright 1990
Purpose:
Hot!stat is a tool for the analysis of "ledger" files created by
HotWire (1). The ledger files that HotWire creates contain a
listing of programs (with elapsed times) used on a per-day basis.
However each time a program is used a new entry is made in the
ledger. If a program is used more than once during the day then
there will be multiple entries for it, each with a different
elapsed time. Until now there was no easy way to add these times
together and calculate just how much time was being spent using a
particular program. Hot!stat will perform this calculation, and
others, with ease. Thus allowing you to accurately assess the
amount of use you are getting from your computer investment.
Requirements:
Hot!stat runs on any Atari ST/Mega computer. A minimum of 1
megabyte RAM is recommended, but 512K should be sufficient for
all but the lengthiest of analysis cycles. Monochrome and Medium
Resolution color monitors are supported. Additionally the user
should refer to the HotWire manual for a discussion of
considerations when using the ledger function of that program
(eg: clock/date settings, ledger paths, etc).
Note: Hot!stat is currently being distributed as "freeware".
That is to say that there is no charge to use or distribute the
program provided that distribution is done on a not-for-profit
basis. Reasonable fees for copying and media are permitted.
This program is offered without warranty, expressed or implied.
The author has attempted to remove bugs or errors in the program
but user feedback is essential in locating and identifying errors
as they occur. If you experience trouble please contact DNS
Software so the problem can be corrected in subsequent releases.
Postal and electronic mailing addresses are given at the end of
this document.
_ _
1. HotWire is a commercial product developed by CodeHead
Software. There is no connection between DNS Software (hot!stat)
and CodeHead Software (HotWire).
Using hot!stat:
This users guide assumes that any ST owner who wishes to track
application usage at the level hot!stat allows is at least
somewhat of a "power user". Thus familiar GEM and ST operating
conventions are not covered in this discussion. Additionally
hot!stat is largely mouse driven and will not perform any
potentially destructive options without first warning the user
(such as overwriting a file). Experimentation with the various
options is encouraged.
Getting Started:
Upon running hot!stat you will be presented with a familiar GEM
window. Various pull-down menus exist where the operation of the
program is directed. A full discussion of each of the menu items
is given later in this document. For now the first-time user
will want to select "open" located under the "file" menu on the
left hand side of the menu.
Next, an alert box will appear asking if Daily, Weekly, or
Monthly analysis should be performed. Logically enough the
choices let the user analyze single (daily) ledger files, or in
groups of 7 or 31 (weekly and monthly respectively). For our
purposes select "daily". (If you wish to cancel the "open"
operation select any of the options then click on "cancel" from
the item selector that appears next.)
An item selector will appear and you will be prompted to select a
single ledger file. If you had selected weekly analysis then you
would select the _first_ single file that starts the week you
want to analyze. This allows you to define your own seven day
periods beginning when ever you'd like (2). If you had selected
Monthly analysis you would pick _any_ single file from the month
you wish to analyze. However for this demonstration just pick
any single ledger file.
Hot!stat will next report on either the number of entries the
daily file contains, or the number of weekly/monthly files found
to process. A dialog box is displayed asking if you want to
continue with the analysis process. If you select "yes" the
program will proceed with the analysis of the selected file(s).
_ _
2. In the current version (1.0) hot!stat will define the
week as the selected file plus the next six, in sequential date
order, that it is able to locate. The actual dates covered by
these seven files may exceed seven days depending on how often
you use your system. For example, a weekly analysis may include
files from 3/9/90, 3/10/90, 3/11/90, 3/12/90, 3/13/90, 3/14/90,
3/20/90 if there were no ledger files between the dates of the
fourteenth and the nineteenth.
Selecting "no" will return you to the main GEM screen, aborting
the file operation completely and safely.
Finally, upon completion of the analysis (3), you will be
presented with a screen showing the results: (daily report shown
below)
************************************************************
Usage Report for Thursday, March 15, 1990
Total time this date 03:51:02
Application Total Time Percentage
----------------------------------------------------
2COLUMNS.PRG 00:03:13 1.4%
ASCIIVEW.PRG 00:04:00 1.7%
Address Book 00:05:19 2.3%
Archive Shell 00:05:07 2.2%
BA File Packer 00:00:44 0.3%
Dirty Word Processor 00:00:42 0.3%
Disk Chart 00:00:26 0.2%
Flash! 01:40:05 43.3%
Madam Librarian 00:02:01 0.9%
Maxifile 00:01:59 0.9%
NoClick 00:00:00 0.0%
Print Spooler 00:00:00 0.0%
Quick CompuServe 01:25:00 36.8%
Seurat 00:02:04 0.9%
Text File Viewer 00:00:47 0.3%
Two Column Printer 00:04:11 1.8%
What Is This File?! 00:00:11 0.1%
WordPerfect/ST 00:15:13 6.6%
>end<
DNS hot!stat 13.05.1990
***************************************************************
_ _
3. Note that the analysis procedure may be somewhat lengthy
depending upon the size and number of ledger files you have
selected. The title on the GEM window will change as the
analysis proceeds, letting you know that things are working just
fine, and what operation the program is currently performing.
This report shows the total usage for the period (daily, weekly,
or monthly) and the total time spent in each application. The
percentage of use for each application is also shown in the last
column (4). The final line ("DNS hot!stat") shows the date
which the report was created. In the example created above is
was generated May 13th, 1990.
Finishing up:
That, in a very brief nutshell, is the essence of hot!stat. The
promise of HotWire ledger files has been fulfilled.
For a discussion of each pull-down menu item please see the rest
of this document. Many nuances not covered in this overview are
discussed therein.
_ _
4. The percentage option can be turned on or off by
selecting "statistics" from the pull-down menus.
hot!stat
Menu Breakdown
DESK: Ahh..an easy one. Select this and you'll see the
version number of hot!stat and a friendly copyright notice.
FILE:
Open...: This is how you select the Hotwire! ledger file that
you want to analyze. Select Open... and a file selector box will
appear asking for period to be analyzed. Select one and then
select a Ledger file per the prompt given. If you select a file
other than a legitimate Hotwire ledger file you'll get an error
message. Select "CANCEL" on the file selector to exit this screen
without selecting a file.
Quit...: Exits to the desktop. You'll be given a chance to
change your mind before the exit occurs.
CONFIGURE:
Printer...: Selecting this will cause the program to load a GFA
Printer Driver. If it fails to find a driver you'll be notified.
If it finds one it will report the name of the file. Right now a
driver is not needed since printer output is in straight ASCII.
In the future special printing effects (such as underline etc)
will be utilized.
Alias...: "Alias" is a powerful feature that allows you to
combine or exclude certain applications from the analysis. For
example, you ledger files may contain entries for both FLASH.PRG
(which is what you select from the Desktop to run Flash) and
"Flash Terminal Program" (which is what you select from the
HotWire menu to run Flash). Obviously both are the same
application but because their entry name is different they will
be treated as separate by hot!stat. Using "alias" you can
instruct hot!stat to treat every entry of "FLASH.PRG" as if it
were "Flash Terminal Program", thus obtaining an accurate
calculation of the time spent using Flash. Additionally you can
tell hot!stat to completely exclude applications from the
analysis process. This is useful if, for example, you run an ICD
Tape Backup program every night before going to bed. Normally
this would create an eight or nine hour entry in the ledger file
and drastically skew the "percentage of use" calculations in
relation to the other applications. Using "alias" you can
disregard entries of this type and once again obtain a more
accurate ledger analysis. See the "Using Alias" section later in
this manual for more information.
Groupings...: Not implemented in this version, but will
eventually allow you to group applications under various
categories. For example, Flash, QuickCIS, and STalker could be
grouped under "Telecommunications" and treated as one application
during the calculation of hot!stat reports.
Show Status...: A small window will appear on the screen
displaying the status off all the various options, system
information, and the version of hot!stat you are currently using.
Save Config: Selecting this option will cause hot!stat to save a
configuration file (HOTSTAT.CNF) to the default path. All
settings including statistics, alias', file paths, and output
devices are saved and then automatically restored the next time
your run the program. If a configuration file already exists you
will be asked to confirm the creation of a new one before the
settings are saved.
REPORTS:
Statistics...: Allows the user to toggle statistical calculations
on or off. Right now the only stat available is percentage of
total use. The default setting for Statistics in ON.
Documents...: In the current version Document entries in the
Hotwire! ledger files are ignored. A future release will prepare
reports on time spent working on documents.
Output Device: Allows the user to select how the reports will be
displayed. Output can be directed to the screen or a disk file.
NOTE: When you first run hot!stat the default output is to your
screen. If you select OUTPUT DEVICE from the drop down menu this
default will be reset. Thus, you will have to re-select "screen"
if you wish to be able to see the reports as they are generated.
Hot!stat will work just fine without an output device selected,
but you'll get very little information back when you select a
report since there is no place to display it.
HELP:
General: General information about the program.
Printer: Unavailable since printed output isn't finished
in this version.
Credits: Acknowledgements from the author.
Using Alias
Upon selecting "Alias..." from under the CONFIGURE menu a dialog
box will appear with "EDIT", "ON/OFF", and "CANCEL" options.
Selecting "Cancel" will safely abort the alias procedure.
Select "On/Off" to set if hot!stat should utilize your alias
definitions or not. If you do not have an existing Alias
definition file you will not be able to successfully turn on this
option. (A alert box will appear informing you of this should it
occur.)
To add/delete entries to your Alias definition file (stored
as ALIAS.SET in your default hot!stat path) select "Edit" from
the alias dialog box. Another box will appear asking for a
selection of either "Add" or "Delete". We'll discuss "Add" first
since that is the first thing you will have to do to create your
initial alias definition file.
"Add Alias": Upon selecting "Add" an item selector will
appear asking you to select any single ledger file. Alias
entries are entered from existing ledger files and you must
select one that contains the applications for which you wish to
define alias settings. Once you select a file, and confirm your
choice, hot!stat will display the first 24 applications from the
ledger file (5). Also a small window will open at the bottom of
the screen, this is where you will entering the alias
information.
To enter an alias: The applications will be numbered (from 1
to 24) on your screen. To set up the alias (FLASH.PRG to Flash
Terminal Program) used as an example earlier you would first
enter the number that appears beside FLASH.PRG (ie: 5) as "the
application wish to define an alias for". Then enter the number
beside "Flash Terminal Program" (ie: 12) as the "destination
alias". Note that hot!stat prompts for each of these entries
separately. Enter "98" as the destination to instruct hot!stat
to ignore (or disregard) an application during analysis.
Entering "0" (zero) will allow you to "undo" mistakes, and "99"
indicates that you are finished adding alias'. Enter "99" and
you will be asked if you wish to save the settings you just
entered. If an alias definition file already exists you'll be
asked to confirm the save before proceeding. NOTE! Alias
settings that are already defined (from previous sessions) are
_ _
5. The file will be sorted, and duplicates combined, so
each entry will only appear once. Note, however, that only the
first 24 entries are shown on the screen so the application(s)
you wish to define as alias' must fall within the first 24
entries.
not replaced or deleted! New alias' are added to those that
already exist. For this reason it is possible to recursively
define alias settings (eg: flash.prg=interlink.prg and
interlink.prg=flash.prg) but doing so will result in errors and
confusion in the analysis! If you wish to redefine an alias entry
you should first delete the old entry.
Deleting Alias definitions: Select "delete" from the "Edit
Alias" dialog box and, providing that a definition file exists,
hot!stat will display all the definitions you have defined. They
are displayed in groups of twenty. Enter "F" or "B" to browse
forward or back in the list, and to delete a specific entry
simple enter the number that appears next to it in the display.
Typing "Q" will quit the procedure and you'll be asked if you
wish to keep or discard the changes you made. Selecting "keep"
will create a new definition file on the disk.
Further Notes: Hot!stat allows up to fifty alias pairs to
be defined. The program will not allow you to add more than
fifty entries.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or bug reports please send
them to author. This program is only as good as the feedback
users provide. Thanks...
Do Not Stamp Software
PO Box 467
Des Plaines, IL USA 60016
GEnie and Delphi: GRMEYER
CompuServe: 72307,1502
Internet: 72307.1502@Compuserve.Com
If you enjoy using this program you can reward the author by
sending a postcard to the address given above.