As a freelancer administrative work is a necessary evil. This little Python script allows you to log your work very easily - through the usage of a CLI.
Logging your work - and especially the time you spent working - should be easy and time inexpensive. Worklog lets you log your work (dûh) in a very straightforward way. Starting and continuing your work is done by calling the executable with a comment:
$ worklog <comment>
This comment should hold information about the project your currently working on and what you are doing at that specific moment. But ofcourse, this is up to you. Every time you log your work, the total working time is outputted to the console:
$ worklog Refactoring shitty code from the previous developer..
Continuing. Total of 0:03:45.
When you are done, finish logging with the -f flag:
$ worklog -f Rounding up and committing work.
Stopped. Total of 0:13:37.
This is what the actual log file will look like:
2013-08-11 11:56:40 S It's a lovely saturday!
2013-08-11 12:00:25 | Refactoring shitty code from the previous developer..
2013-08-11 12:06:09 | Doing some other work for some other client.
2013-08-11 12:10:17 F Rounding up and committing work. Total of 0:13:37.
The file is placed in a date formatted directory (see configuration options):
<worklog path>/2013/Week 31/2013-08-11.log
Starting (and continuing) work is easily done with the $ worklog <comment> command. At the end you only have to finish working by running $ worklog -f <comment>.
Note: To use special characters in your comment, escape them (\|, \", \>) or surround your comment in quotations (worklog "<comment>").
Worklog also allows you to show the status (and dump) your working log:
$ worklog --help
Usage: worklog [-d] [-s] [-r] [-f] <comment>
Small Python logging tool to make work and time management real easy.
Options:
-h, --help Show this help message and exit.
-d, --dump Dump log file.
-s, --status Print working status and total time.
-r, --remove-record Remove last record from the log.
-f, --finish Finish working.
The logged records are stored per line, with the data in a tab separated format - to make parsing the data real easy.
By default, the log file is placed in your profile directory (~/Worklog/%Y/Week %U/%Y-%m-%d.log, which translates into):
Mac OSX /Users/Maurits/Worklog/2013/Week 31/2013-08-11.log
Linux /home/Maurits/Worklog/2013/Week 31/2013-08-11.log
Windows C:\Users\Maurits\Worklog\2013\Week 31\2013-08-11.log
Open your terminal application. Navigate to your bin directory:
$ cd /usr/local/bin
Make sure git is installed. Then clone the repository into worklog_bin:
$ sudo git clone https://github.com/mauvm/worklog worklog_bin --depth=1
Note: Update Worklog by running cd /usr/local/bin/worklog_bin; sudo git pull; sudo chmod +x worklog.py.
Download this repository as worklog-master.zip and extract it to /usr/local/bin/worklog_bin:
$ sudo unzip ~/Downloads/worklog-master.zip -d .
$ sudo rm -rf worklog_bin
$ sudo mv worklog-master worklog_bin
Note: Update Worklog by repeating the entire installation process again.
Make the application executable:
$ sudo chmod +x worklog_bin/worklog.py
$ sudo ln -sf $PWD/worklog_bin/worklog.py worklog
And voilà, Worklog is installed!
First, make sure Python is in your PATH environment variable.
Then open the command prompt (Windows+R > "cmd" > Enter) and run the following commands:
> cd %USERPROFILE%
> mkdir Worklog
> cd Worklog
Make sure git is installed. Then clone this repository into the current working directory:
> git clone https://github.com/mauvm/worklog.git worklog --depth=1
Note: Update Worklog by repeating the installation process, but instead of git clone https://git... run git pull.
Download this repository as worklog-master.zip and extract it to the current working directory:
> unzip ../Downloads/worklog-master.zip -d .
> rm -rf worklog
> rename worklog-master worklog
Note: Update Worklog by repeating the entire installation process again.
To wrap it up, add %USERPROFILE%\Worklog\worklog\lib\Windows\ to your "Path" environment variable to be able to run worklog <comment> directly from the command prompt.
Note: The linked tutorial adds it to the system variables, which installs Worklog systemwide. Add it to the user variables section to install Worklog for your account only.
And your done!
Uninstalling Worklog can be done by simply deleting the bin folder and the symlink:
$ sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/worklog_bin
$ sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/worklog
Optionally you can delete the log files too:
$ rm -rf ~/Worklog
First navigate to your profile directory:
> cd %USERPROFILE%
To keep the log files but delete the Worklog application, simply run:
> rm -rf Worklog\worklog
Optionally you can uninstall Worklog and delete the log files in one go:
> rm -rf Worklog
Configuration options:
| Option | Default | Note |
|---|---|---|
| directory | ~/Worklog/ | ~ expands to your home directory |
| file_format | %Y/Week %U/%Y-%m-%d.log | 2013/Week 31/2013-08-11.log |
Note: Be careful altering the directory and file_format options, since it wil create a new folder with each / (or \ in Windows). Avoid using ...
Some features I will be working on:
- Find a better name (I'm open for suggestions);
- Periodic pop-ups (to remind you of logging your work);
- Logging focused window titles (to recall/prove what you did);
- Option to export the log data;
- Website for statistics (upload export file, enter format, view working time graphs).
DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, December 2004
Copyright (C) 2014 Maurits van Mastrigt <maurits@nerdieworks.nl>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim or modified
copies of this license document, and changing it is allowed as long
as the name is changed.
DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. You just DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO.