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LogIt! DOCUMENTATION FOR YOUR LogIt! PROGRAMS Ver. 1.0 2/24/85 IN A HURRY? See Quick Instructions, Pg 24 LogIt! is a set of programs which will document the usage of your IBM personal computer by automatically recording the time at which a program was invoked and how long it was in use. Data regarding who used it and what it was used for can also be recorded. The data displayed by LogIt! can show either all activity on your computer or just the times when "information" entries are recorded. LogIt! will maintain a LOGIT.LOG file automatically on floppy or hard disks and will print a report when desired. LogIt! is ideal for anyone wishing to keep a record of his or her computer's use for either personal or business reasons. LOGIT IS: * - FAST - Less then 1.5 seconds to record program entries and exits! - Only 10 seconds to enter data! - No menus to call up! - Automatic Logout if you exit to DOS! * - EFFICIENT - Usually less then 20 bytes per entry! - Uses less then 2.5K of RAM! - Automatic recording of program use! LogIt! can easily be used to record non-computer related activities. This capability is especially useful for legal, accounting and other professions which require a record of personnel time for billing purposes. New IRS rules require detailed, concurrent records for the deduction of computers from personal income for tax purposes. LogIt! provides a record which meets the IRS requirements. The set of LogIt! programs consists of LOGIT.COM, LOGITDMP.EXE and LOGIT.DOC (this file). *************************************** Page 1 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS: FOR QUICK INSTRUCTIONS, SEE APPENDIX F, Pg 24 1. Table of Contents Pg 2 2. Legal Stuff and Why We Want Money Pg 3 3. Introduction Pg 4 4. How to put LogIt! on your disks Pg 6 5. How to Start Using LogIt! Pg 7 6. Exiting LogIt! Pg 8 7. Other Operating Notes Pg 9 8. Displaying and Printing Records SEE CAUTION HERE Pg 10 9. When LogIt! Will Not Create a Record Pg 15 10. What To Do if You Have Problems Pg 15 APPENDICES 11. Appendix A (The LogIt! package) Pg 16 12. Appendix B (How to set up your computer for LogIt!) Pg 17 13. Appendix C (Handling Binary files) Pg 19 14. Appendix D (Other suggestions for use) Pg 20 15. Appendix E (How to read your LogIt! files) Pg 22 16. Appendix F (QUICK INSTRUCTIONS) Pg 24 INVOICE Pg 25 *********************************************** Page 2 2. LEGAL STUFF AND WHY WE WANT MONEY IF YOU USE THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE. LogIt! is a registered trademark and LogIt! is copyrighted l985 by the author, Alan E. Robertson. You are not permitted to distribute LogIt! in any modified form. However, you are encouraged to copy and distribute this program package in its entirety as long as this documentation file accompanies it and as long as it and this .DOC file are not modified prior to distribution. You are not permitted to charge any fee or other consideration in exchange for distributing this program. If you develop successful modifications for your own personal use that you would like to share with us please write and we will try to make them available to others in future versions. USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT This software is the product of user supported software development. We have put a lot of time into the development of this program and hope to reap some of the benefits and yet keep the cost to each user down. Please help keep the experiment working! If you are using LogIt! and find it helpful we request a contribution of $20.00 FOR EACH COPY OF THE PROGRAM IN USE. Send your contribution to: LogIt! 470 Sugar Hill Road Brooklyn, WI, 53521 An invoice is attached at the end of this file for your use if you need one. When you send us $20.00 (or more if you feel so inclined) we will do the following in return: (1) register you as a user and place you on our mailing list for the announcements of any future versions of (or supplements to) the program, (2) offer support and keep you informed of program problems or other applications, (3) give you our honest thanks and work to help develop other useful programs which we can distribute in a similarly inexpensive manner. *** THANK YOU ! *** PAGE 3 DISCLAIMER: This is the usual disclaimer which states that we are not liable in case your equipment bursts into flame or you lose data while using our program. It is possible that some programs will not work properly with LogIt! and if you find some that do not we would appreciate hearing about it. We assume no liability for consequential damages such as losing a tax audit, or, heaven forbid, losing your data or other programs, and we assume no liability for errors in the creation of this set of programs or their documentation. We guess that this notice about consequential damages doesn't count for anything in some states where such disclaimers are not legal. As far as we can tell, this program works well and doesn't cause problems with other programs!! We also reserve the right to change, improve, add to or otherwise alter these programs without having any obligation to change or alter the programs or documentation already in existance although if you are a registered user we will make every effort to let you know of any problems or new advances. *************************************** 3. INTRODUCTION HOW LogIt! WORKS: The LogIt! programs will document your computer's activities by creating a record of all programs invoked from the keyboard. You can identify the people using the programs and their activities in any way you want (using a phrase or "string" of your choosing) and can change the information any time you are in DOS. A file of these activities will be maintained on your hard disk or on floppy disks. Program changes from DOS are noted automatically. The LogIt! programs will create a file, LOGIT.LOG, in the root directory on the default drive. It will do this whenever it is in use and the program does not find LOGIT.LOG on the default drive in the root directory. (You can change the file name, path and drive using the SET command, as detailed in APPENDIX B.) The LOGITDMP.EXE program enables you to join (concatenate) these LOGIT.LOG files, even if you have them on several floppy disks, and to read them to either a screen or a printer or another file. The program is loaded to RAM and once there is completely transparent to the operations of other programs. As noted below, all programs run by DOS are automatically logged, and other changes (such as a different user or a new project) can be logged by simply typing the command LOGIT any time you are in DOS. Page 4 USES FOR YOUR LogIt! PROGRAMS: The most obvious one is the documentation of the use of your personal computer of tax deduction record keeping purposes. Frankly, we don't know of any cases where this sort of documen- tation has been shown to be acceptable to the IRS, but since the record created by LogIt! is vastly more difficult to tamper with or to "fake" than a hand-written log, we feel that the IRS will find the LogIt! log to be acceptable evidence of the relative amounts of business and professional use versus personal use of your computer. Because the files maintained by LogIt! are written in binary, they cannot be directly modified, and they are readable only with the LOGITDMP.EXE program. They are more tamper-resistant than a paper and pencil record is. The great detail of the LogIt! record makes fraudulent alteration exceedingly unlikely. The IRS requires that a percentage-of-use calculation be made on the basis of actual hours used. LogIt! provides a record from which you can calculate the actual percentages if needed. The author of LogIt! is developing a program which will automatically compile the data maintained in the log files and give the hours and percentage of use by user and project. This current version of LogIt! will, using the LOGITDMP.EXE program, print a usage record including actual start-stop and elapsed times. OTHER USES FOR LogIt! LogIt! can monitor the time that various people use your computer and can document the time that the machine is used for various projects by a given person. It is easy to use LogIt! to keep track of the percentages of time that a person in an office spends working on various tasks even if they are not using the computer, simply by having the computer be on and that person log in and out of the various projects or accounts by typing LOGIT. Because LogIt! lets you use a string of your own choosing when making entries, you have considerable flexibility in how you record your activities. LogIt! will record the time LOGIT.COM is invoked ("start"), the length of time before there is another "information" entry, the length of time a given program is in use, and the length of time the computer is in DOS. (See APPENDIX D for suggestions as to how to enter information and APPENDIX E for details of the reports generated by the LOGITDMP.EXE program) Page 5 EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS: The LogIt! programs were developed on an IBM PC. We expect it to work well on any INTEL 8086, 8088, 80186, or 80286 based computer running PC DOS or MS DOS version 2.0 or later. This includes the IBM PC, PC Jr, XT, and AT. LogIt! requires one or more disk drives, 64K of memory, and will work best if there is a clock-calendar. When loaded, LOGIT.COM will use about 2K of RAM. A hard-disk is not required but will assure that all of your logged data are on one disk and in one file if so desired. LogIt! is compatible with PC DOS 2.0, 2.1, AND 3.0. *************************************** 4. HOW TO PUT LogIt! ON YOUR DISKS: To use the LogIt! programs you will need to have the LOGIT.COM file on one of your disks. It will work best if you put it on the disk(s) that you use to boot your computer and run your programs so that it is always available at the time you want to log information. Although LOGIT.COM does not have to be on a disk in the computer when you are just logging program changes you do need to have it available if you want to enter information codes (strings) from DOS. You do not need to have the LOGITDMP.EXE file on your boot disk or even accessible during routine operations since you will use it only to review the data LogIt! has collected for you. We suggest that you copy LOGITDMP.EXE to the disk that you will be using to archive your log data. It will also be useful to add SORT.EXE (from your DOS disk) to the disk you use to archive your log data since you may want to use SORT to assure that your log data are in the proper order if you have been recording data on several floppy disks. To summarize, for best results, you should copy the LOGIT.COM file onto all the disks you will be using as boot disks and program disks. If you have a hard disk, we suggest keeping LOGIT.COM in the root directory (See APPENDIX B). You will need to have some space available on a disk for LogIt! to create your LOGIT.LOG files. Usually it will work best if this is on the disk in your A drive or your hard disk if you have one. The size of LOGIT.LOG will increase by about 20 bytes every time you invoke a program from DOS or change the user information with the command LOGIT. The exact amount will depend on how long your commands or identifying strings are. If you are using floppy disks you will want to copy your log data to an archive disk periodically. *************************************** Page 6 5. HOW TO START LogIt!: LogIt! can be invoked at any DOS prompt by the command: A>LOGIT You should type a two character identifier (e.g. "47" or "B5" or "KG") which identifies the user and type of project according to a code which you can establish to meet your own needs. You can also add a phrase or "string" which will become part of the entry which is recorded in LOGIT.LOG. Thus, you should type: A>LOGIT [Name and job code] for example: A>LOGIT B7 The "B7" identifies the person and usage of the computer according to a code you have set up. You can also add any other additional information you wish which will become part of that entry, such as: A>LOGIT B7 this is smith account See APPENDICES D and E for suggestions and a sample log. See APPENDIX B for detailed instructions for including LogIt! commands in a batch file. In general, the command LOGIT should be entered AFTER the system clock is set. Please note that you can change the identifying code and string for your data at any time simply by re-entering the command LOGIT and a new string. For example: A>LOGIT [New name and new job code] Because LogIt! is resident in RAM it will record program changes even if LOGIT.COM is not on a disk currently in the computer. However, if you wish to be able to enter "informational" data such as a new user or a different purpose, you will have to have LOGIT.COM on a disk in the computer and type in the drive identifier so that the computer can find the LOGIT.COM file. (Note, however, that you can use the PATH command so that the computer will find the file regardless of which is the current default drive.) (See APPENDIX B for details.) OTHER NOTES ABOUT STARTING LogIt!: If several people in a home or office share the same computer, it may be useful for each person to have his or her own boot disk which contains the entry code as part of the LOGIT command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Page 7 If a user wants to use a different boot disk for each person, it is possible for the computer to create and maintain a different file the time used by each person. Each person can have his or her own record file with (e.g.) initials as part of the file name, thus: MYLOG.LOG. (See APPENDIX B for instructions as to how to do this.) *************************************** 6. EXITING LogIt!: Once LogIt! has been invoked there is no way to exit it or stop the logging process without rebooting the system. This feature increases its acceptability as an accounting tool. LogIt! records exiting times automatically by assuming that the time of a return to DOS from a program followed by a reboot indicates when you stopped your use of the machine. If you have spent a long time working in DOS after leaving your program and wish to have that time recorded you will, in that specific case, have to leave a time mark for the exit. You can do this simply by typing LOGIT and, if you wish, a string such as: A>LOGIT I'm quitting now! When you display your record using LOGITDMP you will see that just leaving your program and entering DOS prior to shutting down the computer will result in a valid elapsed time record for both information and program entries. If you are going to be away from the computer for an extended length of time you may want to use the LOGIT command to note the time you left and the time you returned. ********************************************** Page 8 7. OTHER OPERATING NOTES You may note slightly increased activity of your disk drive when LogIt! is operational as it records the keyboard commands from DOS to the LOGIT.LOG record. This is normal and the total "overhead" in terms of the time required for recording the invocation of a program will be about 1.5 seconds for both hard and floppy disks. The time required for the computer to record an information entry is about 5 seconds. If you do not specify a specific drive, LogIt! will create LOGIT.LOG on your default drive as your record file. LogIt! will create additional LOGIT.LOG files on any disks, including program disks, you have in your default or other specified drive. If you are using sub-directories LogIt! will place LOGIT.LOG in the root directory of the default drive. See APPENDIX B for a discussion of procedures for customizing your LogIt! program file creation procedures. Be sure that you have left enough room on the disk you choose to use for the log file that LOGIT will create and maintain. As noted above, LOGIT will add about 20 or more bytes to the each time you enter a command from DOS or a string using the command LOGIT. When your available file space is used up you can use the LOGITDMP.EXE program to copy your data to another disk and concatenate your files. (See below.) Even if you inadvertently have a full disk so that LogIt! cannot create or write into a LOGIT.LOG file this will not impede the operation of your program. You will just get an error message from logit and your program will continue to run. Note: Even if you use multiple boot disks or a variety of different disks in the drive that LogIt! is using to record data in the log file, there will be no problem as long as there is room for a log file. LogIt! will simply establish a new log file (LOGIT.LOG is the default) on each of them. You only need to run LOGIT.COM once after starting DOS until you reboot the system and LogIt! will automatically create and maintain the files on the drive you designate. The LOGITDMP program makes it possible to archive and concatenate the files generated by LogIt! even when they exist on several floppy disks and you can use the DOS SORT program to assure that your files are in order. (If you have a hard disk the need to copy and concatenate your log files can be avoided by always having the program write your record to one specific file on the hard disk in the root directory.) *************************************** Page 9 8. DISPLAYING AND PRINTING THE RECORDS CREATED BY LogIt!: *** CAUTION *** DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LOOK AT THE ORIGINAL BINARY OR THE TEXT FILES WITH A WORD PROCESSOR OR AN EDITOR PROGRAM AS THESE PROGRAMS OFTEN LEAVE AN END-OF-FILE MARK AT THE END OF FILES, THEREBY MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO READ ANY MORE DATA WHICH YOU MAY ADD OR CONCATENATE TO THE FILE AT A LATER TIME. Also, do not copy your files using a "/A" switch option as this ASCII copy command will also add an EOF mark. Once you have used LOGITDMP to create text files from the original binary files you can read the files using the TYPE command. (See below). The LOGITDMP program will report the contents of your LOGIT.LOG file with four codes denoting starting and elapsed times for different types of information. The elapsed times recorded by LogIt! are of two types, program and information. 1. The "program" elapsed times are the times that a program was actually in operation on your computer; that is, from the time the program was invoked until you returned to DOS. 2. The "information" elapsed times are from the time you recorded one information string (using "LOGIT") until EITHER you recorded another "information" entry or the program senses that you shut down the computer by the fact that an exit to DOS was followed by a "start". If a program entry or an information entry is followed by a start then LogIt! has to assume that you did not exit properly to DOS and therefore will show "???????" as the elapsed time since no reasonable calculation is possible. Your LogIt! records are displayed with four symbols to aid you in your calculations, these are: S>, P>, D>, I>,. S> = LOGIT INVOKED (with string if any) D> = IN DOS P> = COMMAND (program in operation) I> = INFORMATION (with string if any) Page 10 S> Start: This indicates a "start"; the first invocation of the LOGIT program after booting DOS and will contain (if if supplied by the user) an information code. The elapsed time will be calculated to the next information string or until the next return to DOS followed by a "start". In a sense, the S> elapsed time entry is a special case of the I> "information" entry indicating that the entry occurred after the system was booted. P> Program: This is the elapsed time that the program whose command is displayed was in operation. Note that this calculation is not possible unless the program exited to DOS. If you did not do this LOGITDMP will just display "????????" as the elapsed time. Note that LOGITDMP will calculate the elapsed time for programs from the invocation of a program to an exit to DOS. D> DOS: This is the elapsed time that you were in DOS or using the COPY and TYPE commands before running any other programs. Note that if you exit a program to DOS and then shut down the computer (as you should do) that you will have a situation where the program cannot determine the elapsed time for DOS and you will see a blank as the entry for the elapsed time in the D> row. I> Information: This denotes the elapsed time that you were operating after entering a string of LogIt! information. This is particularly useful if you do work for clients and want to charge by the unit of time. LOGITDMP will calculate the time spent after each information entry by looking ahead in the file to EITHER the next informational entry or the time when a D> entry was followed by a S> entry indicating that the system was reset. As you can see, there is special significance to the combination of a D> followed by a S> as this indicates an exit from a program and a reboot. In these instances, the program will assume that the time indicated by the D> is the time that the activities were completed and will use this in calculating elapsed times for the "information", the "program", and the "DOS" entries. If there is not a D> followed by an S> combination (as if, for example, you shut down the computer without exiting to DOS) then calculations of elapsed time are not possible and the computer will indicated this by displaying "????????" or a blank. Page 11 The text files generated by LOGITDMP can list either the total activity of your computer, including all program changes or can, by use of the command "LOGITDMP /I" display the elapsed times only for those entries with the I> and S> (information and start) codes, ignoring the P> and D> (program and DOS) entries. Adding an "S" after the "/" mark will cause LOGITDMP to display all entry and exit clock times with seconds displayed. As a default, clock times will be reported in hours and minutes but not seconds. * * * * * Using LOGITDMP.EXE: Because your LogIt! files are maintained in binary form (rather than in ASCII or in text form) they cannot be read (or, to the relief of the IRS, modified) directly. You can use the LOGITDMP program to help you with your file manipulations. With the LOGITDMP program you can (1) display your files on the screen, (2) print your files, (3) create new files of your logged data and (4) concatenate files of logged data for eventual display or printing. Usually the filename that is the operand for LOGITDMP will be LOGIT.LOG unless you have specified another name. (See APPENDIX B). The following examples assume that you have LOGIT.LOG ON the disk in your A drive and LOGITDMP.EXE on the disk in the B drive that you are using to archive and concatenate your data. See APPENDIX E for detailed information on how to read the files generated by LOGITDMP. 1. To display a LogIt! log enter: LOGITDMP [drive:]filename For example, you can use: A>B:LOGITDMP LOGIT.LOG when LOGITDMP.EXE is on the B drive and LOGIT.LOG is on the default disk drive. Page 12 2. To print data type: LOGITDMP [drive:]filename>PRN for example, you can use: A>B:LOGITDMP LOGIT.LOG>PRN when LOGITDMP.EXE is on the B drive, LOGIT.LOG is on the default disk drive, and the abbreviation "PRN" designates the printer. You can also direct the output elsewhere using (e.g.) >LPT2 or some other output device or file name. If you prefer to print only the S> (start) and I> (information) entries you can use: A>B:LOGITDMP /I LOGIT.LOG>PRN 3. To convert the binary LOGIT.LOG file to an ASCII (text) file on an archive disk (when you have not already started such a file) you can type: LOGITDMP [drive:]filename>[newdrive:]newfile for example, you can use: A>B:LOGITDMP LOGIT.LOG>B:LOGIT.TXT when LOGITDMP.EXE is on the B drive, LOGIT.LOG is on the default disk drive, and you wish to create a file on the disk in the B drive called LOGIT.TXT which you can read with the TYPE command. To look at data in this ASCII file you can just use the TYPE command or the PRINT command. See CAUTION, above. 4. To convert the binary LOGIT.LOG file to ASCII (text) and add (concatenate) it to an existing file you can enter: LOGITDMP [drive]:filename>>newdrive:newfile for example, you can use: A>B:LOGITDMP LOGIT.LOG>>B:LOGIT.TXT when LOGITDMP.EXE is in the B drive, LOGIT.LOG is in the default disk drive, and you want to add the data to the end of an existing file called LOGIT.TXT on the disk in your B drive. Page 13 This procedure will concatenate the files so that you will not lose the previously archived data in LOGIT.TXT. After performing either of these last two procedures you should erase your original LOGIT.LOG file to make more room for new entries and to avoid double entries in your archive file. LogIt! will automatically create a new LOGIT.LOG file for you. We suggest you always save copies of your archive files. 5. You can also copy, concatenate, and save your binary LogIt! log files in their original binary form with a considerable saving of space, although recovery in the event of an error may not be possible with binary files. To see how to do this, go to APPENDIX C. 6. USING THE SORT COMMAND: Because you are maintaining the log file, usually LOGIT.LOG, on whatever disk is in the drive you specify or the default drive it is possible that the data files created when you concatenate your files will not be in exact chronological order. For this reason you may want to sort your files by date and time. If you have already placed SORT.EXE (this program is on your DOS disk) on your archive disk and you have a data file (created by LOGITDMP) called LOGIT.TXT all you have to do is type: B>SORT <LOGIT.TXT >LOGSORT.TXT Note that the SORT command will not work with files larger then 64K. It may be best to dump your files monthly and name the resulting sorted file by the month name, such as MARCH.TXT. For a sample LogIt! file as generated by LOGITDMP please see APPENDIX E. * * * * * HOW TO DISPLAY THE FILES CREATED BY LOGITDMP.EXE: To view the files created by LOGITDMP you can use the TYPE command. Assume, for example that you have created LOGIT.TXT on the B drive you could type: A>TYPE B:LOGIT.TXT If you want to print the same file you can type: A>TYPE B:LOGIT.TXT >PRN *************************************** Page 14 9. WHEN LogIt! WILL NOT CREATE A RECORD FOR YOU: LogIt! cannot maintain a LogIt! log file if the disk in the default drive (or other drive specified by the SET command (see APPENDIX B, below) is write protected or otherwise unavailable for the addition of data to the log file. LogIt! will not record your activities if you are not in DOS (e.g. if you are using BASIC.) However, it will record the times you entered BASIC and reentered DOS. Some programs on protected disks require that the system be booted from that disk to operate or do not use DOS. Thus, LogIt! will not work with these programs. *************************************** 10. WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS: Please write to us at the above address giving us the details of your problem and your address and phone number and we will reply by mail or by phone. We would appreciate knowing of any problems you might have as this will help us improve the program. As you can imagine, you will have to be a registered user to get any support from us although we would like to hear about problems even if you decide not to contribute to support the program. (We just won't try to help you solve them!) Page 15 ********************************************** APPENDICES ********************************************** 11. APPENDIX A. Your LogIt! package: The programs which constitute the LogIt! package are a package which must be kept intact if the program is to be useful to you. Your LogIt! package contains the following: 1. LOGIT.DOC: This documentation. 2. LOGIT.COM: This program generates the LOGIT.LOG files. 3. LOGITDMP.EXE: This is the program you need to read your LOGIT.LOG files. When you start using LogIt! you will create: 4. LOGIT.LOG: This is a binary file containing all of your data. It is not present in the distribution package and is created by LOGIT.COM. You can create log files with other names if you wish. 5. LOGIT.TXT: This is the record of your data which actually read on the screen or printer. It is created (and named) by you when you create text files with the LOGITDMP.EXE program. Thus, it is not present in the distribution package. You can use other file names if you wish. **************************************** Page 16 12. APPENDIX B. How to set up your computer to make best use of LogIt! PART I. Using the PATH command to tell the computer where to find LOGIT.COM regardless of which drive is the default drive. The DOS command "PATH" lets you specify that the computer will search for LOGIT.COM on one or more specific drives and directories rather then on just the default drive. For example, if you wish to be able to type LOGIT at any DOS prompt (regardless of which drive is the default drive) when LOGIT.COM is in the root directory on the disk in the A drive you should, as part of your autoexec.bat file have the command: PATH=A:\; If LOGIT.COM (preferably along with LOGIT.LOG) is in the root directory on a hard disk which is the C drive you should use the following command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: PATH=C:\; PART II. Using the SET command to tell the computer where to put the file LOGIT.LOG (or other name) regardless of which drive is the default drive: The LogIt! program will create a file named LOGIT.LOG on the disk in your default drive (or any drive of your choosing). It will do this as often as it does not find a file called LOGIT.LOG. If you are using sub-directories, LogIt! will place this file in the root directory unless you specify otherwise using the DOS SET command. You can specify the drive, directory and name which you want LogIt! to use to record your data by using the DOS SET command. For example if you wish to record all of your data on the C drive in a file called "timefile" in the root directory, you would, prior to invoking LOGIT type (or include in a batch file) the command: SET LOGIT.LOG=C:\TIMEFILE Generally, for floppy disk users, it will be best to specify: SET LOGIT.LOG=A:\LOGIT.LOG. This will avoid the problem of the computer looking on a possibly empty B or C drive to create or add to LOGIT.LOG. Page 17 Hard disk users will probably prefer to use a SET command that will channel the output of LOGIT to the root directory of their hard disk such as: SET LOGIT.LOG=C:\LOGIT.LOG Part III. Modifying or creating an AUTOEXEC.BAT File for LogIt! Use: Generally, for floppy disk users the following sequence should be included in an AUTOEXEC.BAT file: 1. [program to set system clock such as ASTCLOCK] 2. PATH=A:\; 3. SET LOGIT.LOG=A:\LOGIT.LOG 4. ECHO Type LOGIT and your information string If you set up your system in this manner your computer will look on the A drive for LOGIT.COM and will record data on the A drive in LOGIT.LOG. When the AUTOEXEC.BAT file is done running you will see the message: A>ECHO Type LOGIT and your information string You would then type: A>LOGIT [my entry code] There is no problem if you wish to include LOGIT in the middle of a batch file if you want to put other commands after it, but the above file (where you manually type LOGIT last after the batch file has run) has the advantage of forcing the user to log in his or her activities. After you have invoked Logit! for the first time you will be returned to the DOS prompt and you will not see the initial message again even when LogIt! is recording data about program changes or when you type LOGIT to make an information entry. The same batch file for a user with a hard disk on the C drive would look like this: 1. [program to set system clock such as ASTCLOCK] 2. PATH=C:\; 3. SET LOGIT.LOG=C:\LOGIT.LOG 4. ECHO Type LOGIT and your information string ******************************************** Page 18 13. APPENDIX C. How to handle your LogIt! files in binary form It is also possible to copy and concatenate the data files in their original binary form by doing the following. 1. To copy files use: COPY [drive:]filename/B [newdrive:]newfile For example, you could use the following to copy from A:LOGIT.LOG to B:LOGIT.ARC (archive) A>COPY LOGIT.LOG/B B:LOGIT.ARC (the "/B" assures that the file is handled in binary form and applies to all files in the command until another "/" designator is given.) 2. To concatenate two files (FILE1 and FILE2) in binary form is a bit more complicated but it can be done as follows: COPY [drive:]FILE1/B+[drive:]FILE2 [newdrive:]newfile (this step copies the binary file to your archive disk) For example, (assuming you already have a file on your archive disk called LOGIT.ARC) you can type: COPY [drive:]LOGIT.ARC/B+[drive:]newfile newfile.ARC (this step concatenates the newfile to LOGIT.ARC and names the result newfile.ARC) REN [drive:]LOGIT.ARC ARCHIVE.ARC (this step puts the old LOGIT.ARC into a file of another name so there is no conflict with the newly created LOGIT.ARC. The data in the old LOGIT.ARC has been preserved in case of an error). REN newfile.ARC LOGIT.ARC (this step recreates the file LOGIT.ARC with the newly added data now included). Page 19 For example, if you have a system with two floppy drives and you have been recording your data on the A drive in a file called LOGIT.LOG and concatenating the results in an archive file called LOGIT.ARC which is on a disk in the B drive, you would do the following: A> COPY B:LOGIT.ARC/B+LOGIT.LOG B:NEWLOG.ARC A> REN LOGIT.ARC ARCHIVE.ARC A> REN NEWLOG.ARC LOGIT.ARC Because copying and concatenating the binary files may be more trouble than it's worth we suggest you use the LOGITDMP program to work with your files unless you have some special need. You should always change your binary LOGIT.LOG files to text files using LOGITDMP.EXE as described above before manipulating the binary files directly. ************************************************** Page 20 14. APPENDIX D: Additional suggestions for use. To make it easier to total the elapsed times recorded in your LogIt! records you should be consistent in your use of the identification codes that you use in your information entries. The author of LogIt! intends to make a program available which will do all totalling functions and calculate percentages of time of use. This will probably look for a two character alpha-numeric code as the first part of the entry. We suggest that you decide on a code to help you record information in a consistent manner such as the following: First Character: Second Character: 1 = George A = Personal Use 2 = Sally B = Business (Smith Acct) 3 = Robin C = Business (Jones Acct) 4 = (etc) And so on. Any number-letter combination will work. Thus you can enter: A>LOGIT 3B You may wish to record more detailed information by adding notes to your entry following the code. This will also be recorded as part of the entry for that time in your LOGIT.LOG file. Thus you can enter: A>LOGIT 2C second dunning letter sent! If you want, you can also use LogIt! to document the time individuals spend at various tasks by having them type the command LOGIT with the appropriate string to identify the activity. Thus, an office employee can log his or her time towards various projects by typing: A>LOGIT [code, string] whenever starting or stoping various activities. Thus, it is possible to generate LogIt! records even for non-computer related tasks. Of course, you can also just establish a code for each user and job and include this code as a message in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. ****************************************** Page 21 15. APPENDIX E. HOW TO READ THE RECORDS GENERATED BY LogIt! As noted above, the entries recorded in the LOGIT.LOG record are of two types, program and information. You can display either both of these or just the information entries if you wish. In either case, both types of information will be present in the original LOGIT.LOG files. Thus, the text files generated by LOGITDMP.EXE will list either the total activity of your computer, including all program changes in and out of DOS or, by use of the command "LOGITDMP /I" display the elapsed times for just those entries with the I> and S> (information and start) codes thereby ignoring the P> and D> (program and DOS) entries. Usage codes: S> = LOGIT INVOKED (with string if any) D> = IN DOS P> = PROGRAM (program in operation) I> = INFORMATION (with string if any) Sample Printout (all data including DOS and Program as well as information entries). Line numbers and headings are added for clarity. (Date) (Time) (elapsed (Command or message) time) 1. 1985/01/30 11:53 S> 00:30:02 3B 2. 1985/01/30 11:53 D> 00:00:16 3. 1985/01/30 11:54 P> 00:29:03 A:WRITE 4. 1985/01/30 12:23 D> 00:00:24 5. 1985/01/30 12:23 I> 00:58:23 2C second dunning letter sent! 6. 1985/01/30 12:24 P> 00:23:14 A:WRITE 7. 1985/01/30 12:47 D> 00:01:16 8. 1985/01/30 12:48 P> 00:33:15 A:CALC 9. 1985/01/30 13:21 D> 00:00:26 10. 1985/01/30 13:21 I> 00:16:05 2B 11. 1985/01/30 13:22 P> 00:15:03 A:WRITE 12. 1985/01/30 13:37 D> 13. 1985/02/01 08:45 S> 00:40:08 1A great new games! 14. 1985/02/01 09:25 I> (new entry here and record continues) Page 22 You should read this record as follows: 1. At 11:53 Robin booted the system and started work on the Smith account. He continued to work on this project until 12:23 at which time a new information entry was made. 2. 16 seconds spent in DOS. 3. The program "WRITE" was invoked at 11:54 and was exited at 12:23 after a total of 29 minutes of operation. 4. 24 seconds spent in DOS. 5. New information entry at 12:23 indicating that Sally spent 58 minutes on the Jones account (until 13:21) and made a notation regarding a second dunning letter. 6. The program "WRITE" was in operation from 12:24 until 12:47 for a total of 23 minutes. 7. In DOS for a little over one minute. 8. At 12:48 the program "CALC" was invoked and operated until the exit to DOS at 13:21 for a total of 33 minutes. 9. In DOS for a total of 26 seconds. 10. New information entry at 13:21 indicating that Sally worked on the Smith acct for 16 minutes until final exit to DOS at 13:37. 11. The program "WRITE" was invoked at 13:22 and remained in operation until the final exit to DOS at 13:37 for a total of 15 minutes. 12. Final exit to DOS at 13:37. The sequence of a D> followed by a S> indicates that the computer was shut down. Note that there is no elapsed time given for the DOS activity and if you spend a lot of time in DOS on a project you should make a final information entry before shutting off the computer. 13. The system was rebooted two days later and LOGIT was invoked at 08:45. The code indicates that George came in to play the new games! 14. The record continues. Note that if there is a "start" or "information" entry that is not followed in the record by another "information" entry to a D> followed by a S> that you will see "???????" since no rational calculation of elapsed time is possible. The same is true if you have a program entry which is not followed by an exit to DOS or a D> and S> sequence. The same record displayed using the command LOGITDMP/I would look like this: 1985/01/30 11:53 S> 00:30:02 3B 1985/01/30 12:23 I> 00:58:23 2C second dunning letter sent! 1985/01/30 13:21 I> 00:16:05 2B 1985/02/01 08:45 S> 00:40:08 1A great new games! 1985/02/01 09:25 I> (new entry here and record continues) **************************************** Page 23 16 APPENDIX F. QUICK INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Copy LOGIT.COM to your boot disks and include in your batch files after the clock calender is invoked. The use of SET and PATH commands may be helpful. See APPENDIX B. 2. Copy LOGITDMP.EXE to a disk that you will use as an archive disk for the data files generated by LogIt! 3. The first time after booting that you run LOGIT the program will be loaded to RAM. Any subsequent time you are in DOS and type [drive:]LOGIT you will create a new entry. You can add a path command to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that LogIt! will be loaded regardless of the current default drive when LOGIT is typed at any prompt. 4. LogIt! automatically records program entries and exits. To record other information you should type a two character alpha-numeric code or lyour choosing after the command LOGIT. Other string information can be added if you wish. 5. LogIt! will creat a file called LOGIT.LOG on the disk in the default drive or on any drive you specify using the SET command. This will be a binary file, not ASCII. 6. Use LOGITDMP.EXE to read, copy and concatenate your LOGIT.LOG files. Files can also be handled as binary files. 7. CAUTION: DO NOT USE A WORD PROCESSOR OR LINE EDITOR TO LOOK AT THE ORIGINAL BINARY FILE OR THE TEXT FILE CREATED BY LOGITDMP. If you do this you may inadvertantly add an EOF mark and ruin your file! Also, do NOT copy your files using a "/A" as this ASCII copy command will also add an EOF mark. 8. Exit your program to DOS before shutting down the computer so LogIt! can record the exit time and calculate the elapsed times. 9. Your LOGITDMP program allows you do display clock and elapsed times in a format which displays the times as S> (start), P> (program in operation), I> (informational entry) and D> (in DOS). If you type LOGITDMP /I the program will report the elapsed times only for the S> (start) entry and for I> (informational) entries. 10. If you are using this program we would appreciate a contribution to help us develop other new and useful programs. Please send $20 (suggested amount) to: LogIt! 470 Sugar Hill Road, Brooklyn, Wi., 53521 Page 24 INVOICE Make check payable to: LogIt! Mail to: 470 Sugar Hill Road Brooklyn, Wi., 53521 THANK YOU!! Date______________ Quantity Description Price ---------------------------------------------------------------- _____ Set, LogIt! Programs @ $20.00 ________ Subtotal _______ Add 5% sales tax if in Wisconsin _______ ------------------ TOTAL Person/Company paying: ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ City__________________________ State__________Zip____________ ********************************* Page 25