Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Charles Jie wrote: Is it possible to have mutt record the time I use to read or write a mail? I hope to know how much time I spend in a folder (a kind of info). Further, I want a timer to alert me when I'm going to run out of the pre-set time for reading or writing a mail. Are the solution there? Or quick solution available? I don't know of any existing solutions, but I can tell you where to start, assuming you can program it yourself. In .muttrc, you can ``set editor=some command''. Change that to run a wrapper script that records the current time, starts your text editor (e.g. pico or vi) in the background, and then keeps monitoring your editor's PID to see if it's still running. If you take too long, then it can write to /dev/yourterminal to tell you that you're taking too long. When it sees that the PID has stopped running, it knows you're finished and it can log the time that you tok. The above method will enable you to see how long it takes you to write a mail, but there's a bit of programming that you'd have to do. As for seeing how long it takes you to read a mail, I think that you can set mutt to use a different program to read a mail; if you do that, you'd be able to use the same method as above. I'm not sure if you can still use the mutt pager and be able to log how long it takes. Of course, you can do anything if you patch mutt's source code, but it will probably be more difficult since you have to write in C instead of perl, and you have to figure out how mutt's source code works first.
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 10:28:00PM +0800, Charles Jie wrote: Mail consumes a lot of time. Is it possible to have mutt record the time I use to read or write a mail? I hope to know how much time I spend in a folder (a kind of info). Further, I want a timer to alert me when I'm going to run out of the pre-set time for reading or writing a mail. Are the solution there? Or quick solution available? A stopwatch, and/or an alarm clock. Excuse me but this is Mr Dumb question of 2002 :) -- Regards Cliff
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
Cliff, et al -- ...and then Cliff Sarginson said... % % On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 10:28:00PM +0800, Charles Jie wrote: % Mail consumes a lot of time. % % Is it possible to have mutt record the time I use to read or write a % mail? I hope to know how much time I spend in a folder (a kind of info). % % Further, I want a timer to alert me when I'm going to run out of the % pre-set time for reading or writing a mail. % % Are the solution there? Or quick solution available? % % A stopwatch, and/or an alarm clock. % Excuse me but this is Mr Dumb question of 2002 :) Not necessarily... I can already imagine a few valid reasons for a business wanting to track how much time is spent in email -- versus, say, actually working on a problem or doing other projects. All sorts of metrics have value to all sorts of people. I admit that I don't see the real benefit of an alarm within mutt, but maybe he's building a mutt-based standardized timed test :-) That said, I'd kinda like to see how much time is spent reading mail, too, particularly across multiple folders and from multiple recipients. I could tell my brother that he's wasting my time and back it up with statistics :-) The trick, it seems to me, is to differentiate between time spent reading or writing and basic idle time; I've been interrupted already just in the course of composing this reply, but I shouldn't bill *you* for the time not spent writing ;-) % -- % Regards % Cliff % :-D -- David T-G * It's easier to fight for one's principles (play) [EMAIL PROTECTED] * than to live up to them. -- fortune cookie (work) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.justpickone.org/davidtg/Shpx gur Pbzzhavpngvbaf Qrprapl Npg! msg22112/pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 03:58:15PM +0100, Cliff Sarginson wrote: Are the solution there? Or quick solution available? A stopwatch, and/or an alarm clock. Excuse me but this is Mr Dumb question of 2002 :) I disagree, using a stopwatch means learning how to use it, then remembering *to* use it. A completely automated system is much more fool-proof and usuable even when you've forgotten your stopwatch. -- Benjamin Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] msg22114/pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
Thank you for your answer, Philip. The idea is wonderful. Now it's crystally clear to me. I'll roll up my sleeves to code it. I've just got used to the built-in pager and thought their combination is not bad. Thus I might not plan to replace it with 'less'. Before I try to contribute mutt's source code, I'll go thru mutt manual first. :) best, charlie On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 09:46:45AM -0500, Philip Mak wrote: I don't know of any existing solutions, but I can tell you where to start, assuming you can program it yourself. ...
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 03:06:51PM +, Benjamin Smith wrote: On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 03:58:15PM +0100, Cliff Sarginson wrote: Are the solution there? Or quick solution available? A stopwatch, and/or an alarm clock. Excuse me but this is Mr Dumb question of 2002 :) I disagree, using a stopwatch means learning how to use it, then remembering *to* use it. A completely automated system is much more fool-proof LOL. Sorry I couldn't help but laugh. Programs are made by people. Watches are made by people. Which one of these two is more fool-proof ? Mmm. I think my cheap supermarket watch keeps better time than most PC's clocks.. -- Regards Cliff
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
On Wed, Jan 02, 2002 at 11:22:36PM +0800, Charles Jie wrote: Thank you for your answer, Philip. The idea is wonderful. Now it's crystally clear to me. I'll roll up my sleeves to code it. I've just got used to the built-in pager and thought their combination is not bad. Thus I might not plan to replace it with 'less'. Before I try to contribute mutt's source code, I'll go thru mutt manual first. :) best, charlie Mmm. Maybe I find it slightly depressing that we need to feel that automation is some answer to time management. What next ? A time-management system to measure how much time we spend in time-management. We are using email here to communicate with lots of people spread across the world, that's cool. People use email to send messages to people in the office next door to them, which probably takes longer than sticking your head around the door and saying what you have to say. I went on a Time Managament course once. I got told off by the instructor on the first day for being late. So it goes. This message is a waste of your time .. so don't read it :) -- Regards Cliff
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
Hi, * Charles Jie [EMAIL PROTECTED] [02-01-02 16:22]: I've just got used to the built-in pager and thought their combination is not bad. Thus I might not plan to replace it with 'less'. You might try $display_filter. Thorsten -- Das Briefgeheimnis sowie das Post- und Fernmeldegeheimnis sind unverletzlich. - Grundgesetz, Artikel 10, Abs. 1
Re: To log the time I spend in reading/writing a mail
On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Thorsten Haude wrote: I've just got used to the built-in pager and thought their combination is not bad. Thus I might not plan to replace it with 'less'. You might try $display_filter. I was thinking about $display_filter... that command is indeed executed when the user *starts* viewing a message, so an external timer program could be hooked there. However, I don't think there's a program that gets execuetd when the user *stops* viewing a message. So it doesn't seem like the total time spent viewing a message can be determined this way.
