First of all, I love TaskCoach, and I am using it at least since 2007 (according to my file :-) ).
However, with the list of different tasks growing and getting more and more complex, finding the tasks that I track time at on a regular basis gets more and more time consuming.
Is there any way to automate it, so that I can have an Icon at my Windows desktop "start tracking for task 'Water Flowers'" and "start tracking for task 'look busy in boss field of view'"?
Things I thought about:
1) Send some command to the running TaskCoach instance. I do not know how that could be done / implemented. On the other hand, that would be my favourite. :-)
2) Send key strokes to the running TaskCoach instance, eg. with AutoHotkey (like this guy does: https://taskcoach.uservoice.com/forums/26465-desktop-version-windows-linux-mac-of-task-coach/suggestions/4558122-select-task-without-clicking-automation -- but I resize my window all the time, so I cannot use his dirty "click at coordinate xy" way).
3) Manipulate the XML. Every task has an ID, so it COULD be possible to script a bash-y (Cygwin) way to "Find all effort elements without stop attribute, insert current timestamp there, Find task with given ID, append new effort element to it". But that would be my least favourite, since I can imagine, fiddling with the XML while TaskCoach is running, could bring all sorts of problems! And I would have to think of IDs for the new efforts.
Does anyone think anything about that? Any help would be appreciated. :-)
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You could do something with some other macro, automation software. First, set Task Coach to the List view instead of Tree view. Then run commands that do this:
make Task Coach the active window
ctrl-F (for search)
enter the text that will identify the specific task you want
ctrl-T (to start time tracking)
shift-ctrl-T for stopping the tracking
So, just find a program that can run preset commands for those, and make the macro a runnable thing, and you'll have it!
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That would be a small enough thing to add a shortcut for. But for now, I think all we can do is use keyboard commands that run through menus:
Alt+V for View menu
M for Mode
L for list view
And return to Tree with the same but T at the end
So, that will indeed go to the right mode and could be set with the same macro tool for now.
Note that List view is only necessary if you are tracking a non-top-level task via the macro I proposed above. For top-level tasks, it's not necessary to switch views.
Last edit: Aaron Wolf 2020-09-16
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Hey!
First of all, I love TaskCoach, and I am using it at least since 2007 (according to my file :-) ).
However, with the list of different tasks growing and getting more and more complex, finding the tasks that I track time at on a regular basis gets more and more time consuming.
Is there any way to automate it, so that I can have an Icon at my Windows desktop "start tracking for task 'Water Flowers'" and "start tracking for task 'look busy in boss field of view'"?
Things I thought about:
1) Send some command to the running TaskCoach instance. I do not know how that could be done / implemented. On the other hand, that would be my favourite. :-)
2) Send key strokes to the running TaskCoach instance, eg. with AutoHotkey (like this guy does: https://taskcoach.uservoice.com/forums/26465-desktop-version-windows-linux-mac-of-task-coach/suggestions/4558122-select-task-without-clicking-automation -- but I resize my window all the time, so I cannot use his dirty "click at coordinate xy" way).
3) Manipulate the XML. Every task has an ID, so it COULD be possible to script a bash-y (Cygwin) way to "Find all effort elements without stop attribute, insert current timestamp there, Find task with given ID, append new effort element to it". But that would be my least favourite, since I can imagine, fiddling with the XML while TaskCoach is running, could bring all sorts of problems! And I would have to think of IDs for the new efforts.
Does anyone think anything about that? Any help would be appreciated. :-)
Any comments on that?
You could do something with some other macro, automation software. First, set Task Coach to the List view instead of Tree view. Then run commands that do this:
shift-ctrl-T for stopping the tracking
So, just find a program that can run preset commands for those, and make the macro a runnable thing, and you'll have it!
Is it possible to switch from/to list view via hotkey? I use the tree view heavily and permanently.
That would be a small enough thing to add a shortcut for. But for now, I think all we can do is use keyboard commands that run through menus:
And return to Tree with the same but T at the end
So, that will indeed go to the right mode and could be set with the same macro tool for now.
Note that List view is only necessary if you are tracking a non-top-level task via the macro I proposed above. For top-level tasks, it's not necessary to switch views.
Last edit: Aaron Wolf 2020-09-16
Development is active again, things are all on track and working version with Python3!
Get it at https://github.com/taskcoach/taskcoach
I went and added your request too: https://github.com/taskcoach/taskcoach/issues/284