Action entries are etm's way of keeping track of exactly how you spend your time. Why might you want to do this?
For the same reason you keep track of how you spend your money.
You may need to keep records for billing your clients.
With etm, making action entries is easy!
Suppose I want to work on a draft letter to Frank Jones regarding an interrogatory for my client, David Smith. I begin by pressing a in the gui interface to start the timer for a new entry. The fact that a timer has been started is displayed in the bottom bar:
________________________ soon: 2009-05-14 ~ 2009-05-16 _______________________
<omitted lines>
___ etm 231 ________ Timer started at 11:15a. i interrupts; a stops. ____________
F1: Help
While I'm working on the draft letter, I can do anything with etm except start another timer.
If I'm interrupted while I'm working on the draft, I just press i to interrupt the timer
________________________ soon: 2009-05-14 ~ 2009-05-16 _______________________
<omitted lines>
___ etm 231 ________ Timer paused at 11:21a. i restarts; a stops. _______________
F1: Help
and then press i again to restart it.
________________________ soon: 2009-05-14 ~ 2009-05-16 _______________________
<omitted lines>
___ etm 231 ________ Timer restarted at 11:25a. i interrupts; a stops. __________
F1: Help
When I'm finished working on the draft, I press a again to stop the timer and I get a file selection prompt.
___________________________ Numbers of existing files __________________________
1)05_done.txt; 2)05_evnts.txt; 3)05_actn.txt; 4)05_tasks.txt;
5)legal.txt; 6)meeting.txt; 7)times.txt;
Default: 3 (05_actn.txt)
___ etm 231 ________ Timer stopped at 11:45a; elapsed time: 26 minutes. ________
File number for new action [3]: __
For this illustration I'll accept the default and press Return. This brings up the help information for actions and an entry line with the date and elapsed time already entered.
________________________________ new action ____________________________________
~ <Description of activity> [Options]
Options:
date @d a date. Required.
period @p elapsed time in minutes. Required.
context @c string.
keywords @k string or list of strings. Keywords containing a
colon(s), e.g., "x:y", "x:z", will be split to form
groups and subgroups when aggregating times.
Add a description of the activity, the context and keywords below.
Values for @d date and @t elapsed time should already be included.
Subject to your confirmation after processing, this action will be
appended to: '/Users/dag/Documents/ETM-examples/05_actn.txt'.
Press Control-K to delete from the cursor position to the end of the line.
Press Return or Control-G to continue processing your entry or enter
nothing (or '.') and press Return or Control-G to cancel.
___ etm 231 ________ Timer stopped at 11:45a; elapsed time: 26 minutes. ________
action: ~__ @d 2009-05-14 @j 26
Here's my entry complete with description, context and keywords:
________________________________ new action ____________________________________
<omitted lines>
___ etm 231 ________ Timer stopped at 11:45a; elapsed time: 26 minutes. ________
action: ~ Draft letter to F Jones @c desk @k Smith D:interrogatory @d
2009-05-14 @j 26 __
When I press Return, I'm given an opportunity to make changes:
________________________________ new action ____________________________________
ready to append
~ Draft letter to F Jones @c desk @d 2009-05-14 @j 26 @k Smith D:interrogatory
to
/Users/dag/Documents/ETM-examples/05_actn.txt
___ etm 231 ________ Timer stopped at 11:19a; elapsed time: 26 minutes. ________
A)ppend, e)dit entry, c)ancel entry? [Aec]: __
My entry seems OK, so I press Return to complete the entry. I'm then returned to the main display where my new journal entry appears.
________________________ soon: 2009-05-14 ~ 2009-05-16 _______________________
Thu May 14 09
0h 26m Draft letter to F Jones desk jrnl-05 1
[k] Smith D:interrogatory
___ etm 231 ____________________________________________________________________
F1: Help
In brief: j to start, i to interrupt and again to restart if necessary, j again to stop, select file, complete entry, Return to accept. What could be easier?
Here's how the entry would appear in a detailed time report using '-D1 -K2 -I'. See TimeReports for details of how this and a myriad of other time reports can be generated.
__________________ time report: 2009-05-14 ~ 2009-05-16 (0:30) _________________
0:30) 2009-05-13
0:30) Smith D
0:30) interrogatory
0:30) Draft letter to F Jones
___ etm 231 ____________________________________________________________________
F1: Help
Note that the '~/.etmrc' setting of 'increment = 6' rounds the 26 minutes up to 30 minutes.