SnapTimePro
Home Up TimeAfterTime SnapTimePro SayO'Clock WinThermO WinThermO Monitor AlcoVol IEToggle DataRelate SoundCopy AppTrak FileAnnounce

Download SnapTimePro (for Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP)
Alternative link

Download VB 6.0 Runtime

Electrojunky

SnapTimePro would have to be one of the most flexible and useful 1/100 sec. resolution-capable Digital Stopwatch applications available for Windows.

Rated '5' by Popular Shareware, Shareup, TopQualityFreeware, Brothersoft, 1-Shareware, 5-Cup Software, Bestfreewaredownload, Bestsoftware4download. Bluesofts' Editor's Choice. Awarded '3 cows' by Tucows. Selected for review by Lockergnome. Lockergnome circulates a daily and weekly email newsletter containing technology news, application reviews and computing tips and tricks to over 250,000 subscribers. Lockergnome said: "We only choose the best of the best - and you're definitely noteworthy!"   

Installation: If you do not already have VB 6.0 Runtime installed in your system, download the VB 6.0 Runtime, save it to a temporary directory, double-click the icon and follow the instructions. Then, download the SnapTimePro application installation file, unzip it (using eg. FreeZip, WinZip), and save the individual extracted files to a temporary directory. From this directory, select and double-click the file named 'Setup' and follow the instructions.

SnapTimePro PAD file: 'Portable Application Description' files are datasets which allow software authors to communicate specific and most often requested information about their products to online communities in a concise and standard way. Click here for SnapTimePro PAD file which can be opened in a standard browser. Click here for SnapTimePro PAD file in XML format (data can be extracted and parsed using standard XML toolkits).

When it comes to measuring time intervals in hours, minutes, seconds and sub-seconds, and capturing cycle-rates and speed, SnapTimePro has many useful features which set this product apart. It is suitable for a wide variety of purposes, including sports rate, speed and timing measurement, and video and animation timing. 

There has been demand to use SnapTimePro for time studies in ERP/CRM applications. If you replace your SnapTimePro.exe file with this one (making the application Version 2.1.2),  you will have the option to set the Tab key as a sytem-wide Snap Hotkey. So, as you Tab to move from one field to the next in your ERP/CRM application, you'll get a time snap in the SnapTimePro Report. Click here for alternative link to V 2.1.2.

The world's FIRST voice-controlled stopwatch: All you need is the Microsoft Speech SDK installed and configured on your PC. Then if you replace your SnapTimePro.exe file with this one (making the application version 2.1.3), you will be able to start, stop and reset SnapTimePro, snap the time, add a comment to the captured time, and make Report, all with your voice! Click here for alternative link to V 2.1.3.

User comments: 

"Hey, I just installed your stopwatch (SnapTimePro) on my computer. It's lookin' great! Exactly what I wanted - hotkeys, minimize to system tray, etc. I think it's going to be perfect for helping me keep track of how long I work on projects."

"I found your app on Tucows.  Brilliant!!! I am a telephony engineer and manage lots of troubleshooting tickets at once. We've been taking heat on tracking our time accurately so I sought out an app to help and found yours."

Click here for other interesting and unusual ways in which SnapTimePro is being used.

Detailed Features List

 
The ability to 'snap' (capture) the time at any moment (like the split/lap control of a conventional stopwatch). STP gives an audio-visual indication of a 'snap' - in the form of a camera shutter click and a flash of the digital display. You can turn this on or off at will.
 
All snapped times get collated in STP's Report - if a time is snapped while the stopwatch is stopped, the corresponding record appears yellow and with an 'S' prefixed to the time, to differentiate the record from other times.
 
Percentage weights are automatically calculated and assigned to each time (ie the proportion of the total elapsed time each snapped time represents) - these weights of course continuously adjust as new times are recorded. In the STP Report, you can add a comment to each snapped time to indicate what the time means. This can be done at any stage - as each time is snapped, or afterwards. You can also mark which times you would like excluded from calculations, when STP determines 'shortest time gap', 'longest time gap' and 'average time gap'. 
 
If you are using the mouse to start, stop and reset the stopwatch, and to snap times, SnapTimePro lets you decide whether the controls should activate as you press the mouse button down, or as you release the mouse button. 
 
System-wide, user-defined Hotkeys can be set.  Instead of using the mouse, you can start, stop, reset the stopwatch, snap the time and invoke the STP menu from within any other application by means of keyboard Hotkeys of your choice, even if the main STP Control Panel is not visible.
This is the Hotkeys selection panel for Version 2.1.2. If you perform the following two steps:
1. Tick the checkbox 'Snap On Tab and Tab To Next'
2. Minimize SnapTimePro to the System Tray:
(Yellow clock face icon)
Then pressing the Tab key in whatever application you have open, will take you to the next field/object in the Tab Order, and also snap the time in STP's Report.
 
You can produce three types of hardcopy timing results reports with SnapTimePro:
 

-a CSV text file of the raw timing data (which you can import into say, a spreadsheet).

-a document-like, formatted text file of the timing results.

-a formatted Word document of the timing results.

 

 
ALL the session details are included in SnapTimePro's formatted text file of the timing results, and in the Word document of the timing results - your comments against the snapped times, percentage weights, the timer resolution, minimum, maximum and average time gaps, when the session was begun and when the report was created.
 
STP lets you easily set the sub-second resolution of the stopwatch to anywhere between 0 (ie counts only every second) and 100 (ie counts 1/100 second) at any stage. Using special algorithms, conversions are lossless - whenever you choose a new sub-second resolution, all the timing results already in the STP Report automatically adjust, as does the digital display. The adjustable timer resolution is a useful feature when you need to time events which occur with a specific regularity every second. When set to 1/100 second resolution, STP can time to 99 hours : 59 minutes : 59 seconds : 99 sub-seconds.
 
If you need to perform your timing over a number of sessions, or in a discontinuous fashion, you can save and load your timing sessions.
 
You can 'rewind' the stopwatch back or 'fast-forward' the time, and begin timing from  that point:
 When you do this, the timing results already in the STP Report automatically adjust (eg all existing times in the STP Report greater than the 'rewound' time are deleted).
 
STP's digital display can be in the form of an LCD or LED panel - and you can select either style at any stage. If LED display is chosen, the LED elements appear green when the stopwatch is running, but red when stopped. By default, the digital display is attached to the main STP Control Panel, but can be detatched, moved around the screen and positioned anywhere separately. The digital display panel can be made 'Always on Top', by right clicking on the edge of the digital display panel, and choosing that option from the pop-up menu. The digital display panel can even be made translucent (ie transparent to varying degrees) - if your Operating System is Windows 2000 or XP. You will find that right clicking on the edge of the digital display panel will show the menu option 'Display Transparency...' if you are running Windows 2000 or XP, otherwise that option will not be presented. The main STP Control Panel can be minimized to the System Tray.
 
STP includes a Speed module and a Rate module. When the stopwatch is running, these modules allow you to capture respectively, Speed in kph or mph (depending on whether distance is entered in m, feet or yards) and Rate in seconds/cycle and cycles/minute. You can get STP to measure the Rate over anywhere between 1 and 4 observed cycles.
 
You can produce three types of hardcopy results reports for each of the Speed and Rate measurements:
-a CSV text file of the raw Speed or Rate data (which you can import into say, a spreadsheet)
-a document-like, formatted text file of the Speed or Rate results 
-a formatted Word document of the Speed or Rate results.

 

Included in the Speed report are - the date and time each speed reading was taken, and your comments against the Speeds.
 
Included in the Rate report are - the date and time each Rate reading was taken, the number of observed cycles over which each Rate reading was taken, the rate readings in seconds/cycle and cycles/minute, and your comments against the Rate readings.

Speech Recognition Engine Installation and Configuration

If you are not already using speech-controlled applications on your PC, then to ensure that your PC has the required Speech recognition capability, download the Speech API 5.1 SDK from Microsoft, and choose 'Install Microsoft Speech Recognition engine' when downloaded. If the 'Enable voice commands' check-box is visible instead of the 'Download Microsoft Recognition engine' button, the Speech recognition engine is already installed on your PC. Then, follow steps 4 to 9 at this page to 'train' the speech engine - make sure you use a good quality microphone with your soundcard. I use a Plantronics headset - shown. The speech engine works in two modes: 1) 'command and control' mode and 2) 'dictation' mode, both of which are used by SnapTimePro. In the 'command and control' mode, application developers provide a very limited set of possible word combinations, and the speech recognition engine matches the words spoken by the user to the limited list. In this mode, the accuracy of recognition is very high. The 'command and control' words used by SnapTimePro to start, stop and reset the stopwatch, snap the time, switch to 'dictation' mode, switch out of 'dictation' mode (and back to 'command and control' mode), is given in the table below

SnapTimePro Voice Commands

Command

Purpose

BeginIt Start Stopwatch
HaltIt Stop Stopwatch
SnapIt Snap the time
ResetIt Reset Stopwatch
MakeReport Create a Report
Comment Add comment to snapped time
Finish Finish comment
You will note that words like 'BeginIt', 'HaltIt' and 'SnapIt' are used instead of the more intuitive 'Start', 'Stop' and 'Snap' respectively, because the latter sound too similar to the recognition engine, resulting in a potentially lower recognition accuracy than with the former set of words. In 'dictation' mode, the recognition engine compares the input speech to an extensive list of dictionary words. For the 'dictation' mode to have a high accuracy of recognition it is important that you train the recognition engine by speaking into it, using the speech properties in the Control Panel as described earlier. 'Dictation' mode is used by SnapTimePro for when you need to record a comment against a snapped time. SnapTimePro expects you to say the word 'Comment' to enter 'dictation' mode, and 'Finish' to leave it. After recording your comment in 'dictation' mode, you should wait about a second before saying 'Finish' to return to 'command and control' mode, otherwise the recognition engine might get confused.

TOP

 
Send mail to jimsingh@bigpond.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2003 Measurement and Conversion Software
Last modified: December 16, 2007