
Thanks for trying out the TIME WORKED CALCULATOR V2.0!

To read this file efficiently, you should maximize this window, and turn on "word wrap" if it is available.



IMPORTANT!
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This program requires that the VB run-time library be installed on your PC.  It is not included with this program in order to keep the download size small, and because lots of people already have it.  You know you don't have the file if the program won't start.  When you try to start the program, a message will pop up saying it couldn't find the required file.  So if you need it, you can download it directly from the following URL:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Circuit/4677/msvbvm50.zip

After downloading the .zip file, unzip it, then simply move the extracted .dll file to the directory where you put the TIME WORKED CALCULATOR .exe file.

To get the most out of the TIME WORKED CALCULATOR, please be sure that the date on your PC is set correctly.



VERSION HISTORY
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1.0, 8/99 - Initial release

2.0, 8/00 - Some internal optimizations / bug fixes
          - Times can now be entered in military time
          - Option added to calculate weekly pay, while accounting for overtime
          - Option added to automatically deduct lunch for the week
          - Added a printable log file that saves weekly times



MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
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A friggin' PC.  Seriously though, you should have a windows 9x based PC that has an available desktop resolution of at least 640 x 480.  Otherwise, the main program window will not fit on the screen.



DESCRIPTION
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This program is primarily for those who want an easy way to calculate and verify how many hours they have worked on the job.  The idea to make it actually came to mind when I realized that I could use such a program.  It allows you to easily enter in all your shift times, including any time off for lunch breaks.  You then need only to click a button to see your total hours worked (both the total for the week, and individually for each day), displayed plainly in one of two formats you choose. 

By the way, this program is actually VISITMYWEBPAGEWARE.  I am defining this to mean FREEWARE, but in addition that you are strongly encouraged (but not required) to pay a quick visit to my web page.  I'm very lonely you know.  My web page is just a little fish in a big ocean.  Maybe you'll find it useful nonetheless.  Your concern is most appreciated :-)  Just cut and paste the following URL into your web browser:

http://www.geocities.com/twakil/ 



INSTRUCTIONS
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It's pretty straightforward for the most part.  First of all, you should know that you can get semi-helpful advice from within the program by resting the cursor for about a second on whatever item you want information on. 

In the appropriate boxes, enter the times when your shift started and ended, and figure in lunch times if applicable.  Overtime should be included in the entered times, even though there is a separate overtime field.  The overtime field is only looked at by the program if the option to calculate pay earned for the week is enabled.

If no lunch is taken on a particular day, just ignore the "Lunch Start" and "Lunch End" boxes and they will be ignored in the calculations.  If you know that a lunch break will never be taken on a particular day, you can grey out (disable) the "Lunch Start" and "Lunch End" boxes for that day by going into Preferences and selecting the appropriate option.

If any of the "Shift Start" or "Shift End" boxes are not changed from their default values of "--:--", then the calculation for that day will result in 0 hours worked.  This is because the program will assume that since you didn't enter a valid time, you didn't work any hours that day.

Whenever you exit the program, all your entered times and everything are automatically saved.  So next time you start the program, you'll find it the way you left it when you last exited.

The preferences that you can set are applied to the next session every time the CLEAR ALL button is pressed.  What follows is the descriptions of all the preferences you can set.

AM/PM Defaults:  This serves to set which box (AM or PM) you want selected as the default for each day whenever the times are to be cleared.  

Default Lunch Days:  This can be used to disable the Lunch boxes by default for the days that you know you will never take a lunch.  Of course, the lunch boxes don't have to be disabled in order to exclude them from calculations (you can also just leave them at "--:--") on days you don't do lunch, but disabling them in advance makes it all the more convenient for you.

Wage Calculation:  This option will calculate your pay earned for the week if you so choose, but be forewarned that there is no guarantee that the calculated pay will be on the dime (no pun intended).  This is due to how computers calculate floating point numbers.  If the calculation is ever off, it won't be more than a few cents.

Auto Deduct Lunch:  If your lunch hours are fixed every day, you can save yourself some time by telling the program to automatically deduct so many hours per week for lunch.  This way you don't have to enter your lunches in manually.

Time Entry Method:  This one speaks for itself.

Display Format:  Here you choose how your calculated hours are to be displayed in the little green boxes.  Try both methods and see which one you prefer.

Max Log File Size:  The number you enter here will be the maximum number of weeks that will get saved into the time log file.  When the maximum allowable size has been reached, the oldest entry will get discarded when the time comes to add another entry to the file.  The maximum Max Log File Size that can be entered is 59, meaning you can save all the way back to just over a year's worth of entries.  If you do not want to keep a log file, just enter a 0 for the Max Log File Size.




OTHER STUFF
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This program will create three external text files in the same directory as the executable (twc.exe).  One is to store preference settings (twc.cfg), one to save the current session, like entered times and such (twc.ses), and one is the time worked log (twclog.txt).  These files should not be modified directly.  The files consume almost no disk space whatsoever, but should nevertheless be deleted along with the main executable (and this text file) should you ever wish to dispose of this great program for some reason.

If there comes a time when the TIME WORKED CALCULATOR ceases to function properly for whatever reason (this should never happen), you can "renew" the program by going from the menubar to Settings -> Reset to Defaults.  Another way to renew the program is by deleting some combination of the three files mentioned earlier.  Delete them one by one until the program functions properly once again.  I'd appreciate an email if this kind of thing ever happens to you.



LEGAL STUFF
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The TIME WORKED (T.W.) CALCULATOR was created by Tawab Wakil (T.W.).  Rest assured that this program will most certainly not cause any harm to you or your PC, directly or otherwise.  However, if something goes wrong for any reason, no one is responsible but you.  You may not sell this program without the author's consent.  The program may be distributed freely, so long as this unmodified text file is included.



