On Task

On Task is a command line tool that aims to get you thinking about how you spend time on the computer. The idea is that if you get distracted from your work, this tool will remind you to stay on track, and try to keep you accountable using records.

The program is meant to be run at intervals using the included launchd plist file. By default it will run every 10 minutes.

When that happens, On Task will make a soft tink sound to remind you of its presence. It will then take a screenshot to preserve a visual record of your virtual transgressions. Finally, a log file is opened, allowing you to write down what you've been doing for the past ten minutes or so.

Requirements

On Task was written and tested on Mac OS X 10.4.11. I have not tested it on any other OS. Later versions of Mac OS X may be able to run it, but I'm not sure yet.

Installation

1. Build using Xcode and put the OnTask executable in /usr/local/bin/.
2. Put the com.teddywing.OnTask.plist file in your ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ directory
3. Fire up a Terminal and run launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.teddywing.OnTask.plist

The background process should then start and On Task will come up every so often. If you start getting annoyed, feel free to change the StartInterval value in the plist, which defines how often On Task should run. If you change the plist you'll need to reload it using launchctl using the instructions below.

To turn On Task off (stop it from running at intervals), then run the following:

`launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.teddywing.OnTask.plist`

On Task will start up again on your next login if you leave the .plist file in your LaunchAgents directory.

Turning it on and off

As a convenience, a Terminal command file is provided (bash script) to turn On Task on and off. Just double-click on the "OnTask toggle on-off.command" file, and On Task will switch on or off. This script will also install the launchd .plist file in your LaunchAgents directory so you don't have to do it manually.

Uninstalling

1. Just in case, run launchctl stop com.teddywing.OnTask
2. Then run launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.teddywing.OnTask.plist to remove it from your LaunchAgents list
3. Delete the com.teddywing.OnTask.plist file
4. Delete the OnTask executable
5. Take the data in ~/Application Support/On Task and save anywhere you want.

File spam

On Task will create files. Those are:

• A single text file for the text-based log
• A timestamped screenshot image every time the program is run

That's it. Those all reside in the ~/Library/Application Support/On Task directory.

Thanks

• This idea is entirely Jason Robb's. I take no credit for it, but I thought it was really cool, and something I wanted to do myself.
• Matt Gallagher wrote a nice Objective-C category to allow easy access to an app's Application Support directory.
• Since Matt's code was 10.5+ only, I accomplished something similar using a method from Hasani Hunter.

License

On Task is licensed with the MIT License.