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Block Keeper: Cross platform desktop timer

Hazel

Premium Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
1,681
Location
in your walls :3
I've been using Block Keeper for a while now and I love it, there's just one thing I really don't like about it:
In csTimer, if you have a list of scrambles (say, for one of these forum's "race-to-sub-x" threads) you can set the scramble option to "Input" and paste in the scramble list and then it will give you the scrambles one by one, starting with the first in the list and switching to the next one after every solve, then saying you're out of scrambles when you finish the last one in the list. Block Keeper doesn't have this option.
Do you think you could implement this when you get the chance?
 

DalDal

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Adelaide
WCA
2017MCNE01
Good news, the latest updates (2.0.2 or 2.0.3) already has this. If you click on the scrambles, you can add a list of scrambles to the box and it will show them in order. They just need to be new line separated. :)
 

Hazel

Premium Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
1,681
Location
in your walls :3
Good news, the latest updates (2.0.2 or 2.0.3) already has this. If you click on the scrambles, you can add a list of scrambles to the box and it will show them in order. They just need to be new line separated. :)
Oh awesome! I was wondering what that new update was :D Thank you!
About the update though, it says it's downloading in the background but even after I leave it open for a long time and restart Block Keeper it pops up with the same downloading message, what does this mean?
EDIT: never mind, it updated :D
Another edit: could you maybe add an option to disable those big new scramble buttons, or add an option to make them smaller and not as bulky as well as putting back the command->S new scramble hotkey for Mac?
 

DalDal

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Adelaide
WCA
2017MCNE01
Oh awesome! I was wondering what that new update was :D Thank you!
About the update though, it says it's downloading in the background but even after I leave it open for a long time and restart Block Keeper it pops up with the same downloading message, what does this mean?
EDIT: never mind, it updated :D
Another edit: could you maybe add an option to disable those big new scramble buttons, or add an option to make them smaller and not as bulky as well as putting back the command->S new scramble hotkey for Mac?
The buttons do need a bit of work, it looks like a Nintendo switch. I'm open to any other suggestions on how to place the buttons. To make a distinction from back and forward, the scramble shortcuts are command+right for next and command+left for previous. If this is a problem they could be changed to something else logical.
 

Hazel

Premium Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
1,681
Location
in your walls :3
The buttons do need a bit of work, it looks like a Nintendo switch. I'm open to any other suggestions on how to place the buttons. To make a distinction from back and forward, the scramble shortcuts are command+right for next and command+left for previous. If this is a problem they could be changed to something else logical.
My suggestion would be to just make the buttons less tall and maybe 50% transparent, and with an option in settings to remove the buttons altogether. The cmd->right/left is a nice change, but maybe you should make a little page in settings or something to view all the hotkeys :p great work and thank you!
 

DalDal

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Adelaide
WCA
2017MCNE01
My suggestion would be to just make the buttons less tall and maybe 50% transparent, and with an option in settings to remove the buttons altogether. The cmd->right/left is a nice change, but maybe you should make a little page in settings or something to view all the hotkeys :p great work and thank you!
All shortcuts are also in the menu bar. A page in preferences to map them would also be a cool addition. I'll experiment with the buttons and see what looks good.
 

Hazel

Premium Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
1,681
Location
in your walls :3
Here's an idea I've had that would be really nice if you think it would be a good addition as well: customization of the Distribution tool. Here's what I mean:
This is what mine looks like right now:
SngyW3i.png

It automatically made the splits every two seconds. What I would really like is if I could customize it so in my 3x3 session instead of just intervals of two seconds, the labels would be: 0, 10 (so that bar would just be everything sub-10), 11, 12, 13, 14, and infinity (so that bar would be everything 14.00 and longer). And I could go into settings and be able to change the intervals whenever I like.
Also, it would be cool to be able to click on an individual bar, say the one that shows solves from 11-12 seconds, and the graph would switch to more precise intervals within that time frame, so the labels would be something like: 11.00, 11.20, 11.40, 11.60, 11.80, and 12.00. And then, of course, I could press a quick button to go back to the original graph. Being able to have a different customized distribution for each event (2x2, 4x4, etc.) would be really cool!
I don't know how easy this would be to implement, but if you do it that would be really awesome :)
 

DalDal

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Adelaide
WCA
2017MCNE01
Here's an idea I've had that would be really nice if you think it would be a good addition as well: customization of the Distribution tool. Here's what I mean:
This is what mine looks like right now:
SngyW3i.png

It automatically made the splits every two seconds. What I would really like is if I could customize it so in my 3x3 session instead of just intervals of two seconds, the labels would be: 0, 10 (so that bar would just be everything sub-10), 11, 12, 13, 14, and infinity (so that bar would be everything 14.00 and longer). And I could go into settings and be able to change the intervals whenever I like.
Also, it would be cool to be able to click on an individual bar, say the one that shows solves from 11-12 seconds, and the graph would switch to more precise intervals within that time frame, so the labels would be something like: 11.00, 11.20, 11.40, 11.60, 11.80, and 12.00. And then, of course, I could press a quick button to go back to the original graph. Being able to have a different customized distribution for each event (2x2, 4x4, etc.) would be really cool!
I don't know how easy this would be to implement, but if you do it that would be really awesome :)

At some point, I was planning on adding a distribution tool with milestone or customisable boundaries. I like the idea of clicking on the graph to see more in-depth data. When I find the time, that would be a nice feature.
 

GREYAchilles

Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
3
Hello everybody,

i use a Stackmat Timer wich works fine with CS Timer on an iMac.
But with Block Keeper it will not work. The settings in Block Keeper are ok! Is there anything i can do that it will work?

THX
 

Elo13

Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2016
Messages
144
Location
Finland
WCA
2016ELOV01
YouTube
Visit Channel
Yesterday I got a 6.89 on a fairly average solve, beating my PB by almost a second. I was surprised, because I thought it would be like a 9 or 10. After retrying the solution a few times, I was very confident I didn't really get a 6. I'm sure I didn't stop the timer early, as it was still running as I was about to hit space. I'm assuming the timer ran slow for some reason. This is the first time I've had this issue.
 

DalDal

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Adelaide
WCA
2017MCNE01
Yesterday I got a 6.89 on a fairly average solve, beating my PB by almost a second. I was surprised, because I thought it would be like a 9 or 10. After retrying the solution a few times, I was very confident I didn't really get a 6. I'm sure I didn't stop the timer early, as it was still running as I was about to hit space. I'm assuming the timer ran slow for some reason. This is the first time I've had this issue.
It's difficult to say seems it's once off, but everything is based on the computers time, not an internal clock. So it takes the time at the end and subtracts it from the time taken at the start. What did it show just before you hit space and when it started?
 

GREYAchilles

Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
3
Hello everybody,

i use a Stackmat Timer wich works fine with CS Timer on an iMac.
But with Block Keeper it will not work. The settings in Block Keeper are ok! Is there anything i can do that it will work?

THX

I solved my Problem. My Audiosplitter 3,5mm was the bad Guy, now i have a Splitter for USB and it worked instantly!

ThX for this great Timer
 

jmb462

Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Messages
2
I'm using Block Keeper and I'm very happy with it.

As I'd like to use it from several locations, would it be technically possible to make a portable version that runs on an usb key ?
Thanks for your work, nice job ;)
 

DalDal

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Adelaide
WCA
2017MCNE01
On MacOS and Linux, the application can be saved and ran anywhere (on your USB). You will need to go into preferences > Data and Data: Save, and select a folder on the USB to keep the data. This will then save your sessions (but not preferences) to the USB. Sorry but the preferences also stores where the data is found, so it is stored in the default location. On any other computers you use, you will need to select Data: Load and select the folder where you store your sessions. Sorry Windows isn't portable, you would need a seperate install on each computer. I need to look into a solution for this and making preferences portable. Hope this helps
 
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