TrackRecord

TrackRecord is a Ruby On Rails web application which lets users enter and analyse timesheets. It may be of use to sole trader contractors who wish to keep track of their time, or other small businesses. It is released under a BSD license and has an associated GitHub project.

Since it is a web application, a web server is needed to run the application code and database is needed to store the appliation data. Users access the application with a web browser. Multiple users can access a single installed copy simultaneously.

• Downloading
  • Using the Git repository
  • Downloading an archive
• Installation, upgrades and user guide
• Browser requirements
• Reliability
  • Limited test suite
  • How to report bugs or ask for new features
• Screenshots
• Licence

Downloading

Using the Git repository

If you know about the Git source control system, then you should where possible clone the Git repository. Configure that copy in-place and run the application directly from there. This will make future updates simpler, by just pulling the latest version – only stable releases are pushed.

The page here contains "high confidence" stable releases, but it's more fiddly downloading and patching your existing copy when you come to upgrade.

Downloading an archive

If you don’t want to use Git for any reason, please see the sidebar for links to source archives you can download. For Rails 3 and Ruby 1.9, it’s best to use rvm to install Ruby and (usually) a basic Rails environment, then run bundler (see later) to deal with the application’s gem dependencies.

For legacy users who wish to stay on Rails 2 for any reason, there is a minor release of version 1.54 which incorporates some minor fixes and tweaks and, more importantly, incorporates many Rails security improvements that have been added to Rails 2.3 over time. This requires Ruby 1.8 and Rails 2.3.18. Note that it will not function properly with Ruby 1.9 or later. You can see other required gems from the config.gem lines in file config/environment.rb.

Installation, upgrades and user guide

Rather than duplicate the information here, please see the the GitHub project page for full instructions. Scroll down the page below the list of files to get to the documentation.

Browser requirements

Main stream browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Google Chrome should work fine. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is a notoriously buggy and "different" browser, but Internet Explorer 8 upwards will probably work. Some JavaScript-based features may be disabled and I recommend you use another browser if at all possible.

Although TrackRecord v2 benefits from good HTML 5, CSS 3 and JavaScript support, it will work on non-JavaScript platforms or with lower CSS capabilities (CSS 2 very strongly recommended). It works well on the very small, fast NetSurf browser.

Reliability

Limited test suite

Since version 2.24, TrackRecord includes a useful, non-trivial test suite and a large amount of test data including precompiled reference reports and a randomly generated, but "human-like" test data set against which numerous unit tests are run. At the time of writing, though, there is no automated test coverage of helpers or functional tests for the web user interface. Only development testing covers these areas.

If you intend to use TrackRecord for business critical purposes then I strongly recommend you trial it alongside a secondary recording and reporting system to verify its output, until such a time as you are satisfied that it is reliable in the context of use to which it is being put.

How to report bugs or ask for new features

Please report bugs or raise feature requests using the GitHub issue tracker. These used to be recorded in a forum on this site, but huge, overwhelming volumes of spambot attacks have forced me to automatically deny all new registrations to the forum except for accounts where a person I know has requested membership.

Screenshots

Licence

The following is a copy of the text of the LICENSE file held inside all of the download archives:

  Copyright (c) 2007-2013 Andrew Hodgkinson
  All rights reserved.

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  are met:

  * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

  * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

  * Neither the name of Hipposoft nor the names of its contributors may
    be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
    without specific prior written permission.

  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
  IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
  TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
  PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER
  OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
  EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
  PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
  PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
  LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
  NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
  SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.