# The &kronometer; Handbook

Elvis
Angelaccio

    	elvis.angelaccio@kde.org

2014-2016
Elvis Angelaccio
2016-04-10
&kronometer; 2.1
&FDLNotice;

&kronometer; is a stopwatch application. It can be used for basic tasks like timer start/pause/resume, as well as lap times recording.

&kronometer; is able to save a complete session (timer and lap times) and to restore it later.

KDE
Kronometer
stopwatch

## Introduction

&kronometer; is a simple stopwatch application. It is meant to be simple and pleasant to use, thanks to a use cases driven development.

&kronometer; main features are the following:

- &kronometer; provides a timer that can be started, paused, resumed and reset.

- &kronometer; allows you to record lap times and export them to a file.

- &kronometer; allows you to save a session and restore it later.

- &kronometer; allows you to copy the timer numbers from its display.

## Usage

### General Usage

&kronometer; main use case is of course the interaction with the timer. You can start/pause/resume the timer by clicking on the proper actions in the toolbar or in the &kronometer; menu.

Even simpler, you can use the keyboard instead of the mouse: you start the timer with the keyboard's Space and you pause the timer with Space too. You might recognize this behavior from many media player applications.

By pressing the &Enter; key when the timer is running, you freeze that particular time and you create a new lap time. These times are always visible in the table on the left of the application, where you can sort them by clicking the Lap time column's header. You can also add a custom text annotation to each lap, by double-clicking the cells within the Note column.

The menubar (hidden by default) provides access to all commands and configuration options. The menubar can be toggled with Show Menubar (&Ctrl;M) from the Settings menu or the menu button in the toolbar.

#### Save and Restore Sessions

When you pause a running stopwatch you create a session: a stopwatch time and zero or more lap times. You can save a session and you can restore it later.

#### Save a Session

Pause a running stopwatch, then click on the Save As button in the File menu. You can choose a name for the session that you are going to save.

#### Restore a Session

Click the Open button on the toolbar or in the File menu. Then choose an existing session to be loaded from the session's dialog.

#### Update a Session

When the session is restored, you can resume the stopwatch and you can record new lap times. If you want to save the updated session, you can simply click the Save button in the File menu.

#### Edit a Session

Click the Open button on the toolbar or in the File menu. If you select an existing session in the session's dialog, you will be able to:

- Rename the session, by double-clicking on its name.

- Delete the session, by pressing Del.

- Add a note to the session or edit it.

### Additional Features

#### Export Lap Times

When you record one or more lap times, the export features in the File menu is made available, under the entry Export laps as. Click on it and then choose a name for the exported file. You can export in the Comma Separated Values (CSV) format or in the JSON one.

#### Clipboard Support

&kronometer; is able to copy the current stopwatch time to the system clipboard. Use the &Ctrl;C key combination or the Copy entry in the Edit menu.

## Configuration

### Settings Dialog

&kronometer; is customizable in many aspects. You can open the settings dialog clicking on the Configure &kronometer; entry in the Settings menu. The settings dialog is organized in the following categories.

#### General Settings

In the general settings page you can find the settings for the stopwatch and for the laps. Under the stopwatch tab you can set your preferred time format for the stopwatch display. You can choose whether to show hours, minutes or second fractions (while seconds are always shown). &kronometer; supports time granularity up to millisecond, although this requires high CPU usage due to the high refresh rate of the User Interface.

Within the laps tab you can enable or disable the laps recording feature. If the laps are enabled, you can choose their time format, whether to show their notes and whether to show their absolute times, which are the stopwatch times when they were recorded.

#### Font Settings

In the font settings page you can customize the font of the stopwatch display. You can choose different font families, styles and sizes for each timer component (hours, minutes, &etc;). By default every timer component will use the same font, according the current default font in the system.

#### Color Settings

In the color settings page you can customize the default color of the stopwatch display. You can change the background color and the text color. The default colors will respect the currently selected system's theme.

#### &kde; Built-in Settings

&kronometer; makes use of the standard &kde; configuration tools. You find them in the Settings menu, under the Configure shortcuts and Configure Toolbars entries. They allow you to change the shortcuts of the &kronometer;'s actions, and to change the position of the toolbar and its content.

## Credits and License

&kronometer;

Program copyright © 2014-2016 Elvis Angelaccio elvis.angelaccio@kde.org

Documentation copyright © 2014-2016 Elvis Angelaccio elvis.angelaccio@kde.org

&underFDL; &underGPL;

&documentation.index;