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Author Topic: WPM in real time with logging?  (Read 6602 times)

PaulNcAlsen

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WPM in real time with logging?
« on: April 18, 2015, 05:02 PM »
As an author, I would like to have something I can run in the background, that does the following:
(The link for typingradar, in an old thread, is a dead one.)

Word by word WPM.
WPM displayed as a scalable graph.
Ability to set beginning and ending points for interval WPM calculations.
Logging of word by word WPM stats.
User defined repeating interval timer.  (ex: 1 min intervals to generate a log of stats for listing or a graphical display.  Set, activate, and ignore until I stop it.)

Probably other bells and whistles possible, but the above are the main basics I need.

The two I did find and try were... Useless.  One tracked and gave an average over time, which I can do easily with simple calulations.  It did have a speedometer but I couldn't focus on it because I am not a true touch typist and doing so takes me out of the flow of my writing.  Best I could do was catch glimpses of the needle as it spun down to zero.

The other one was a simple start and stop logger that generated an average.  It also counted wrong, giving me a WPM that was well over two times the WPM I arrived at by hand calculating it.

Names:  Typing master trial version   Words per Minute Counter Software.  Already uninstalled.

My decade plus writing style is basically bursts with first level editing and proofing between them.  Both are variable in duration, and when combined, I wind up with an average WPM that is well below my true speed.  For my purposes a first appoximation using spaces, periods, and carriage returns as word delimiters would be fine.

Help?  Any suggestions?  Does someone know where I can get a copy of the typingradar.zip file so I can look at it?  Coding snack, anyone?

Been a silent follower of DC for years, and really appreciate some of the programs I've found here.
Clipboard Help and Spell, Mobysaurus, sWeather and others.

Thanks, all of you!

tomos

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Re: WPM in real time with logging?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2015, 05:33 PM »
In the old thread you mention, there's mention of an AHK forum thread (which I couldn't find):

I found this script over at the (official) AHK forums.
Written by Kal_Torak.

It should do what you want, although it doesn't display the stats the way you asked for.
To view the typing speed stats using this script, type "mystats".

attached to that post is an AHK file - just wondering, have you had a look at/tried that?

EDIT//FWIW I cant figure out what exactly it does myself...
(but maybe someone out there can figure it out)
Tom

PaulNcAlsen

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Re: WPM in real time with logging?
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2015, 07:20 PM »
Thanks for the reply.

I saw the post and the file.  I am also an unabashed user these days, with zero awareness of what ahk files are, or what to do with them.  If I have to, I'll take a look, but I'm an old dog... ;)

All of the typing tutor programs I looked at wouldn't let a person enter original text.  The speed tests are basically making yourself a copier of someone else's work, which isn't what I want.  I want to be able to track my WPM in different fictional genres and different styles, so I can estimate total writing time for different projects, that require different creative efforts.  Totally new work, versus adding a new work to an existing collection, using familiar characters, fex.

A dedicated program I type into, with autosave, before I copy and paste, would work, but I dislike working outside my usual program, which is Vault 3.

(side note:  V3 is tree structured and cross platform, which lets me copy my projects to one of the tablets or the smartpone for on the go editing and proofing.)

Edit:

Ok.  I looked the ahk script over, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't do what I need.   But, I'll take a look, just to be certain. I'm not familiar with ahk scripting, and this isn't a good time to take a break to learn.  Maybe much later, if I have to take a shot at doing it myself.  Best I can tell, I already have almost the same thing as part of Typing Master and it lets me save the stats.

edit 2:

Installed AHK, some head scratching to figure out how to run the script, and well...  OK.  Single shot WPM that resets, and I have to type the stat viewing command as part of the flow of my work.  Needs work, lots of it for what I need, but as a rough estimator, it does OK.  Later I'll dig and see if someone has tweaked it any.

Thanks for convincing me I should take a look.

More stuff.  I haven't figured out what the time setting is, but this script does automatically ignore longer pauses, so the WPM is an average based on the actual typing time, which is the primary problem I wanted solved.

The reset to zero has to be manual.  The pause length that reset the word counter can be adjusted.  It will take more thinking before I can tweak that parameter to fit my writing style.  I *think* I can figure out how to get my interval stuff from the log file entries, by summing one of the two entries until the sum matches or is just over or just under the target.  So, it looks like this one will give me enough to generate the rest of what I want.  As I sort out the tweaks, eventually I will post the modified script and some comments.

What it does, is use space as the word delimiter.  Each time a word is created, a counter is incremented.  there is also a timer that uses longer pauses to create groups of words, to get rid of the wpm distortion caused.  The word count and time generated between those longer pauses are saved as a two element entry in a temporary log file in the root of the c drive.  When the report is generated, the word counts are summed and divided by five (which, now that I think about is, says the script treats each non space character as a 'word'), the times saved are summed and converted from milliseconds to minutes, a final division of word count by time is done and the report is displayed.

The divisor chosen to generate the estimated total words can be changed if a person knows their average word length is not the generally accepted length of five characters.

The interval used to determine the long pauses that generate data points can be adjusted to make rougher or smoother curves.

If I was doing it from scratch, I'd use actual word counts and auto generate some stuff to be included in the log.  I'd also eventually add some display options and an option to save multiple log files instead of deleting as part of the reset.

Still, at least I can get the most critical stuff out, so I see it as a win, mostly.  If someone comes up with something easier to use, I'd appreciate it.  Note I'm a person who can sometimes tweak existing code, but I can't write all new in AHK, so any requests for serious changes will be things I don't know how to do.  I think I have the tweak points that can be used to fine tune the script located so I can adjust it to my writing style a little better.

Finally, if this is in the wrong place, I apologise.  I wasn't expecting to self cause my own thread to drift into coding!
« Last Edit: April 18, 2015, 09:22 PM by PaulNcAlsen, Reason: update »

tomos

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Re: WPM in real time with logging?
« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2015, 07:43 AM »
Still, at least I can get the most critical stuff out, so I see it as a win, mostly.  If someone comes up with something easier to use, I'd appreciate it.  Note I'm a person who can sometimes tweak existing code, but I can't write all new in AHK, so any requests for serious changes will be things I don't know how to do.  I think I have the tweak points that can be used to fine tune the script located so I can adjust it to my writing style a little better.

well, that's a good start - you did a lot better than me with it :)
It's possible that someone else will offer to modify it, or come up with something new

Coding snack, anyone?
Tom

kyrathaba

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Re: WPM in real time with logging?
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2015, 09:43 AM »
I'm sure there's something out there that'll do what you need. Just dunno if it's free :D

http://www.softpedia...unter-Software.shtml ($19.99)
http://www.windows8d...r-software-wrxeurnh/ ($19.99)
http://www.windows8d...r-software-hdliylkl/ ($19.99)

The following claims to run in the background and constantly monitor typing and calculate WPM:
http://www.top4downl...ftware/nzdfhejn.html ($19.99)

<b>This one looks promising, and is free:</b>
http://www.typingmeter.com/

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PaulNcAlsen

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Re: WPM in real time with logging?
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2015, 12:20 PM »
I'm sure there's something out there that'll do what you need. Just dunno if it's free :D

Thanks, kyrathaba.  I did find and install Typingmeter as part of my original search and testing.  Didn't do what I wanted.  I will add the paid links to the collection, but I doubt if I will look at them.

I guess I wasn't as long term use as I thought I was, because once I had most of the information I wanted, by dinking around in the log, I lost serious interest and have mostly forgotten the ahk script.

Still keeping track of the thread and always interested in replies.

Take care, Neighbor