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https://github.com/gregsexton/gtd

Get things displayed -- a utility app for displaying notifications on your desktop.
https://github.com/gregsexton/gtd

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Get things displayed -- a utility app for displaying notifications on your desktop.

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README 

        
# Readme



## Summary



Get Things Displayed (GTD) is a small utility application that enables

displaying text and images in large on your primary display. Text and

images can be displayed immediately or set on a timer using a rich

variety of ways of expressing the time-out. Both relative and absolute

times are possible. Once displayed, a 'notification' can be dragged

anywhere and can easily be dismissed by pressing escape. Notifications

float on top of all windows so they cannot be accidentally missed.



Notification text is sized and wrapped intelligently to be as readable

as possible from a distance. GTD honours text with line breaks so that,

code for example, is displayed correctly.



GTD uses a server/client model. The GTD server is written in Clojure and

is responsible for displaying notifications and queuing future

notifications.  The client is a small and simple script, written in

Python, that sends notifications to the server. Both the client and

server should be cross-platform compatible and have been tested on

Windows and Mac OS X.  The client is written in Python for it's fast

start up time and low overhead compared to the JVM.



The client application is designed for the command line and is very

flexible. In keeping with the UNIX philosophy it does its single job

well and is very useful in conjunction with other programs via piping.

It is also easily scripted and integrated with any decent text editor.



## Requirements



A recent version of the JVM and Python are all that is required to run

GTD.



Clojure jars are not required as all necessary Clojure libraries are

included within the GTD jar. For those of you familiar with Clojure you

may wish to run GTD using Leiningen and this is possible.



## Installation



Installation is very simple. Simply copy the gtd-x.x.x.jar file

somewhere and run this to start the server. There are various ways of

forking a JVM and getting the server to run as a daemon. On Windows

double clicking the jar file should take care of it. I recommend using

the packaged app if you're on Mac OS X. Again this is just a case of

running the app by double clicking on it.



Once the server is running, the Python gtd.py script can be used to send

notifications to the server. I recommend symlinking to this from

somewhere in your path. e.g.



    ln -s ~/some/path/to/gtd.py ~/bin/gtd

    chmod +x ~/bin/gtd



Creating a gtd-server script somewhere in your path and adding to it the

commands you use to start the server is recommended. This allows you to

then start the server using `gtd-server` but also `gtd --server`.



## Suggested usages



Here are a few potential usages to demonstrate the possibilities of

GTD.



* Display the time and date with: `date | gtd`.

* Display reminders: `echo "Team meeting" | gtd 30 min` or `gtd -m "Coffee" 11.30`.

* Display an image: `ls  | gtd`.

* Display phone numbers to be easily dialed: `gtd -m "+44 (0)123 456 7890"`.

* Display the results of unit tests or a lengthy build when finished:

  `lein test|gtd` or `make; gtd -m "Build finished."`.

* Display a file to someone stood behind you: `cat blah.clj|gtd`.

* View the bottom of a log from across the room: `tail blah.log|gtd`.

* See the currently added notifications and when they will be displayed: `gtd --list`.



## Screenshot



Here is an example usage screenshot achieved by using the command `date | gtd`.



![Screenshot of GTD in action.](http://www.gregsexton.org/images/gtd/gtd.jpg)



## Specifying a time-out



Here are some example ways to specify the time-out period. Both relative

and absolute examples are provided. For a definitive list: at present

you'll have to look at the code I'm afraid. I would start with the unit

tests though.



### Relative



    

        

            now

        

        

            "now" "-" "." ""

        

    

    

        

            tomorrow

        

        

            "tomorrow" "1day" "1 day" "day" "a day" "1days" "days1"

        

    

    

        

            days

        

        

            "xday" "xdays" "dayx" "monday-sunday"

        

    

    

        

            week

        

        

            "7days" "week" "a week" "next week" "xweek" "xweeks"

        

    

    

        

            month

        

        

            "month" "a month" "next month" "jan" "january"

        

    

    

        

            year

        

        

            "year" "a year" "next year"

        

    

    

        

            secs

        

        

            "xseconds" "xsecond" "xsecs" "xsec" "a second" "second" "sec"

        

    

    

        

            mins

        

        

            "xminutes" "xminute" "xmins" "xmin" "a minute" "minute" "min"

        

    

    

        

            hours

        

        

            "xhours" "xhour" "xhr" "xhrs" "a hour" "an hour" "hour" "hr"

        

    



### Absolute



* 2011-04-30

* 2011-04-30 14:32

* 2011-04-30 14:32:17

* 2011-04-30 02:32pm

* 2011-04-30 02:32 pm

* 2011-04-30 2:32 pm

* 2011-04-30 02:32:17pm

* 2011-04-30 02:32:17 pm

* 2011-04-30 2:32:17 pm

* 14:32

* 14:32:17

* 02:32pm

* 02:32 pm

* 2:32 pm

* 02:32:17pm

* 02:32:17 pm

* 2:32:17 pm