Please set entries initially not to zero but to "no value" to avoid totally wrong entries!

Lolinda

When using Crono regularly, I find the only efficient way of usage is to use the "copy current day" function intensely. This works like a charm for all standard entries of a day like how much I have slept or what my weight is or how much butter I have eaten. But there is one big issue: Over time, this creates a lot of wrong entries: I copy the day but certainly oversee changing this or that entry. So it will stay on the value as copied. I have regularly errors like this. The solution would be: copy the current day to a future day, pad everything with "no value". Then use this as a template: copy it back to all days.

Anyone a more simple solution?

chunky

Perhaps you are looking for a "paste special" function where you could paste the items but not the servings?

chunky

A short term solution might be to pick a calendar day in the past and always use it as your "master template" day, by modifying it with items and servings as you wish to use as a template. Then by expanding the calendar to the month view, you could fairly quickly arrive at the chosen past date to copy from.

Hilary

You can select "Clear all amounts" in the settings menu on your diary page to set everything to 0.
If there are foods/supplements you consume daily, I would recommend creating a recipe to easily enter every day (Instead of entering each one separately) and then using the "Explode recipe" feature to edit daily as needed.
It sounds like for your purposes (ie. tracking sleep/activity) you might benefit from syncing to an app such as google fit/ Apple health, or using an activity tracker that we sync with. This would negate the need for copying old days and you would get an accurate and unique entry each day!

Lolinda

Thanks Hilary and Chunky for the comments!

• Hilary: Clear all amounts: That pads everything with zeros. That is exactly the problem! Then it is not so obvious if I have eaten zero grams of butter or I have overseen that entry and not filled it in. ➞ wrong entries
• Chunky: use a day as master template: that is what I do currently. This, however, would work best if there would be a "no value". The main advantage would be that if I accidentally leave an entry unchanged, it would not falsify stats and graphs. "No values" would be as if that entry would not exist in that day
• Hilary: recipe: I understand your point. But it would produce the same effect as using a future day as a master template. It would also leave open the same problem of ocassionally forgetting to fill out entries thus creating wrong values.
• Chunky: "paste special": exactly! I am looking for a "paste special" setting everything to "no value". So it is clear which values I still have to fill in and which values I have already filled in

Lolinda

I can imagine, that possibly you are hesitant to embrace the idea of having a "no value" because it sounds abstract. But actually, it would be totally easy, so easy that all users would love it:
The symbol for "no value" could be as simple as a question mark. I would add something cute and lovely, for example a cute rabbit munching a red carrot.
Such little cute things add to the enjoyment value of any serious website like Crono at virtually no cost!

Lolinda

Chunky: Perhaps you are looking for a "paste special" function where you could paste the items but not the servings?

Exactly! I am looking for a "copy current day / paste special", where all amounts are set to "no value". ➞ So I see which amounts are already filled in and which not yet!

Thanks Hilary and Chunky for the many comments and workarounds you posted. These helped me to clearify the idea.

OldHobo

Fer whut its wurth, null or no value ought "always" be the default value in a numeric database field.

Lolinda

Hi Hilary, so what do you think, would it be possible to have a copy current day function that sets all values to "no value"? So we could see what is already filled in and what not! Thank you so much!!!

Hilary

Hi @Lolinda , thanks for the suggestion! I will submit this idea to our developers!

Lolinda

Much appreciated! This is what I hoped for!!

Lolinda

Hi @Hilary any news from the devs? I am waiting with much much interest since April 2018!

Hilary

Hi @Lolinda, We have some big changes coming to Cronometer this year that our developers are busy working on. I have added your idea to the list, but we will certainly look into this in the future.
Keep in mind some larger structural changes to the software may make previous feature requests redundant.
Thanks for your patience and understanding while we address feature requests!

OldHobo

If I had to guess, beyond the upcoming changes, the problem is that the sum of a series that contains one or more null values returns an error. In a google sheet, the solution is [=SUM(C1:C4,B1:B4)] [=SUMIF(C1:C4, "<>", B1:B4)]. But I dunno what Cronometer's underlying database structure is, certainly not Google Sheets though.

Leila

I am not so much into tech details... but I would welcome a clear indication if a certain entry's amount is not yet filled in. This really is an issue when using the copy day function.

Leila

@Hilary

Question1: Is this request maybe more complex technically than it looks? To me it looks like darn simple.

Question2: Every database has a "NULL" value, which is a special value different from zero, corresponding exactly to the idea of "no value". Does your database have this too?

Hilary

Hi Leila,
Thanks for commenting! I have submitted it to our developers. Please keep in mind, we have many projects and many ideas from both staff and users! While we will certainly take it under review, it will get prioritized by user research and resource allotment.
Nutrients listed in foods have the option to have either a 0 numerical value or no value. These are different values. If the item is listed in your diary, however, the serving size only has an option of 0 or another number. We do not currently offer a way to enter your item into your diary with no serving size listed.