Elapsed time tracking

Elapsed time tracking is disabled if the cube is initialised to the set state. If the elapsed time clock were running when the cube state was saved, a time imprint will also be saved. If the "Retrieved state" is selected via the Cube State dialog, the elapsed time clock will be set to start from the saved value when the Command Sequence input dialog opens.

Elapsed time is sub-divided into User, Processor and Idle elements:

User Time is the time that the Command Sequence Input dialog has focus and the user can enter commands via the keyboard. This is probably the only time element worth considering.

Processor Time is the time taken by the computer to process the user's input command sequence and varies according to the processing speed of the computer. However, with the high speed of modern computers, the Processor Time will be small to negligible. If the "Update cube after each command" button is checked in the Unravel Options dialog, a Processor Time increment will start whenever the user adds a keystroke that produces an error-free sequence in the input dialog window. If the "Update cube after each command" button is not checked, a Processor Time increment will start when the user clicks the "OK" button or presses the <enter> key when the Command Sequence input dialog has focus. In each case, the Processor Time increment concludes when the cube state has been updated.

Idle Time is any time other than User or Processor time while one of the program's windows (except the Stop Clock dialog or the Set Application Colours dialog) has focus.

Total Time is the sum of the above three elements, and is also tracked.

Elapsed time is tracked to millisecond resolution but displayed to second resolution. The maximum value of elapsed time that can be recorded for any of the time elements (including Total Time) is 9999 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds. The addition of one second to that value will result in the respective time element returning to zero and advancing normally from there. Users can expect to solve the cube in a very small fraction of the available range.