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About

This window gives you information about the program.

Alarm Clock for Windows Version 9.0.

If you find this program useful, please send a donation to:

Stephen Sottong

2169 Tulane Ave.

Long Beach, CA 90815-2949

Individuals sending $10.00 or more will receive a copy of the latest version of the Alarm Clock for Windows and other helpful programs by the author.


Alarm

This is the window that appears when an alarm sounds.  It will always appear on top of any other application and will remain visible until cleared.  The snooze feature lets you repeat the alarm from 5 to 60 minutes later.

    	Begin Alarm Snooze for indicated number of minutes.

    	Cancel the Alarm/Reset the Snooze time to 5 minutes.

   	Add 5 minute incriments to the snooze time.

   	Alarm Message.

   	Alarm Time.

   	Missed Alarm indicator (only appears after time changes or exiting system modal windows).


Alarm Clock
Alarm Clock for Windows®

This is the main window of the alarm clock (shown in digital mode at the default size).

    Digital Time display.

    Displays the day and date.

    Displays either the time for the next alarm or a continuous second display.

    Indicates that an Alarm is pending today.

    Indicates that the Snooze Alarm feature is active.

    Indicates that the Alarm will take place tomorrow.

Menus

   File

   Time

   Option


Time Menu
Set date, time and alarms

   Time

      Set Alarm	Display the window for setting the time, date and message for a new Alarm.

      Next Alarm Message	Display the message that accompanies the next alarm.

      Cancel Next Alarm	Cancel the next Alarm.

      Reread Alarms	Reread the Alarm file and determine the next Alarm time (undoes Cancel Next Alarm).

      Edit Alarms	Invokes the Notepad editor to change the alarm settings. (Warning: can damage alarm file.)

      Cancel Snooze	Cancel a snooze alarm.

      Review Alarms	Display the window for reviewing all current and future alarms.

      -

      Stopwatch	Activate the Stopwatch/Timer.

      Set Date/Time	Display the window for setting the system date and time.


Option Menu

   Option

      Defaults

         Default Size	Resets the clock to the default size for the digital display.

         Read Settings	Read the default option settings from the INI file.

         Save Settings	Save all current option setting to the INI file.

         Autosave	Toggle the automatic saving of options on or off.  Any change in the configuration of the clock will be saved immediatly as the default.

      -

      Sound

         All Sound On/Off	Toggle all sound (chimes and alarm) on or off.

         Chime On/Off	Toggle the hourly and half-hourly chimes on or off.

         Sound Select	Display the sound selection screen.

         Maximum Sound Time	Select the maximum number of seconds that the Alarm will chime (0 to 32,767 seconds -- 9 hours 6 minutes).

      -

      Appearance

         Color Change	Change the colors of any element of the clock.

         Digital/Analog	Toggle the Digital time display on or off.

         Next Alarm/Seconds	Toggles the digital display in the lower right corner from the Alarm time to a continuous seconds display.

         Second Hand  Visible	Toggle the display of the analog second hand on or off.

         Font	Display the Font selection window.

         Always on Top	Ensures the clock is alway visible.


Color Settings

This window lets you individually change the colors of any element of the analog or digital Alarm Clock.

   Select Colors 	Select one of the 16 Windows default colors.

   Background	Select the digital background color.

   Foreground	Select the digital character display color.

   Analog Face	Select the analog clock face color.

   Hour Marks 	Select the color for the hour marks.

   Minute Marks 	Select the color for the minute marks.

   Hour Hand	Select the color for the hour hand.

   Minute Hand 	Select the color for the minute hand.

   Second Hand	Select the color for the second hand.

   Alarm Hand	Select the color for the Alarm time indicator hand.

   Hub	Select the color for the central hub of the analog clock.

   Border	Select the color for the border of the analog clock.

   Cancel	Return to the previous set of colors for the Alarm Clock.

   Done	Use this set of colors for the Alarm Clock.


Set Date and Time

This windows lets you set the system date and time.  Using this windows instead of the Windows® Control Panel ensures that alarms are properly updated.

   Hour	Select the hour.

   Day	Select the day.

   Month	Select the month.

   Year	Select the year.

   Cancel	Do not change the system time.

   Set  Exit	Change the system time.


Set File Path

This window sets the drive and directory where the initialization and alarm files are stored.  This feature lets multiple users have seperate configurations and alarms for the Alarm Clock.

   Drive	Choose a disk drive.

   Directory	Choose a directory.

   Cancel	Ignore settings.

   Set	Use the settings.


Review Alarms

This window lets you view your alarms and delete unneeded ones.

   Time	Alarm time.

   Year	Alarm year.

   Day	Alarm day.

   Month	Alarm month.

   Message	Alarm message.

   Alarm	Either displays the number of the present Alarm or can be used to go to a specific Alarm.

   Of	Total number of Alarms.

   Next	Display the next Alarm

   Delete Alarm	Delete/Restore this Alarm

   Cancel	Do not save any changes to the Alarm file.

   Save File	Save all changes to the Alarm file.


Screen Fonts

This window lets you change the font in the digital Alarm Clock display.

   Font_List	Name of the font for the digital display.

   12:59 AM	Example of how the digital time display will appear with this font.

   Bold	Set Bold on or off.

   Italics	Set Italics on or off.

   Cancel	Use the default font for the digital display.

   Select	Select this font for the digital display.


Timer

This window is a Stopwatch (count up timer) or a settable count down Timer.

   Start	Start/Stop the timer.

   Scroll Bars	Change Timer seconds/minutes.

   Display	Minutes/seconds.

Menus

   Count


Count Menu

   Count

      Count Up	Toggle between the Stopwatch (count up) and Timer (count down) functions.

      Lap	Freeze the display at the current time but keep counting.

      Reset	Reset the time to either the default count (Timer) or zero (Stopwatch).

      Exit	Leaves the Timer/Stopwatch.


Sound

This window lets you select the sounds associated with hourly and half-hourly chimes and the alarm.

   Drive	Choose a disk drive.

   Directory	Choose a directory.

   Files	Choose a .WAV file.

   Reset Sound	Return this sound to its default.

   Set	Use the settings.

   Cancel	Ignore settings.

   Test	Test the sound.

   Current Sound	Name of the default sound.

   Select number of times hourly chime sounds

      Once	Ring the hourly chime sound once each hour.

      Twice	Ring the hourly chime sound twice each hour.

      Number of Hours	Ring the hourly chime sound the same number of times as the hour.

Alarm Clock for Windows - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Set Alarms

This window lets you set multiple alarms which will be stored until they are used.

   Alarm Message	Input the message that will accompany the Alarm.

   Hour	Select the hour for the Alarm.

   Day	Select the day for the Alarm.

   Month	Select the month for the Alarm.

   Year	Select the year in which the Alarm will occur.

   Every Selected Day	Create a Weekly Alarm.

   Every Month Every Year	Create a Monthly Reminder.

   Same Month Every Year	Create and Anniversary Alarm.

   Cancel	Do not store the present Alarm.

   Set  Exit	Store this Alarm and leave Alarm setting.

   Set  Repeat	Store this Alarm and set another.

Alarm Clock for Windows - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


File Menu

   File

      About	Display the window that give credits for the Alarm Clock.

      Set File Path	Set the path to the initialization and alarm files.

      Exit	Leave the Alarm Clock.

Alarm Clock for Windows - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Weekly Alarm

These alarms can occur on every Monday through Sunday, every weekday, every weekend, every odd or even dated calendar day or every day of every week.


Monthly Reminder

These alarms will occur on the same date in every month.  The Year selection box is disabled when this option is chosen.


Anniversary Alarm

These alarms will occur on the same date each year.  This kind of alarm is good for birthdays, anniversaries etc.  The Year selection box is disabled when this option is chosen.


Sound caveat

If a sound card or the Windows® Speaker Driver is not installed, all sounds will default to the standard Windows® beep.


Default Size Hint

If you run the Alarm Clock in digital mode at the default size, it uses fewer system resources.


Continuous Seconds/Second Hand Display Hint

 If you do not display the second hand of the analog clock or use a continuous display of the seconds in the digital clock, the Alarm Clock will use fewer system resources.


Permanently setting the default drive and directory

The Alarm Clock normally looks for its initialization and alarm files in the same directory that the program file is stored in.  If you want to permanently store these files in a different directory, add the following line the your AUOTEXEC.BAT file:

SET CLOCKPATH=d:\path

where "d" is the drive letter and "path" is the complete path to the directory.


Editing the Alarm File

The alarm file is an ASCII file containing the information about all pending alarms.  Invoking this option brings up the alarm file in the  Windows® Notepad.  This option is included only for completeness; maintenance of the alarm file is automatic.  WARNING: editing the alarm file improperly can damage the file and result in lost alarms.  The safest way to change an alarm is to delete the old alarm using the Review Alarms command and then to create a new alarm.

The format of the file is:

Month, Day, Year, Hour, Minute, Message

seperated by spaces (not tabs).   In general, the Day and Month numbers correspond the the expected (1-7=Sunday-Saturday, 1-12=January-December).  Global alarms are encoded in the following manner:

Anniversary alarms:

The month field equals the number of the month plus 69 (70-82= Every January-December).

Monthly Reminders:

The month field contains 99.

Weekly Alarms:

The day field equals the number of the day plus 89 (90-96= Every Sunday-Saturday).  Every Weekday (Monday thru Friday inclusive) is 97.  Every Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) is 98.  Every day of the week is 99 and every Even or Odd dated day is 100 and 101 respectivly.

The alarm message should always be enclosed in quotes.

Alarm Clock for Windows - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Unlimited alarms

Alarms are stored in a file and need not be reset every time the Alarm Clock is started.  The file is maintained automatically.  An unlimited number of alarms can be stored and the file is scanned and sorted each time the Alarm Clock is started, the system time is changed or an alarm sounds.  The Set File Path command can be used to create multiple alarm files for diffterent individuals using the same computer.


Table of Contents

Main Alarm Clock display

File Menu

Time Menu

Option Menu

Timer/Stopwatch

Count Menu

Alarm setting

Anniversary Alarms

Monthly Reminders

Weekly Alarms

Alarm display

Reviewing Alarms

Editing the Alarm File

Setting the system date and time

Setting the path for the alarm and initialization files

Changing the colors

Changing the digital display font

Setting the sounds for chimes and alarms

System requirements for sound

Hints for reducing system resource usage

Continuous second display

Second hand display

Default size

Alarm Clock for Windows - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.