Copyright: Copyright © 1992-7 Perpetual Motion Software
Citation: Copyright © 1992-7 Perpetual Motion Software


Alarm Help Contents

Overview

Command Line

Main Window

Taskbar

Modifying the document

How to...

Create a new alarm

Delete an alarm

Rename an alarm

Modify an existing alarm

Menus

File menu

Edit menu

View menu

Options menu

Help menu


File menu commands

The File menu offers the following commands:

New	Creates a new document.
Open	Opens an existing document.
Save	Saves an opened document using the same file name.
Save As	Saves an opened document to a specified file name.
File list	List of most recently used files.
Exit	Exits Alarm.


Edit menu commands

The Edit menu offers the following commands:

New	Creates a new alarm.
Cut	Cuts the selected alarms to the clipboard.
Copy	Copies the selected alarms to the clipboard.
Paste	Pastes the contents of the clipboard into the current database.
Delete	Deletes the selected alarm.
Rename	Prompts you to rename the selected alarm.
Properties	Prompts you to modify the selected alarm.


View menu commands

The View menu offers the following commands:

by Name	Sorts the list of alarms by name, in ascending order.
By Date	Sorts the list of alarms by date, in chronological order.
Toolbar	Shows or hides the toolbar.
Status Bar	Shows or hides the status bar.


Options menu commands

The Options menu offers the following commands:

Always Save on Shutdown	Toggles whether or not the application will automatically save your changes when you shut down Windows®.
Select Mail Profile	Selects whether you want email support or not, and if so, whether you want to use a specific mail profile or specify one each time.


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands, which provide you assistance with this application:

Help Topics	Displays the contents of the help file.
Help Index	Displays an index to topics on which you can get help.
Using Help	Displays help on using the help system.
Web	Visit Perpetual Motion Software’s web site.
About	Displays the version number of this application.
Register	Enter your registration code.


File New command
New command (File menu)

Use this command to create a new document in Alarm.

You can open an existing document with the Open command.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+N


File Open command
Open command (File menu)

Use this command to open an existing document.  Alarm displays the Open dialog box so you can select your document.

You can create new documents with the New command.

You can drag an alarm database onto the Alarm application to open it.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+O


File Open dialog box

The following options allow you to specify which file to open:

File Name

Type or select the filename you want to open.  This box lists files with the extension you select in the List Files of Type box.

Drives

Select the drive in which Alarm stores the file that you want to open.

Directories

Select the directory in which Alarm stores the file that you want to open.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File Save command
Save command (File menu)

Use this command to save the active document to its current name and directory.  When you save a document for the first time, Alarm displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document.  If you want to change the name and directory of an existing document before you save it, choose the Save As command.

Shortcuts

Keys:	CTRL+S


File Save As command
Save As command (File menu)

Use this command to save and name the active document.  Alarm displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document.

To save a document with its existing name and directory, use the Save command.


File Save As dialog box

The following options allow you to specify the name and location of the file you're about to save:

File Name

Type a new filename to save a document with a different name.  A filename can contain up to eight characters and an extension of up to three characters.  Alarm adds the extension you specify in the Save File As Type box.

Drives

Select the drive in which you want to store the document.

Directories

Select the directory in which you want to store the document.

Network...

Choose this button to connect to a network location, assigning it a new drive letter.


File 1, 2, 3, 4 command
1, 2, 3, 4 command (File menu)

Use the numbers and filenames listed at the bottom of the File menu to open the last four documents you closed.  Choose the number that corresponds with the document you want to open.


File Exit command
Exit command (File menu)

Use this command to end your Alarm session.  You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu.  Alarm prompts you to save changes to your document before you close it.  If you exit without saving, you lose all changes made since the last time you saved it.

Before closing an untitled document, Alarm displays the Save As dialog box and suggests that you name and save the document.

You can also close a document by using the Close icon on the document's window, as shown below:

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Double-click the application's Control menu button.

Keys:	ALT+F4


Alarm New command
New command (Edit menu)

This command prompts the user to enter information about a new alarm.  An alarm must have a name, a time, and a date.  The time defaults to the current time, and the date default’s to today's date.

The alarm's date and time information are displayed according to the time and long date formats that you set in the Windows® Control Panel International section.

An alarm has four pages of properties:

general information

date and optional repeats

special actions

mail


Alarm Properties: Information
Information

Use this page to set basic information about the alarm.

Name

This is the name of the alarm.  It is displayed in the main window's list of alarms and in the tooltip for the icon in the taskbar's notification area when this alarm is the next one to go off.

Message

This is the message that will be displayed in the event dialog box when the alarm goes off.  If the message is left blank, the application uses the alarm's name.

Time

This is the time of day that the alarm will go off.  You set the date of the alarm's event(s) in the Date page.

Snooze

This is the default snooze interval for the alarm.  When an alarm goes off, you can select a snooze interval and have the application display the event again later.

See Also

Event


Alarm Properties: Date
Date

Use this page to set the day(s) on which you want the alarm to display events.

Calendar

Use the calendar to specify the day, month, and year of the first of the alarm's events.  If you select a date in the past, the application will automatically advance it to the appropriate date in the future after you press the OK button.

Month/Year

Select the month and year of the event.

Use the Page Up key to display the previous month.

Use the Page Down key to display the next month.

Use the Home key to display January of the currently displayed year.

Use the End key to display December of the currently displayed year.

Press the "‹" button to display the previous month.

Press the "›" button to display the next month.

Date

Select the date of the first event.

Use the Left arrow key to select the previous date.

Use the Right arrow key to select the next date.

Use the Up arrow key to move to the previous week.

Use the Down arrow key to move to the next week.

Select a date by pressing the date itself.

Weekdays

If you want the alarm to only go off on certain days of the week, select those weekdays.  If no weekdays are selected, the alarm can go off on any day of the week.

Use the 1-7 keys to select and deselect the weekdays.  The 0 key toggles all of the weekdays.

Weeks of the Month

If you want the alarm to only go off on certain weeks of the month, select those weeks by checking the corresponding checkbox to the right of the calendar.  The alarm can be set to go off on either the first, second, third, or last week of the month.

(There is no keyboard interface for setting the weeks of the month.)

Repeat

By default, a new alarm is set not to repeat (i.e., to have only one event).

If you want the alarm to go off only once, set the alarm to "Repeat 1 time".

If you want the alarm to go off multiple times, set the number of times or select Forever.

If the number of times is 0, the alarm will never go off.

If you want the alarm to repeat, select the criteria for the events (weekdays, weeks of the month) and the interval.

Event List

As you make changes to the calendar and repeat controls, the dates and times of the alarm's events are displayed in the list control at the bottom of the page.

Examples

The 15th of Every Month

In the calendar control, select the 15th of the first month you want the alarm to go off.

To have this alarm go off every 15th, select the "Forever" radio button.  To have this alarm go off only on the next five "15th"s, enter "5" in the "Repeat" control.

Every other Wednesday

In the calendar, select a date on or before the first time you want the alarm to go off.

Select the weekday Wednesday ("W") in the calendar to indicate that the alarm only goes off on a Wednesday.

Enter "2" and select "Weeks" in the combobox.

To have this alarm go off every Wednesday, select the "Forever" radio button.  To have this alarm go off only the next three Wednesdays, enter "3" in the "Repeat " control.

Friday the 13th

In the calendar, select the 13th.

Select the weekday Friday ("F") in the calendar to indicate that the alarm only goes off on a Friday.

Enter "1" and select "Months" in the combobox.  Since you specified a weekday (in this case, Friday), the alarm will not actually go off in every month — because the 13th does not fall on Friday every month.  You’re specifying how often the alarm is to "try" to go off.

To have this alarm go off on every Friday the 13th, select the "Forever" radio button.  To have this alarm go off ten times, enter "10" in the "Repeat" control.

Second Thursday of Every Other Month

In the calendar, select a date on or before the first time you want the alarm to go off.

Select the checkbox for the second week of the month.

Select the weekday Thursday (“T”) in the calendar to indicate that the alarm only goes off on Thursday.

Enter "2" and select "Months" in the combobox.


Alarm Properties: Actions
Actions

Use this page to specify certain effects that will occur when the alarm goes off.

Play Sound

Select this checkbox to indicate that you want the application to play sound when the alarm goes off.  If you specify a sound file, it will play that sound.  If you don't specify a sound file or if Microsoft® Windows® is unable to play it, the application will make the default beep.

Press the Browse button to choose a sound file.  This button is disabled if your system does not support sound.

Press the No Sound button to clear your selection.  This button is disabled if your system does not support sound.

Press the Test button to play the sound file you selected.  This button is disabled if your system does not support sound.

You can specify a sound event in the Windows® Control Panel Sounds section.  Alarm uses this sound file as the default when you create a new alarm.

Repeat Until Acknowledged

When you check this option, the application will repeat the specified sound file until the user acknowledges the event (by pressing a button on the event dialog box).

Application

Alarm run the specified application when the alarm goes off.  It also passes the specified arguments on the command line for that application.

You can press the Browse button to find a specific file or shortcut that you want to run.  You can also enter text directly into the field – this allows you to enter an "application" such as: www.microsoft.com or c:\windows\favorites.  In the first example, the Alarm application will start your browser and go to the specified page.  In the last example, Alarm will open your Favorites folder.

Almost anything can be done at a preset time by creating a macro (using the Windows® Recorder — available with Windows® 3.x) and then invoking it with this feature.

For example, create a macro (with the hotkey Control+P) which executes an application, opens a document, and prints it.  Save the macro in the file: print.rec.  Create an alarm with the application "recorder.exe" and the arguments "-h ^P print.rec".

Display Message Box

If you check this box, the application will not display the event dialog box when the alarm goes off — but it will play the specified sound, run the specified application, send mail, etc.

You can use this feature to run applications or send mail unattended — so that you don't need to acknowledge the event dialogs.  You can even use it if your sound file is sufficient to tell you what the alarm is about (e.g., a recording of your boss saying, "Don't be late for the meeting.").

Of course, if you choose not to have the message box displayed, you will not be able to "snooze" it.


Alarm Properties: Mail
Mail

Use this property page to specify the mail addresses of people to whom you want to send a message at the specified time.  The message's subject is the name of the alarm, and the message's text is the alarm’s message.  (These are set on the Information page.)

To

This is the list of recipients who will be placed on the "To" list of the mail message.

cc

This is the list of recipients who will be placed on the "cc" list of the mail message.

bc

This is the list of recipients who will be placed on the "bc" list of the mail message.

You can select recipients directly from your personal and global address books.  Press the To button to activate your mail system's address book feature.

Press the Resolve Names button for your mail system to resolve the specified names to their true mail addresses.  This is useful is fully-specifying ambiguous names.  (This is performed when you press the OK button.)

Attachments

This is the list of files that will be included with the message when it is sent.

To add a file to the list of attachments, press the Attach button.  To remove an attached file from the list, select it in the Attachments listbox and press the Detach button.

If there is an error when the application sends the message, it will display a message box.

Note: The To and Resolve Names buttons are disabled if there is no email support.

See the Select Mail Profile section for more information on email support for alarms.


Alarm Event
Event

The application displays this dialog box when an alarm goes off.

If you want to ignore the alarm for a few minutes, enter the number of minutes to delay and press the Snooze button.  The application waits for the specified number of minutes and redisplays the event dialog box.

If you want to dismiss the alarm, press the Off button.


Alarm Cut command
Cut command (Edit menu)

This command cuts the selected alarm.  This action can be undone by pasting the alarm back into the database.

If the alarm is snoozing, the application asks the user to confirm the operation.

You can also use drag and drop to move or copy alarms from one alarm database to another.

See Also

Copy, Paste.


Alarm Copy command
Copy command (Edit menu)

This command copies the selected alarm.  This action does not modify the database.

You can also use drag and drop to move or copy alarms from one alarm database to another.

See Also

Cut, Paste.


Alarm Paste command
Paste command (Edit menu)

This command pastes any alarms on the clipboard into the current database.  This action can be undone by deleting the alarms from the database.  You can paste the clipboard contents as many times as you want.

You can also use drag and drop to move or copy alarms from one alarm database to another.

See Also

Cut, Copy.


Alarm Delete command
Delete command (Edit menu)

This command deletes the selected alarm.  This action cannot be undone.

If the alarm is snoozing, the application asks the user to confirm the operation.


Alarm Rename command
Rename command (Edit menu)

This command allows you to rename the selected alarm.


Alarm Properties command
Properties command (Edit menu)

This command allows you to change the settings for the selected alarm.

See Also

New (Alarm menu).


View by Name Command
By Name command (View menu)

Use this command to sort the alarms by their names, in ascending order.  A checkmark appears next to the menu item indicating how the list is sorted.

You can also click the header for the column on which you want to sort.  If you click again, it reverses the order between ascending and descending.


View by Date Command
By Date command (View menu)

Use this command to sort the alarms by their event date/times, in ascending order.  A checkmark appears next to the menu item indicating how the list is sorted.

You can also click the header for the column on which you want to sort.  If you click again, it reverses the order between ascending and descending.


View Toolbar Command
Toolbar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Toolbar, which describes the action to be executed by the selected menu item or depressed toolbar button, and keyboard latch state.  A checkmark appears next to the menu item when the Toolbar is displayed.

See Toolbar for help on using the toolbar.


Toolbar

The toolbar can either be docked against one of the sides of the main window or be displayed at any location on the desktop.  To display or hide the toolbar, use the Toolbar command in the View menu.  When it is displayed, you can drag it against any of the sides of main window or on the desktop.

If you do not dock the toolbar in the main window, it will be visible and available for commands even if you close the main window (but leave the application running).

The left area of the status bar shows messages that describe the actions of toolbar buttons as you depress them, before releasing them.  If after viewing the description of the toolbar button command you wish not to execute the command, then release the mouse button while the pointer is off the toolbar button.


View Status Bar Command
Status Bar command (View menu)

Use this command to display and hide the Status Bar, which describes the action to be executed by the selected menu item or depressed toolbar button, and keyboard latch state.  A checkmark appears next to the menu item when the Status Bar is displayed.

See Status Bar for help on using the status bar.


Status Bar

The status bar is displayed at the bottom of the Alarm window.  To display or hide the status bar, use the Status Bar command in the View menu.

The left area of the status bar describes actions of menu items as you use the arrow keys to navigate through menus.  This area similarly shows messages that describe the actions of toolbar buttons as you depress them, before releasing them.  If after viewing the description of the toolbar button command you wish not to execute the command, then release the mouse button while the pointer is off the toolbar button.

The right areas of the status bar indicate which of the following keys are latched down:

Indicator	Description

CAP	The Caps Lock key is latched down.

NUM	The Num Lock key is latched down.

SCRL	The Scroll Lock key is latched down.


Always Save on Shutdown Option
Always Save on Shutdown Option (Options menu)

Use this command to toggle on and off whether or not the application will automatically save your changes when you shutdown Windows®.  A checkmark appears next to the menu item when this option is on.

If this option is on, the current Alarm document must be named (i.e., it cannot be a new document).  If the document is not named or there is an error, it will behave as if you selected the Save As command.

See the Save and Save As commands for more information on saving files.


Select Mail Profile Option
Select Mail Profile (Options menu)

Use this command to specify whether or not you want email support and, if so, whether you want to use a specific mail profile or to specify one each time.

Select the "No mail support" radio button and the application will not connect to a mail service.

Select the "Prompt for a mail profile" radio button and the application will prompt you to select a mail profile every time it starts.

Select the "Use this profile" radio button and the application will use the specified mail profile every time it starts.

Note 1: If a mail profile is already active, Alarm will use that mail profile – even if you specify that it should prompt for one and even if you specify that it should use a different one.  This behavior is consistent with Microsoft® Messaging.

Note 2: You must have installed a mail service that supports the CMC email standard.  Microsoft® Exchange and Microsoft® Windows® Messaging both support this standard.  If you have an Internet Service Provider that uses dial-up connection, you can install Exchange or Windows® Messaging to create mail profiles.

See the New Alarm and mail property page sections for more information on email support for alarms.


Topics command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the opening screen of Help.  From the opening screen, you can jump to step-by-step instructions for using Alarm and various types of reference information.

Once you open Help, you can click the Contents button whenever you want to return to the opening screen.


Index command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the index screen of Help.  From this screen, you can search for specific items of interest.

Once you open Help, you can click the Index button whenever you want to return to the index screen.


Using Help command (Help menu)

Use this command to display information on using the Help system.


Perpetual Motion on the Web command (Help menu)

Use this command to visit our company’s web site.  Try other products, download updates, get technical support, and submit comments.


About command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of Alarm.


Register command (Help menu)

Use this command to register the shareware version of the application.  Alarm prompts you for your username and registration key.

Please see the readme.txt and products.txt files for information on how to register the application.


Taskbar

When you run the Alarm application, it adds an icon to your taskbar notification area.  You can move the mouse over the icon to display a tooltip which notifies you of the next alarm to go off.

Right-click the icon to display a context menu with various commands.  This is the only way to exit the application completely.

Double-click the icon to open the application's main window.


Command Line

You can create a shortcut to run the application and put the name of an alarm document on the command line so that the application will open the document when it starts.

For example, "alarm.exe c:\My Documents\work.alm".


Main Window

The main window displays a list of alarms in the open alarm database.

You can click on a column header to sort the list by that property.

Each alarm displays various information about itself.  The image to the far left of each alarm indicates the number of events it has left.

(no image)	No events remaining
	One event remaining
	More than one event remaining

Next to that is an image that indicates what special action the alarm will do when an event occurs:

	open an application
	send email
	open an application and send email


Modifying the Document

You use this application to set alarms for events you want to be reminded of.  Use the Edit menu commands to work with alarms.

You can have more than one alarm document, use the File menu commands to work with those documents.


No Help Available

No help is available for this area of the window.


No Help Available

No help is available for this message box.


Confirm Closing an Alarm

This message box is displayed when the application needs to close an alarm that either is displaying an event dialog box or is snoozing.  This may be because you asked to delete the alarm, to close the document, to close the application, or to open a new alarm document.

If you press Yes, the application closes the event dialog box or ends the snooze interval, as appropriate.  If you press No, the application aborts the operation that prompted this confirmation.


Unable to Invoke an Application

This message box is displayed when an alarm is unable to invoke the application the user specified for the event.  (See Special Effects.)

There are many possible reasons for this error, such as no such application or insufficient memory.  Your best course of action may be trying to run the application yourself to see if you can duplicate — and solve — the error.


Unable to Send a Mail Message

This message box is displayed when an alarm is unable to send the mail message the user specified for the event.  (See Mail.)

This can be caused by any number of things: the computer might be low on memory, the application might be unable to log into the mail system, the mail server might be down, or too many files might be attached to the message.  The best solution is to try to send the same message yourself, from the mail system, and see if that succeeds.  Chances are, you will get the same error message and can then take steps to correct it.


Unable to Send a Mail Message (Ambiguous Address)

This message box is displayed when an alarm is unable to send the mail message the user specified for the event.  (See Mail.)

In this case, it is because one or more of the specified recipients cannot be resolved to a single, unique mailing address.  Display the properties of the alarm, select the Mail page and press the Resolve Names button to resolve the addresses.


Unable to Send a Mail Message (Attachments)

This message box is displayed when an alarm is unable to send the mail message the user specified for the event.  (See Mail.)

In this case, it is because one or more of the attached files cannot be mailed.  This is most likely because the file does not exist or cannot be opened.  Please ensure that all of the files exist and can be accessed.


<< If you wish to author help specific to each message box prompt, then remove the AFX_HIDP_xxx values from the [ALIAS] section of your .HPJ file, and author a topic for each AFX_HIDP_xxx value.  For example, AFX_HIDP_INVALID_FILENAME is the help topic for the Invalid Filename message box. >>


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