Copyright: Copyright © 1992-6 Perpetual Motion Software
Citation: Copyright © 1992-6 Perpetual Motion Software


Alarm Help Contents

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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.


Alarm menu commands

The Alarm menu offers the following commands:

New	Creates a new alarm.
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.
Status Bar	Shows or hides the status bar.


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.
About	Displays the version number of this application.
Register


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.

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 (Alarm 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's International section.

An alarm has three pages of properties:

general information

date and optional repeats

special effects


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.

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: Effects
Effects

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.

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.

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 — it will only run the specified application.

You can use this feature to run applications unattended — so that you don't need to acknowledge the event dialogs.


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 Delete command
Delete command (Alarm 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 (Alarm menu)

This command allows you to rename the selected alarm.


Alarm Properties command
Properties command (Alarm 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 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.


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.


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.

If the application is not registered, you cannot specify alarms to repeat (i.e., go off more than once), nor can you specify alarms to play different sounds.

Please see the readme.txt file 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 database on the command line so that the application will open the database when it starts.

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


Modifying the Document

You use this application to set alarms for events you want to be reminded of.  Use the Alarm 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, close the application, or open a new alarm database.

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.


<< 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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