Enigma Amiga Life 109/EnigmaAmiga109CD.iso/software/utilities/clockcal/clockcal.doc

Text File | 2000-02-05 | 8KB | 193 lines

1. INTRODUCTION

ClockCal opens a window on your WB containing up to  four
analogue clock faces which can be configured to show  the
current  time  in  different  world  locations,  with  or
without  Daylight Saving Time in force, plus  a  calendar
for  the  current (or any other) month. Gadgets exist  to
toggle  the  display between just the  clocks,  just  the
calendar  or  both.  Events may be noted  for  particular
dates and those days will be highlighted in the calendar.

The  window sizing takes account of the title bar  height
so should work irrespective of your system font, and safe
guards  exist  to  prevent the  window  failing  to  open
because  part of it is off screen etc. (since the  window
changes size depending on how many clocks you have active
and whether the calendar is on).

I  wrote  this  programme for  my  own  use  and  do  not
anticipate  further development. It is Freeware.  If  you
find it useful complements are always welcome!


2. INSTALLATION

None required. Copy the directory wherever you want it.


3. USAGE

Double  click the ClockCal icon. The window will open  in
the  same  state as last time you closed it, in the  same
position on the screen.

3.1 CONFIGURING THE CLOCKS

The  Clocks.. gadget opens a new window containing a  set
of  gadgets for each of the four possible clocks.  It  is
essential that Clock 1 is set to show your local (system)
time,  but with the correct time zone difference and  DST
setting, as this clock is used to calculate GMT, which in
turn  is used to calculate all the other clocks. Clock  1
need  not be on, but it must be set right. Clocks with  a
tick  in the ON checkbox will be displayed in the window.
When  the DST checkbox is ticked the clock will have  the
DST value (usually 1 hour) added to it. Note the timezone
is set using a GMT +/- cycle gadget and a number of hours
and  minutes  - do not put a sign in the time  difference
box.

Close the window for the new settings to take effect.

3.2 USING THE CALENDAR

The month displayed by the calendar always starts off  as
the  current month. The cycle gadget enables you to  view
different months (remember that the Shift key makes  this
cycle  backwards!).  Going from December  to  January  or
January  to December will also change the year,  but  any
year  may be viewed by typing a different year in to  the
year  gadget. The two tiny buttons beside the year gadget
provide a convenient way of shifting the year up or  down
by  one.  Note  that events will not be  highlighted  for
years  before  1978.  I do not believe  the  calendar  is
reliable for extreme dates but should be OK for the  next
40  years or so at least. (It shows 1900 and 2100 as leap
years  - which they are not - although 2000 is, and  that
is  correctly displayed (The full rule for leap years is:
Years  exactly  divisible  by 4  are  leap  years  EXCEPT
centenary   years,   but  in  the  case   of   millennial
centenaries  like 1000 or 2000 they ARE leap  years  -  I
think!)).

Clicking on a day will open the notes window, which lists
events  noted for that date. Up to 20 one-line notes  can
be  entered for a given date. Use the mouse to  highlight
any existing note or an empty line. The text for the note
can  be entered in the text gadget. The "Annual" checkbox
should  be ticked for events like birthdays which  happen
every  year,  and left clear for events like appointments
which  relate  to  a specific date. These  two  different
kinds  of events are highlighted in different colours  on
the   calendar   (appointments  taking  precedence   over
birthdays where both occur on the same day). You may also
set  a number of days in the "Warning" gadget, which will
put  up a reminder when the programme is started.  Use  0
for no reminder.

After  setting these gadgets, use the SET button  to  set
the  note. To delete a note, select it with the mouse and
press DELETE. In either case the changes will not be made
permanent  until you exit the window with the OK  gadget.
The CANCEL gadget will discard the changes.

The  "Purge old events" checkbox causes old events to  be
removed  from  the eventlist, but obviously those  marked
"annual"  will  not be removed. Events are  only  removed
when  new  notes  are set or deleted, but  there  is  one
exception to this - when you check the purge checkbox for
the  first  time, or uncheck it and check it  again,  old
events  will  be deleted there and then. Thereafter  they
will  only be removed when some other change is  made  to
the  eventlist.  Note  that the  purge  checkbox  is  NOT
associated with a particular date or a particular note.

The  "List  All" gadget lists the actual text file  which
stores  the  events, using an external text  viewer.  The
default is C:More, but you may change this in the fconfig
file (see below).

The  three  slim buttons across the bottom of the  window
have  the  following functions: the leftmost  resets  the
calendar to the current month and year. The middle one is
the  "only  show calendar" button, which  will  hide  the
clocks.  If the clocks are already hidden, however,  they
will  be restored by this button. Similarly the rightmost
button  is the "only show clocks" gadget which will  hide
or  restore the calendar. If only the clocks or only  the
calendar  are  visible, you can toggle  between  them  by
pressing  the appropriate button (if clocks  are  visible
the  "only  show  calendar" button  will  switch  to  the
calendar,  and  then the "only show clocks"  button  will
take you back to the clocks).


4. OTHER CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

4.1 fconfig file

This  is  a simple text file which should be in the  same
directory  as the executable. You can use it to  set  the
fonts  and colours used, and also the text viewer invoked
to  list  all events. You can also change the file  names
and locations for the eventlist and prefs files. The file
that  is  included with the archive has all the  possible
options  set.  Internal defaults exist in the  executable
for  any which are missing from this file or if this file
itself is missing.

See fconfig itself for more information.

The  two  fonts which can be set are for the gadget  text
and  the  clock  and calendar text. The  latter  (set  in
fconfig  as,  say _8X8_FONT=p0t-noodle.font)  must  be  a
fixed 8x8 font.

The  colours  are  the first and last four  from  the  WB
palette  and  should  remain correct regardless  of  your
screen depth. Which are used for each part of the display
may be changed in fconfig (rather laboriously, I admit).

4.2 lconfig file

The  lconfig file contains all the text strings  used  in
the  programme.  If it is not present then  the  internal
English  defaults will be used, however, by changing  the
strings  in  this  file it is possible  to  localise  the
programme  for other languages. Care must be  taken  that
the strings are entered in the same fixed order, and that
they   consist  of  approximately  the  same  number   of
characters.  The  strings for days and months  must  have
spaces (for the days) and | dividers (for the months)  as
in the English version. See lconfig for more details.


5.  TECHNICAL NOTES

Most  of  the time the programme sits idle, only checking
for input every quarter of a second. This means there may
be a slight delay when you first hit a gadget. As soon as
a   gadget   is   hit   however,  the  programme   checks
continuously for input, until a full minute  passes  with
no user-action, when it goes back to its standby state.


6. OTHER INFO

Author:   Mike Child     [e-mail]
Tools used:    Blitz Basic 2.1
Written on:    A1200 Apollo060@66 32MB WB3.0

Thanks   to   the   subscribers  to   BlitzList   (blitz-
[e-mail]) for solving some queries.


7. HISTORY

Version 1.0 - Initial release
Version 1.1 - Added automatic update of today indicator
              in calendar at turn of midnight.