Invisible Clock is a small System 7-only Apple Macintosh utility that audibly announces the time between the hours you choose every hour, half-hour, or quarter-hour as you prefer at the volume you decide.
Actually, itÕs a pair of applications: ÒInvisible ClockÓ and ÒInvisible Clockwork.Ó Invisible Clockwork does the announcing. Whenever itÕs running, it sits quietly in the background except to announce the time every so often. You use Invisible Clock to tell Invisible Clockwork when, how often, and how loud to announce.
INSTALLING INVISIBLE CLOCK
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You must be running System 7.0 or later on your Macintosh to use Invisible Clock.
Invisible Clock 2.0 does not work on the Macintosh Plus, SE, or Classic.
Move the application ÒInvisible ClockworkÓ to the Startup Items folder of your System Folder.
Move the file ÒInvisible Clock SoundsÓ (and, if you have it, ÒMore Invisible Clock SoundsÓ) to the Preferences folder of your System Folder.
If you're using alternative sounds files, such as ÒInvisible Joanne Sounds,Ó first rename the files as ÒInvisible Clock SoundsÓ and ÒMore Invisible Clock SoundsÓ.
Move the application ÒInvisible ClockÓ to the Control Panels folder in your System Folder. Double-click on it to set your preferences.
Invisible Clockwork will start automatically whenever you start your Macintosh. You may also choose Start Announcing from the File menu in Invisible Clock to start Invisible Clockwork. Use Balloon Help in Invisible Clock for instructions on setting your preferences.
WHAT DID I JUST DO?
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Invisible Clock
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Invisible Clock lets you set different preferences for each day of the week. Hold down the Option key when you click on a button, menu, or slider to change its setting for all days. Use System 7Õs Balloon Help for more information about each of Invisible ClockÕs controls.
Once your preferences are set, quit Invisible Clock. Invisible Clockwork does the announcing.
Invisible Clockwork
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Invisible Clockwork is a background-only application, so it doesnÕt have any menus or windows and you canÕt choose it from the Application menu on the right side of your menu bar. To quit Invisible Clockwork, start the Invisible Clock application and choose Stop Announcing from the File menu.
Once Invisible Clockwork is in your Startup Items folder, it will automatically start every time you turn on your Macintosh. If you donÕt want this to happen, you may also move it to your Preferences folder or leave it in the same folder as Invisible Clock.
To temporarily keep Invisible Clockwork from automatically starting, start your Mac with the Shift key held down until you see the message, ÒWelcome to Macintosh! Extensions off.Ó (Turning off extensions also turns off startup items.)
Invisible Clock Sounds and More Invisible Clock Sounds
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Invisible Clock Sounds contains the sounds Invisible Clockwork needs to announce the day and time accurately to within fifteen minutes.
More Invisible Clock Sounds contains the sounds Invisible Clockwork needs to announce the time accurately to the minute. Since Invisible Clockwork announces only every fifteen minutes, you probably wonÕt need this 200K file. If you use Apple events to announce the time with Invisible Clockwork, youÕll want to install this file.
You can double-click on the Invisible Clock Sounds and More Invisible Clock Sounds files in the Finder for an audible explanation about them.
CHANGES SINCE INVISIBLE CLOCK 1.0.1
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Invisible Clock is more invisible than ever. The part of Invisible Clock that must be running to announce the time has been moved to the background-only application Invisible Clockwork, so youÕll never have to put up with Invisible Clock always appearing in your Application menu.
You can set different preferences for each day of the week.
Sounds are now played asynchronously, so your Mac wonÕt seize up while the time is being announced.
The time can be announced at a volume independent of the volume youÕve set in the Sounds control panel.
You can announce the time with Apple events and AppleScript.
With the file More Invisible Clock Sounds installed, announcements will be accurate to the minute all the time.
Setting the From hour to the same hour as the Until hour now announces the time only at the top of that hour. Previously, this told Invisible Clock to announce the time all day.
Invisible Clock 2.0 does not work on the Macintosh Plus, SE, or Classic.
ANNOUNCING THE TIME WITH APPLESCRIPT AND APPLE EVENTS
You can announce the time from AppleScript or another application by sending an Apple event to Invisible Clockwork. Make sure the file ÒMore Invisible Clock SoundsÓ is in your Preferences folder, otherwise Invisible Clockwork will only tell you ÒaboutÓ what time it is.
In AppleScript, tell Invisible Clockwork announce the time as shown in the following example script:
ÊÊÊÊtell application "Invisible Clockwork" to announce time
(Alas, last minute testing revealed that if Sound Manager 3.0 is installed, the time announcement will be clipped unless Invisible Clockwork is already running.)
From other applications, send an Apple event of classÊ'Annc', IDÊ'Time' to Invisible Clockwork to announce the time. You can also send the standard Open Application and Quit Application events.
If you send an Apple event to announce the time while Invisible Clockwork is announcing, the event will be ignored. If you send an Apple event to quit Invisible Clockwork while itÕs announcing, it will quit when the announcement is complete.
For more information about AppleScript, check out Derrick SchneiderÕs AppleScript tutorial, ÒThe Tao of AppleScript,Ó which comes complete with AppleScript and several useful scriptable applications. ItÕs available through BMUG. For more information about BMUG, start Invisible Clock and choose About Invisible Clock from the Apple menu.
CONFLICTING SETTINGS
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ItÕs possible to set overlapping announcement preferences with Invisible Clock. Each dayÕs preferences apply from the From hour on that day until the next Until hour.
For example, you could set FridayÕs preferences to announce every quarter-hour from 9AM until 2AM (that is, 2AM Saturday morning). Meanwhile, SaturdayÕs preferences may be set to announce every hour from 1AM until 5PM.
In such cases, the previous dayÕs settings will override the current dayÕs settings. In this example, FridayÕs preferences will make Invisible Clockwork announce every quarter-hour until 2AM Saturday morning, despite SaturdayÕs preferences to announce only once an hour after 1AM.
CUSTOMIZING THE SOUNDS FILE
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The file ÒInvisible Clock SoundsÓ and ÒMore Invisible Clock SoundsÓ contain digitized voice in 'snd ' resources. Using a sound editing program such as SoundEdit Pro, you can record your own voice for announcing the time. Just replace any 'snd ' resource with another of the same name. See the file ÒAbout Invisible Clock SoundsÓ for more information.
DETAILS
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Invisible Clockwork will not announce the time if the speaker volume is set to zero in the Sounds control panel.
As an application, Invisible Clock doesnÕt officially belong in your Control Panels folder. It doesnÕt matter where Invisible Clock is, though, as long as you donÕt keep it in the Startup Items folder.
When you double-click on Invisible Clockwork, the icon will gray-out as any other application icon does. Unfortunately, when you quit Invisible Clockwork, the icon may remain grayed-out. As a programmer, I have no control over this. ItÕs simply an anomaly of how the Finder deals with background-only applications.
1)Êone set of files including the applications ÒInvisible ClockÓ and ÒInvisible ClockworkÓ and the files ÒAbout Invisible Clock 2.0Ó, ÒInvisible Clock SoundsÓ, ÒMore Invisible Clock SoundsÓ, and ÒAbout Invisible Clock SoundsÓ; or
2)Êtwo sets of files, the first including ÒInvisible ClockÓ, ÒInvisible ClockworkÓ, ÒAbout Invisible Clock 2.0Ó, ÒInvisible Clock SoundsÓ, ÒAbout Invisible Clock SoundsÓ, the second including ÒMore Invisible Clock SoundsÓ.
