Contents

The Binary Clock version 1.5 for 1997.

A binary clock display for your Windows 95 desktop.

This program is freeware.

By Patrick Dugan (patrickd@usti.com)

New Items

About The Binary Clock

Using The Binary Clock

Miscellaneous Programming Stuff


New

New Items since V1.4:

1. 	Corrected a bug in the seconds display.  They were running backwards!

1. 	If you turn off the seconds the PM light will “scoot” over.

1. 	The form now shrinks to the appropriate size of the lights that are displaying.

New Items since V1.3:

1. 	The LEDs can be altered to any color and almost any size you want.

2. 	The background can be black, a custom bitmap or clear to blend with desktop.

3. 	Upper time display, colons, seconds, PM light can be turned on or off.

4. 	Clock will “remember” where you left it so it reapears in same spot.

1. 	Windows standard help file now used.

1. 	Full install/uninstall features.


About

This is a simple binary clock display.  The far left column of leds represents the hour, the next two columns represent the minutes and the next two represent the seconds.  A single led in the upper right displays PM.  You can move the clock around by dragging it with the left mouse button, and clicking the right mouse button will bring up a configuration window.  The clock only displays in standard time (not military)


Using

The main clock display will show up when you start the program.  If you do not know how to read binary format then I will TRY to explain the numbering scheme.  The lowest LED in each column represents the number 1, the next LED up is 2, the next up 4 and the top LED is 8.  For example if the two middle LEDS of a column are lit then the number would be 6 (4 and 2).  It takes a while to get used to reading the time that way but after a short time it becomes second nature.  The clock can be moved by dragging it around by holding down the left mouse button on the clock and dragging it to a new location then release the mouse button to let go.  Each time you release the left mouse button the clock will attempt to re-draw itself.  If you press the right mouse button it will bring up the following options window.

The upper left area is where you can set the LED colors for ON and OFF colors.  The colors range from 0 to 255 in values and start at red on the top, to green, then blue.  Just experiment with changing the values and the words “ON” and “OFF” above the settings will change color along with the LEDS so you can easily see what colors you are mixing.  To the far right is a small panel with a question mark.  Pressing this will display the help file.  Below that is the Restore and Redraw buttons.  The restore sets the size and colors of the LEDs back to the original red color and 16 size. (LED size ranges from 4 to 32)  The Size setting below the Restore/Redraw area allows you to alter the size of the LEDS (and the size of the window they are in as well.)  In the middle of the window are 5 settings that control the clock.  First is MOVABLE and this determines if the clock can be moved by dragging it around.  Upper Display is the normal time display that appears at the top of the clock.  Useful for a reference to get used to reading the thing.  The Seconds are whether the seconds LEDs are displayed or not.  The Colons turn the flashing colons on and off.  Last the PM light will toggle the PM LED indicator on or off.  The lower part of the window allows you to choose a black background, custom picture (loaded from the browse button or type in the full path/filename in the box.  If you choose the browse button the browse window will appear:

Simply select the directory and then in the lower window double-click the image to use for a background in the clock.  You can only load in BMP files.  If the BMP file is smaller than the clock it can cause the clock to flicker.  You should load BMP files that are as large or larger than the clock.  The last thing in the options window is the exit button which will terminate the program.  When making any changes to the options you should click the redraw button to make those options fully take effect.  Also when using the clear mode you may have to press the redraw several times to get it to copy the desktop below it correctly.


Misc

The program was written purely for fun and to learn a little about programming in Delphi 2.  I am willing to also  explain any “tricks” to any Delphi programmers that wish to know how to set tray icons, animate tray icons,  create odd-shaped forms, hiding forms on start up, grabbing system wide keyboard input, creating clear forms and copying the desktop, etc.  This program is also available as a Delphi 2 source code (except for the help file) so the source code can be examined for any use that can be gleamed from it if any.