Ephemerid 1.1.1

'Ephemerid'
Pop-Up Calendar &Clock

Introduction

Ephemerid provides the user with a simple and fast way of displaying the current date and time in a pop-up window. It is specially useful when the screen monitor has a low resolution and the menu bar is almost full: the system cannot show the clock to the left of the help menu icon (a feature introduced in recent versions of MacOS, and available through the control panel "Date & Time"). Actually, the idea of Ephemerid evolved from the annoyance at not being able to get the date and time without having to switch to the Finder, when running an application with a lot of menu items.
As an bonus, Ephemerid is WorldScript-aware: it can display dates in "exotic" languages, provided they are supported by your system: Japanese, Chinese, etc.
Ephemerid works under System 7.0 or later, and is distributed as freeware.

Feature Overview

Ephemerid can display the current date and time in two different modes: text or graphics.
In graphics mode, Ephemerid attempts to mimic the "real world": date is shown as a tear-off (block) calendar, time as an analog clock with hands.

In text mode, the date can be displayed in 3 different formats: short, abbreviated, or long.

Many parameters can be easily customized, including hot keys, text date format, font name and size, text and background colors, display of seconds, etc.
Ephemerid is WorldScript-aware, which means it can display the date in different languages, including Chinese and Japanese, depending on the selected font or the localized version of your system (such as KanjiTalk).

Nota Bene:

All examples (screen copies) assume the current date format is "U.S." (as set in the control panel "Date & Time", or whatever it is called on your localized system). On a system localized for France, for instance, the default setting would probably be "French", and the strings would be displayed in French accordingly.

System Requirements

Ephemerid only works under MacOS System 7.0 or later (System 7.5 or newer is recommended). It has been successfully tested on Macintosh Classic, PowerBook 520C and Performa 6400.

Installation

To use Ephemerid feature, place its file in the Control Panels folder and then restart the computer.

Warning:

If you have already installed a copy of "Ephemerid 1.1", please throw (or hide) it away before installing the new version. Under the new naming scheme, which drops the version number at the end of the file name, this precaution won't be necessary any more: in the future, a new version will simply overwrite an older one.

Directions for Use

While holding down the activator key (Command), press the trigger key (Escape). A pop-up window appears on the screen showing the current date (or time). Pressing the trigger key again brings up the current time (or date), in a flip-flop manner. If the selected display mode is graphics (or text), having the Shift key depressed too at trigger time shows the alternate display mode: text (or graphics). Releasing the activator key or pressing any other key removes the pop-up window from the screen.

Standard Customization (Control Panel)

Changes made in the Control Panel take effect immediately.

Advanced Customization (ResEdit)

Here is the description of some resources of Ephemerid which could be modified by a "power user" through ResEdit (templates are provided where useful):

Window-Related Resources

'Stgs', -4063: sets the graphics calendar/clock window size, and the text window sizes, corresponding to short, abbreviated, and long date formats.

Graphic-Related Resources

'PICT', -4063: a picture containing ten color digits in Serif style (from "Times").
'PICT', -4062: black & white digits.
'PICT', -4058: a picture containing ten color digits in Sans-Serif style (from "Helvetica").
'PICT', -4057: black & white digits.
For each 'PICT' described above, an associated resource 'Dgts' (same ID) provides a list of the bounding boxes of each digit, expressed in the picture coordinates system, along with the gap between two digits as displayed in the calendar window, and the colors of extra text and background, in RGB.
'PICT', -4061: a picture of the clock in color.
'PICT', -4060: black & white clock.
'Hnds', -4061: contains the relative position of center of the clock, as well as the length, thickness (in pixels) and color of each hand (hours, minutes, seconds), in RGB.

Keyboard-Related Resources

'Keys', -4060: contains the list of key codes which will appear in a readable form in the control panel's trigger key pop-up menu. These key codes are keyboard-dependent; you can get possible values from the 'KCHR' resources in the System file.

Remarks:

Always make a back-up copy of the original file before modifying it by ResEdit!
Unlike settings made through the control panel, which are kept in a separate preferences file, changes made by ResEdit will be lost when a new version of the software becomes available.
Changes take effect at restart.

Known Problems and Shortcomings

Ephemerid doesn't use the official Apple-sanctioned method of hooking key events through JGNEFilter, which would prevent Ephemerid from working when an input method is active, while typing Chinese or Japanese. For instance, most application switchers that I know don't work under such circumstances.
There is still a bug preventing Ephemerid from working correctly when the front application behaves in a non-standard way (like a well-known spreadsheet program): hot keys are simply "eaten" and cannot be hooked. Please let me know if you have any information about a possible patch or bypass.
Depending on the language selected, the word order of the date displayed in the block calendar may appear non-natural. Also, note that Ephemerid has not been tested in "exotic" 1-byte scripts such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, etc. Your feedback is welcome!
While the pop-up window is displayed, any other visible activity is suspended: application windows, menu bar, etc. appear to be "frozen".

"To Do" List

Improve the documentation.
Must solve the "eaten" keys problem.
Add a balloon help in the Control Panel.
Implement a user-defined alternate clock.
Add a "Revert to Default Settings" push-button in the Control Panel.
Display an alert in the Control Panel when it cannot be used (INIT code not loaded).
Revamp the Control Panel's design.

Version History

Version 1.1.1 - 05 Aug 97

05 Aug 97: Second public release; no new features, mainly bug fixes and cosmetic changes. Documentation updated.
02 Aug 97: Fixed the color picker crash under MacOS 8 (use PickColor instead of GetColor).
02 Aug 97: File name doesn't include the version number any more.
02 Aug 97: Animated start-up icon. New design of Finder icons.
02 Aug 97: Better display of color user items in B&W.
02 Aug 97: Fixed bad redraw of color user item after the Color Picker dialog.
02 Aug 97: Fixed the white border problem in text windows.

Version 1.1 - 20 Jul 97

20 Jul 97: First public release. Creation of a "Read Me" file in SimpleText and HTML formats. Improvement of Get Info short definition and Finder balloon help.
06 Jul 97: Fixed the problem when international resource 'itl1' could not be read (corrupted System file): bad display of graphic date.
06 Jul 97: Private handling of 'debug1' and 'debug2' in cdev.
13 Jun 97: The user can now customize the list of trigger hot keys by ResEdit: resource 'Keys'.
12 Jun 97: In the control panel, hot key menu is updated every time the current keyboard changes, and keys are shown in the keyboard script.
10 Jun 97: Key codes are 'char', no more 'short'. Preferences template updated.
10 Jun 97: Trigger key is now identified by key code, no more by char code. Preferences must be reset by user.
10 Jun 97: Cosmetic changes: copyright now spans over years (1996-97).

Version 1.0.1 - 09 Apr 97

13 May 97: Erase whole background of graphics window when necessary (force redraw or change of date).
13 May 97: Correction of a stupid bug preventing the reading of modified settings through ResEdit.
09 Apr 97: Any other key event aborts the display.
30 Mar 97: Handling of choice of sans-serif digits.

Version 1.0 - 22 Mar 97

22 Mar 97: Handling of double-click in cdev: color user items.
21 Mar 97: Auto-condense if text doesn't fit in display rectangle.
12 Mar 97: Now a stand-alone Control Panel (formerly part of Switch-It).

Legal Bits

This software is freeware, it may be freely distributed, but always in its unmodified form and together with this document. It may not be sold or resold, or bundled with any other commercial product. You may, however, include the software on a CD-ROM or floppy collection, provided that the original package is included in its entirety and a complimentary copy is sent to the author. Please contact the author to obtain the most recent version.

You expressly acknowledge and agree that use of the software is at your sole risk. The software and the related documentation are provided "as is" and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

Author's Address

If you have questions, suggestions, words of appreciation or bug reports, you can contact me at the following address:

Snail Mail

Michel MARIANI
47, rue des Remparts-d'Ainay
69002 LYON
FRANCE

E-Mail

mmariani@babel.net

Web Site

New versions, updates, and other pieces of software shall be available at:

http://www.asi.fr/~mmariani/soft/soft.html

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Michel ROUSSET for testing and providing useful comments, and proofreading this document.

Trademarks

WorldScript and KanjiTalk are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.