Copyright: Copyright 1994, W. Scott Thoman


Contents
                      MarsIcon 2.5 - January 20th, 1994

What is MarsIcon?

Installing MarsIcon
Configuring MarsIcon
Changing the icon's title
Current Meridian window

MarsIcon and Screen Savers
Troubleshooting
Acknowledgements
Calling all icon artists!

Author Information
Other related programs

Registering MarsIcon


What is MarsIcon?

    MarsIcon is a MicroSoft Windows 3.x program that displays the current
view of the planet Mars in an icon.  You can specify the icon's title to
display the current Central Meridian longitude, the number of hours and
minutes until the next CM crossing, and the time and/or date in many
different formats.  You can also change the icon's background color and
rotation direction.  MarsIcon even adjusts automatically for daylight
savings/summer time for users in the United States, the UK and Europe.


Installing MarsIcon

    Simply use the Program Manager to create a New Program Icon in the group of
your choice and set the Working Directory to the subdirectory where you installed
the rest of the program files.  You may place the files in the subdirectory of your choice,
but the software must be able to find it's MARSICON.INI file there.

     If it cannot find the .INI file, then the About box will be displayed each
and every time you start MarsIcon.  See the Troubleshooting section for more information.

     I also recommend placing the Program Icon in the Startup group so it loads
every time you start Windows.

     If you don't already have the file BWCC.DLL, make sure you copy it to your
Windows system subdirectory and erase any other older copies of it.  See the
file BWCC.TXT for more information.


Configuring MarsIcon

    Before you can use MarsIcon, you need to tell it where you live and how
to adjust for daylight savings time.  You can also select many different options
as well.  Select the following links for more information:

   Setting your Time Zone
   Adjusting for Daylight Savings/Summer Time
   Animating the MarsIcon icon
   Background Colors

     Once you have set all the above options, you will probably want to have a look
at how you can change the icon's title.


Setting your Time Zone

    MarsIcon must know the time zone in which you live to display the icon
properly.  The default is the Eastern Standard Time time zone, which is
valid for cities in the United States such as New York City, Boston and Miami.
If you live in another time zone, you must select it yourself.

     When you first run MarsIcon, the program's About box appears.  Here you'll find
a list box containing all of the world's time zones.  Simply select the one in
which you live.


Adjusting for Daylight Savings/Summer Time

    There is a check box if you want the Daylight Savings Time (Summer Time)
adjustment applied or not.  Check this box if your area observes
Daylight Savings Time.  Just below this, there are four radio buttons to
determine which set of summer-time dates you wish to use.  If you select
Manual, the daylight savings time adjustment will be applied regardless of
today's date.  This means you must change the above check box twice a year
when the time changes.  You may need to select this option if your region is
not listed below.  Tables that list the daylight savings time start/stop
dates for the other radio buttons follow below.  If you select one of these,
the daylight savings time adjustment will be applied or not-applied
automatically based on today's date.  All daylight savings time adjustments
subtract 1 hour from the current time.

United States:
1994 - Start: April 3rd    End: October 30th
1995 - Start: April 2nd    End: October 29th
1996 - Start: April 7th    End: October 27th
1997 - Start: April 6th    End: October 26th

UK:
1994 - Start: March 27th   End: October 23rd
1995 - Start: March 26th   End: October 22nd
1996 - Start: March 24th   End: October 27th
1997 - Start: March 23rd   End: October 26th

Europe:
1994 - Start: March 27th   End: September 25th
1995 - Start: March 26th   End: September 24th
1996 - Start: March 24th   End: September 22nd
1997 - Start: March 23rd   End: September 28th

     If you live in one of these regions and the above dates are incorrect, OR
if you live in another region not listed above, please contact me with
the correct dates so I can update my software.


Animating the MarsIcon icon

    You can also select an update interval for the MarsIcon icon.  The default
is Real-Time, which shows the current view of Mars.  South is at
the top to match the view in a telescope.  Other values are available to
animate the icon, or to display a new icon once every update interval.  The
values you may choose from are once every second, once every five seconds or
once every ten seconds.

     You can also have the icon rotate in the normal forward direction, or in
reverse.  Just click on the appropriate radio button.


Changing the icon's title

    You can change the title beneath the icon to whatever you like.  More
importantly, you can have other information such as the Central Meridian
location displayed here as well.

     The About box has the default icon title set to Mars C.M.=~C, which means
to display the current Central Meridian position after the word "Mars".
Note how you can add spaces between the various options to cause them to
"wrap" down to the next icon title line, if desired.

     If you prefer, you can change the title to be just a simple word or two, like
"Mars".  This may be necessary to work with some screen savers.

All the available options are listed below:

Mars options:
   ~c =	Central Meridian relative to Earth to the nearest degree (i.e.
273°).  Zero degrees means the Martian Central Meridian is directly
facing Earth, 180 degrees means it's facing directly away, etc.
   ~C =	Central Meridian to the nearest one-tenth of a degree (i.e
273.4°).
   ~T =	Time until the next transit occurs.  Use with Clock options
below.  (i.e. "~T~2" will display as "04:32", meaning there's 4 hours and
32 minutes until the next CM crossing.

Clock options:
   ~1 =	12-hour format
   ~2 =	24-hour format
   ~a =	"am" or "pm"
   ~A =	"AM" or "PM"
   ~p =	"a" or "p"
   ~P =	"A" or "P"
   ~w =	Weekday name as "Mon", "Tue", etc.
   ~W =	Weekday name as "Monday", "Tuesday", etc.
   ~m =	Month name as "Jan", "Feb", etc.
   ~M =	Month name as "January", "February", etc.
   ~h =	Month number (1-12)
   ~d =	Day of the month number (1-31)
   ~y =	Year as "94", etc. (Year without the century)
   ~Y =	Year as "1994", etc. (Year with the century)
   ~o =	Ordinal suffix of "Day of the month" as "st", "nd", "rd", "th",
etc. (as in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.)

Example icon titles:

   Title:	Displays as:
   "~2 ~W ~m ~d~o"	21:05 Thursday Jan 20th
   "~1~A"	9:05PM
   "~W ~M ~d ~Y"	Thursday January 20 1994
   "~y.~h.~d"	94.01.20
   "Mars"	Mars

Feel free to experiment with different combinations to suit your taste.


Background Colors

    You can select one of many different background colors.  The default is
black, but you can select white or a shade of gray if you prefer.  The
"transparent" color is available, but is only partially supported in this
version.


'Current Meridian' window

    When you select the Current Meridian window, the current date and time
and the position of the Central Meridian, in degrees, are displayed and updated
every few seconds.

     Press the Minimize button in the upper right corner to shrink the window back to
an icon.


MarsIcon and Screen Savers

    In the default configuration, MarsIcon displays the Central Meridian
beneath the icon.  Since this will automatically update the icon's
title once per minute, this may cause some screen savers, which can sense
such activity, to never activate.  A simple solution is to change the
Icon Title field in the About box to some simple word or words, such as
"Mars".  You will not be able to use MarsIcon's clock feature (although you
could still display the date), but your screen savers should work again.


Other related programs

    Look for EARTHSxx.ZIP, a Windows icon that shows the current sunlit-side of
Earth and GREDSPxx.ZIP, a Windows icon that shows the current view of the
planet Jupiter and it's moons.  Both have been released and are available at the
Internet FTP site oak.oakland.edu and it's mirrors, and at the Software
Creations BBS, (508) 365-2359 (2400,N,8,1), both in the USA.  All users
receive the shareware versions of these programs when they register.  The current
versions are EARTHS25.ZIP and GREDSP35.ZIP.


Registering MarsIcon

    Print out the file ORDER.FRM to get a quick order form for registering
MarsIcon.  This shareware version is not cripple-ware, nag-ware or
free-ware, although it will remind you every 5 times to register until the
evaluation period expires.  When you do register, you will receive the latest
executable version that allows UNLIMITED use of the program with no reminder
box and no expiration.

     All future versions/upgrades of this program are FREE to registered users.
When a new shareware version becomes available, just download it and copy
the new MARSICON.EXE file to the registered version's subdirectory.  It's
that simple!

     The cost of the diskette and the mailing charges are all included
in the US $10 registration fee.  Personal checks, money orders and American
Express travelers checks are all accepted (sorry, I do not yet accept credit
card orders).  If you wish, you may register for US $20 and receive the
full Borland C++ 3.1 source code and Windows resource files used to make
this program as well.  The source code for each future version will be
available free for registered source-code users.

     If you find MarsIcon useful, please upload it to other bulletin
boards and/or Internet FTP sites so other people can enjoy it, too!


Calling all icon artists!

    If you have improved the existing icons, or have created any new icons to
improve the animation, please send them to me and I might include them, along with
your name and my thanks, in future versions.  If I use your contributions, you will
receive the latest registered executable version free, including the source code,
for your efforts.


Troubleshooting

    If you get the About box each and every time you start the program, make
sure you have the program icon's Working Directory set to the directory
where you have the MARSICON.EXE file.  This allows the program to properly find it's
.INI file.  Make sure your MARSICON.INI file is in the same subdirectory as the
MARSICON.EXE file; if it isn't, move it to that subdirectory.

     Finally, make sure the .INI file is marked as read/write (this is the default);
do NOT mark this file as read-only.


Acknowledgements

    Many thanks go to Peter Hayes (peter.hayes@uk.cray.com) in England for the
information he supplied to me on the daylight savings time issues in the UK
and Europe.


Author Information

  Any suggestions, bugs, ideas, complaints?  Let me know what you think of this
program so I can improve it!  Please include the version number you are using
in all correspondence; this is version 2.5.

Mail Address:

   W. Scott Thoman
   41 Lee Road
   Dryden, NY  13053
   USA

Internet E-Mail Address:

   thoman@law.mail.cornell.edu

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