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(This is a text-only version of the Clocker user manual.) Clocker version 2.3 WinnoVation Innovation through Windows... (C) Copyright 1993-1994 Winnovation PO Box 271071 Ft. Collins, CO 80527-1071 USA Telephone: (303) 226-8682 FAX: (303) 226-8682 E-mail: CompuServe: 71774,605 Internet: 71774.605@compuserve.com Introduction ------------ Clocker is an event-scheduler program, which will execute pre-determined events at a specific time. Clocker is extremely useful for running unattended backups, running after-hours processes such as faxing or file transfers while telephone rates are lower, and many other things -- limited only by your imagination! Clocker can also pop up user-defined reminder messages, so it also functions as an alarm clock. Clocker also has the powerful capability for group scheduling on a network. The system administrator can place a group schedule on a shared disk, and each machine running Clocker on the network will optionally read this file, in addition to its private schedule file. This group schedule is also automatically refreshed, so the administrator can make a change once and every machine using that group schedule will be automatically updated to reflect the changes. Clocker will also not clutter your desktop. Many people already run the Windows Clock, and Clocker looks very similar to the Windows Clock when iconized. Clocker also includes an Always On Top feature for those who wish to always have a visible clock on their desktop. Alternatively, Clocker can run completely hidden from the user. Note that Clocker requires Windows 3.1. Packing List ------------ Your package should include the following: This manual Distribution disk License statement The following files should be present on the distribution disk: CLOCKER.EXE Clocker executable file CLOCKER.HLP Clocker Help file CLOCKER.TXT Documentation text file CTL3D.DLL Library for 3D controls EXAMPLES.TXT Description of examples EXAMPLE*.* Examples to use with Clocker If any files are missing, please contact Winnovation. Upgrading from a Previous Version --------------------------------- Clocker 2.3 is downward-compatible with versions 2.0 and higher of Clocker. It can read .CLK files created with these previous versions without any problems. Note, however, that files saved with version 2.3 cannot be read by previous versions. Installation ------------ If your disk came with a SETUP or INSTALL program, simply run that program. To do this, select Run... from the File menu in Program Manager, and type a:\setup or a:\install (change the drive letter if necessary). If you did not receive an installation program with your copy of Clocker, you can install it using the following instructions. First, make sure that no other copies of Clocker are currently running. Then simply copy all of the files from the distribution disk to a directory such as C:\CLOCKER. Note that Clocker does not need to have its own directory. Also move the file CTL3D.DLL to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. You may need to close other applications to perform this copy, if the file is in use. After the files are copied, add Clocker to a Program Manager group. To run Clocker every time you start Windows, find CLOCKER.EXE with the File Manager and drag it to the Startup group in the Program Manager. See your Windows manual if you are unsure how to do this. Registration ------------ When Clocker is first started, you will see a registration reminder screen. Click the Register... button and you will see the following registration screen: Enter your name exactly as shown on your license statement, and your serial number and registration code (also found on the license statement). Getting Started --------------- After starting Clocker, you will see a screen similar to the following: The current time is shown on the status bar at the bottom of the screen, along with the date. The remainder of the status bar will give information about group and supervisor modes, as well as information about menu options as you select them. "UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY" will be displayed if your copy is not yet registered. The large empty area in the center is where the list of events will be. Each item that you enter into the Clocker schedule is called an event. A reminder of an important meeting or a backup program running are both examples of events you might want to schedule. To add an event, select Add Item from the Options pull-down menu, or click the Add button. You will then be prompted with the following screen: By filling in the various fields of this box, you specify the event you wish to schedule. For a full description of the fields in this form, please refer to the reference section of this manual. The date field is the date that the event is to be executed, and the time is the time of day it will be executed. If the Repeat box is checked, the event will execute repeatedly at the specified interval, until the specified end time. The second section are the repeat options. One Day Only means exactly that - the event will only execute on the specified date. Daily/Weekly means that the event will execute on each of the selected days. Monthly will execute the event every month, on the day specified by the date at the top. The next section is the event to be executed. There are three categories of events: a command line, a message, or other. If a program is to be run, the Command Line button should be selected. If a reminder message should pop up, the Message button should be selected. If the system should be rebooted, Windows stopped or restarted, a program run outside of Windows, or a program closed, the Other button should be selected. The area below the buttons is for the actual command line, message, or program name if applicable. If a Command Line has been selected, a working directory can also be specified for the program. In many cases this will not be necessary, but some programs require that they are executed from a specific directory. The last section is the display options, which are available only for Command Lines. You can choose to display the program you are running either in a normal window, iconized, or hidden. Pressing the Test button will execute the event immediately. This is useful to verify that the event was set up correctly. Note that testing is not available for some of the "Other" options. After the event has been set up and OK is pressed, the event is entered and will execute at the specified time. To edit an item after it has been entered, you can select Edit Item from the Options Menu, you can click the Edit button, or you can simply double-click the item in the list. Similarly, to delete an item, simply select it and choose Delete Item from the Options menu or click the Delete button (or press the delete key). In the Settings menu, you can select the font to be used, toggle display of the date in the icon caption, toggle display of the icon, and a few other options. See the reference section of this manual for further details. The Help menu provides on-line help for Clocker. Private and Group Scheduling ---------------------------- Clocker supports two different kinds of schedules: private schedules and group schedules. Private schedules are schedules which are unique to one machine or user, and they run only on that one machine. Group schedules are shared between many users. Note that Clocker can use both kinds of schedules simultaneously. Private Schedules ----------------- Private schedules are schedules which are unique to one machine. Private schedules will usually be the only ones used by a stand-alone machine. Group Schedules --------------- Group schedules are designed to be shared between many users. These schedules are usually placed on a shared network disk, and all of the machines on the network running Clocker will share this common schedule. Normally, the system administrator will set up the group schedule. These group schedules are also password protected, for security reasons -- notably, so only the system administrator can change the group schedule. Group schedules can be used for anything from broadcast meeting reminders to sophisticated network backup management. If Clocker is combined with a Windows batch language, such as WinBatch from Wilson WindowWare, the flexibility is endless. --------- Reference --------- Command Line ------------ The command line for Clocker is: clocker [privatefile] [groupfile] where privatefile is the name of a private schedule file and groupfile is a group schedule file. One or both of these options can be specified. If both are specified, order is not important -- Clocker will auto- detect the file types. Note that private and group schedule files are not interchangeable. Creating an Event ----------------- To create a new event, choose Add Item from the Options menu or click the Add button. The following is a description of the fields within the Edit Schedule Item dialog: Date - this is the date when the event is scheduled to occur. The date must be specified in MM/DD/YY format. Time - this is the time of day when the event is scheduled to happen. The date may be specified in 12- or 24-hr time. For 24-hr time, specify the time in the form HH:MM. For 12-hr, use the form HH:MMa or HH:MMp. The following are examples of how to correctly specify the time: 8:00, 8:00a, 1:45p, 17:12. If the time is edited later, it will be displayed in either 12- or 24-hr format, depending on what the setting is in the International section of the Windows control panel. The default is 12-hr time. Repeat - this flag causes the event to repeat multiple times on the day(s) it runs. To use the repeat option, check the Repeat box, and then fill in the interval and the end time in the boxes to the right of the Repeat box. The event will then execute every [interval] minutes from [start time] until [end time], where start time is the time entered at the top of the form. For example, if you wanted an event to execute every hour from 9:00am to 5:00pm, you would enter 9:00a as the start time, 60 as the interval, and 5:00p as the end time. One Day Only - this means that the event will only execute on the specified date. This selection, as well as the repeat daily/weekly and repeat monthly selections, can be combined with the Repeat option described above. Repeat Daily/Weekly - When this option is selected, the days of the week section is enabled. By selecting certain days of the week, you specify which days the event should execute on. Repeat Monthly - This option executes the event each month on the specified date. For example, if the date is set to 3/12/92, then the event will execute on the 12th of each month. Note that no warning is given if the date is not valid for every month - for example, if the specified date is 3/31/92, then the event will never execute in February since February only has 28 (or 29) days. Command Line - If this option is selected, then the text entry field below it will hold the command line to be run. Include any command line options for the program you are executing. Note that file associations set up with the Windows File Manager are fully supported. Message - If this option is selected, then the text entry field below it will contain a message to be printed to the screen at the specified time. There will also be a beep to accompany this message. Other - If you select the Other option, you will be able to choose between several special actions available in Clocker. Note that the 'Test' function is not available for some of these options. The following functions are available: Exit Windows: This option will exit Windows. Note that this is a "friendly" exit - if any applications have unsaved data, Windows will not terminate until the user is prompted to save the data. The Test function is disabled for this option. Restart Windows: This option will cause Windows to be restarted. Note that this is a "friendly" restart - if any applications have unsaved data, Windows will not be restarted until the user is prompted to save the data. The Test function is disabled for this option. Reboot System: This option will cause the system to be rebooted. Note that this is a "friendly" reboot - if any applications have unsaved data, the system will not be rebooted until the user is prompted to save the data. The Test function is disabled for this option. Exit, Run, Restart: This option will exit Windows, run the specified program, and then restart Windows. This is useful for things like a disk optimizer, or anything else which must run outside of Windows. Note that the only programs which can be run using this option are .COM and .EXE files - batch files (.BAT) are not allowed. Also, the full path must be specified to the file you wish to execute (for example, C:\DOS\EDIT.COM) - your path will not be searched for the file. The Test function is disabled for this option. Close Application: This option will close the specified application. You need to enter the name of the program. This is NOT the file name - it is the name of the program, as shown on the title bar of the window when it is running. You only need to enter the first few characters of the name - for example, if you enter Calc, then Calculator will match. You should, however, be as specific as possible - if you enter Cal, then both Calendar and Calculator will match (in this case, the shortest name will be selected, which is Calendar). Note that this termination is "friendly" - if the application has unsaved data, you will be prompted to save your data before the application is closed. Kill Application: This option will close the specified application, with "extreme prejudice". The name of the application should be specified as in the above case. The application will NOT prompt for unsaved data before terminating. Warning: use this function sparingly, and as a last resort. Resources in use by the application will not be freed when it is terminated. Browse - If the Command Line option is selected, pressing this button will allow you to browse through files to select the one you want. Specify Working Directory - This option allows you to specify the working directory for the program you wish to run. In many cases this is not necessary, but some programs require that they are run from a certain directory. This option is only available if a command line has been specified. Normal - This option causes the program to run in a normal window. This option is only available if a command line is specified. Iconized - This option causes the program to run as an icon. Be sure to have a valid .PIF file with Background Execution enabled to run DOS programs iconized. This option is only available for command lines. Hidden - Select this option if you want to run a program hidden. Be careful with this option, as you will not be able to give user input to the program. Also be sure to have a valid .PIF file with Background Execution enabled to run DOS programs hidden. This option is also only available for command lines. Test - This button will execute the event you have entered immediately. This is useful to verify that it was entered correctly. Note that testing is not available for some events selected with the "Other" option. Editing an Event ---------------- To edit an event, select Edit Item from the Options menu, click the Edit button, or simply double-click on the item you wish to edit. The fields for editing are the same as those used for adding a new item. Deleting an Event ----------------- To delete an event, select it and choose Delete Item from the Options menu, or click the Delete button. If you are deleting a private schedule item, you can just press the delete key. Group Scheduling ---------------- Group scheduling works in the following way. Clocker will read a group file, and store the events just like a private schedule. The difference is that the group file will be refreshed at regular intervals (default is 15 minutes). If the system administrator wants each machine to run a backup at a given time, he/she should create a group file with this event in it, and configure all of the machines to read this file. After they are configured, the group file can be modified and the machines will automatically refresh themselves to read the new data. Creating and Editing Group Files -------------------------------- This section is intended for network administrators, or anyone who needs to make a central schedule for many computers. Group files are password protected, as unwanted changes to them could have significant effects on the network. To create a new group file, simply close any existing group files and select Add Group Item from the Options menu. Clocker will prompt for a password for this new group file. This password will be stored with the file when it is saved, and the password will be necessary to edit the file at a later date. When the password has been entered, the status line will display "SUPERVISOR" to indicate Supervisor mode. You must be in supervisor mode to edit a group file, and you must know the password to get into supervisor mode. To exit supervisor mode, you must save or close the group file. Also, be aware that the group file will not be refreshed from disk on the machine you are working on while you are in supervisor mode. After a password is entered, the standard add schedule item dialog will be displayed. All of the fields are identical to that of the private files. The entire group schedule can be entered at this point. After creating the schedule, save the group file in a directory to which all Clocker users have read permission. To edit a group file, load the group file and select Edit Group Item from the Options menu (or double-click on the item you wish to edit). You will be prompted for the password, and if you enter it correctly, you will enter supervisor mode and can edit the schedule. Remember, you will be in supervisor mode until the group file is saved or closed. Using a Group File ------------------ This section assumes that a group file has already been created, and is on a readable drive. To open a group file, choose Open Group from the File menu, and select the group file you wish to use. When this file is opened, Clocker will split its display into two lists - the top will be the standard private schedule, and the bottom will be the group schedule, as shown below: The status line will also indicate "GROUP" to indicate Group mode. When group mode is enabled, all of the group events are active and will execute at their event time. To close a group file, choose Close Group from the File menu. This will erase all of the group events from memory. To use the group schedule after this, you must re-open the file. If you do not wish to see the group events, but you still want them to be active, toggle the Display Group option in the Settings menu or click the Display Group Schedule button at the top of the window. If the option is off, the group schedule will not be displayed, but it will still be active - "GROUP" will still be on the status line. Settings Menu ------------- Icon Font - Selecting this option will allow you to change the font used to display the time in the icon. Note that it is possible to select a font too large to fit in the given space. The font will be saved for future sessions. Hide Icon - If this option is checked, then Clocker will be hidden when iconized. This option is convenient if you already have a clock on your desktop, but you want to use Clocker's scheduling features. To make Clocker visible again, simply run Clocker again. Two ways to do this are to double-click on Clocker's icon in Program Manager (if there is one), or to double-click on Clocker from the File Manager. Doing this will activate the copy of Clocker which is currently running. Note: due to this feature, it is not possible to have multiple instances of Clocker running. Delete After Execute - this option is under the Settings menu. If you select this item, any event which is One Day Only and does not repeat will be deleted after it executes. Note that this will modify the data file, and when you exit Clocker you will be prompted to save the file. This is normal - the file really did change. Note that this option is only available for private schedules - it is not valid for group schedules. Print Log - this option causes Clocker to print a log file, which will be called CLOCKER.LOG and will be placed in your Windows directory. The log will contain an entry for every program which is executed, and will have the date, time, and command line for the program. If the program launch is unsuccessful, an error code will be displayed. A program being closed or killed will also create a log message. No log entry is printed for messages displayed by Clocker. Display Date - this option is under the Settings menu. Selecting it will make Clocker display the current date as part of the icon title when iconized. This setting will be saved for future sessions. Display Group - if group mode is enabled, this option toggles the display of the group schedule. Note that if group mode is enabled, then the group schedule is active regardless of the Display Group setting. You can also click the Display Group Schedule button to toggle this option. Load Files on Startup - If this option is selected, Clocker will start up with whatever files were open in the last Clocker session. Both private and group files, if they were previously open, will automatically open when Clocker is started. Note that this option is on by default. Miscellaneous Options --------------------- Icon Always On Top - this option is available from the system menu of Clocker. Selecting this option will cause Clocker to remain on top of all other windows. This setting will be saved for future sessions. 12 and 24 hr Time Display - the time format is retrieved from the Windows system settings. To change this setting, look in the Windows control panel under International. 3D Controls - To use 3D controls, Clocker requires version 2.01 or later of ctl3d.dll. Clocker's distribution includes version 2.01, and should work correctly. However, other applications may install an older version. If you get a warning message from Clocker about an old version, copy the ctl3d.dll from Clocker's distribution disk to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Also ensure that no other copies of ctl3d.dll are present on your disk you can use File Manager to find all instances of the file). Note that you may have to close other applications in order to be able to copy ctl3d.dll to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory if these other applications are using the ctl3d.dll that is currently there. To Disable 3d Controls: ----------------------- To disable the 3D controls, create a [Settings] section in the CLOCKER.INI file (which should be in your Windows directory), if there is not one already. Add the following line, under this section header: Controls3D=NO Note that ctl3d.dll is still required for running Clocker, even if the 3d controls are disabled. However, any version of ctl3d.dll will work in this case. Advanced Options ---------------- The following settings should not be necessary for normal use of Clocker -- the defaults are adequate for most purposes. Nevertheless, this information is being made available for system administrators and advanced users who want more flexible control over their Clocker system. Time Update Interval This option changes the frequency with which Clocker updates its internal time. The default is 5 seconds, which should be adequate for most uses. However, with this default, events executed and the time displayed by Clocker could be up to 5 seconds late. To change this value, create a [Settings] section in the CLOCKER.INI file (which should be in your Windows directory), if there is not one already. Add the following line, under this section header: TimeUpdateInterval=5 Instead of 5, enter the interval you want in seconds. Note that the interval must be between 1 and 59 seconds. Smaller numbers will slightly increase overhead, but this effect will probably not be noticeable in most cases. Group Refresh Rate This option changes the frequency with which Clocker refreshes the group file. The default is every 15 minutes, which should be adequate for most uses. To change this value, create a [Settings] section in the CLOCKER.INI file (which should be in your Windows directory), if there is not one already. Add the following line, under this section header: GroupRefreshRate=15 Instead of 15, enter the refresh rate (in minutes) that you want. The actual refresh times will be when (minutes MOD interval) is zero -- for example, if the GroupRefreshRate is 15 minutes, then refreshes will take place at 0, 15, 30, and 45 minutes past the hour. Note that smaller intervals can increase overhead, both within Clocker and on the network (since all of the machines will probably be accessing the file server simultaneously). Registration and Support Information ------------------------------------ Single copy Clocker registration is $24.95, payable in US dollars. If used on a network, Clocker requires one license for each machine it is running on. Site license rates are as follows: 5 users $ 109.95 10 users $ 199.95 20 users $ 349.95 50 users $ 699.95 100 users $ 999.95 For over 100 users, please contact Winnovation for pricing information. To register additional copies, print out ORDERFRM.TXT or the order form in the on-line help and mail the completed form along with payment to: Winnovation Dept. C23 PO Box 271071 Ft. Collins, CO 80527-1071 USA For faster processing, credit card orders can be FAXed to the number listed below, or e-mailed to the e-mail address below. After your registration is processed, you will receive a serial number/registration code combination, a manual, and a disk for each copy you ordered. Site licenses will receive only one code, manual, and disk, with additional manual copies available for a nominal charge. Registered users will be entitled to unlimited support and free upgrades as they become available. Support will be via telephone, E-mail and US mail. Winnovation can be reached at: Telephone: (303) 226-8682 FAX: (303) 226-8682 E-mail: CompuServe: 71774,605 Internet: 71774.605@compuserve.com