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AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 1 You may print these instructions by typing "COPY AGRCLK14.DOC LPT1" and pressing ENTER. If your printer is not connected to LPT1, type the appropriate printer connection. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^ AGRCLK14.COM ^ ^ ^ ^ version 1.4 ^ ^ copyright (c) 1989, 1990 ^ ^ by Wayne Brink ^ ^ ^ ^ All rights reserved. ^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ DISCLAIMER, REGISTRATION, ETC. ********************************* * UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL I * * BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR * * LOSSES, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, * * RESULTING FROM THE USE OF * * THIS PROGRAM. NO WARRANTIES, * * EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED ARE IN- * * CLUDED WITH THIS PROGRAM. * ********************************* INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 QUICK START. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 CHANGES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 NOTES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 NORMAL INSTALLATION AND OPERATION. . . . . 4 COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . 4 HOT-KEY OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CLOCK COLOR or ALARM SET. . . . . . . 7 SET THE ALARM . . . . . . . . . . 7 TOGGLE DISPLAY ON/OFF . . . . . . . . 8 CYCLE LOCATION OF CLOCK ON SCREEN . . 8 HINTS AND OTHER NOTES. . . . . . . . . . . 9 COMMON QUESTIONS and PROBLEMS. . . . . . . 10 INTRODUCTION If you are upgrading from a previous version, be sure to read the section on CHANGES. Test this program before using it with serious work. If it interferes in any way with your own programs, I recommend you do not use it. Prodigy users should note that Prodigy recommends against using any memory-resident programs while running Prodigy. While many users have found that this is not absolutely true, your particular situation, especially if you have several resident programs installed, may be one where the programs do not work. These problems can be very annoying, but it is unlikely that AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 2 conflicts will actually damage the system. Often, they can be overcome. If you feel that this program is useful and would like to be included in notifications of further upgrades (via Prodigy) send a registration fee of $5.00 to Sunray, One Vendora Road, Worcester, MA 01606. Registered owners are eligible for debug- ging for 30 days from the date of registration. Debugging is limited to program errors. Incompatibility problems are not covered, except at my discretion. Customizing is described below. If Sunray or the users do not have access to Prodigy, users will not be notified of upgrades. This program may be copied as frequently as you wish and given to your friends, relatives, work associates, etc. When copying the program, include this documentation file--I request copying and forwarding the original AGRCLKxx.ZIP file, but insist that you forward both the AGRCLK14.COM and AGRCLK14.DOC files. If you would like to have a customized version of this pro- gram, for example, one that plays particular notes, send me $5.00 and a postage-paid disk (5.25 double density or 3.5, double den- sity or high density) with a description of your needs. Please be specific. Unusually difficult customizations may require an additional charge. You will be automatically registered for up- grades. For comments, upgrades: Wayne Brink Sunray One Vendora Road Worcester, MA 01606 Prodigy Address: PSKH44A GENERAL This is a simple to operate memory resident on-screen clock which generates an audible signal on the hour and at a preset time. The color and location are selectable. In graphics pro- grams, the clock will still be displayed, though the color may be different than the text clock color. QUICK START You can read this whole set of instructions first, or you can just dive right in. If you want to dive, here's a quick guide: With the disk containing AGRCLK14.COM in place, type AGRCLK14 and hit ENTER. Default parameters will set up the clock. If you want to get a little fancier, you may use optional parameters when installing the clock. The parameters are: /cx -- Choose the clock's color; x is any positive integer. The default color is black on white (112). /lx -- Choose the clock's location; x is l(eft), c(enter), r(ight) in text, or l(eft), c(enter right bottom), r(ight) in graphics. r(ight) is the default parameter. AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 3 /px -- Choose the audible signal pitch; x is l(ow), or h(igh) (default). /dx -- Choose the delay (length) of the audible signal; x is 0-9 (default is 1). Higher values deliver a longer delay-- useful with faster CPUs. /s -- Show all the options, without loading the clock. For example, to place the clock in the upper left corner of the screen, and use a low pitch for the tone, type: AGRCLK14 /ll /pl and press ENTER. Once the clock is loaded, there are three hot-key combina- tions: CTRL-RIGHT SHIFT will allow you to change the clock color and set the alarm. CTRL-LEFT SHIFT toggles the clock display off and on. ALT-RIGHT SHIFT changes the location of the clock. BE AWARE that when entering the graphics modes, the clock will not be displayed immediately. However, it should show up within one minute. Also, if your clock displays as a plain black block, your color selection was probably black on black for your particular system. Try another color number; it may be safest to simply increment by one the color you first chose. If you used the default color, try using /c1 next time. CHANGES FROM VERSION 1.0 * Simplified method of selecting the clock color from the command line. * The graphics clock color is now selectable from both the command line and with the hot key. * The location of the clock, both text and graphics, is now selectable with the hot key. * The graphics clock is located just slightly higher, on the very top line of the screen. CHANGES FROM VERSION 1.1 * The hotkey to toggle the clock on/off has been changed to CTRL-LEFT SHIFT. * The graphics clock leftmost position has been adjusted slightly farther left. CHANGES FROM VERSION 1.2 * An alarm feature has been added. It is accessible by using the same hot-key used to change the clock color. See details below. * Audible signals have been added to the color and alarm hotkey to help you know where you are even in graphics modes. * One of the selectable positions in the graphics mode has been changed. Instead of selecting the center of the top line, the "center" selection now places the clock on the bottom row, about two-thirds of the way across the screen toward the right. This will particularly accommodate Prodigy users who will find the clock is visible more often in most cases. AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 4 * The delay time for the audible signals has been made longer (about twice as long) to accomodate ever faster CPUs. If you are upgrading, you may want to change your duration parameter to a LOWER number. The default is now 1. A FEW THINGS TO NOTE This clock was specifically designed to work with the Prodigy Service, however it should work with most text and graph- ics applications. Although it has not been tested with all com- puters' text and graphics modes, I believe that it will function as described with monochrome (but NOT Hercules), CGA HI, CGA LO, PCjr and Tandy 16-color, EGA and VGA modes. It has been tested on Tandy 1000SX, and IBM PS/2 with VGA with no problems. Natur- ally, don't expect the color functions to work on monochrome screens and modes, and the graphics clock will not function if you haven't got graphics capability. On older CGA modes, you may experience "snow" when the clock is refreshed. If this is a problem, send $5.00 for a compatible version of the program. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this clock will work correctly with Hercules adapters. The program reserves about 10K of memory. While it usually will not be a problem, the clock, when running, does prevent the system from changing dates at midnight. As long as you are not doing any date sensitive work, this should have little or no effect. Note that when the computer is in graphics mode, as with Prodigy, parts of the clock may be overwritten by changes in the Prodigy screens. At times, the entire clock disappears. Due to the time required to check to see if the clock needs to be refreshed and actually refreshing the clock, it is practical to update it once a minute (whether it needs it or not!) when it "flips" over to a new minute. I don't feel that this is a seri- ous problem--most of the time, the clock is on-screen, ready to go, and on the occasions when the clock is not there, when you look back up, it probably will be back, too. If you feel that it is a problem, let me know, and I'll see about creating a version that refreshes more frequently. However, in graphics programs that change the screen very frequently, the clock not only may be unable to keep up, but it may actually slow down the system if it tried to. NORMAL INSTALLATION and OPERATION In its simplest form, simply type AGRCLK14, and the clock will install itself (see QUICK START). However, there are a number of features which you may wish to use. The following discussion explains the clock in greater detail. The on-screen clock is a digital clock that indicates AM or PM, in text, or just the time when in graphics. Only a 12-hour clock is available in this version, but you could order a 24-hour version. AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 5 An audible, two-tone signal occurs on the hour. COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS All the selections can be entered as parameters following the AGRCLK command: AGRCLK14 [/cx] [/lx] [/px] [/dx] [/s] where /cx, /lx, /px, /dx, /s are all optional, may be entered in any order, must be separated by a space, and must be entered in lower case. The options for each parameter are: /cx = a TEXT color combination, x being a up to 3 charac- ters based on the following: 0 = black 8 = darkgray 1 = darkblue 9 = lightblue 2 = darkgreen 10 = lightgreen 3 = cyan 11 = lightcyan 4 = red 12 = lightred 5 = magenta 13 = lightmagenta 6 = brown 14 = yellow 7 = lightgray 15 = white If x is '1', the clock will be darkblue on black, if '2', it will be darkgreen on black, etc. Combination colors can be attained by using multiples and additions, e.g. '16' (1 times 16) is black on darkblue, '17' (1 times 16 plus 1) is darkblue on darkblue (not a good choice!), '32' (2 times 16) is black on darkgreen, etc. You will observe that multiplying the colors 0 through 7 by 16 creates the background color. Add to that the number of the foreground color you want, and that is your value for x. Those of you who are familiar with this type of system should be forewarned that you cannot get blinking colors. The colors are all mod 128 (i.e. the remainder of the code divided by 128). To get yellow on red, for example, multiply red's number (4) by 16, and add 14: 4 * 16 = 64 + 14 = 78. You cannot select a color of 0. It will automatically convert to the default color. Graphics colors: 0 = black on black, 1 = red on black, 2 = gray/black, 3 = blue/black, 4 = white/black, 5 = brown/black, 6 = green/black, 7 = white/black, 8 = blue/black, 9 = magenta/black, 10 = lightmagenta/black, 11 = lightred/black, 12 = yellow/black, 13 = lightblue/black, 14 = lightcyan/black, 15 = cyan/black. (Tandy 16-color video card.) The colors in graphics mode are: X modulo the number of colors available in that graphics mode. That is, if you have AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 6 four colors available, if you select color 9, that is 9 modulo 4 = 1 (9/4 = 2, remainder 1). All graphics clock colors are on a black background. These colors are for CGA monitors; EGA and VGA are likely to be the same, but I have not tested them to be sure. High and low resolution screens may have different color identification. If you are working in monochrome, probably color '1', '7' or '15' is your best choice. /lx = the location where you wish the clock to be displayed. x may be any of the following: l is left corner, c is centered, or in graphics: bottom, right of cen- ter, r is right corner (default). Note that in some graphics modes, selecting the right corner may actually place the clock closer to the center than you would expect. This is because the "distance" to the right side of the screen varies in some modes. /px = the pitch of the tones. x can be: h is high (default), l is low. /dx = the duration of the signal. Use it to adjust the sig- nal to match the CPU you are using. x may be: 0--shortest duration, appropriate for slow CPUs. 1--default. Signal lasts about 1/8 second on 8Mhz CPUs. 2. 3. 4. ... 9--longest duration, appropriate for very fast CPUs. These values (if you add one to them) are simple multi- ples; a value of 9 means the signal lasts 10 times longer than one of 0. /s = show options. List these parameter options on-screen. Choosing this option exits the program without installing the clock. If you choose any other options with this, they will be ignored. This program chooses selections for you if you enter incorrect values for the parameter options, e.g. /pg is the same as /pl. However, if you enter an incorrect parameter, previous parameters may be affected, e.g. /lc /lp will reset the location to some program defined position. Invalid parameters are ignored. HOT-KEY OPTIONS for clock color, alarm settings, display on/off, location. AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 7 CTRL-RIGHTSHIFT - clock color, or alarm set CTRL-LEFTSHIFT - toggle display on/off ALT-RIGHTSHIFT - cycle location of clock on screen CLOCK COLOR or ALARM SET Press CTRL and the RIGHT SHIFT key to change the CLOCK COLOR or SET THE ALARM. A text line will appear asking you to enter your ONE character color choice. You will hear a two-tone beep, con- firming that you are in the color change mode. Enter a three-digit color code. The program beeps again (a single, high pitch) as you press each key, confirming that you are actually entering the code. This is most useful in graphics where you cannot see what is happening. The clock will not (usually) immediately change color, however the next time the clock must be refreshed--when the time changes, when the screen is scrolled up, or when the screen is cleared--it will change color. The color you get will correspond to the code you enter. For example, blue on black is color number 1. Press 001 for this color. Or black on red is color number 64. Press 064. See the command line section on how to determine the color number selection. (NOTE: Former methods of pressing a single character to set the code are no longer reliable.) When you choose this option in graphics, no text line will be displayed, instead you will get a scrambled line one pixel high (very thin). The line may not be visible at all with some video setups. This and the beep are your only cues to enter the new color code. Whether in text or graph- ics, once you enter the code, the line will disappear, with the original text or graphics taking its place. NOTE: You cannot backspace or use the arrows to make corrections. If you enter an incorrect code, finish entering the three numbers, then press the hot-key again to enter the correct code. A color selection on 000 works like CTRL-LEFTSHIFT. See that discussion below for details. To SET THE ALARM, enter a color value of 128 or greater. The program beeps to confirm that you have entered the alarm mode. You will be prompted to enter the time at which you wish to be signaled. The previous alarm time is displayed, and it is overwritten as you enter the new time. Your entry should be exactly 4 digits. A single, high pitched beep occurs as you press each key. Do NOT include the colon to separate the hour from the minute. Hitting <RETURN> at the first character position acts as a default--the alarm is NOT reset. <RETURN> is accepted as a digit in other positions, and will NOT work as a default. Examples: To set the alarm to: Enter: 11:30 1130 12:00 1200 3:45 0345 At the selected time, a multitoned signal will be trig- AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 8 gered. The duration and tones of the signal are determined by the optional parameters set when you started AGRCLK. If you enter an invalid time (e.g. 345<ENTER>), the alarm time is ignored, and the original setting (if any) remains active. A valid time will override any previously entered alarms. Entering a time of 0000 will turn off the alarm. NOTE: You cannot backspace or use the arrows to make corrections. If you enter an incorrect time, finish entering the four numbers, then press the hot-key again to enter the correct time. TOGGLE DISPLAY ON/OFF Press CONTROL and LEFT SHIFT to toggle the display off or on. This is useful when the clock either is obscuring something you must see or if the screen will be scrolling DOWN, in which case the clock will also scroll down. It also can be useful with programs that print the screen or use screen data so you won't include the clock in the printout or data. Be aware, however, that the clock will not immediately disappear when toggled off. It will, however, when the screen is scrolled up, cleared, completely replaced or when the clock's area of the screen is changed. When in text mode, if the clock is toggled on, it will immediately appear. In graphics mode, the clock will appear the next time that the clock has to be updated--within 59 seconds. Selecting a clock color of 000 will also toggle the clock. See the details for CLOCK COLOR above. CYCLE LOCATION OF CLOCK ON SCREEN Press ALT and RIGHT SHIFT to change the clock's loca- tion. The clock is follows a round-robin series of locations. Each time the hotkey is pressed, the clock will move coun- ter-clockwise by one position. If it is on the right side of the screen, it will move to the left side of the screen. Text: |<--------------<-----------------<------------<-----------<-| |---> left-side ---> center ---> right-side ---| Graphics: |<-----------------------<---------------<-----------------<-| |---> left_side ->| |---> right side--| | | |---> bottom-rt-center ->| The clock's new position will not show up until the next time the clock is refreshed. The old position will maintain the clock (in frozen time) until that area of the screen is modified by the system or main program. In graphics, middle location is replaced by a location AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 9 on the bottom line. For Prodigy users, this position corres- ponds to the "ACTION" option, just to the left of the "HELP" option. Used only when viewing ads or other sales areas, at other times it will not interfere with the clock (or vice- versa). HINTS AND OTHER NOTES This version of AGRCLKxx.COM has been tested on the TANDY 1000SX, IBM compatible CGA modes, and IBM PS/2 Model 50z, VGA mode. It should work with either monochrome or color monitors-- CGA, EGA, VGA, although it apparently does not work in Hercules graphics. However, be aware of the following: The clock is displayed by accessing screen memory directly. Other programs that access memory may cause duplicates of the time to appear either on-screen or in the other program's data. My own experience has shown the former to happen rarely (WordPerfect is one case), and the latter has not occurred. Occasionally, the hour may be obscured by other screen dis- plays. It is less likely to occur on the right side of the screen, where less information is likely to be placed. It is most likely to happen in cases where the entire screen is given over to data, as in DOS. A program that creates a window for you and thereafter doesn't do anything in that area of the screen will have no problem. In DBase III, AGRCLK'S left position con- flicts with the DBase clock in the same location. You may wish to move the clock or turn it off. Other programs that read and write directly to and from the screen, such as Prodigy, will occasionally write over the clock. The clock will reappear on the next minute. Prodigy also "over- lays" the screen occasionally, especially with its "WORKING" signal. When it does this, it saves the data underneath and restores it. This is not a particular problem itself, but what may happen is that the clock could write to the "WORKING" window, and when the window disappears, the old, now incorrect time will be displayed. The alternative is to place the clock in the left corner or bottom. The left side is less often completely over- written, but even this area is not completely safe. The bottom line, to the left of the "HELP" option is least frequently ove- rwritten in most cases. The audible signals and graphics numerals require a short period to complete. The computer is controlled by the clock program during that time. Keystrokes and data transfers, etc. will be delayed. When downloading files via a modem, you may notice a retransmission request when the tone sounds. Usually, this is no problem. Some computer operations will be suspended when you choose the CTRL-RIGHT SHIFT option to change the clock's color. I have tested it under a number of conditions: While doing disk opera- tions, there appears to be no problems; while compiling programs using Turbo C, the compilation was suspended until the color was AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 10 selected--compilation then continued successfully; the time-for- this-call feature within ProComm (c) was suspended until the color was selected, at which time it correctly updated itself. To be safe during critical operations, you should probably not change the clock color or set the alarm; instead, wait until no other operations are taking place, and all files have been saved. This program is in my AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and is the first TSR I load. Though I have not personally observed any conflicts with other memory resident programs (most notably mouse drivers, Sidekick and DesqView), some users have reported sporadic prob- lems. If you have registered, I will work with you to help solve specific problems--but I cannot guarantee successful solutions. COMMON QUESTIONS and PROBLEMS: How do I set the clock to the correct time? ****AGRCLK uses your system's internal clock to keep time. The system clock may or may not be set by a built-in real-time clock when you start your computer. If you do not have a real-time clock, your system starts at midnight (00:00), and so will AGRCLK. Otherwise, the real-time clock controls the time, and AGRCLK will be as accurate as the real-time clock is. To set the time, type TIME from any DOS prompt and enter the correct time. AGRCLK will immediately display the new time. ********************** When I start the clock, it works in text but I get nothing but a black box in graphics or Prodigy. When I start the clock, only a black box shows up (or a colored box with no digits). ****The color combination you are using is creating black char- acters on a black background (or blue on blue, etc). Simply start the clock with a different color option, or use the hot-key to change the color. Odd numbers usually work, but you may need to try two or three successive values before finding one that works. It may take as long as one minute before the color change takes affect--when you are in text, if you can clear the screen the clock will immediately up- date. ********************* The clock doesn't seem to work. I have Hercules video. ****Sorry. AGRCLK doesn't work with Hercules. Some other video systems may also not work. ********************** When I try to start the clock, I get a message that there are no free vectors. ****To prevent multiple installations of the clock, AGRCLK normally checks certain sections of your computer's memory for a special code. If those sections have data in them when AGRCLK attempts to start, rather than overwrite the data, the error message appears, and AGRCLK does not load. If you consistently get this problem, you will have to order a spe- cial version that does NOT make this safety check. AGRCLK14 USER'S MANUAL Page 11 At midnight, while the clock advances, the date stays the same. ****Be aware of this, especially if you are working with date- sensitive items. We have decided (for the time being) not to use the extra memory required to correct this so that your clock will use as little memory as possible. If enough people find it to be a serious problem, we will make the necessary modifications. TRADEMARKS Turbo C, ProComm, CGA, PCjr, IBM, Tandy, Prodigy, DesqView, SideKick, Dbase III, WordPerfect are all copyrighted or regis- tered trademarks, by the respective companies. AGRCLK is copy- righted by Sunray.