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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: play random wav from a folder at random times
« on: October 11, 2019, 11:35 PM »
Hello Vic!

Thank you kindly for your message!


1) Choosing sounds directory: I don't think I would personally need this feature, but perhaps someone else who comes to use the app might find it beneficial.

2) Setting scheduled active hours: I think this would be a really excellent feature! In fact, I had though about this exact feature before, but felt shy to mention it, since I felt it might increase the scope of the application too much. But since you bring it up, then YES! I think this would be really nice to add!

Thank you so much Vic! I appreciate it so much. I hope some other users find this app useful too. In fact when I was researching if an app like this existed a few months ago, I saw a question on Stackoverflow (I think) where someone was asking how to achieve the exact same thing. So I know that there will be other users out there that could benefit from it.

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: play random wav from a folder at random times
« on: October 04, 2019, 03:14 PM »
Hello Vic!
I am so happy with this. Thank you!
I joined your Patreon also (Jim Abdullah Duggan), to show my appreciation for your work.

I really like the little touches you added, specifically the display showing the time remaining to the next play. And I noticed that you added keyboard shortcuts for the options!

I noticed one bug, which I've described below. I'm also using this as a space to record a wishlist for possible future features. Those features are not necessary, because the program will work fine without them. But I just want to have all my thoughts recorded in one place anyway.

Bugs:
====
1) There seems to be a bug introduced in this latest version. I have it set to play a sound every 5 minutes. Every 5 minutes, it sometimes plays a sound for only one second, then cuts that off, and starts another sound instead. It doesn't happen every single time, but it happens quite often. The previous version didn't have this problem as far as I could tell.


Future Wishlist:
==========
1) The maximize button is redundant. Do you think it should be hidden? That way, we only have the minimise and close button on the window titlebar.

2) I start the program, switch it to ON, set my preferred time interval (let's say 5 minutes), and set it to start when Windows starts. Now, when I reboot windows, the program does start automatically, but it is set as OFF, and my preferred time interval is forgotten (it is set back as 15 minutes). So I need to go into the settings to set everything up the way I like after every reboot.

It would be nice if these settings were saved somewhere. Preferably in a .ini file in the same directory (so that the app is kept portable). In that file, you could record:

-- on_state: 1 or 0.
This is 0 in a fresh install, but if the user turns the app ON, the on_state becomes 1. When the user exits the app, the on_state stays at 1. That means that when the user starts the app again, it already starts on the ON state. If the user turns the app to OFF, it does the reverse: the next time the app is started, it starts in the OFF state also (since on_state in the .in file is 0).

The benefit of this scheme is that is means the app is already ON and running when it starts up with Windows, without having to go into the settings again and manually turning it on.

-- option_state: 1, 2, or 3.
This is based on the user's last selected option (1=play after the hour, 2=play from now, 3=play at random).

-- time_interval_option_1: 15
-- time_interval_option_2: 15
-- time_interval_option_3: 15
For example, these will record the time interval that the user last chose for each of the options. By default they are 15 minutes.

How this would all work together: When the app is launched, it looks in the .ini file. The .ini file shows that the user last chose option 1 (play after the hour) and that his selected time interval for option 1 was 5 minutes. Since on_state = 1, the app starts in the ON state. It gets the settings from the .ini file and starts working as last chosen by the user with no further intervention.

3) I'm a teacher and I use my laptop in class. During class, I need to have the program silenced, but during office hours, I want to keep it running. During class, it would be nice if there was a quick way to keep the app running, but just mute it, instead of closing the app completely, and then restarting it again later on. My idea was that there could be a little check box when you right click the tray icon that lets you mute any sounds from the app. Currently, the systray icon says 'Show' and 'Exit'. My idea is that it could be 'Show', 'Mute' and 'Exit'.

4) I'm just putting this out there for my future wishlist. I don't know how feasible it would be, or if it would take too much effort to make it worth while though. I think it would be nice if the app could detect if the windows sound system was already in use, and if so, then skip playing for that time. So for example, if I'm watching a video, then it should not play the random sound over that.

C# code here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45422255/determine-if-windows-is-currently-playing-sound

Once again I sincerely thank you for your wonderful work in programming this app. I love it!

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: play random wav from a folder at random times
« on: September 23, 2019, 11:09 PM »
Hello Vic!

I've been testing this and am super impressed. You did a fantastic job, and I want to sincerely thank you!

I have some suggestions for any future revisions:

1) There is no need for a 'sizer' in the corner, because the form doesn't resize it's contents, and I don't think it even should.

2019-09-24 06_05_23-Random Sounds App.png

2) When you start the app, it is in the OFF state, with the OFF radio button selected. If you then click the ON radio button, one of the settings radio buttons below it should be automatically selected too. At the moment, when you click the ON radio button, none of the settings below are selected by default, so it's not actually ON. For example:

2019-09-24 06_06_31-.png

3) Definitely my fault for not being clear in my language. I think one of the uses of this program is to play a small beep every hour (or every 15 minutes, or half an hour etc.) like those old Casio watches, so you can be conscious of the passing of time. Currently, if you select the first option to "play sound exactly every 15 minutes" for example, it does so every 15 minutes *from the time the app was turned on*.

Ideally, it should play it every 15 minutes *from the hour*! So for example, if I start the app at 3.07pm, it should play at 3.15pm, then at 3.30pm, then at 3.45pm etc.

So I think you can leave the current option as it is, but it would be better to change the language to explain that the sound will be played *from now*. And if possible, add another option that will play the sound from the hour. Here's a mockup of what it could look like:

2.png

Please let me know if that doesn't make much sense!

Once again, I thank you for your work on this. It's really excellent, and I'm using it now! Thank you!

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: play random wav from a folder at random times
« on: September 14, 2019, 11:15 AM »
 :up: Wow! Thank you so much Vic! I can't wait to try this out!

Do you think it could use a [Cancel][Apply][OK] button set at the bottom?
After I drew the mockup, I realised I had not included one.

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: play random wav from a folder at random times
« on: August 06, 2019, 05:40 AM »
Or is anyone else perhaps interested in this project?

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