Author Topic: T-Clock 2010 (download) (Read 1066276 times)

ewemoa · « **Reply #75 on:** April 06, 2010, 04:33 PM »

After the initial (just updated) run can you do it again?
-Stoic Joker (April 06, 2010, 09:07 AM)

Sorry, not sure I follow. I tried the steps again (after exiting the application once and restarting it) and was able to reproduce, FWIW. I also re-downloaded (with 2 different browsers) but the hashes came out the same as the original beta -5-.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #76 on:** April 06, 2010, 06:32 PM »

After the initial (just updated) run can you do it again?
-Stoic Joker (April 06, 2010, 09:07 AM)
Sorry, not sure I follow. I tried the steps again (after exiting the application once and restarting it) and was able to reproduce, FWIW. I also re-downloaded (with 2 different browsers) but the hashes came out the same as the original beta -5-.
-ewemoa (April 06, 2010, 04:33 PM)

That's ok I was off in the weeds anyway...

After getting home, re-reading and duplicating the bugg it dawned on me that I had seen that behavior before. But I'd blown it off as me just being (dumb) to tired and forgetting which keys I'd already assigned. The Windows Shortcut Hotkey control I've been trying to emulate, does however handle that very same situation in a considerably more graceful fashion (than ignoring it - which I did).

So, I gave TC a quick behavioral modification - it will now respond appropriately to a sudden loss of focus.

ewemoa · « **Reply #77 on:** April 06, 2010, 08:04 PM »

Testing -beta- 5.2.

Not seeing previously reported problematic behavior

Now seeing:

1. Bring up HotKeys tab in Properties dialog
2. Click Reset button for "Display Timer Watch Hotkey"
3. Enter hotkey: Control+Shift+A
4. Click Apply buton

and

Note: Control+Shift+A works though.

After exiting and starting up again though the hotkey configure state appears appropriate (it shows Control+Shift+A) and the hotkey is active.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #78 on:** April 07, 2010, 05:14 AM »

Overlapping Schools of thought - error message wise (guess I'll have to pick one...

).

I got one other (bugg i created...) issue I've gota get nailed down before the next update - But it will look like:

T-Clock 2010 (HotKeys).jpg

ewemoa · « **Reply #79 on:** April 07, 2010, 06:41 AM »

Nice-looking dialog

BTW, I have not succeeded in getting a hotkey with the windows key to work. Should it?

A specific example is for the combination:

Left Windows + A

While configuring the hotkey combination, after I pressed the Apply button, I saw "None" as a field value (no error).

Trying the hotkey combination out after configuration didn't seem to have any effect.

A short while later, I noticed that when I was typing a letter "A", the hotkey seemed to come into play (a dialog popped up).

Upon checking the hotkey configuration dialog, I noticed that the field value now had the value "Left Windows + A" in it. However, invoking the hotkey combination didn't work, though a single letter "A" seemed to.

I hope the description made sense.

Are you able to reproduce on your end?

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #80 on:** April 07, 2010, 05:40 PM »

BTW, I have not succeeded in getting a hotkey with the windows key to work. Should it?
-ewemoa (April 07, 2010, 06:41 AM)

That is/was one of those I was on-the-fence issues I'd planned to get back to later. The Windows keys do not work reliably because they're a reserved System Key. While I'd toyed with trying to make it work (to see if I could), I suspect it would be a very bad coding practice to foist on the users. The standard Windows Shortcut options block them from being used ...(for a reason)... So, I will also in the next build.

Thank you, for your continued efforts at poking holes in my code

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #81 on:** April 07, 2010, 10:46 PM »

Okay, at this point I've managed to create, modify, fix, resurrect, compound, befriend, and finally kill about 15 new buggs that crawled out of the woodwork in the process of addressing the above (Win + A) issue. Seems there was a lurking flaw in the design of the structure I created for handling the hotkey configuration sets, that caused the whole thing to hit the fan on a x64 box (most of my testing is done on a XP VPC).

Anyhow... I've now locked out the Windows Keys and any other combination that may tend to get folks in trouble (i.e. Shift + A-Z, etc.).

So... Since I've now (between here and the office) been coding for 17hrs straight, I'm going to go fall over dead.

Lutz_ · « **Reply #82 on:** April 08, 2010, 01:05 AM »

Wow! Have a good rest!
Just wanted to say thanks for this great program.

ewemoa · « **Reply #83 on:** April 08, 2010, 03:07 AM »

Yes, hope you get some good rest

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #84 on:** April 11, 2010, 10:26 AM »

Okay, Time Synchronization: (mouser...) Being that it was stated that a manual sync would be acceptable...It gave me a bit of (~Artistic~License~) Latitude. I did not want to have TC2010 triggering any manner of Administrative Rights/UAC Issues/Prompts. So, The best (Have-Your-Cake-and-Eat-it-Too) solution I could concoct was to (give TC2010 a split personality) run the Time Sync from a 2nd session via the command line.

Hence the TC2010 still does not require Administrative Rights - But the Time Sync (which it now has) does. Navigate to the TC2010 with an Administrative Command Prompt and run Clock /Sync This will partially load a 2nd (hook-less) copy of TC2010 that will synchronize the time with the selected NTP Server and then exit.

T-Clock 2010 (Time Sync).jpg

Now As I mentioned this is a rough draft, so there is currently no interface to configure the time server with. The registry entry will (for the moment) need to be manually added to the registry here:
Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Stoic Joker's\T-Clock 2010\SNTP
Type: REG_SZ
Name: Server
Value: [Your Choice of Time Servers]

You can also add (to the same location):
Type: DWORD
Name: SaveLog
Value: 1 (default of false)

To have it create SNTP.log in its own directory (which currently (unavoidably) tends to fail if it's in Program Files on Vista/7) - Choices for now are either log -or- MessageBox sync successful message.

While I am releasing this (rough-hewn) feature a bit early, the object is to see how well this compromise is received - before I poured a ton of time into something that totally sucks...

Feedback (desperately needed) Appreciated!

mouser · « **Reply #85 on:** April 11, 2010, 11:45 AM »

If i had any idea this was going to be so much work (for you) i never would have asked for it, regarding registry settings, etc.
i'm really not sure it is worth the effort pursuing.

My request was predicated on the assumption that tclock could simply invoke the built in internet time sync that is part of every windows installation in the Date and Time Properties dialog.. Or even just bring up that dialog and let me click "Update Now" in the built-in windows dialog. I was just looking for a menu command in the right click menu that would save me a few clicks to bring up that built-in time-sync function.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #86 on:** April 11, 2010, 01:58 PM »

LOL ... You weren't the first (or the only one) to inquire about it.

The sticking point is that setting the time in Windows (Vista/7/etc.) requires administrative rights and/or a UAC prompt acceptance (All roads lead to the SetSystemTime(&NewTime) function). So regardless of what I do with the code, I either have to require the program be run with administrative rights, or saddle the user with UAC prompts ... Which will result in the program being run with administrative rights. That, of course would violate one of the core design requirements that I set forth back in 06 (come to think of it, it was more like 03 when I started the project).

Fortunately, I like a challenge.

So I cooked up this little scheme which allows the time to be quickly sync'ed from an administrative command prompt - which I'm guessing most of us tend to frequently run and/or keep handy. It's kind of a Power User Easter Egg if you will...

The primary question, at this point, is whether or not this scheme fits your definition of an acceptably convenient solution to (time Sync) problem X?? ...If it does, I'll continue flushing it out with a UI for server & logging configuration etc..

mouser · « **Reply #87 on:** April 11, 2010, 02:05 PM »

my main pc is still xp pro, so i don't have UAC prompts here

however, on the other win7 machine..

if you are saying the procedure is:
1. set reg key manually
2. Navigate to the TC2010 with an Administrative Command Prompt and run Clock /Sync This will partially load a 2nd (hook-less) copy of TC2010 that will synchronize the time with the selected NTP Server and then exit.

then i regret to say it but i'd much rather bring up the adjust date/time dialog in windows and navigate and click on the Update Time button. it's hard for me to envision a scenario where i think it would make sense for you to write your own time sync code with your own configuration of time servers.. maybe i'm not the normal user for this, but if i'm running this once per week or month, i have no problem at all dealing with a UAC prompt for such a thing.. but more significantly, i just dont see why you should have to implement this yourself, it seems like a clear case to me where the cleanest solution is to just bring up the built-in windows time sync dialog and let MS handle the issues involved in configuring a time server, etc.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #88 on:** April 11, 2010, 02:43 PM »

ROFL ... Now you know where I was at when the question first arose ... By default Windows XP, Vista, & 7 all auto sync with time.windows.com every 7 days - which was (a large) part of the justification for dropping the feature to begin with.

But I too have a thing about time ... So I continued to entertain the possibilitys... And Kazubon wrote the time sync code back in 95. Hence with a (slightly major) revamp of the socket handling code it wasn't really difficult to put back in - Where & how were the tricky parts. That and If I make it available to anyone, it has to be available for everyone, including the folks who are running (my all time favorite OS) Windows 2000. So... (hehe) ...Here we are.

The feature isn't at all finished, as I still have to add an auto-prompt for preferred NTP server if none is configured, and I'm just hoping to glean some input on what else (if anything) to add to it, to make it as user friendly as possible - without compromising security.

ewemoa · « **Reply #89 on:** April 13, 2010, 08:55 PM »

Tangential note...

The Windows keys do not work reliably because they're a reserved System Key.
-Stoic Joker (April 07, 2010, 05:40 PM)

I was just reading about RegisterHotKey:

The F12 key is reserved for use by the debugger at all times, so it should not be registered as a hot key. Even when you are not debugging an application, F12 is reserved in case a kernel-mode debugger or a just-in-time debugger is resident.

I noticed that the latest T-Clock 2010 doesn't allow F12 to be registered

BTW, do you know of a good list of reserved keys? What I've found so far is:

http://www.aquariuss...indows-shortcuts.asp

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #90 on:** April 13, 2010, 09:40 PM »

Tangential note...

The Windows keys do not work reliably because they're a reserved System Key.
-Stoic Joker (April 07, 2010, 05:40 PM)
I was just reading about RegisterHotKey:
-ewemoa (April 13, 2010, 08:55 PM)

Yepper... That was the page that got me to thinking...

The F12 key is reserved for use by the debugger at all times, so it should not be registered as a hot key. Even when you are not debugging an application, F12 is reserved in case a kernel-mode debugger or a just-in-time debugger is resident.
I noticed that the latest T-Clock 2010 doesn't allow F12 to be registered

BTW, do you know of a good list of reserved keys? What I've found so far is:

http://www.aquariuss...indows-shortcuts.asp

(Pardon the side track - But I just remembered something - There is a program Listed here on the board called ActiveHotKeys that was a total Life Saver when I was working on the configurable hotkeys part. It was the only reason I found out that I was registering the keys properly, but with the wrong information (which is why nothing had worked in testing (for 2 days)). So... I just wanted to throw in a quick pitch for it.

Anyhow, I never did find a truly complete list of (default) Windows HotKeys (but I love collecting them), which is why I started putting together a database of them - which I then never had time to finish. It's a bit plain (ok it's ugly) but works:

Stoic Joker's HotKey db

Oh, and if you have any suggestions on/for the Time Sync "feature" (mess) I'm still futzing with it.

ewemoa · « **Reply #91 on:** April 14, 2010, 12:40 AM »

(Pardon the side track - But I just remembered something - There is a program Listed here on the board called ActiveHotKeys that was a total Life Saver when I was working on the configurable hotkeys part. It was the only reason I found out that I was registering the keys properly, but with the wrong information (which is why nothing had worked in testing (for 2 days)). So... I just wanted to throw in a quick pitch for it.
-Stoic Joker (April 13, 2010, 09:40 PM)

I'm also a fan of it

Though I noticed it didn't seem to work with at least one AHK hotkey of mine (may be that's normal).

Anyhow, I never did find a truly complete list of (default) Windows HotKeys (but I love collecting them), which is why I started putting together a database of them - which I then never had time to finish. It's a bit plain (ok it's ugly) but works:

Stoic Joker's HotKey db

Thanks for that. That reminds me -- I looked into what you said about the Windows key being reserved a bit more and found this:

  http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2007/11/30/6605629.aspx

It pointed to:

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms971323

which had an interesting section that starts with the text:

  Use the following guidelines for designing shortcut keys:

May be you are already familiar with it.

Oh, and if you have any suggestions on/for the Time Sync "feature" (mess) I'm still futzing with it.

To be honest, I don't ATM. But if I think of something...

Edit: I forgot to ask -- I found this Global Atom Viewer but it appears to be a Japanese application. It seems to be handy when doing RegisterHotKey-related things. Do you know of anything similar in English?

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #92 on:** April 14, 2010, 05:40 AM »

Edit:[/b] I forgot to ask -- I found this Global Atom Viewer but it appears to be a Japanese application. It seems to be handy when doing RegisterHotKey-related things. Do you know of anything similar in English?
-ewemoa (April 14, 2010, 12:40 AM)

Don't believe I've ever seen anything like that one. But an English version might make a good Coding Snack.

On the Windows key links, I don't believe I've been to that page specifically, but the gist of what I skimmed looks to be inline with everything else I'd been reading at the time. I'll have to try and give it a complete read later to see what kind of how to create a UI that doesn't suck tips I can glean.

tomos · « **Reply #93 on:** April 17, 2010, 04:55 PM »

finally got around to 'installing' this - thanks!
I never used the older version but this is great

Wondering is there a way to have date & time on two lines,
e.g.

Sat, Apr 17
23:54:40

ewemoa · « **Reply #94 on:** April 17, 2010, 05:01 PM »

I think there is. Does the image in the following post help?

https://www.donation....msg200201#msg200201

tomos · « **Reply #95 on:** April 18, 2010, 05:11 AM »

I think there is. Does the image in the following post help?

https://www.donation....msg200201#msg200201
-ewemoa (April 17, 2010, 05:01 PM)

yes, there definitely is!
thanks eweomoa

[edit] also, in options under 'Clock Text' there's 'Line spacing' (I had already seen that but hadnt figured out the \n ...)
Lovely app

[/edit]

tomos · « **Reply #96 on:** May 13, 2010, 06:11 AM »

Re using timers:
I have one set to blink - my taskbar is on autohide, so what happens is it blinks - but I dont see it as the taskbar remains hidden
Would it be possible to get it to show the taskbar as well?

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #97 on:** May 13, 2010, 07:11 AM »

Now that's a good question. I'll have to look into it and see what the options/possibilities are.

I kinda got sidetracked into a nose dive with the Time Sync/Administrative Rights issue - Which after weeks of testing, ain't gona happen. I am going to leave the code (where I left off) in place for educational purposes, and as part of the Time Sync Easter Egg but it's buggy as hell.

sagji · « **Reply #98 on:** May 14, 2010, 07:36 AM »

I have installed the beta 6, and have noticed the following.

The properties dialog doesn't appear on screen - but it is in the window list. It looks like it is appearing to the right of the taskbar - however as my taskbar is on the right of the screen this places it off screen.

If I open the properties dialog and go to the alarm page and press OK, or Cancel, - then after about 7 secs. explorer stops working. If instead I go to the clock text, or time format pages it works correctly.

The initial colour of the clock text is black - however the background is also nearly black, so the text is hard to read. While different OSs and themes vary I think that very dark backgrounds are much more common that very light ones, and that white would thus be a better default colour.

When creating an alarm it is difficult to enter the time by typing in the time. In the hour field the cursor is usually at the beginning (even after typing a digit) and thus any typed value is discarded. The minutes field is a little better - or I was just more experienced at the field's oddities.

Alarm sounds tend to be short - often so short as to be easily missed. It would be useful to specify the number of occurrences - so that the bell could ring say 6 times at 6 pm.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #99 on:** May 14, 2010, 06:44 PM »

I have installed the beta 6, and have noticed the following.

The properties dialog doesn't appear on screen - but it is in the window list. It looks like it is appearing to the right of the taskbar - however as my taskbar is on the right of the screen this places it off screen.
-sagji (May 14, 2010, 07:36 AM)

Unfortunately I can't seem to duplicate this behavior. I moved my Taskbar to the right side of the screen, selected T-Clock properties and it popped up to the left of the Taskbar as expected. I tried this on both the left & right monitor of a dual monitor (Win7 x64) rig and on a WinXP single monitor rig. Do you perhaps have another desktop customizing app that in bay be confused by/conflicting with?

If I open the properties dialog and go to the alarm page and press OK, or Cancel, - then after about 7 secs. explorer stops working. If instead I go to the clock text, or time format pages it works correctly.

I can't duplicate this one either - But I haven't dug at it extensively yet. ~~Any other details you can provide will be appreciated.~~
nm I think I found it - Simular to the (now fixed) Mouse Tab Crash - I'll try to get an updated build posted some time this weekend.

The initial colour of the clock text is black - however the background is also nearly black, so the text is hard to read. While different OSs and themes vary I think that very dark backgrounds are much more common that very light ones, and that white would thus be a better default colour.

Now that one has been bugging the crap outa me, and is now on the ToDo list (I had been waiting to revamp the defaults till later).

When creating an alarm it is difficult to enter the time by typing in the time. In the hour field the cursor is usually at the beginning (even after typing a digit) and thus any typed value is discarded. The minutes field is a little better - or I was just more experienced at the field's oddities.

Damn, that is annoying, I'll see about changing its behavior to be more like the Create Timers dialog.

Alarm sounds tend to be short - often so short as to be easily missed. It would be useful to specify the number of occurrences - so that the bell could ring say 6 times at 6 pm.

Ring 6 times at 6:00pm - You mean for the hourly chime? The plain alarms have the repeat option which will loop the sound file until dismissed. Also for alarms, you can throw any sound file at it .wav, .mdi, .mp3 ... The sounds that come with are just handy examples to play with (Okay, granted I love the ClockChimes.wav - But it isn't mandatory...

).

Now the 6 rings @ 6 Hourly Chime thing I like, I'd actually been toying with trying that ... So it looks like I will be now.