LaserUp! zzzMachine
Version 2.0
New Features!
- Unlimited/Multiple alarms selectable by day of the week
- Counter now counts up as well as down (sort of a rough stop watch)
- Countdown timer and Snooze feature no longer keep Pocket PC awake
- Alarm automatically turns off after selectable time if left unattended
This page shows all the dialogs that make up the user interface for zzzMachine for the Pocket PC. There is no "Demo" version of the program because what you see here is what you get! Every major control is on one screen and is button-driven (no menus) and large enough to use with your finger so, in general, you don't have to hunt around for a stylus, pencil, or (worst of all) a ballpoint pen.
Functions
When the middle button "Clock" is selected, the digital display shows a normal large size digital clock. You may select whether to display the time as a 12 or 24 hour clock by tapping on the "12" or the "24" which toggles between the 2 modes.
- If the clock is in 12 hour mode, AM or PM is displayed on the right side below the digits.
- If the clock is in 24 hour mode, the AM/PM display is hidden.
When the clock display is active, the up and down arrows below each pair of digits are not visible. To set the clock, use the normal system control panel applet (Start->Settings->System->Clock).
When the left button labelled "Count" is selected, the digital display shows hours, minutes, and seconds for a countdown timer.
- Use the up/down arrows under each pair of digits to set the hours (0-99), minutes (0-59), and seconds (0-59) for the countdown time or tap and hold the "Set" button to show a menu of preset countdown times that are added to the currently displayed value.
- Note the new Counter Direction Button. Tapping this button toggles between a down counter and an up counter, sort of a rough (accurate only to seconds) stop watch.
- To start the countdown (or countup), tap the "Start" button. Note that "Start" changes to "Stop".
- To pause or stop the counter, tap "Stop".
- To clear the digits to 00:00:00, tap and hold the "Set" button and select "Clear" from the menu.
- If the "Sound" icon is lit, the currently selected "Sleep" sound will play until the counter counts down to 0. This is a handy way to let the "Sleep" sound continue for any period of time you want and then shut itself off.
- If the "Sound" icon is NOT lit, the selected "Countdown Beep" will sound 5 times when the counter reaches 0 as an indication that the counter is finished.
- NOTE: The countdown timer by itself no longer prevents your device from sleeping! However, if your are listening to a sleep sound with the counter on, the Pocket PC will not go to sleep while playing so it is a good idea to have it plugged into a power supply.
When the right button labelled "Alarms" is tapped, zzzMachine opens the Set Alarms Dialog. This is a new dialog for version 2.0 that allows multiple alarms to be set and the desired day or days of the week to sound for each. Note that, to accomodate multiple alarms, the alarm time is no longer set from the Main Dialog as in previous versions.
- Currently set up alarms will display in the list control. They will display in the 12/24 hour mode selected on the main screen.
- The next alarm time after the current time will be highlighted when the Set Alarm Dialog opens, and the currently set days of the week for this alarm time will be highlighted.
- If in 12 hour mode, AM times will show in a greenish color, PM times in reddish color.
- Alarms can be added by tapping the "New" button. A time setting control will appear (see figure below) to set the time by tapping or tapping and holding the up and down arrows above and below the hours digits and the minutes digits. Tap the small arrows above AM or PM to toggle between AM and PM.
- The currently chosen days of the week for each alarm will highlight when a previously added alarm time is tapped on the list control. The days of the week for the alarm can be freely toggled on or off by tapping on the day buttons.
- Double tapping an alarm in the list control or selecting one and tapping "Edit" will allow you to change the time for the alarm.
- When the Set Alarms Dialog is closed, the "Alarm Clock" Button on the main screen becomes selected automatically.
Tapping "OK" on the Set Alarms Dialog will close it and set the Pocket PC to wake up or be activated for the next alarm. Note that the Pocket PC will wake up or be activated at the alarm time whether or not the Alarm Clock On/Off button is selected (turned on/lit), but the alarm will sound only if the icon is turned on. This is because the next alarm time after the current one needs to be set whether or not the alarm is set to actually sound. The next alarm cannot be set without the Pocket PC turned on and zzzMachine running!
- When the alarm goes off, zzzMachine will play the selected alarm sound, but, again, only if the Alarm Clock Button is selected (turned on).
- If a "Snooze" time other than "None" is selected, a dialog with 2 really huge, easily tapped buttons will appear (see below). If no "Snooze" time is selected, a dialog with a single, huge, "Alarm Off" button will appear instead.
- To shut off the alarm, tap the "Alarm Off" button. If a "Snooze" time has been selected, tap "Snooze" to cause the alarm to be reset to go off after the 5, 15, or 30 minute "Snooze" time.
- If "Sleep" sound is playing when the alarm goes off, the "Sleep" sound will stop.
Note again: The Pocket PC does not have to be turned on for the alarm to sound. If the Pocket PC is turned off, goes to sleep, or if zzzMachine has been closed, the alarm will awaken the device, launch zzzMachine, set the next alarm, and sound the alarm (if the Alarm Clock button is on). To display the next alarm tap on the "Next" button next to the Alarm Clock On/Off button. A Message Box will pop up with the next alarm time and day of the week. If it is not correct, tap "OK" on the Message Box and then tap the "Alarms" button to add, edit, or change the days of the week you want the alarm to sound.
"Snooze" time setting has been added to the "Select Sounds" dialog as an Alarm related setting.
- If a "Snooze" time of "None" is selected, a dialog with a single "Alarm Off" button will appear. Just tap "Alarm Off" to shut off the alarm.
- If a "Snooze" setting of "5 min.", "15 min." or "30 min." is selected, when the alarm clock goes off, a full screen dialog will appear with a large (HUGE) "Snooze" button and a large (HUGE) "Alarm Off" button. This makes it easy to tap one or the other with a finger.
- Tapping either of these buttons closes the dialog with the appropriate results:
- Tapping "Snooze" will sound the alarm again after the chosen time.
- Tapping "Alarm Off" will turn the alarm off.
- Pressing the "Action" button (on the iPaq, this is the large hardware button below the screen) is the same as tapping "Snooze".
- NOTE: "Snooze" no longer uses the countdown timer so it no longer prevents the Pocket PC from going to sleep. It now sets a new alarm time at whatever chosen snooze time in the future is desired.
- Tap the "Select Sound" button on the main screen (the button with the musical notes on it).
- Tap "Set Alarms..." to go directly to the Set Alarms Dialog.
- Select the desired alarm sound from the top dropdown list (and tap "Listen" to hear it).
- Select the time you would like the alarm to sound if left unattended by accident. This will close the Alarm Off Dialog or the Snooze/Alarm Off Dialog automatically after the chosen time.
- Select the desired "Snooze" time ("None", "5 min.", "15 min.", or "30 min.").
- Select the desired sleep sound from the middle dropdown list (and tap "Listen" to hear it).
- Select the desired countdown timer "beep" from the bottom dropdown list (and tap "Listen" to hear it).
- Click "OK" to select or "Cancel" to exit without making a selection.
- You can create your own custom wave files (Windows PCM format) for Alarm, Sleep, and Countdown Beeps plus a custom voice alarm (like "Get up you lazy #$%@#!"). Just place one or all the following files (they must be named this way) in the program directory with all the other wav files:
- CustomAlarm.wav
- CustomSleep.wav
- CustomBeep.wav
- Voice.wav
Then select "Custom Alarm" or "Voice", "Custom Sleep", and/or "Custom Beep" from the dropdown lists above. Note: These wav files can be created easily using the "Notes" sound recording applet built into your Pocket PC.
- Alarm On/Alarm Off is the alarm clock icon that appears below and between the hours and minutes digit pairs.
- 12/24 Hour mode is toggled back and forth by tapping the "12" or "24" button.
- The "S" button to the left of the Alarm On/Alarm Off button now opens the Set Alarms Dialog. In earlier versions with only one alarm, a different dialog opened.
- Sleep Sound On/Sleep Sound Off is the speaker icon located below and between the minutes and seconds digit pairs.
- AM/PM located below seconds digit pair. This control is set automatically to correspond to the clock setting when in clock mode. It is only visible when in Clock mode. It is hidden when in countdown mode.
- The red button at the top right is just a close button and merely duplicates the function of the OK button. zzzMachine is a dialog-based app, so it can be shut down unlike most other applications on the Pocket PC that run continuously.
- Tapping the "zzzMachine ?" logo brings you here!
Notes
- When exiting the program and at various other times when the program is running, the alarms, am/pm settings, and the current countdown timer hours, minutes, and seconds are saved along with your choices for sleep sound, beeper sound, and alarm sound. The next time the zzzMachine is run, your saved alarms, countdown, and sound settings will be restored.
- As noted above, the countdown timer (if Sleep Sounds are off) and the "Snooze" feature no longer prevent your device from sleeping! This fixes the problem of inadvertently draining your battery if you countdown or snooze for long periods of time.
- However even though the countdown timer and the snooze timer no longer prevent your Pocket PC from sleeping, because of limited battery life on Pocket PCs, it is still a good idea to plug the Pocket PC in using its AC power supply as much as possible.
- If sleep sounds are turned on, the Pocket PC will NOT go to sleep whether or not the counter is counting, so you must plug the Pocket PC into its power supply. A Message Box with a warning note about this will appear when tapping the Sleep Sounds button to the on setting.
- If Start->Settings->Personal->Sounds and Notifications->Screen taps is turned on, tapping the screen will interrupt currently playing sounds and turn them off.