Alarm Enhancer, Version 6.37 Copyright Alan H. Clifford, 1997-99. Enhancer is a program for the Psion 3A, 3C and Siena CONTENTS 1. What it does. 2. Quickstart for new users. 3. Using Enhancer. 3.1 Rescheduling Alarms. 3.2 New Alarms. 3.3 Setting the Silent Alarm Beep. 3.4 Using Alarm Killer 3.5 Overriding Alarm Killer 3.6 Cycling the display of alarms set at the same time. 3.7 Cycling the display of unattended alarms. 3.8 Switching the dual display. 4. Installing Enhancer. 4.1 New installation. 4.2 Upgrading from version 6.11 - 6.36 4.3 Upgrading from version 5.11 - 6.01 4.4 Upgrading from version 5.01. 4.5 Upgrading from version 5.0. 4.6 Upgrading from version 4. 4.7 Upgrading from version 3.3. 5. The Configuration file. 6. Intercepting the Off key. 7. Alarm Killer. 8. Caveat. 9. The Configuration Program. 9.1 Installing the configuration program. 9.2 Using the configuration program. 10. Files. 11. Freeware/shareware. 12. Registration. 13. Trial registration. 14. Thanks. 15. Contacting the author. 16. Latest version. 17. Disclaimer. 1. WHAT IT DOES You're working on, for example, a spreadsheet and an alarm goes off. Normally, if you snooze the alarm, you cannot continue working. With Alarm Enhancer, you press Esc to cancel the alarm and you are presented with the Enhancer dialog screen. Here, with just one extra key press, you can reschedule an alarm for 5 minutes time (configurable), or reschedule for other durations or for a specific time and date. You are then back in your application and can continue working. Psion alarms repeat for a considerable length of time if left unattended. Enhancer's Alarm Killer can be configured to switch off the alarm sounds at a specified interval after an alarm has gone off. Alternatively, Enhancer has an option to sound a single beep when a silent alarm goes off. 2. QUICKSTART FOR NEW USERS - Copy Enhancer.opa to the \app directory - Install Enhancer.opa using the System Screen install menu - Run Enhancer - In the dialog, select the entry for your machine - 3A, 3C or Siena - and select 'Yes' for "Intercept off key?" - Press enter. Enhancer is now running. - Press the System key to put Enhancer into background - When the alarm goes off, press Esc to "Clear Alarm" - The Enhancer dialog is now displayed. Press Enter to reschedule the alarm for 5 minutes. Or press Esc to abandon the alarm. 3. USING ENHANCER 3.1 Rescheduling Alarms After an alarm goes off, press the ESC key. You are presented with the Enhancer dialog. There are three defaults set up: 5 minutes, 10 minutes and a date and time intially set up for half an hour in the future. Press ENTER to reschedule the alarm for 5 minutes. Or choose one of the other options or edit one of the options and press ENTER. ESC will abandon the alarm. Diamond key puts Enhancer into the background (registered version only). An alarm created by Enhancer may be cancelled via the "View next alarms" option in the Time application. Enhancer remembers alarms that have not been attended to or abandoned. The default is 4 (configurable). 3.2 New Alarms When a new alarm is set, for instance in Time or in Agenda, this alarm has to be picked up by Enhancer. This will occur before the Psion switches itself off or when the off key is pressed. If autooff is disabled, the check for new alarms occurs every 59 seconds (configurable). 3.3 Setting the Silent Alarm Beep The Silent Alarm Beep is invoked by prefixing the alarm message text with the "beep character" (the default beep character is #) and setting the alarm sound to "Silent". For example, in your Agenda you may have an entry entitled: #Strategy meeting with the alarm set to Silent. When this silent alarm goes off, Enhancer will beep just once. 3.4 Using Alarm Killer If the Alarm Killer is switched on, the alarm sounds will be switched off after the period specified. Alarm Killer can be configured use up to 3 periods during the day or "Always" (registered version only). 3.5 Overriding Alarm Killer Alarm Killer can be overridden by prefixing the alarm message text with the "don't kill character" (the default "don't kill character" is @) For example, in your Agenda you may have an entry entitled: @Wake up now When this alarm goes off, the alarm sounds will not be killed (registered version only). 3.6 Cycling the display of alarms set at the same time. If more than one alarm for the same time has been detected, pressing the TAB key will cycle the display (registered version only). 3.7 Cycling the display of unattended alarms. If more than one alarm has been left unattended, pressing the TAB key will cycle the display (registered version only). 3.8 Switching the dual display. When the dialog window is active, the display can be switched between the single and double window by pressing ctrl...Z (registered version only) 4. INSTALLING ENHANCER 4.1 New installation. Copy Enhancer.opa to the APP directory (or a directory of your choice) and install using the system screen install option. Optionally, copy the configuration program, Enhancfg.opo, to the same directory (see below for more information about the configuration program). The first time Enhancer is run, a dialog allows you to specify the machine as 3A, 3C, or Siena and whether or not to intercept the OFF key (see below). Press ENTER and a small configuration file (Enhancer.6AA) is created in the directory where Enhancer.opa is located. Enhancer is now running. Press the System key or an application key to leave Enhancer running in background. If Enhancer is closed down, for instance, after a backup, when Enhancer is restarted it reads the configuration file and starts running. 4.2 Upgrading from version 6.11 - 6.36 - Copy Enhancer.opa and Enhancfg.opo to the APP directory (or to your chosen directory) and run Enhancer. - If you want to keep the conversion program (Enhanupd.opo) on your Psion, copy the new version to the APP directory. Otherwise, ensure that the old version of Enhanupd.opo has been deleted. 4.3 Upgrading from version 5.11 - 6.01 - Copy Enhancer.opa, Enhancfg.opo and Enhanupd.opo to the APP directory (or to your chosen directory) and run Enhancer. The configuration data, including registration details, in the old configuration file (Enhancer.50B) will be copied automatically to the new configuration file (Enhancer.6AA). - Enhancer.50B can be deleted. - The old configuration program, Enhancfg.511, Enhancfg.512, Enhancfg.513 or Enhancfg.520 can be deleted. - The conversion program (Enhanupd.opo) can be deleted. 4.4 Upgrading from version 5.01 - copy Enhancer.opa, Enhancfg.opo and Enhanupd.opo to the APP directory (or to your chosen directory) and run Enhancer. The configuration data, including registration details, in the old configuration file (Enhancer.50A) will be copied automatically to the new configuration file (Enhancer.6AA). - Enhancer.50A can be deleted. - The old configuration program, Enhancfg.501 can be deleted. - The conversion program (Enhanupd.opo) can be deleted. 4.5 Upgrading from version 5.0 - copy Enhancer.opa, Enhancfg.opo and Enhanupd.opo to the APP directory (or to your chosen directory) and run Enhancer. The configuration data, including registration details, in the old configuration file (Enhancer.005) will be copied automatically to the new configuration file (Enhancer.6AA). - Enhancer.005 can be deleted. - The conversion program (Enhanupd.opo) can be deleted. 4.6 Upgrading from version 4 If version 4.X has been installed previously, the configuration file Enhancer.004 can be deleted. Copy Enhancer.opa and Enhancfg.opo to the APP directory (or to your chosen directory). 4.7 Upgrading from version 3.3 If version 3.3 has been installed previously, copy Enhancer.opa and Enhancfg.opo to the APP directory (or to your chosen directory) and, on the System screen, uninstall and reinstall in order to pick up new icon. 5. CONFIGURATION FILE The configuration file, Enhancer.6AA, is normally created in the same directory as Enhancer.opa. However, if Enhancer.opa is on a flash disk, the configuration file will be stored in loc::m:\enhancer\enhancer.6AA. 6. INTERCEPTING THE OFF KEY This means that the OFF key no longer directly turns off the Psion. Instead, when the OFF key is pressed, Enhancer checks the alarm data and then Enhancer turns off the Psion. 7. ALARM KILLER If the Alarm Killer is switched on, the alarm sounds will be switched off after the period specified. The sounds will be re-activated before the next alarm goes off or, if an alarm has been snoozed in the Time application itself, before the snoozed alarm goes off again. Please note that the alarm sound currently playing will continue playing until it finishes. Alarm sounds are typically 15 seconds in length so, for example, if alarm sounds are set to be killed at 25 seconds, the alarm will continue to play until 30 seconds after the alarm. 8. CAVEAT In practical use, the following limitations should not cause any problems. But please be aware of them. If several alarms are set for the same time in applications such as Agenda, Enhancer will only pick up one of them. Enhancer functions by reading the next alarm from the Time application's memory space and sets a timer to go off 9 seconds before the alarm. This reading occurs on switch on, when Enhancer comes to the foreground or background, on a (check) timer and, if the OFF key is intercepted, when the Psion is switched off. The (check) timer re-reads the alarm data 10 seconds before the auto-off time or at user configured shorter intervals or, if auto-off is not active, every 59 (or as user configured) seconds. Consequently, if the auto-off is set to, for instance, 10 minutes and a new alarm is set for 5 minutes, Enhancer may not pick it up. If the OFF key is not intercepted and an alarm is set in, say, the Time application and the Psion is immediately switched off, Enhancer will not pick up the alarm. Only one application can intercept the OFF key. If another application has already intercepted the OFF key, Enhancer will not be able to do so. Alarms set in the Agenda application can take several seconds to reach the Time application's list. If the Psion is switched off immediately after setting an alarm in Agenda, neither Time nor Enhancer may pick it up. When the Time applications's alarm screen is active, the alarm killer function polls the Time application's memory every 4 minutes . If an alarm is snoozed, this poll allows Enhancer to switch the alarm sounds back on in time for the snoozed alarm to sound. The day and time of the next alarm is displayed underneath the Enhancer icon on the System screen. This updates when the System screen updates its lists. Pressing the System key will force an update. Enhancer uses the date format set on your Psion - DDMMYY, MMDDYY or YYMMDD. If this is changed whilst Enhancer is running, Enhancer must be stopped and restarted to use the new format. Although an entry in Agenda can be 254 characters in length, only 160 are passed to the Time application. Consequently, when checking this text for changes, Enhancer can use only 160 characters. Alarm sounds can be re-activated by other programs. Enhancer will recognize this and, if applicable, will eventually kill the current alarm again. Alarm Enhancer may prevent the Pason program from turning the Psion off. The Psion will turn off when the auto-off time has expired. Enhancer reads directly from the Time application's memory space and the locations of data are different on the different Psions. The locations of the data may be different on other Psions so it is unlikely that Enhancer will be able to find the data on Psions other than the 3A, 3C or Siena. Also, I have encountered two versions of the 3C in respect of the data locations so there may be other versions incompatable with Alarm Enhancer. 9. THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM Press the Menu key in Enhancer and the configuration program will run (or will come to the foreground if it is already running). Use the menus (see below) to register and configure Enhancer. Once configured, the configuration program (Enhancfg.opo) may be deleted if desired. Please note that the configuration options only work if Enhancer is registered so, if you do not register Enhancer, you should delete Enhancfg.opo to save disk space. Instead of using the Menu key, the configuration menu hot keys can be used to run the configuration program (except Psion...X which terminates Enhancer). If Enhancer (Enhancer.opa) is terminated whilst the configuration program (Enhancfg.opo) is running, the configuration program will be closed down automatically. 9.1 INSTALLING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM Copy Enhancfg.opo to the same directory as Enhancer.opa Please note Enhancfg.opo is not required for Enhancer to run and is only useful if the program is registered. 9.2 USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM Press the Menu key (or a hot key) while Enhancer is in the foreground. This will display the various configuration options in a menu structure, as described below. 9.2.1 Configure, Snoozes (Psion...S) This option displays a dialog allowing you to set the default snooze periods to your chosen values. The standard (unregistered) defaults are 5 minutes, 10 minutes and half an hour. The first two snooze values can be set to a number of minutes, the third can be set to a number of days, hours and minutes in the future. Additionally, each of the three snooze times can be set as Default or Sticky. If set to Default then this value will always be shown in the Enhancer dialog when an alarm is to be rescheduled. If set to Sticky then any value you type in (in the reschedule dialog) will be remembered for the next reschedule event. The values set to Sticky in Configure, Snoozes become the starting values when Enhancer is run. 9.2.2 Configure, Silent Alarm Beeper (Psion...B) This option displays a dialog allowing you to set the Silent Alarm beep character, the beep duration and the beep pitch. A button is available to test the sound. 9.2.3 Alarm Killer (Psion...K) Alarm Killer can be configured as "Always", "Periods" of "Off". The menu key shows a dialog to set the start and end times of up to 3 periods during which Alarm Killer is active. Setting the start time and the end time to the same value, for example from 01:00 to 01:00 indicates a zero length period and Alarm Killer will not be activated. Kill periods can overlap and can span midnight. The delay before the alarm sounds are killed after an alarm goes off can be set. The "Don't kill character" can be set. 9.2.3 Configure, Check Timers (Psion...C) These options allow you to set the Check Timer to your chosen intervals. The default (unregistered) value is 59 seconds when auto switch off is disabled. If auto switch off is enabled, checking takes place before the Psion switches itself off. A shorter interval can be set. 9.2.4 Configure, Progress Information (Psion...P) On the 3A and 3C, the information window can be displayed to the right of the dialog window. This can be set to on or off. When Enhancer detects that the first alarm scheduled has changed, by default it sounds a two tone beep. This can be disabled. Enhancer displays the alarm time on the System screen instead of a file name. This can be disabled if required. The display of the progress information text messages can be suppressed 9.2.5 Configure, Unnattended Alarms (Psion...U) If alarms have gone off and are not rescheduled or abandoned, by default, the last 4 are retained. The number retained can be configured. 9.2.6 Setup, Machine (Psion...M) This option allows you to select the machine on which Enhancer is running. Options are 3a, 3c and Siena. This is the similar to the dialog presented when Enhancer is run for the first time. The machine types that appear in brackets are still functional but should not be used. 9.2.7 Setup, Off Key (Psion... O) This enables or disables Enhancer's ability to intercept the Off Key. Options are Yes or No. 9.2.8 Special, About (Psion...A) Displays Enhancer version details, registered status, email and website information. 9.2.9 Special, Register (Psion...R) Allows the input of your Registration Name and Registration Code. Both must be entered as supplied as the code is an encrypted version of the name. Please see REGISTRATION (below) for details of how to obtain your code. 9.2.10 Special, Exit Configuration Exits the configuration program and returns to Enhancer. If changes have been made to any configuration option(s) it will prompt the user to save the configuration. Pressing Enter will save the configuration changes. Pressing Esc will discard the changes. 10. FILES Enhancer.opa The Alarm Enhancer program. Enhancfg.opo The configuration program. Enhanupd.opo The program to convert configuration data files from previous versions. This is used by Enhancer.opa and cannot be run by itself. Enhancer.6AA The configuration data file (created by Enhancer). Enhancer.txt Documentation (this file). History.txt Alarm Enhancer's development history. File_id.diz Short description for BBS file lists. 11. FREEWARE/SHAREWARE Enhancer is functional and can be used without payment. Registation of Enhancer adds the following: - Alarm Killer which silences an alarm after a specified period after it has gone off, together with a method of overriding the alarm sound switch-off for individual alarms. - The time and date of the original event are displayed in the Enhancer dialog. - More of the message text is shown. - On the 3A and 3C, the Enhancer dialog expands to show even more of the message text. - On the 3A and 3C, the Information window can be displayed on the right hand side of the screen when the dialog window is displayed. - The default times can be set to other than 5, 10 and 30 minutes. - "Sticky" times can be used instead of the default times. For instance, if you chose to reschedule an alarm for 15 minutes, the next time Enhancer is used, 15 minutes will be displayed as the inital choice. - The Silent Alarm beep character, duration and tone can be changed from #, quarter second and 500. - The "check" timer used when auto-off is inactive can be set to other than 59 seconds. - The "check" timer used when auto-off is active can be set to a shorter time than the remaining auto-off period. - If more than one alarm is scheduled for the same time, this is indicated in the information window and the display can be cycled to show each alarm (but note that only one alarm from the Agenda application is detected). - If more than one alarm has gone off, this is indicated in the dialog window and the display can be cycled to show each entry. - The display of progress messages can be suppressed. - The display of the alarm time on the System screen can be suppressed. 12. REGISTRATION The registration price is 5 UK pounds. Sterling cheques or equivalent value in cash in any convertible currency are accepted. Please enclose your name and address (or preferably, your email address) and send to: Alan Clifford, 7 Broke Court, Merrow Park, Guildford, Surrey, GU4 7HQ, United Kingdom. You will receive a registration code by email or postcard. 13. TRIAL REGISTRATION. This version of Alarm Enhancer can be registered on a trial basis during the first seven days of each month and on Sundays, with the following code: Name: Unregistered Code: 123456789 14. THANKS Thanks are due to Clive D. W. Feather for the Psionics files, and to Dirk Straka, Mark Smalley, Zhava Glaser and Michael Wild for suggestions, testing and assistance with the documentation. 15. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR The author can be contacted at: Email: enhancer@coprolite.prestel.co.uk alan@donor2.mail-only.com Fido: 2:440/4.6 Mail: 7 Broke Court, Merrow Park, Guildford, Surrrey, GU4 7HQ, United Kingdom. 16. LATEST VERSION. The latest version of Alarm Enhancer can be obtained from: Internet: http://www2.prestel.co.uk/coprolite/ Fido: Download or freq from Donor/2, 2:440/4, 01483 717905 (international: +44 1483 717905). 17. DISCLAIMER Alan H. Clifford provides this program "as is" and makes no representation or warranty that this software is fit for any particular purpose.