Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[FrankL]

Why doesn't Media Scheduler have a built-in function to act as an alarm clock?

I have been told that it is possible to custom program it to do such a thing, but I don't want to do that, I just want an alarm clock.

[nila]

Someone started building a plugin for MJ to do this but there hasn't been any feedback on it for a while. Not sure how it's going

[Phydeaux]

Have either of you heard of Task Scheduler? A feature of all Windows since 95...  

P.

[nila]

I could say the same for CD Burning within MJ - Have you heard of Nero - or if you want a free solution then the burning features built into XP

It's more a case of loving MJ so much we never want to have to leave it's screen lol. (otherwise known as wanting an easy simple way of doing it and being able to configure volume, tracks, etc. etc.)

[KingSparta]

>> I just want an alarm clock.
K-Mart Has a large selection

I got mine for $13.00 it has large numbers so i can see them.

[nila]

Sweet!!
Hardware UI for MJ.
How do I connect it to control MJ?
Can I choose which tracks to play from it too or do I have to choose those in MJ before using that to control the alarm time?  

[KingSparta]

>> How do I connect it to control MJ?

thats in the works, the clock has a USB port that MC15 will control from the OS2 version of MC

Blue tooth versions will follow

[JohnT]

With the upcoming alarm clock features, and the already implemented coffee maker interface, MC is really becoming a complete solution for many people.  

[nila]

Sorry, not impressed,
it still cant make fresh jam filled donuts and chocolate covered ones!

Without this feature it's just not at all complete for me.
Anyone wanna make a plug-in to do it?

King - maybe you? and it can spit the donuts at me to grab the focus from them?  

[xen-uno]

Looks to me that there's a MC9 version of the Sleep Timer. Use it in conjunction with MS (to start MC if not running). Make sure to turn your amp up to 11. Guaranteed to wake up yourself and the neighbors.

10^-27

[FrankL]

where is this Task Scheduler of which you speak?

[KingSparta]

>> where is this Task Scheduler of which you speak?

"Start"
"All Programs"
"Accessories"
"System Tools"
"Scheduled Tasks"
"Add Scheduled Task"

[RandyP]

Someone started building a plugin for MJ to do this but there hasn't been any feedback on it for a while. Not sure how it's going

It's going well...



I've been going to sleep with it and waking up to it for about 2 weeks. It has some neat features... my favorite mode is ensuring it plays to the end of a song when it's on a Timer, and fading out through the last song.

As of today it lets you associate both music and images with each alarm and timer, set start volumes, durations, shut-off mode, fade-out mode and many other options. One thing I found it needed: it can mute the volume when a Timer expires so you don't hear the ding of e-mails during the night.

The slide-show now has a zoom and move feature using the mouse wheel. It needs to be keyboard-enabled. Both audio and images restart from their previous location even between MC9 sessions.

I still need to provide Shuffle options, an Alarm noise, making the "seconds per image" field visible, adding, deleting and renaming of Alarms and Timers, and vertical orientation of the Alarm and Timer panels. I think I'll have it ready for test in about 2 weeks.

Nila, since you looked at it once before, I posted today's build for you. The one thing that's not obvious is that if you point at an Alarm or Timer, then press and hold the left mouse button for a second, you can set the Alarm or Timer by clicking the left/right mouse button.

  Click here for AlarmClock page

[nila]

Randy, It's progressed amazingly!
You've done a TON to it since I last saw it.
The options screen is much better laid out now.
Nice and neatly laid out into the one screen.

It'd be nice to have an option to set the default picture
Also, still not too convinced with the dark red text on the black bg. On my screen I really have to squint to be able to see what it says. Maybe just an option to allow us to specity the bg and foreground colours?
A button to Add an Alarm would also really help to clarify it for people using it for the first time

Your doing a great job on it though. When you planning to add it to the plug-in's page?

[Marko]

It'd be nice to have an option to........

Uh-ohh, here he goes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D
Hope you know what you've let yourself in for Randy!!

Sounds like a neat plugin too. Work progressing steadily by the sounds of it too, which is always nice.
Nila will certainly keep you busy. His visions of getting from [job to do]------->[job done] are more often than not really neat.

[nila]

lol.
No no no!!

He'd sent it to me previously asking me for suggestions and points. That was one of the points I'd made then, I was just reminding him


(Hey - You ever noticed that I'm in the AV2 'Thanks To' section? )

I have loads of ideas I know - I'm still waiting for the perfect job to make the most of them. Now that I've finished University and I'm working I'm trying to put my ideas to their best possible use. Uni is just too restrictive to creative thinking.

[RandyP]

It'd be nice to have an option to set the default picture

Of course. It's gonna be on the same "Options" page as Date Format and Time Format. Which I'm surprised you didn't mention...  

Also, still not too convinced with the dark red text on the black bg. On my screen I really have to squint to be able to see what it says. Maybe just an option to allow us to specity the bg and foreground colours?

Will be part of upcoming second page for Alarm/Timer settings, including font style. Probably not background color, though, not in v1 at least.

A button to Add an Alarm would also really help to clarify it for people using it for the first time

I dunno... I don't really want any buttons in the main display. I was thinking of making one panel be a Control Panel, but I'm trying to avoid it. Personally, I think the typical new user - which probably isn't you - will be exploring the default Alarm and Timer as their first activities. There should be a number of places to put the "button" that will be easily found.

Thanks for the suggestions... it's surprising how much one can do with a simple concept like an Alarm Clock.

[nila]

Oh you'd be amazed,
I'm sure as time goes on you'll start thinking of more and more ideas and depending on long you want to keep pursueing it you could go on forever.

Look at Album View - at first it was just a plug-in to group your songs into Albums, now he's gone crazy with it and I use it all the time. I love it and it's got too many features to name.

As far as view methods go, I think the ability to display it in simple mode (now), list mode, details, icon would be the best
That's the easiest way of dealing with data - big icons for those who want it nice and simple just saying the alarm name. list for those who have lots of alarms and just want to be able to see them all easily, and details for those who want a lot of info at first glance.
The biggest problem with the way you've set it up now is that it's stuck at a max of like 6 alarms (unless you've included some trick I didn't notice). If you think of your alarm purely as a wake up alarm then that's fine. If you think of it as more of a reminder program for tasks throughout the day then it's a big limiting factor

You might have only planned it to be a wake up alarm but you'll probably find some users starting to use it for a lot more and using it as a reminder program.

Once you get going you could add notes that can appear with the alarm (ie: 1:00, FORCE YOURSELF TO GO GET LUNCH!!, 9:00pm, Call that HOT chick who's number you just got, etc etc.)

Another feature that would be great would be the ability to add individual tracks rather then just playlists (ie create our own playlists inside of the program.)


lol. Anyway, I'm just amazed at where you've got it right now. It's looking great

[RandyP]

That's the easiest way of dealing with data - big icons for those who want it nice and simple just saying the alarm name. list for those who have lots of alarms and just want to be able to see them all easily, and details for those who want a lot of info at first glance.

Yep. There's another display mode that I like, too: one where I only see the next 2-3 pending alarms and a selection of primary timers, with quick access to the complete list.

The biggest problem with the way you've set it up now is that it's stuck at a max of like 6 alarms (unless you've included some trick I didn't notice). If you think of your alarm purely as a wake up alarm then that's fine. If you think of it as more of a reminder program for tasks throughout the day then it's a big limiting factor.

Aw, Nila... I hope you don't think I'd put in all this functionality with a total of 4 alarms and 1 timer?  



There's a lot of stuff already in the structure of the program that isn't settable by the user yet. That's mostly what I'm doing from now on - exposing functionality that's already in place. The critical functions have been my focus... I think you'll find the timing and alarm functions very reliable. For example, if you change volume or song position in MC9's lower-left panel, the changes are taken into account in the display and fade-out. Another example: you can already change the background image in what you've loaded. Run REGEDIT

HKCU::Software::El Dorado Software::AlarmClock:: Preferences

You can change the contents of BackgroundImage as you desire. This is just one of the things that simply need to be "exposed" through a dialog box.

You might have only planned it to be a wake up alarm but you'll probably find some users starting to use it for a lot more and using it as a reminder program.

I believe this will be the case, too. I think this will breed a stand-alone container for AlarmClock that will start MC, which then continues AlarmClock duties internally. I think we're a lot on the same wavelength.

Once you get going you could add notes that can appear with the alarm

Good idea! I'll put the hooks into the data right now so this flows easily when time allows.  (yep, I didn't anticipate this one!)

Another feature that would be great would be the ability to add individual tracks rather then just playlists (ie create our own playlists inside of the program.)

Definitely. And... check this out... right-click on the background image. The icons you see are read from a BMP file and you can modify them. The controls above the icons? I'm making a "Content-Sensitive Icon Selector". It will look at the fields you select for the contents you specify, and pick the icon most suitable for the file based on the field matches.  

I guess I can get carried away with things. A friend once said, "Ask Randy what time it is and he'll tell you how to build a clock". Gee... that was kind-of prescient...

[nila]

lol.
Your more nuts than me!!

Crazy ideas, but they look cool, cant wait till there's GUI access to everythin u've brought in

[RandyP]

JohnT:

With the upcoming alarm clock features, and the already implemented coffee maker interface, MC is really becoming a complete solution for many people.

I don't know if you were being serious when you wrote this, but I do see a "Remote" plug-in called X10MP3. I wonder if it is a gateway to X10 that I could call from AlarmClock? Hmmm.... if not, I have an X10 server I wrote a couple years ago that would do the job.

The point being, I could add X10-controls to Timers and Alarms. My pellet stove has an X10 control to turn it on and off... MC9 could turn off the fire when a Timer runs out. It could turn on the coffee-maker when an Alarm fires. Further insanity - with adjustable X-10 lamp controllers it could dim the lights during a Timer. Or turn them up slowly in the morning.

I can hear it coming... a TAPI interface so it can make phone calls...

[JimH]

I can hear it coming... a TAPI interface so it can make phone calls...

And you laugh.

[KingSparta]

In the early 80's Atari Had A Video Phone Prototype

You never know what is around the corner.

It would be nice if MJ\MC had a Internet chat line (J River Messenger "JRM")

Ooops that's a new option request.