Alarm Enhancer, Version 5.01

Copyright Alan H. Clifford, 1997/98.

Enhancer is a program for the Psion 3A, 3C and Siena



WHAT IT DOES

You're working on, for example, a spreadsheet and an alarm goes off. 
You press Esc to cancel the alarm and you are presented with Enhancer
screen.  Here, you have the option of scheduling an alarm for several
minutes time or an alarm 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 has an option to sound a single beep when a
silent alarm goes off.



USING ENHANCER

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 an hour in the future.
Pressing ENTER will 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.

An alarm created by Enhancer may be cancelled via the "View next
alarms" option in the Time application.

Enhancer remembers up to 4 alarms.  If 5 alarms go off without you
attending to them, Enhancer will lose the first one.


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 hash) and
setting the alarm sound to "Silent". For example:

#Strategy meeting



INSTALLING ENHANCER

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.501, 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.50A)
is created in the APP directory. 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.

Upgrading from version 5.0

If version 5.0 has been installed previously, copy Enhancer.opa and
Enhancfg.501 to the APP directory and run the program.  The
configuration data, including registration details, in the old
configuration file (Enhancer.005) will be copied automatically to the
new configuration file (Enhancer.50A).  Enhancer.005 can then be
deleted.  The old configuration program, Enhancfg.opl can also be
deleted.

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.501 to the
APP directory.

Upgrading from version 3.3

If version 3.3 has been installed previously, copy Enhancer.opa and
Enhancfg.501 to the APP directory and uninstall and reinstall in order
to pick up new icon.



CONFIGURATION FILE

The configuration file, Enhancer.50A, 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.50A.



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.



THE FOREGROUND SCREEN

It is intended that Enhancer is left to work in background but the
foreground screen does provide some information concerning the status
of the application.  However, the format of this screen may change in
future versions of Enhancer.



CAVEAT

In practical use, the following limitations should not cause any
problems.  But please be aware of them.

Enhancer functions by reading the next alarm from the Time
application's memory space and sets a timer to go off 2 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 within the auto-off time period 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
an new alarm is set for 5 minutes, Enhancer may not pick it up.

If the OFF key is not trapped 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.

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.



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.501) 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.501 to save disk space.

If Enhancer (Enhancer.opa) is terminated whilst the configuration
program (Enhancfg.501) is running, the configuration program will be
closed down automatically.


INSTALLING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM

Copy Enhancfg.501 to the same directory as Enhancer.opa

Please note Enhancfg.501 is not required for Enhancer to run and is
only useful if the program is registered.


USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM 

Press the Menu key while Enhancer is in the foreground. This will
display the various configuration options in a menu structure, as
described below.

Configure, Snoozes

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 an hour. The first two snooze values can be
set to a number of minutes, the third can be set to a date and time.

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.

Configure, Silent Alarm Beeper

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.

Configure, Check Timer

This option allows you to set the Check Timer interval to your chosen
interval. The default (unregistered) value is 59 seconds.  Note that
this applies only if auto switch off is disabled.  If auto switch off
is enabled, checking takes place within the switch off interval.

Setup, Machine

Allows you to select the machine on which Enhancer is running.  Options
are 3a, 3c and Siena. This is the same as the dialog  presented when
Enhancer is run for the first time.

Setup, Off Key

Allows you to enable or disable Enhancer's ability to intercept the 
Off Key. Options are Yes or No.

Special, About

Displays Enhancer version details.

Special, Register

Allows the input of your User Name and Registration Code. Please see
REGISTRATION (below) for details of how to obtain your code.

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.



FILES

Enhancer.opa   The Alarm Enhancer program.
Enhancfg.501   The configuration program.
Enhancer.50a   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.



FREEWARE/SHAREWARE

Enhancer is functional and can be used without payment.

Registation of Enhancer adds the following:

- 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.
- The default times can be set to other than 5, 10 and 60 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 300.
- The "check" timer used when auto-off is inactive can be set to other
  than 59 seconds.



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 post
card.



THANKS

Thanks are due to Clive D. W. Feather for the Psionics files, to Zhava
Glaser, Michael Wild for suggestions and testing and to Mark Smalley
for suggestions, testing and assistance with the documentation.



CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

The author can be contacted at:

Email: alan@coprolite.prestel.co.uk
       alan@donor2.demon.co.uk

Fido: 2:440/4.6

Mail: 7 Broke Court, Merrow Park, Guildford, Surrrey, GU4 7HQ,
      United Kingdom



DISCLAIMER

Alan H. Clifford provides this program "as is" and makes no
representation or warranty that this software is fit for any particular
purpose.


