OutClock v1.0c11e Help Authors: Stéphane Huot & Pierre Dragicevic powered by SpiraClock v1.1e by Pierre Dragicevic & Stéphane Huot 1. Description ----------------------------------------------------------------- OutClock is a java application that displays Microsoft Outlook® appointments using the new SpiraClock visualization technique. All your upcoming events are continuously displayed inside an analog clock on your desktop. Contacts: Stephane.Huot@emn.fr Pierre.Dragicevic@emn.fr Web: http://www.emn.fr/spiraclock Users Group and Discussion Board: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiraclock If you report a bug, please join the logfile "OutClock_err.log" from your main OutClock directory. The 'Always on top' feature is developed by Oliver Pfeiffer (http://www.mysrc.net/eng/). Java COM bridge for Outlook communication is made with Jacob, developed by Dan Adler (http://www.danadler.com/jacob/) 2. What's New In Outclock ---------------------------------------------------- In v1.0c11e * Bug #004 fixed (Night shadowing does not always update properly) * Bug #005 fixed ("Main method not public" exception with j2re 1.4) * Date and digital hour are displayed according to the system language * Window initialization bugs fixed In v1.0b11d * Bug #003 fixed (bug with english date format) In v1.0a11d * Bug #002 fixed (display of next year events) * Logfile added for each session to perform bug tracking * About menu added In v1.0a11c * Bug #001 fixed (exception thrown when hands come back) * Support for hour coordinates frame ! * Reaching a distant visible event is now easy * Double-clicking on the window will no more toggle window borders In v1.0a11b * New display property: showNight (see section 7). * Ability to view event description by clicking on it. In v1.0a11a * Spiraclock properties recovering on each launch. * Splash screen on applications start. In v1.0a10f * The 'Always on top' option is now implemented (Windows only). * Ability to move the window using 'shift' key. 3. Known bugs ------------------------------------------------------------------ * #001 Moving hands too far (i.e. several months) will throw an exception while they return to their original position (fixed in v1.0a11c). * #002 Spiraclock only displays events from the current year (fixed in v1.0a11d). * #003 Serious problems with english date formats (fixed in v1.0b11d). * #004 Night shadowing does not always update properly (fixed in v1.0c11e). * #005 "Main method not public" exception within j2re 1.4 (fixed in v1.0c11e). 4. Todo ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Automatically update OutClock when events change in Outlook. 5. Requirements ---------------------------------------------------------------- Java 1.3 or higher (performs better with 1.3 than 1.4) 6. Installation ---------------------------------------------------------------- * If you don't have Java 2 Runtime Environment v1.3 or higher, install it from http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/jre/ * Unzip outclock.zip in your hard drive (e.g. C:\) Lauching OutClock from the command line: * From an MS-DOS window, go to OutClock directory and type: java -jar OutClock.jar After a while, you should see the OutClock window on the top right corner of your screen. Making a shortcut to OutClock: * Search for the file 'javaw.exe' in your java bin directory. (usually C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\JRE\1.3.1_01\bin) * Make a shortcut to this file (Alt+drag) and rename it, e.g. 'OutClock'. * Open the shorcut's properties window (right click), and add in the 'Target' text field: -jar OutClock.jar Leave quotation marks on the left, if any. You should have, for example: "C:\jdk1.3\bin\javaw.exe" -jar OutClock.jar * In the next text field, set the start directory to be OutClock's directory. For example: C:\OutClock * You can also use the icon provided in your OutClock's directory. 7. Using OutClock -------------------------------------------------------------- * To exclude an outlook event from OutClock, go to Outlook and set the event category to "NoSpiraclock" (You just have to add this custom category to Outlook, and apply it to all events you don't want to be displayed in OutClock). * Refreshing OutClock display: Click on the reload menu to update OutClock after you have added/removed/changed an event in Outlook. * Use OutClock's contextual menu to configure events properties. A dialog box displays properties for all known event categories. For each category, you can change the display color, 'ShowStart' and 'ShowEnd' properties (display marks at event extremities), the 'Allow Overlap' property (disables layout management of overlapping events), and the 'Fade On End' property (events are displayed until they end). * See section 8 for general tips for using Spiraclock. 8. Using SpiraClock ------------------------------------------------------------ * Spiraclock Applets and Applications: - Looking ahead/backward in time: Drag the minute hand. - Fast looking ahead/backward: Drag the hour hand. - Resetting to current time: Move the mouse out of the component. - Changing time extent: Drag the spiral toward its center or its border. - Showing/hiding the digital clock or current date: use the contextual menu (right button in Windows). - View event full description (if exists): click on the event and keep the button pressed - Reaching an event : double-click on the event - Toggle minute/hour coordinates frame: double-click on minute/hour hand * SpiraClock Applications only: - Resizing the clock: Drag window background toward spiral's center or outside. - Moving the window: Shift-drag window background. - Using the contextual menu, you can also add/remove window borders, close the window, or set it to be always on top. This last feature works only in Windows platforms. Some window managers have this feature built-in. - The showNight option progressively shadows Spiraclock background during "night". You can specify "day"'s begin and end times with the contextual menu. - Disable the Splash screen using the contextual menu.