Peter's Ultimate Alarm Clock
Version History

0.7.4 (31-7-2002)
-The first released version.

0.8.0 (1-8-2002)
-Added possibility to speak the alarm message (SAPI required).

0.8.1 (2-8-2002)
-Possible to pass command line arguments and working directory to 'starting up a program'-option.

0.8.2 (4-8-2002)
-Fixed major bug caused by 'add'-option use, which completely messed up the calculation of the next alert time.
-Alarms suppressed when message box was visible now sound without delay.

0.9.0 (16-8-2002)
-Added option 'what to do when unblocked'
-Main window now always comes to foreground when it is restored
-Added sorting option for alarm group list and alarm list
-Fixed more bugs
-Added possibility to load multiple alarm groups at once
-Added possibility to load and save readable, encrypted or password encrypted alarm groups
-Added possibility to change the path where the alarm groups are stored
-Added option 'Automatically save alarm groups and settings'
-Added possibility to reload and save all alarm groups
-Increased the accuracy of alarm sounding times
-Added option to correct the sounding times in microseconds
-Added pop-up menu to the lists of coming and past alarms
-Improved selection behaviour of the lists of coming and past alarms
-Added option to sound alarms on certain weekdays only

0.9.1 (19-8-2002)
-Fixed tab-order.

0.9.9 (20-8-2002)
-Removed the help file from the program. The help command will now open the ReadMe file from the application directory.
-Added possibility to change the voice (SAPI required).
-Added 'advanced'-property to alarm.
-Fixed ugliness of tray icon.
-Tray icon changes when alarms are blocked.
-Fixed a nasty bug which caused an error to occur when alarm groups were saved in the application directory (in version 0.9.0 and 0.9.1)

1.0.0 (6-9-2002)
-Ctrl+x,c,v now work correctly in bottom text box.
-Fixed minor bug in alarm group selection behaviour.
-Fixed bug which caused the calculation of the next alarm time to go wrong after certain actions.
-Fixed bug which turned off snoozing when testing the alarm.
-Added option to 'save alarm groups when exiting program'.
-Made a few other minor improvements and modifications.

1.0.1 (10-9-2002)
-Made the alarm message window more flexible: it's now resizable and the text box has a scroll bar.
-Fixed bug which prevented alarms from sounding after inactiveness (in version 1.0.0).
-Fixed bug which showed wrong trayicon if alarms were blocked at start-up.
-Improved checking for dangerous/wrong input in alarm properties window.
-Now really fixed bug which turned off snoozing when testing the alarm.

1.0.2 (29-9-2002)
-Corrected bug which messed up the placement of controls if the window border was greater than 1 pixel.
-Split up user account settings and other settings and put them in separate windows.
-Fixed problems with 'reload all'.
-Added option to change the font of the lists and some text fields.
-Added possibility to change password.
-Changed snooze policy: snoozing is not turned off if a snoozing periodical alarm sounds. User is warned when snoozing will be overridden when trying to let a snoozing alarm snooze.
-Fixed some minor errors and made minor improvements.
-Added new keywords to the 'advanced' option (alarm properties).
-Fixed tray-menu behaviour.

1.0.3 (10-11-2002)
-Fixed bug which prevented some periodical alarms from being shown in the list of past alarms.
-Fixed mistake which caused alarmgroups to be saved as .agr by default (instead of .age).

2.0.0 (1-1-2003)
This version is mostly incompatible with previous versions. The main reason is that the options for user accounts and encryption have been removed. From now on, only the .agr format is supported. Settings files of previous versions are not compatible.

-Options for user accounts and encryption have been removed.
-I rewrote large sections of the code. (I made the code better to read, so it's now easier for me to make changes and fix errors. Besides that, there have been made a lot of speed improvements, which are especially noticeable when using a lot of alarms.)
-Added a window for editing alarm group properties (currently name only).
-Redesigned the alarm properties window.
-Made a small change to the file format, which makes the files quite a bit smaller.
-Fixed the occasional disappearance of the system tray icon.
-Added status indication.
-Added special commands. These commands must be put in the 'open file, program or url' option of the alarm properties. Current special commands enable you to start the screensaver, shut down, reboot the computer, or log-off.
-Another special command which has been added is the timeteller command (from the TimeTeller program). The timeteller can be called by using 'tt' (without quotes) as command, arguments after '|' (without the quotes).
-It's now possible to edit multiple alarms at once (in the same window) and to edit multiple alarms separately (multiple windows).
-Added an options menu to the alarm message window (right-click or use ALT).
-Fixed error which prevented alarm groups from being exported if forbidden characters were used in the name.
-Added a setting to specify a default sound. If a sound specified in an alarm cannot be found, the default sound will be sounded. If this sound doesn't exist either, the windows default sound will be used.
-Partially fixed sorting problems.
-Changed alarm group saving policy: alarm groups are either saved automatically (after each change) or not (which means you'll have to do it manually).
-Fixed problems with cutting and copying text from the bottom text box.
-Improved error handling if alarm groups can't be saved properly.

2.0.1 (3-1-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused window always to be opened at startup

2.0.2 (5-1-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused the program to stop reacting when using alarms with a short period.
-Corrected error in 'settings' window. The label for the clock correction said microseconds, but this should be milliseconds.

2.0.3 (8-1-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused some alarms to cause an overflow and let the program crash.
-ALT+x now opens menu in alarm message window instead of only ALT.
-Fixed minor bug which caused the alarm group files to be saved incorrectly.

2.0.4 (12-1-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused removed alarms to reappear sometimes when restarting the program.
-Fixed bug which caused some alarms to sound a bit earlier than expected.
-Fixed bug which caused an error when an alarm sounded while a message box was open.
-Fixed problems with customizing the icon.

2.0.5 (11-2-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused an error when an alarm sounded while a dialog box was open.

2.0.6 (14-3-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused the program to stop sounding alarms under some conditions.
-Fixed bug which prevented some alarms from sounding if the clock was set back.
-Fixed bug which prevented the settings from being saved when the program exited.
-Fixed bug which prevented the clock correction from working correctly.

From now on version 2.x (the free version) will be developed separately from version 3 and up. Updates will only be bug fixes. Version 3.0.0 is based on version 2.0.6.

2.0.7 (29-3-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused alarm properties to be displayed incorrectly under some conditions.
-Fixed bug which caused the program to crash when the date and time window was opened while the date was invalid.
-Now really fixed bug which caused the program to stop sounding alarms under some conditions.
-Made some other minor modifications.

2.0.8 (27-2-2004)
-Fixed user interface bug in alarm properties window when using large fonts in Windows. This caused some controls to be overlapping each other.
-Fixed error that occurred when trying to set up an alarm while no alarm group was selected.
-Added a one-time message window that informs of the existence of a shareware version of Puac.

Version 3.0.0 is based on version 2.0.6.

3.0.0 (16-3-2003)
-Added support for more sound formats. The program now uses windows mediaplayer to play sounds. Anything which mediaplayer can play, is supported. If anything goes wrong, or if mediaplayer is not installed, the sound will be played the 'old' way, so this means wav only.
-Added language support.
-Changed the appearance of the lists.
-Made the settings window a bit more structured by adding tabs.
-Added possibility of specifying a template alarm.
-Added more special commands.
-Removed status indication, added hourglass.
-Put in some safeties which prevent unwanted effects caused by some settings in alarms. (e.g. shutting down the system every 1 second won't be very useful.) The program will detect if it has only run for a short time, or when the system has crashed.
-Made some small adjustments and color changes in the 'date and time' window.
-Fixed bug which prevented settings and alarm groups from being saved when a special command was used to exit windows.
-Fixed bug which prevented the use of some combinations of brackets in the advanced expression.

3.0.1 (29-3-2003)
-Fixed bug which caused alarm properties to be displayed incorrectly under some conditions.
-Fixed bug which caused the program to crash when the date and time window was opened while the date was invalid.
-Now really fixed bug which caused the program to stop sounding alarms under some conditions.
-Adjusted the alarm properties window so that the 'once'-date is now the same as the 'include'-date (these were originally two different dates).

3.1.0 (31-7-2003)
-Rearranged the lay-out of the main window. The notes text box is now less wide, so that the lists of past and coming alarms can be longer.
-Added possibility to save a separate template alarm for each alarm group.
-Added Outlook alarm groups. From now on, each alarmgroup has a type. The Outlook alarm groups contain alarms which correspond to tasks or appointments. The alarm groups will be updated every 30 minutes. Currently, recurring tasks and appointments are not supported.
-Added support for SAPI 4.
-Added color coding of the information in the main window.
-Added new alarm setting: in the settings, a secondary alarm can be set to sound for each alarm that sounds.
-Added new alarm setting: in the settings, an alarm can be set which will sound if you don't react within 10 seconds.
-Added settings to change the formats dates are displayed in at various places in the program.
-Added the possibility to display additional information in the main window (alarm group type, alarm date and time description and alarm action description).
-Totally reorganized the alarm action system. An alarm can contain any number of actions, which can be added and removed. Actions have been split up and the special commands of the previous versions are separate actions as well.
-An important action that has been changed is the playing of a sound. Now a window with a button to stop the sound can be displayed.
-An action to play a sound repeatedly has been added. The sound can be set to loop a number of times, loop forever or imitate a clock chiming.
-All files are saved in a new format. The new format looks like XML, but it's not. Conversion is done automatically. The new format is needed to be able to expand the program in the future, while staying compatible with earlier versions.
-Added a search function.
-Completely redesigned the help. The help file is now a .chm file, complete with graphics and a search function.
-Created a new icon.
-A new installation program is used for the installation: inno setup. A lot more advanced than the other program I used. Some of the changes: a shortcut will be placed in the startup folder automatically, the installation file is an exe file, so no need to unzip anything.
-Fixed bug that caused alarms to sound early under certain conditions (like when turning off an alarm with a period shorter than 30 seconds).

3.1.1 (1-8-2003)
-Fixed problems with updating registration.
-Fixed error that caused the program to crash when trying to open invalid alarm group files.

3.1.2 (5-9-2003)
-Made the memory usage of the program a bit more efficient.
-It's now possible to let a file or sound to be randomly chosen from a list by using a filter like c:\*.mp3, which will play a random mp3 file in the c:\ directory.
-Recurrent Oulook appointments and tasks can also be imported now. The conversion is not perfect yet.
-Alarms can be read-only now. This is used for example for automatically generated alarms (like the Outlook alarm groups), so you cannot edit them (the changes would be lost when the Outlook alarm group refreshed).
-In addition to the previous point, Outlook appointments and tasks can now be imported once, creating a normal alarm group that can be edited just like any other normal alarm group.
-Improved the checking of the exit state at start-up. It's now possible to block the alarms after the program crashed or if it ran very short.
-Fixed bug that caused very old .agr files to be imported incorrectly.
-Fixed bug that prevented the font in the main window from being updated.
-Fixed bug that caused the color of the text in the main window to be black if no colors were used and the Windows text color was not black.
-Fixed bug that prevented outlook alarms from being shown in the lists of coming and past alarms.
-Fixed bug that showed the alarm date/time description incorrectly in the alarm list when both a 'between .. and ...' period and specific weekdays were specified.
-Fixed bug with daysbeforenextmonth and daysinmonth of the advanced expression.
-Improved the interface at some points where it was possible to enter data that crashed the program.

3.2.0 (17-01-2004)
-Created a plug-in system. This makes it possible to add functionality to the program without changing the program. It is possible to write your own plug-ins as well (if you are a programmer). There are currently seven kinds of plug-ins: import plug-ins, export plug-ins, file import plug-ins, file export plug-ins, synchronization plug-ins, action plug-ins and general purpose plug-ins.
-Removed the importing/exporting of old alarmgroup files (.agr). This functionality is now available as a plug-in.
-Removed the importing/synchronizing of Outlook appointments/tasks. This functionality is now available as a plug-in.
-The type property of an alarm group has been changed so that you can specify any synchronization plug-in for an alarm group.
-Added color schemes. This allows you to color code the information in the main window. Color schemes can also be customized.
-Added a color property to the alarm groups.
-Added weeks.
-Added possibility to change the date format in the alarm properties window. You can specifiy the order of the day, month and year and the time format (24hr / am/pm).
-Extended the first time settings window. Besides the language, the date format and time format can also be selected on first start-up.
-Added possibility to change the alarm group an alarm is in from the alarm properties window.
-Added possibility to add a new alarm from the system tray menu.
-Added possibility to show the calendar from the system tray menu.
-Changed the list in the find window.
-Improved the action selection window.
-A few plug-ins have already been created. These can be downloaded from the website. The plug-ins that are distributed with the program are the Agx plug-in, the Outlook plug-in and the Simple clock plug-in. The version history of all the plug-ins won't be recorded in this file.
-The sticky system tray menu problem has finally been solved.
-Added version checking. You can have the program check for updates automatically or do it on command.
-Improved error checking on various places.
-Some 'would-you-want-this' checks have been added, like when setting an alarm that is turned off.
-Made a few adjustments to the tray icon. (Still looking for a better one.)

3.2.1 (20-01-2004)
-Fixed a nasty bug that caused an error to occur when setting an alarm using a computer with certain system configurations and the alarm properties date time format set to am/pm. (Was quite hard to find the error, since it only appeared to occur on Windows XP systems with a certain date/time format set. I haven't been able to reproduce the error on other versions of Windows with a similar configuration.)
-Prettified the 16x16 256 color icon.

3.2.2 (26-02-2004)
-An error would occur when checking for a new version while the file mswinsck.ocx wasn't present. If automatic version checking was on, this error would occur regularly, but the error message would not be indicating that the version checking was the cause of the error. A more descriptive error message is given in this version and automatic version checking is turned off when the error occurs. The missing file is also distributed in the complete installation version.
-Fixed a problem in the user interface when using large fonts. This was mainly noticeable in the alarm properties window: parts of controls would be overlapping each other.
-Fixed a bug that changed the setting in the alarm properties window to 'sound once' if an alarm properties window was open with a periodical alarm while applying general program settings.

3.3.0 (30-07-2004)

• Created a new way of controlling and managing the alarms: the calendar. The calendar can be set to cover basically any scope. The new view is the default, the old view can still be set from 'window->view'. The calendar also has some settings in the settings window. The calendar also has an option to convert it to html, which also enables you to print the calendar.
• Added setting to omit seconds in the alarm properties window.
• Fixed bug that caused action settings to be updated if the changes were cancelled.
• Fixed bug in alarm pasting; only the reference would be copied.
• Added alarm property: importance.
• Added alarm property: duration. The duration is currently only used in the calendar as the 'interval bar'.
• Reorganized the settings window.
• Added option in settings to delete all non-sounding alarms.
• Added option to settings to override the sound volume when a sound is being played.
• Added options to override the default voice volume and speed.
• Added check for previous instances of the program.
• The program now asks if you really want to exit if you try to exit.
• Added a visual alarm clock. The alarm clock can be displayed to show the time, but can also be used as an alarm action, in which case it will ring.
• Added options to export multiple alarm groups to one file: the alarm group collection (.agc).
• Reorganized the date/time selection window.
• Replaced several text boxes that only contain numbers with specialized controls which have a nice spinner for easy in/decrementing.
• Fixed 'browse' button for the 'start program' action.
• Pressing ctrl+t on the alarm properties window will load the template alarm for the alarm group selected in the dropdown list.
• Fixed bug with speaking actions. If multiple speaking actions were executed at once, the last would interrupt the previous ones.
• The 'stop all sounds' option now also stops speech.
• Putting your computer in hibernation or stand-by now also counts as inactiveness. That is, if a sudden time jump is detected, only the alarms with the properties 'sound after start-up while program was inactive' set will be sounded (as if the system had been shut down and restarted).

3.3.1 (2004-11-10)

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug in the alarm message window: changing the snooze time unit wouldn't automatically check the snooze checkbox.
• Fixed bug in playing sounds. If a file filter was used for the default sound, a file could sometimes not be found.
• Fixed bugs in sorting the alarm group and alarm lists. Alarm groups can now also be sorted by type and alarms by date/time and action.
• Fixed bug in resizing parts of the main window. It was possible to drag parts of the window so that it could not be changed back and parts of the window were 'permanently' invisible. This seems to be solved now.
• Fixed bug that occurred when the program was started after being exited while the main window was visible but minimized. Restoring the main window from the minimized state resulted in a messed up window lay-out and malfunctioning calendars. This problem is now solved by making the main window normal sized and invisible if it was minimized on exit.

Improved

• Separated the 'check for updates' functionality from the program. It is now a separate program that is called by Puac. This is to prevent possible problems in Puac in case something goes wrong with the Internet connection.
• Tried to make the calendar a bit clearer. (redid icons, added more tooltips, fixed date in top right corner, added 'wk' before week number).
• Redesigned the registration window and the pop-up process. There now is a pop-up-free period of 14 days. The frequency of the pop-ups has also been reduced a bit. Furthermore, the pop-up is the registration window instead of an alarm message. Only one instance is shown at any time, so no worries about running out of memory or waking up with 20 pop-ups anymore.
• Changes to volume control: The sound volume is now changed only when the new volume (as set in the settings) is higher than the current. (Note that this is not the case for the voice volume: the voice volume will also change if the new volume is lower than the original). Currently, the sound volume is not set for the voice, although the sound volume is also 'used' by the voice. (I hope to find a solution for this in a future version).
• Another change is that if the master and wave-out volume are muted and the 'override sound volume' is set, pauc will unmute them while the sound is being played.
• Built in a number of safeties with playing sounds. For example: the maximum number of sounds that can be playing at the same time is three. If a new sound is started, an older one is stopped.
• 'Stop all sounds' now also stops the alarm clock action.
• Pasting an alarm into the calendar doesn't put it in the selected alarm group anymore, but in the group it was cut/copied from. This is more intuitive.
• Added a short period (about 1 second) in which the alarm message window and sound window will not close. This way, the window isn't closed accidentally when it appears at the same moment you are pressing 'escape' for example.

New

• Added functionality to detect and give warning of overlapping alarms. Each time a new alarm is created or properties are changed, the check is performed. Currently, the function is turned off by default, because it sometimes is slow. See settings -> alarm management to turn it on.
• Added a virtual personal assistant. It is still in the experimental stage. This function uses the speech engine to give you an overview of upcoming alarms in the next few days and the next 24 hours. This overview will be given after the program wakes up from inactiveness. Various parameters (such as the strings that are spoken) can be set in the language file ([assistant] section). See settings -> advanced to turn it on.
• Added an example alarm group with a few example alarms.

3.4.0 (2005-05-18)

Bug fixes

• For some systems with non-Latin alphabets, the headers of the calendars in the main window would appear as gibberish. This version changes the way fonts are handled in the calendar. If, for some reason, you prefer the old way, this can be set in settings -> advanced.
• The 'override sound volume' setting is now saved and loaded correctly.
• Fixed a few issues with the virtual personal assistant (settings -> advanced), such as the multiple announcements at start up.
• A number of potential bugs have been removed.
• A style sheet was not included in the setup and complete installation versions of the program. This style sheet is used when you export the calendar contents to html.

Improved

• The sound action now shows a window similar to the message window and can also be set to snooze.
• Changed the layout of the alarm message window: instead of checking a check box, a snooze button must be clicked to let the alarm snooze.

New

• Added an option to set the default snooze settings (settings -> alarm sounding).
• If an alarm is set to snooze, the snooze settings are remembered for that alarm and set by default if the alarm sounds again.
• Added an option that limits the number of open alarm windows for each alarm to one (settings -> alarm sounding). So if the message window is open for an alarm and it sounds again, no new window is shown.
• Added option to turn off the safety check at the start of the program (settings -> advanced).

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