Der Browser Timer Help Page
Introduction
Copying and License Information
Installation
Quick Start
Settings and Operation
Error Messages
Programmer's Notes
Introduction
Der Browser Timer is a timer/clock/alarm add-on for the Mozilla FireFox browser.
It allows you to set
an audible and/or visual alarm by specifying the alarm time in one of
three ways: as a relative count down time (e.g. set the alarm to go off
in thirty minutes), as an absolute target time (e.g. set the alarm to go
off at 7:45 am), or as a regular interval (e.g. set the alarm to go off
hourly at five minutes before the hour). In addition, Der Browser Timer
can be set to signal the hour and/or half hour with an alternate tone
like a cuckoo clock.
The program is functionally, if not visually, patterned after a clock
radio, with a simple interface consisting of a digital time readout and
several indicator icons that appear on the right side of the browser
menubar. Left clicking on the time will toggle between several display
formats. Right clicking will open the main application menu where you can
enable the alarm, access Der Browser Timer settings, and display Help
information.
Der Browser Timer isn't designed for task scheduling or event
planning - if you're interested in the latter, try
the Mozilla Calendar
extension.
Other features:
- Multiple time display formats. Menu bar clock can display the current
time (in 12- or 24-hour format), the current date, or the time remaining until
the alarm, if any, is set to fire.
- Optional alarm notifications include popup window and audible alarm,
in addition to the reasonably unobtrusive menu bar icons used to indicate
alarm.
- Choice of alarm sounds, which currently include four standard
sounds, plus an option for a user-specified .wav file.
- Snooze function: click the alarm icon on the menu bar or use the snooze
bar in the alarm notification popup window to temporarily silence the alarm.
- Configurable alarm timeout and auto reset option. Alarm can turn itself
off or reset automatically, if desired.
Feel free to offer ideas and suggestions - your feedback is welcome.
Contact me directly at melodious@mindspring.com
or visit the Der Browser Timer homepage listed below. You may report
bugs via the MozDev Bugzilla system or by emailing me.
Der Browser Timer homepage:
http://derbrowsertimer.mozdev.org
Copying and License Information
DerBrowserTimer - Timer/Clock/Alarm add-on for Mozilla
Copyright (c) 2004 Charles Melhorn
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
02111-1307 USA
Or see the GNU web site at: http://www.gnu.org
Installation
Quick Start
As a quick introduction to some of the features of Der Browser Timer, try using
it to set a count down type alarm to alert you after two minutes. Right click on
the time display to open the main menu and choose "alarm". When the
Set Alarm
dialog opens, the alarm type will be 'timer' by default. Count down times can be
entered as hours and minutes, or simply as minutes, i.e. 75 minutes equals 1 hour
and 15 minutes. Type '2' (no quotes) in the minutes box, an optional reminder note
in the textbox below, and hit <ENTER> or click the Okay button.
A yellow bell icon 
should now be displayed to the left of the time on the browser
menu bar. If you move your mouse cursor over the icon, a tooltip with the alarm time
will appear. Right click on the icon and choose "details..." from the context menu to
see more information about the current alarm setting. When the alarm goes off after the
two minutes have expired, the icon will begin to blink and the default alarm sound
should be played. To snooze the alarm, left click on the alarm icon; to turn it off,
open the main menu and choose the now-checkmarked "alarm" item. If you do neither, it
should turn itself off after sounding twice.
You can control how many times the alarm sounds, whether it pops up a notification
window, the auto reset behavior, and various other aspects of Der Browser Timer's
operation by selecting the appropriate options in the Preferences dialog. To open this
dialog, choose "Preferences" from DBT's main menu. It can also be invoked from the
FireFox Extension Manager window (Tools > Extensions).
Settings and Operation
Setting The Alarm
Der Browser Timer allows you to specify an alarm time in one of three ways: as a relative
count down time (e.g. set the alarm to go off in thirty minutes), as an absolute target
time (e.g. set the alarm to go off at 7:45 am), or as a regular interval (e.g. set the
alarm to go off hourly at five minutes before the hour).
Preferences
Network
Time Client
Error Messages
Error Message Text
|
Description
|
| Error
01: Invalid Count Down Setting - please reenter |
Displayed when a negative value
is entered for either the hours or minutes of the count down time (first
alarm type) on the settings page. |
| Error
02: Invalid Alarm Setting - please reenter |
Displayed when an invalid target
time (second alarm type) is entered on the settings page. The hour value
must be between 0 and 23, the minutes value must be between 0 and 59,
and if not using military time, the hours value should not be greater
than 12. This error message indicates that one of those conditions has
been violated. |
| Error 03: Offset value too large - please
reenter |
Displayed when the offset period
for the regular interval alarm (third alarm type) is greater than the
chosen interval. See Settings and
Operations. |
|
|
Programmer's Notes
Organization
Technologies/Interfaces
Resources
Revised:
07/20/04
This document created and maintained with Mozilla Composer
