TreoAlarm

[roustk]

roustk,

I like it.

Several suggestions:
I may have commented on this on other forum here in myTreo. Didn't know how to send feedback to the developer. Soory I am a newbie here.

1) See if you can support multiple locations. This would be a plus for traveling (departure, arrival and home). I am thinking of a multiple-choice-pulldown field (in TCL/TK is optionButton) at the top. This way we could use the up arrow key on the 5-Nav button to go to it (left-right and down are already taken.)

Thank you franktx. TreoAlarm 0.93b has a history of locations which looks similar to what you've described. It can be accessed by tapping on the forecast header or by pressing "Select" button. You need to get weather for more than one location before you can see it.

2) Multiple Alarms and separate from weather update. See 3 below.

3) Scheduled way to update the weather. At this point I was able to work around it by using Tone=Alarm and Auto Snooze = 1 time. The problem is that it "disables" the use of the alarm (can't set an alarm for something else). In the Alarm time preferences I have "Snooze for 5 minutes" so it is doing the update every five minutes. Not really what I wanted either.

I like this idea. I think it can be implemented by having a "silent" alarm just for weather updates.

4) Would be great to have info on the last time the weather was updated.

I agree. The only problem is the screen space. What if I add it as a last line of the weather forecast?

5) On the "Alarm Sound Preferences", the interlude and durations fields if you delete the numbers using backspace and try to type a number it beeps and does not let you do it. You then have to highlight the field (stylus) and enter the number.

6) On the "Alarm Sound Preferences", the interlude and durations fields. I believe I put zero for the interlude or duration. It took it but when the alarm went off it displayed a message saying (invalid number in field) or something like that.

Thanks, I'll look at it.

7) It would be nice to print the temperature range under the icon. I will make it easier to read than looking through the text at the bottom. Not sure if you can parse this.

This is a very neat idea. Thanks. I'll look at how this can be done.

[franktx]

roustk,

Thanks for replying.

1) Multiple locations. I see what you mean. From the GUI I did not know that I could click on the location to change it. Also the "Weather Data Preferences" does not give indication that you can/are setting more than one location. It just says "Change". So I was assuming it was only one. May be better to present a list here with more functionality (add, delete, modify). User selects location and then modify the (Weather retrieve site, zipcode, city, state, country, code ,etc.).

2&3) Multiple alarms and weather download. I am glad you like this. I think also you could have an active/inactive field on the list for 1 above. When update weather is selected via silent alarm or user request __all__ the active locations get updated. Same alarm list concept int he "Alarm Time Preferences"

4) What about having short info (location, Weather Icon, temp range, wind direction. and have a small button for "details" where user can select to read the detailed text info if they need more detail. In reality you could put small icons at the bottom for the different operations (update weather, alarm on/off, details, etc.) versus a big button with text. This should give you more realstate in the screen.
On the preferences you have "Expire forcast in 4 hours" so you can change (color/shape) the "update weather" icon to reflect that 4 hours transpired since the last update. Also you could add an "info" icon that has the timestamp of the last weather update.

In reality people just want to get an idea how current is the info. So you could have the "Update weather" icon to be 4 colors. You divide the "Expire forcast in XX hours" by 3 and change the icon based on the amount of time that has passed since the last update. You can change colors from (Green, Yellow, Red, Black or blinking red). I.e. If "Expire forcast in XX hours"  = 3 then:
Less than 1 hour transpired = Green
Between 1 and 2 hours transpired = Yellow
Between 2 and 3 hours transpired = Red
More than 3 hours = Black or blinking red.

Hope this gives you some ideas to bounce around. Please let me know when you get some implemented. I would like to see how they look like.

[robbalazs]

Hey roustk,  I really like TreoAlarm!  I have noticed a very strange interaction between TreoAlarm and Chatter.  If I launch Chatter after being in TreoAlarm, Chatter shows that it is unconnected from my IMAP server, and has to reconnect.  If I update the weather in TreoAlarm before leaving it, then go to Chatter, it remains connected to my IMAP server...  Seems that TreoAlarm does something to the data connection if I start it, and leave it without updating the weather...  It does NOT drop the GPRS session, as Chatter re-establishes the connection to the IMAP server without having to first re-establish the GPRS session.

Any thoughts?  I really love TreoAlarm, but cannot live with it messing up my email/messaging in Chatter....

Anybody else on this board have similar problems?  Loads of us running Chatter...  I am using TreoAlarm 0.93b and Chatter 1.0b15.7

[roustk]

If I launch Chatter after being in TreoAlarm, Chatter shows that it is unconnected from my IMAP server, and has to reconnect.  If I update the weather in TreoAlarm before leaving it, then go to Chatter, it remains connected to my IMAP server...  Seems that TreoAlarm does something to the data connection if I start it, and leave it without updating the weather...  It does NOT drop the GPRS session, as Chatter re-establishes the connection to the IMAP server without having to first re-establish the GPRS session.

robbalazs, I just went through the TreoAlarm code to confirm your observations. Correct me if you have a different experience:
- if you're not connected before starting TreoAlarm and you do not download weather forecast then you remain disconnected after you leave TreoAlarm to start Chatter
- if you download weather forecast then TreoAlarm establishes then connection and you stay connected after you leave TreoAlarm (in this case Chatter doesn't have to establish a new connection)

Do you experience any problems if TreoAlarm doesn't drop the connection?

[prasys]

1. I want it Treo 300/270 compatible and Ext.Hi-Res compatible too..

[robbalazs]

robbalazs, I just went through the TreoAlarm code to confirm your observations. Correct me if you have a different experience:
- if you're not connected before starting TreoAlarm and you do not download weather forecast then you remain disconnected after you leave TreoAlarm to start Chatter
- if you download weather forecast then TreoAlarm establishes then connection and you stay connected after you leave TreoAlarm (in this case Chatter doesn't have to establish a new connection)

Do you experience any problems if TreoAlarm doesn't drop the connection?

Well, Chatter is connected to the IMAP server, then I go to TreoAlarm (and don't update the weather), then go back to Chatter, and now Chatter is NOT connected to the IMAP server , and has to re-establish the connection.  This behavior does NOT occur when returning to Chatter from any other application (balzer, other mail, DA, etc.)

[airjoe]

First, I like this program a lot.

But, I noticed a couple quirks indicated on previous pages: first I noticed it wasn't disconnecting after logging in, if I have the "alarm" set. I tried to reproduce it, and before I "cancelled" the alarm, I called my Treo from a landline, and the Treo completely froze & needed a soft reset. Your thoughts? Thx.

[roustk]

Well, Chatter is connected to the IMAP server, then I go to TreoAlarm (and don't update the weather), then go back to Chatter, and now Chatter is NOT connected to the IMAP server , and has to re-establish the connection.

Thank you, this description was very helpful. I think I was able to replicate the same problem using VeriChat. I am changing the way connection is established. Please give it a try when version 0.94 is out.

[roustk]

First, I like this program a lot.

But, I noticed a couple quirks indicated on previous pages: first I noticed it wasn't disconnecting after logging in, if I have the "alarm" set. I tried to reproduce it, and before I "cancelled" the alarm, I called my Treo from a landline, and the Treo completely froze & needed a soft reset. Your thoughts? Thx.

airjoe, if TreoAlarm established the connection then it won't disconnect unless you use "Disconnect" command (Commands menu).

I can't reproduce the problem with incoming call: does it happen when the "Service Connection Progress" window is displayed?

Thank you for using TreoAlarm.

[JPA]

Hi roustk,

Nice and usefull app! Congratulations )

JPA

www.handheld-basic.com

[roustk]

JPA,

TreoAlarm is implemented in HB++. Thank you for the excellent product and support. Your forums are priceless!

[roustk]

TreoAlarm 0.94a is now available!

This version adds many new features, including
- multiple alarms
- silent alarms (for weather updates only)
- and more...

[airjoe]

Well, no matter how I tried, couldn't duplicate the issue I had yesterday. Chalk it up to user error... Nice work.

airjoe, if TreoAlarm established the connection then it won't disconnect unless you use "Disconnect" command (Commands menu).

I can't reproduce the problem with incoming call: does it happen when the "Service Connection Progress" window is displayed?

Thank you for using TreoAlarm.

[batcave]

batcave, thanks for testing TreoAlarm.
A few questions... does it always happen or just from time to time? What are the software/hardware versions (shown in Phone Info screen)?

It happens everytime. I've never gotten the weather to update automatically before the alarm. I can only get it to update manually. I've installed version .94a and it is still happening.

My Phone Info: Firmware: 3.05; Software: Treo600-1.12-ROW; Hardware: B

Thanks!

[roustk]

I have exactly the same version (GSM model from Rogers). Strange...

It might be related to download timestamp. Can you do a quick test with 0.94a?
- Open weather preferences form (Options|Weather...)
- You don't have to change anything, just click Close (this will reset the download timestamp)
- Make sure the weather header is gray
- Set alarm to 1-2 min from now

Alarm should ring in 1-2 min and the header must be blue.