Help for CradleAlarm


Content


The alarm types

CradleAlarm features four different alarm types:
Compact
Compact alarm		 This is a simple alarm which is also known from the previous versions called enAlarmPPC. Only some basic options can be set using this alarm. That is why this alarm is recommended for adding a simple alarm quickly. Using this type it is possible to add once-only and recurring alarms at selected weekdays. Because of the compact layout you probably need to use the styles to set the settings for this type.
Wizard
Wizard alarm		 This alarm type is a "normal" alarm, like the compact alarm, but features many more configuration options. The different settings are entered using a step-by-step wizard.
Appointment
Appointment alarm		 The settings for this alarm type are very similar to the settings of the wizard alarm. This alarm type, in addition to the alarm time, will also have an alarm date. The alarm starts at a specified time at a specified date and will be automatically deleted after the alarm has started.
Command
Command alarm		 This alarm runs at the specified time a stated application or opens a stated document.

The main screen

Screenshot The main screen shows a list of all added alarms. A small icon in front of every alarm identifies the type of the alarm. A red icon indicates a deactivated and a green icon an activated alarm. The alarms in the list are ordered by their remaining time.
The buttons have the following functions:
HintHints:
You can use tab-and-hold with your finger or stylus to reveal a sub-menu on the following buttons:
Add: The sub-menu gives you the possibility to create a new alarm by directly selecting a template. If no templates are available the menu shows the alarm types to select from.
Edit: Is a compact or wizard alarm selected, the alarm can be edited as if it would be the other type.
Activate/Deactivate: Using this sub-menu you can activate or deactivate all alarms at the same time.

Add alarm

Screenshot Using the Up/Down-Buttons or the drop-down list you select the type of alarm you want to add. At the end of the list the available templates are listed. You can select one of the templates to create an alarm with preset settings instead of starting with an "empty" one.
If a template is no longer needed, you can delete the selected template by clicking the button "Delete".
Click "OK" to continue adding the new alarm.

Compact alarm

ScreenshotTitle: Title of the alarm.

Message: The message displayed during the alarm.

Time: The time the alarm should go off.

Snooze (min.): Duration of a snooze in minutes. Allowed are values from 0 to 99. If 0 is entered, the snooze function will be disabled.

Quiz: Specify here at which snooze attempt the quiz should be started. To activate that number of snoozes during the alarm the user has to answer a quiz before the snooze is triggered. Enter "0" to totally deactivate the quiz function.


Playlist: Use the button "Add" to add the sound files to the list that will be played during the alarm. For further details read "File open dialog"

Random order: Activate this option to play the playlist in random order rather than the order of the list given.

Force volume: Is this option not selected, the alarm is played with the system volume at alarm time. Activating this option displays a volume slider next to this check box. Using it you can set the volume the alarm should use no matter what volume is set at the device on alarm time.

Vibration: Activates/deactivates the vibration of the device during the alarm.

Weekdays: If no weekday is selected, the alarm starts the next time the specified time is reached. After the alarm ends, the alarm will be deactivated by the application. This means this can be used to create once-only or irregular alarms.
If weekdays are selected, the alarm goes off the next selected weekday. After going off the alarm will stay activated, so that the alarm starts the next selected weekday.

HintHints:
Click on the label "Time:" and it will change to "Remaining time:". The time that is now entered in the field is interpreted as a remaining time interval the alarm should go off. The resulting time is calculated by the application automatically. If for example the entered value is "00:10:00" the alarm will go off in 10 minutes.

If the time field is selected you can use the navigation keys (D-Pad) of the device to enter the time without using the stylus.

Double click on a file in the playlist to play that file with the currently selected volume settings.

Wizard alarm

All alarms, except the compact alarms, are created and edited using a step-by-step wizard. Use the buttons "<" and ">" to jump from one step to the next/previous step. At all times you can press the "OK" button to save the made settings or "Cancel" to quit the editing without saving.

Time

Screenshot Enter the time the alarm should go off. The buttons beneath provide the possibility to easily specify the time in time steps. The button "Now" writes the current time into the time box.

Weekdays: If no weekday is selected, the alarm starts the next time the specified time is reached. After the alarm end, the alarm will be deactivated by the application. This means this can be used to create once-only or irregular alarms.
If weekdays are selected, the alarm goes off the next selected weekday. After going off the alarm will stay activated, so that the alarm start the next selected weekday.
HintHints:
If the time edit box has the focus you can use the navigation keys (D-Pad) of the device to easily adjust the time without using the stylus.

Description

Screenshot At this step you can enter a title and a message which will be displayed during the alarm.

Playlist

ScreenshotPlaylist: Use the button "Add" to add the sound files to the list that will be played during the alarm. For further details read "File open dialog"
Using the buttons "v" and "^" the order of the files can be changed after selecting an entry from the list.
The "Delete" button can be used to remove an entry from the list. You can also remove multiple files at once from the list by selecting multiple entries before hitting the "Delete" button. To do this, open the software keyboard and press the "Ctrl" (Control) key. Now you can select multiple items from the list. After selecting press the "Ctrl" key again and hit "Delete".

Random order: Activate this option to play the playlist in random order rather than the order of the list given.

HintHints:
Double click on a file in the playlist to play that file with the currently selected volume settings.

Snooze

Screenshot With the check box "Use snooze" you can decide whether to use the snooze possibility with this alarm or not. Is the check box activated you can specify how many minutes one snooze period should last in the text box "Snooze (min.)".
Is the "Quiz function" activated you can specify after how many snooze attempts a quiz needs to be answered. A value of "1" means, that already on the first attempt to start the snooze the user has to answer the first quiz. A value of "2" means the user can start the first snooze after the alarm started without having to answer a quiz. If he tries to start a second snooze afterwards, he has to complete the quiz first. And so forth.
The "Starting level" specifies at which degree of difficulty the first quiz problem should start. With every snooze time, the level gets one step higher.
Using the selection buttons at the bottom you can set what type of quizzes you want to use. It is possible to select only one, two or all three types. If more than one type is selected everytime a quiz will start a random generator decides which type will be shown. For further details about the types, please read the description of the Quiz types.

Volume

Screenshot Force volume: Is this option not selected, the alarm is played with the system volume at alarm time. Activating this option displays a volume slider next to this check box. Using it the volume by which the system volume is overridden during the alarm can be set

Fade in: Using this option you can set whether the sound volume is slowly faded in instead of starting with the full volume immediately.
You can select a preset style for fading by selecting one of the buttons at the bottom or create a new fading curve by "painting" with the stylus in the right area.
The slider below the fading curve can be used to set the time span the fading process should last. Values between 5 and 99 seconds can be set.
Vibration: Activates/deactivates the vibration of the device during the alarm. Select the additional option "Interval" to let the vibration go on and off frequently instead of vibrating constantly.

Automatic stop

Screenshot To avoid the battery of the device going empty if the user is not near the device if an alarm goes off, you can specify here when the alarm should automatically stop. Select "After played for x minutes" to set an amount of minutes after that the alarm should stop automatically. Select "Playlist played for x times" to let the alarm automatically stop after a specified times of playing the whole playlist.

Colors

Screenshot At this place you can set the look of the alarm.
Select the desired background and text color from the list of colors. What colors are available in the list can be set at the options. You can also select the entry "custom" to specify the color with its red, green and blue components with values between 0 and 255. The small box next to it always shows a preview of the selected color.
In addition you can specify a "Background image". The list shows all available files located in the sub-folder "Images" of the application's path. To add a new image click the button "...". After selecting the desired file, the file will be copied to the "Images" folder and after that is also available in the list. Supported are JPEG, GIF, BMP and PNG files. The options bellow specify the way the image is adjusted to the screen's resolution:

Interface

Screenshot At this step you can select the size of the "Close alarm"-button that is displayed during the alarm.

Confirm alarm closing: Is this option activated a confirmation dialog is show to the user if he tries to close the alarm. That dialog has to be confirmed within 5 seconds or the alarm will not be closed.
Show sound controls: It is possible to display sound controls during an alarm. With those controls it is possible to change the volume, play the next file from the playlist and activate/deactivate the vibration while the alarm is played.
HintHints:
To delete a background image from the list tab and hold on the "..." button. A sub menu will appear. Now select the "delete" menu entry and the currently selected file from the list will be irrevocably deleted.
Alternatively you can use the Windows file browser to delete the file(s) from the "/program files/CradleAlarm/images" folder.

Save template

Screenshot To save all made settings for future use for another new alarm, a template with these values can be saved. Enter a new name for the template in the top box. If you want to replace an existing template enter the name of that template or select it from the list or use the Up/Down buttons.

Appointment alarm

Screenshot The appointment alarm only differs from the wizard alarm in the first step. You have to specify the date the alarm should go off in the date box.
Next to the time box is a button called "Now". Clicking that button writes the current time into the time box. The "Now" button next to the date field on the other hand writes the current date into the box next to it.

HintHints:
If the time edit box has the focus you can use the time step buttons at the bottom or the navigation keys (D-Pad) of the device to easily adjust the time without using the stylus. Set the focus to the date box to specify the date the same way: it is also possible to change the date values using both, the buttons and the navigation keys.

For the other steps read the description of the wizard alarm.

Command alarm

Screenshot The Time settings in the first step and the Description in the second step are the same as the steps from the wizard alarm.
At the third step "Command" you can select the command that should be executed at the specified time. Click the button "Browse" to select the file. If the specified file is a document like a Microsoft Word file, HTML file, Image file, etc. the file will be opened with its standard application at the alarm time. If a application file (.exe or .lnk) is selected, another text box is shown at which additional parameters can be entered that are passed to the application at alarm time.

Edit alarm

Alarms are edited with the same dialogs that they are created with. That is why you can read the Add alarm section for further details.

Options

General

Screenshot Language: Select the language for the application's interface from the list.
You can also translate CradleAlarm yourself. Read the Create/edit language file section for further informations.
Download more languages on http://www.cradle-software.de/en/ cradlealarm/downloads

Double click action: Using this list you can select what action should be performed if the user double clicks on an alarm from the main screens list:
Exit application after alarm: Specifies whether the application will be automatically closed after an alarm was played or if the application should stay open.

Colors

Screenshot Here you see a list of all colors that are available at the alarm settings. To add a new color to the list enter the new name in the upper right box and set the red, green and blue components in the range from 0 to 255. Afterwards click on the button "Add". If a color with that name already exists, the color will be replaced with the new values. To delete a color, select the color from the list and click "Delete".

To change the standard color of the application, select the desired background color and click on the button "As back color". Do the same for the default text color. What the selected color combination looks like is immediately shown by the dialog. Click "OK" to apply the selected colors to the whole application.
Warning:
Do not select too similar colors for the background and text, otherwise it may become impossible to read texts and to handle the application.

Today plug-in

Screenshot If the option "Show next alarm on home screen" is activated, CradleAlarm set its next alarm as a (not functional) system alarm. Because many applications and today screen plugins display the next system alarm, this way the next alarm of CradleAlarm is also shown.
But if you use or plan to use the Windows Mobile's own system alarms do not activate this option, because that way the dummy alarm of CradleAlarm could actually be added as a system alarm to Windows Mobile. In that case a system alarm and CradleAlarm would start at the same time.

Under that option you can activate and deactivate the today plug-in of CradleAlarm. A today plug-in is a small row on the main screen of your device (also known as the today screen).
You can set the amount of lines/alarms that should be displayed on the plug-in and therefor change the height of it.
Selecting the option "Small buttons" makes the plug-in shown in a smaller size. That way it uses less space on the screen, but on the other hand makes it harder to use without the stylus.
More information about the today plug-in can be found at the appropriate section.
HintNote:
On some devices (especially with Windows Mobile 6.5) the manufacturer places a full screen today plug-in on the device. Activating the CradleAlarm's today plug-in is not possible in that case. The only way to use it, is to deactivate the full-screen plug-in. You can do so by clicking on the "Start" button and selecting "Settings"->"Today". At the tab window "Elements" the installed plug-ins are shown and can be activated and deactivated.

Templates

Screenshot You can export your created templates to a file to back them up or to share them. In particular if you want to make the templates available for other devices it may be reasonable to add different background image files for the different PocketPC resolutions. To do that, select the template from the list and click on the button "More images". A new dialog is shown with a list of all available resolutions. Select an image for the desired resolutions and click "OK". If no image is specified for the current resolution, the application automatically chooses the best fitting image available.

To export the template, click on the button "Export" and specify the path and file name. For further details read "File save dialog". All settings, sound files and image files will be saved in that file.

To import a template click "Import" and select one or multiple files. For further details read "File open dialog"
You can download more templates at http://www.cradle-software.de/en/ cradlealarm/downloads

Advanced

Screenshot Owner name:At this box the owner name set in your device is shown and can be changed.
The owner name needs to exactly match the name you provided with your purchase, otherwise the registration code will not be accepted by the application.

Registration code: If the application is not yet registered, you can enter your bought code in this text box. If the application is registered your code is shown here.
This option is only available if you didn't buy the application using the Windows Mobile Marketplace.

Show full path in file list: If this option is selected the whole file path, not only the file name, is shown in the playlist while creating or editing alarms. If your files onle differ in their location not their file name, this option can help you to differ between the files in the lists.

Play sound after alarm ends: After an alarm is closed a confirmation sound is played if this option is enabled. That way the risk can be minimized that an alarm is unintentionally closed.

Add fix for Windows alarm bug: Windows Mobile 2003 up to Windows Mobile 6.1 had a problem in the operating system that is known as the "Windows alarm bug": Every night around 0:00 the device turns on for some seconds and deletes all notifications (events registered by applications like calender entries, active sync functions, etc.) to afterwards add them to the system again. In some cases the time to reinitialize the notifications is too short and not all of them are reregistered. They are not added until the user turns on the device manually. Because CradleAlarm also uses this notification system to register its alarms, it can happen that its alarms get lost during the nightly reinitialization and are not registered until the user turns on the device the next morning, resulting in immediately getting reregistered and starting the alarm, what may be too late. The time for the reinitialization of the notifications was specified by Microsoft to only 15 seconds. Activating this option CradleAlarm will change that to 90 seconds, which should be appropriate for most cases.

Because Windows Mobile 6.5 does not have this issue, this option is not available on such devices.

The alarm screen

Screenshot The alarm screen will be displayed by compact, wizard and appointment alarms. The appearance of the screen can be changed by the settings of the alarm. At the top the current time is displayed. Is the snooze function activated, the whole screen - except the area of the "Close alarm" button - can be taped to activate the snooze mode.
If the sound controls are activated, they are shown at the bottom of the screen. Using the check box on the left you can activate or deactivate the vibration od the device during the alarm.
The slider in the middle represents the volume with wich the sound is currently played. You can move the slider to set a new maximum volume that should be used during this alarm.
The button on the right ">>" lets you skip the current title and play the next file of the playlist.

The quiz types

The quiz function of CradleAlarm is designed to prevent the user from unintentionally using the snooze mode too often and hence oversleeping. If the quiz function is activated an exercise is shown to the user if he tries to activate the snooze mode. The quiz has to be answered correctly before the snooze mode is started. The difficulty of the quizzes become harder every time the user tries to activate the snooze again. So every time the user has to think more and hence becomes more and more awake.
CradleAlarm offers three different types of quizzes:
Screenshot
Math 		During this quiz a mathematical problem has to be solved by the user. The problem gets harder every time by using different arithmetics.
Screenshot
Memory		 Number pairs are randomly distributed on the dialogs fields. Some or all of the numbers are hidden (only a star symbol can be seen). The user has to find the pairs by clicking on two stars and that way revealing the numbers. If the two stars clicked on reveal the same number the fields stay the way they are otherwise they retransform to the star symbol and the user has to try again. The quiz is solved if all fields show numbers and no stars.
At the first level only one pair is "upside-down" all others are already revealed. In the second level the user has to reveal two pairs, etc.
Screenshot
Repeat		 A sequence of flashing numbers is shown to the user and the user has to repeat this sequence in the correct order to solve the quiz. If the user missed the sequence, he can click on the title of the quiz to replay it. After repeating the sequence correctly, the snooze mode will be started. If the user makes a mistake the sequence is shown again and he has another try.
The first time the sequence consists only of one number, in the second level of two numbers, etc.

File open dialog

Screenshot Every time you have to select one or multiple files, this dialog will be shown. The upper list shows all available folders on your device and the lower list displays all files in the selected folder of the chosen file type. The file type can be changed using the drop down list in the middle of the screen.
If multiple files can be selected, in front of every file name a check box is displayed to mark the favored files. To confirm your selection click on the "OK" button in the lower left or upper right corner.
Explanation of the buttons on the lower bar from left to right:

File save dialog

Screenshot This dialog is shown if you click "Export" from the options to save your template to a file.
The upper list shows all available folders on your device and the lower list displays all already existing template files in the selected folder.
Below the file list is a text box where you can enter the file name that should be used to store the template. The box is already initialized with the template's name. To save the file as the name given into the selected folder, click the "OK" button in the lower left or upper right corner.
Explanation of the buttons on the lower bar from left to right:

The today screen plug-in

Screenshot
After the installation of CradleAlarm a today screen plug-in is automatically added to your device's main screen. This small plug-in provides the possibility to quickly interact with the application and the created alarms from the today screen.
Click the alarm clock icon to start CradleAlarm.
Next to this icon is a list with all existing alarms. Use the up/down arrows next to it to scroll through the list.
To edit the currently selected alarm use the pen icon.
Double click an alarm to activate/deactivate it.
If at least one alarm is activated, at the right a countdown is displayed showing the remaining time to the next alarm.
It is also possible to show multiple lines of the plug-in to display multiple alarms at the same time.
Screenshot
You can also activate a layout of the plug-in that uses smaller buttons to make the plug-in more compact.
Screenshot
These settings are available at the options of CradleAlarm. Read the appropriate section for further details.
HintHint:
You can also use the navigation key (D-Pad) of your device to control the today screen plug-in.
Note:
On some devices (especially with Windows Mobile 6.5) the manufacturer places a full screen today plug-in on the device. Activating the CradleAlarm's today plug-in is not possible in that case. The only way to use it, is to deactivate the full-screen plug-in. You can do so by clicking on the "Start" button and selecting "Settings"->"Today". At the tab window "Elements" the installed plug-ins are shown and can be activated and deactivated.

Create/edit language file

You can create your own translation of CradleAlarm. Every text used by the application is read from a XML-file located in "/Program files/CradleAlarm/languages". To make your own translation download the English sample file http://www.cradle-software.de/en/downloads or use one from your device by copying a file from the folder "/Program files/CradleAlarm/languages" to your PC. Now edit that file using a Unicode capable text editor. I'd like to recommend the free open source editor "Notepad++" (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net).
After translating all texts copy the file back to your device to the folder "/Program files/CradleAlarm/languages".
Select the new language from the list at the general options. Test your new texts by checking every dialog, especially if the length of the texts fit. Because of the few space available on mobile devices you may have to abbreviate some words.

Important details for the translation:

FAQ's and troubleshooting

The registration code is not accepted!

You are prompted to enter the registration code if you add/activate an alarm that is scheduled in more than 5 minutes. You can also enter the code in the corresponding text box at the advanced options. The code is dependent on the owner name set in your device (not the device name). The owner name can be set at "Start->Settings->Owner information" in the text box "Name" (not available in all devices) or directly within the application at the registration window and the advanced options.
The Name must exactly match the name you provided during your purchase. Watch out for spaces and upper and lower case!
Note:
If you bought the application at the Windows Mobile Marketplace a registration code is not needed!

During the snooze the device shuts down and the alarm doesn't come back again.

During the snooze the device should have a dimmed back light but be turned on all the time. If you have installed a third party application that automatically locks the device after some time of inactivity, the alarm can get closed and therefor will not return after the snooze is over. Such application may even be preinstalled by your device's manufacturer.

In that case you have three possibilities to avoid the problem:

I would like to reset the predefined templates and colors to the default values.

If you changed or deleted the predefined templates or colors and want the to be reset to the default values, open the File Explorer on your device and navigate to the installation folder of CradleAlarm (usually /Program Files/CradleAlarm). In that folder click on the file "Reset CradleAlarm".
CradleAlarm starts and the values of the templates, the color list and the default background and text color are reset.
If background images or sound files of the templates have been deleted, the files can not be restored that way. In that case simply execute the application's setup file again.
Both, the reset of the templates and colors and a reinstallation of the application do not delete any templates, alarms or colors you made on your own.

The alarm was not started at the specified time.

It is possible that you are suffering from the "Windows-Alarm-Bug". Please read the corresponding section at the advanced options.

Error message: "Cannot execute.../CradleAlarm.exe"

If CradleAlarm is installed on a storage card rather than on the persistent storage of the device, Windows Mobile sometimes has problems to initialize the storage card soon enough after a wake up from stand-by. The system tries to start the application but can not find it because it is on the absent card.
Always install CradleAlarm directly in your persistent storage!
Uninstall the application and reinstall it on the devices storage, the problem should be solved that way.

No sound is being played.

First check the system requirements:

If the requirements are fulfilled, check the volume settings:
Usually the playing volume is the volume that is set for the whole device. So check if the mobile is not set to mute or very gentle. Alternatively the option "force volume" can be selected in the alarm settings. With that option selected the volume of the mobile will be overridden during the alarm.
Is the volume set correct, check your selected sound file:
Try to play the file with the Windows Media Player to be sure the file is not damaged.

Is the file playing, rethink your choice of the sound file:
If the "fade function" is activated for the alarm, the sound during the alarm is beginning mute and slowly increases its volume until after some seconds it is played at full volume. So do not use a file that is very short.


The application prompts for the registration code again and the purchased code is not accepted anymore.

You have changed the owner name in your device and now your bought registration code doesn't match to that name anymore.
Change the name back to the one you used during your purchase and reenter the code into the application. For further details you may also read the registration code section.
If you want to change the owner name permanently you will have to buy another code for the new name.

Save storage space

If you want to save some storage space, you can delete some files from the application's folder. That way the space needed for CradleAlarm can be minimized down to less than 1 MB. The application itself only needs the file "CradleAlarm.exe" and "Setup.dll" from the application's folder "/Program files/CradleAlarm".
If you do not need the sample template files, you can delete them including their images and sound files. Read the "Add alarm" section how to do this. That way you can free about 2 MB.
Not needed language files can also be deleted using your file browser. They are located in the folder "/Program files/CradleAlarm/languages".
If you do not need this help anymore, you can also delete all the content in the "/Program files/CradleAlarm/help" folder.

I want the device to play a sound every hour.

For this purpose the "High Noon" template can be used. Add multiple alarms using this template for every hour you want the device to play the sound. Adjust the playlist of every alarm so that only the 12 o'clock alarm plays the bigBenHighNoon.mp3 file and remove the corresponding amount of times the bigbenHour.mp3 file to match the hour of the alarm. Now every hour your device rings like the chimes of the real Big Ben.

The application doesn't work correct if I press the power button during an alarm.

Do not press the power button of your device during an alarm (or snooze) to set it in stand-by mode, because the behavior is unpredictable. On some devices the alarm will not come up again after snooze, the screen freezes and will only respond again after a reboot, or any other behavior.

Remark: After 5 seconds while in snooze mode the application automatically dims the back-light to save power.



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Cradle Software
Unterer Sand 1
94032 Passau
Germany
www.cradle-software.de
contact@cradle-software.de