Copyright: 12Ghosts ShowTime Help. Copyright © 1993-2000 12Ghosts, Inc. All rights reserved.


PACT ShowTime
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 It's ShowTime!
Display the time and date wherever you prefer

12-ShowTime displays the time and date at different places, for you to choose wherever you prefer seeing it. Either in a free movable window that you can place on top of all windows, or optionally show up in the active windows' title bar, or in the taskbar where the normal Windows clock is usually displayed.

You will love the display since you can configure everything from font, size, color, a shadow effect, offsets of borders, to the arrangements of dates and time.

The free movable window optionally displays the exact phase of moon, and allows for locking the position. An also configurable icon can be set up separately to display, for example, seconds or day of month.

It wouldn't be a real clock if it hadn't have an alarm that can be set on certain days of the week, play any melody you choose, and has a comfortable snooze function.

With chimes, hour signal, world times that also inform of summer time, and a quickly accessible countdown the program is a pleasure to use in all situations.

Usage

After installation you should notice the blue main clock window and a white taskbar tray icon. Click to open the ShowTime settings window. Right-click to open the context menu. Press and hold the left mouse button to drag the window.

For detailed information about every control in the ShowTime settings window please press the F1 key when a control or a menu entry is highlighted or has the focus. You may also right-click on any control to display context help, or click with the left mouse button on the question mark in the title bar and then on the control.

Main Menu Options

Moon Always Visible - Always display the moon in the main ShowTime window.

Moon on Mouse Over - Display the moon only if the mouse hovers over the main ShowTime window.

Move Tray Icon Right 10 Min. - Move the tray icon all the way to the right every 10 minutes. This way it is always beside the taskbar clock.

Mute All Sounds - Mute all ShowTime sounds.

Follow Active Window - display the date and time in the title bar of the active window.

Lock Position - Lock position of the main ShowTime window. This will prevent you from inadvertently moving the window.

On Top of all Windows - Always keep the main ShowTime window on top of all other windows. Screen savers, however, will cover it.

(The colon now blinks when the alarm or countdown is set.)

Frequently Asked Questions

I tried to enable TrayClock but it does not show up. Only a small gray rectangle appears in the taskbar where the clock should be.

Please turn on the Windows clock first. Click on START - Settings - Taskbar and check the option "Show Clock". 12-ShowTime extends the original Windows clock instead of adding a new clock. For that to happen the Windows clock needs to be turned on.

The movable ShowTime window is the only clock I want. How do I remove the windows clock from the taskbar?

Click on START - Settings - Taskbar and remove the check mark before "Show Clock".

How can I start another editor than 12Ghosts Notepad?

Add the STRING value "Start" at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PACT Software\ShowTime. This is the path to the program that starts when you click on the left half of the ShowTime window.

I noticed that I can specify any file, not only sound files, to play. How can I add parameters?

Yes, you can specify any file, even a batch file (a normal text file with the ending .BAT) with full command lines. However, you might want to try 12Ghosts Timer (also included in 12Ghosts) if you need to add parameters, properties or more flexible scheduling. To use all features of ShowTime, like repeated chimes, you should use .WAV or .MID files. Nonetheless, you can also call up a program or any registered file type, for example, .MP3 files.

Can I wake up with a CD track?

Yes. To start a music CD track you need to create a batch file (a normal text file with the ending .BAT), with this one line:

cdplayer /play D:

Replace D: with your CD-ROM's drive letter. You can edit the play list to indicate the track with which it should start!

Is 12Ghosts ShowTime more exact than the Windows clock?

If you mean the delayed display of seconds in the Windows Date/Time Properties or Windows Clock.exe, yes.

- Compare both times with a metronome or a loud analog wrist watch.
- Open a command prompt and enter the command "time" shortly before the next wrap of a second, compare the milliseconds.

After doing a comparison, you will notice a slightly earlier wrap to the next second in 12-ShowTime. Technically, for ShowTime, this wrap simply can not occur before the next second because we set the timer exactly to the next full second. In other words, the time in the settings window title can only wrap to the next second a couple of milliseconds later and never earlier. On the other hand, the seconds in the Date/Time Properties or Clock.exe are sometimes half a second too late.

Where can I find out more about the moon?

Well, how much more? You'll find anything for example at yahoo.com. Try searching for "astronomy"! You should find several observatories with rich explanations, the NASA site, the Java UTC atomic clock, astronomic software, NTP connectors, and everything else.

The displayed counters are the age of moon in days and phase of moon in percent. 0d 0h 0m 0s equals New Moon. The average moon cycle varies between 29.2 and 29.9 days, so Full Moon is at about 14d 18h.

Details about Resource Efficiency

We put quite some effort into having this varied clock be sparing with system resources. The result is an astonishing low memory foot print and virtually no recognizable processor time.

First, we do not run a loop in any way, shape or form to wait for the next second to happen. Instead, ShowTime activates a system timer that only fires once exactly to the next full second. In between, ShowTime does not run as an active task!

12Ghosts ShowTime saves system resources because it does nothing that is not absolutely required. For example, it might be necessary to update the time window or tray icon every second - but only if seconds are displayed. If you have only minutes displayed ShowTime does not redraw the main window until the next full minute, etc. The tray icon will be repainted only once a day if you have selected only the day and the day of week to display. ShowTime routinely checks if any changes are necessary and - if not - returns without doing anything.

All drawing procedures have been optimized for high flexibility and for the maximization of saving resources. ShowTime does not include 31 icons for each day and day of week, but instead creates the icons dynamically, providing for a smaller executable and full user control.

We made sure that all changes are only calculated, of course, if visible or selected: the tray icon, the moon and moon text, the world times, the options title bar, the alarm, countdown and chimes. Even if you should have all options selected and visible, ShowTime needs very few processor cycles. In fact, you will constantly see less than half a percent processor time - hardly even measurable.

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