Thank you for trying out ClickOff. I enjoyed creating it; I hope you find it useful. The full ClickOff package consists of the ClickOff Documentation (this file you are now reading) and the ClickOff application.
ClickOff is shareware. If, after trying it out for a while, you decide you like it and wish to keep it, please send $6.50 (that’s just six dollars and fifty cents) to Robert Howe, 5280 Sharon Lane, Placerville, CA 95667.
Revision History:
1.0.3: November ’93—A user said that the “30-second” ticking sound came in handy: he had changed his work hours and forgot that ClickOff was set to turn off his Mac…but by the time he figured out what was causing the clicking and switched to ClickOff to stop the countdown, he had only a few seconds to go before he almost lost all his work. As a result, he suggested that the 30-second ticking sound be extended. I extended the time to 2 minutes. (If demand warrants, I'll make the ticking time another popup menu so you can set it precisely yourself!)
1.0.2: April ‘93—first released version. I finally added Balloon Help! And a tip of the hat to Nicholas Pisarro Jr in Westport Connecticut who, in the June ‘92 issue of MacTutor magazine (now MacTech), suggested a simple anti-virus protection scheme. I’ve incorporated his article’s suggestions into ClickOff.
1.0.1: March ‘93—Still not released (waiting for Apple…). I have added a zoom box so you can toggle between a small and a large window. And in response to a request from a beta tester, I have added a close box with the warning that closing ClickOff’s window does not stop the countdown. And I still had time, while waiting for Apple to confirm my application signature to make a few more improvements…
1.0.0: March ‘93—first version. Not released, because while awaiting confirmation from Apple for the application signature, I had time to make some improvements.
What does ClickOff do?
ClickOff will turn off your Mac II, Quadra, or Powerbook; that is, any Mac that will turn off when the “ShutDown” command is selected in the Finder. And here is the first time, but not the last by any means, where I warn you that ClickOff does not save any unsaved work. ClickOff is not intended to be used interchangably with the ShutDown command. Clickoff is intended to turn off your Mac when you cannot be present to use the ShutDown command. In addition, ClickOff will not turn off your Macintosh if there is a dialog box open, waiting for a mouse click or some other user interaction.
Why use ClickOff ?
If you sometimes run applications that take a long time to run (for example, backing up to a tape drive using AppleTalk) or run a communications program to check your E-mail late at night, or any other process that can run without your being present and you don’t want to leave your computer on all night (or weekend…), ClickOff will turn off your Macintosh for you.
What are ClickOff’s limitations?
In developing ClickOff, I had to make a tradeoff. ClickOff is an application, which means you only have to run it when you will need it. The drawback with this approach is that ClickOff is at the mercy of other applications—in particular, if another application puts up a dialog box that requires you to make a selection or to click the OK button, ClickOff is unable to work around the dialog and turn off your Macintosh. (Examples of such dialogs are the print setup dialog, or the Finder’s notice that a file server has shut down.) ClickOff could have been a Control Panel document, in which case you would have to always have clickoff running, even if you didn’t need or want it most of the time. The advantage to having ClickOff be a Control Panel is that it would have been possible to have ClickOff turn off your Macintosh regardless of what other applications were running.
My philosophy is that, since ClickOff has the possibility of losing your data, it is better to not have it running each time you start up your Macintosh. This does require you to test the applications you want to use with ClickOff to insure that (1) they don’t put up dialog boxes that they don’t dismiss after a time period and (2) they save any files (backup log files, E-mail files, etc) automatically. Remember (here comes the warning again!) that ClickOff does not save any unsaved work. ClickOff is not intended to be used interchangably with the ShutDown command. Clickoff is intended to turn off your Mac when you cannot be present to use the ShutDown command. In addition, ClickOff will not turn off your Macintosh if there is a dialog box open, waiting for a mouse click or some other user interaction.
••• If your applications do create lots of dialog boxes and/or if they do not save files automatically, other shareware programs exist that can remedy these situations. “OkayOkayOkay” in the Mac ShareWare 500 will dismiss dialog boxes after a certain amount of time has passed. Save-o-matic (Macintosh Bible 4th edition disk set) will issue the save (command-s) command every X number of minutes. I have not tried these programs, so I cannot guarantee their performance! •••
There is one more limitation: ClickOff will not work with any system earlier than 7.0. ClickOff could be modified to run under System 6, so if anyone out there would like a System 6 version, drop me a line and I’ll put it on my to-do list. (System 7 makes it easy to create pop-up menus which ClickOff uses; they can be implemented under System 6 but they are a lot more work. In addition, the only people I know that are still running System 6 have a Mac Plus or Classic or SE, and these wouldn’t find ClickOff useful anyway since these machines don’t turn off when ShutDown is selected…)
How to use ClickOff
—Important Note—
If, when you start up ClickOff, you receive a notice that ClickOff’s resources have been changed, seriously consider quitting ClickOff right then unless you know why ClickOff has been changed (for example, you may have changed the messages ClickOff displays and you kept the old messages intact in the system…)
ClickOff keeps track of the number and type of its resources; for as many differences it finds it will warn you. And since in general use the ony way resources will be changed is by a virus, please check your disks for virus infections immediately.
—End of Important Note—
Double-clicking on the ClickOff icon for the first time will bring up the User Preferences dialog.
You can set three options in the User Preferences.
(A) Sound: ClickOff can make a ticking sound to remind (or warn) you that your Macintosh will be turning off. You can have it always tick, tick for the last 2 minutes, or never tick. If you have children that may be tempted to run ClickOff before you have saved your masterpieces, I suggest leaving the ticking sound always on as the default. Otherwise, ticking for the last 2 minutes shoud be adequate warning. If a ticking Macintosh would disturb you in all circumstances, select the ‘No Ticking’ option. Oh, the ticking may at times be slightly irregular—do not be alarmed as it is just the result of ClickOff and MultiFinder interacting.
(B) CountDown: ClickOff will take a minimum of two minutes to turn off your Macintosh. This is, again, to protect against children or unsuspecting co-workers from starting ClickOff and having your Macintosh turn off immediately.
•The two minute option is useful if you have a program that can launch another at a certain time. (Dave Mark and Cartwright Reed wrote a simple program to do just this—it is in their “Macintosh Programming Primer vol 1”. If you would like a compiled copy of this, drop me a line and I'll send you a copy [in case you are wondering, I've checked with Dave Mark and he said it is OK to distribute compiled copies of any program in his book. He does not want any electronic source code distributed though])
•You may choose to have ClickOff turn off your Macintosh after a certain time interval—if backups take two hours, set ClickOff to turn your Macintosh off after a little more than two hours.
•You may choose to have ClickOff turn your Macintosh off at a specific time.
In any case, you cannot start with a countdown of less than two minutes. If it is now 1:54 pm and you decide to have your Macintosh turn off at 1:55 pm, ClickOff will run for 24 hours, 1 minute.
(C) Set Countdown at Each Startup: if you want to be greeted by the user options screen each time you start up ClickOff, then check this box. Otherwise, if the box is unchecked, ClickOff will start up by counting down, based on the saved defaults.
The Buttons: You can save the settings as the default by clicking on the “Save As Defaults” button. You can use the currents settings—that is, start a countdown but not change the defaults for the next time you start ClickOff—by clicking on the “Accept & Countdown” button. Of course, you can cancel the dialog box. And you can keep the settings for this session of ClickOff by clicking on the OK button…please note that clicking on OK will not start a countdown.
==> Note: Only selecting “Accept & Countdown” will get the count going from this dialog. If you want to start the countdown when the ‘stopped processed’ screen is present, you have to select “Start Countdown” (command-R) from the menu.
When running, ClickOff displays a warning notice (warning you of the possibility of data loss) and shows the time remaining before your Macintosh turns off. If this gets in your way (covers other windows, icons, etc), you can either
(1) click on the zoom box to get a smaller window and yet still see how much time you have,
(2) close the clickoff window (by the close box, command-w, or from the file menu). If ClickOff is counting down, you will be warned that ClickOff will still turn off your Mac even if the window is hidden.
or (3) use the “Hide ClickOff” menu item that System 7 has under the Applications menu (right next to balloon help).
Even if ClickOff’s window is closed, you can restart the countdown by pressing command-R. This will open the window so you will have a chance to see how much time you have left before your Macintosh will turn off. On the other hand, you can stop the countdown while ClickOff’s window is closed by pressing command-. (command-period). This will not open ClickOff’s window. If you want to confirm that ClickOff has stopped the countdown, go to the ‘Special’ menu to see that the menu item “Stop Countdown” is dimmed, or open the window (command-O).
What’s next for ClickOff ?
No software is ever finished. If you have some suggestions, please send them to me and I’ll do what I can to incorporate them into future releases. As I have incorporated all my beta testers’ suggestions, I have nothing to add myself (that is, until I have used it for a while longer!)
==> Known bugs and Potential problems <==
Here comes ‘the warning’ again: ClickOff does not save any unsaved work. ClickOff is not intended to be used interchangably with the ShutDown command. Clickoff is intended to turn off your Mac when you cannot be present to use the ShutDown command. In addition, ClickOff will not turn off your Macintosh if there is a dialog box open, waiting for a mouse click or some other user interaction.
Shareware fee
ClickOff is shareware. If, after trying it out for a while, you decide you like it and wish to keep it, please send $6.50 (that’s just six dollars and fifty cents) to Robert Howe, 5280 Sharon Lane, Placerville, CA 95667.
And the fine print:
Distribution
ClickOff is a Shareware program and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. You are encouraged to copy and distribute ClickOff for non-commercial use with the following restrictions:
•You may not modify the ClickOff application or the ClickOff documentation in any way other than to change the font into one you find pleasing.
•You may not charge any fee for the use, copying, or distribution of ClickOff or the ClickOff Documentation.
Commercial Distribution Of ClickOff
Clubs and user groups may charge a nominal fee (not to exceed $10) for expenses while distributing ClickOff. All other organizations must obtain written permission to distribute copies of ClickOff if any fee is charged for the use, copying, or distribution of the product.
Warranty
ClickOff is supplied ‘as is.’ Robert Howe hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Robert Howe will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if Robert Howe, or an agent of Robert Howe has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Robert Howe’s liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
Other notes: This documentation was created using Tex-edit, a wonderful freeware program by Tom Bender. I think of Tex-edit as a SuperTeachText, as you can apply styles, fonts, find & replace, paste the time & date, and even have it read your document to you provided you have Macintalk installed in your system folder. Other programs can read the text that Tex-edit creates, but most cannot read the style information. I like Tex-edit so much that I’ll send you a copy if you send me a disk and an SASE.
