- Rewrote the “fade immediately when system sleeps” code to eliminate problems with the menu bar being hidden or disabled after waking from sleep.
- Fixed a bug which turned the Rainbow logo into a “sour apple” green color.
- Fixed a bug where the background color wasn’t restored after drawing the notification banner, causing anti-aliased digits in the clock display to be rendered incorrectly.
- Fixed a bug introduced in 1.5.4 which caused the About box to move closer to the right edge of your screen each time you selected it from the Apple menu.
- Fixed a bug introduced in 1.5.4 which kept Command-period from dismissing the password dialog.
- BlackWatch now handles changes in display configuration that occur while it’s sleeping (e.g. when an external monitor is connected to a PowerBook.)
- The preferred memory size is now set to 256K by default. Note that BlackWatch will still run fine in 128K of RAM on any standard Mac OS system (or even less, if you avoid opening Preferences.) However, many users install a dizzying array of third-party extensions, fonts, drivers, and other system add-ons which tend to increase per-application memory requirements. The new preferred size should prevent “Type 25” (out of memory) errors associated with excessively bloated system folders.
• What was new in 1.5.4 (10/17/2000)
- Added an option for all digital clocks to display seconds.
- Added a pop-up Font menu to select the font used for the digital clocks. (NOTE: not all fonts work well for a digital clock! Some fonts have variable-width digits, which may cause the clock to jump or flicker excessively when seconds are displayed. If this occurs, try selecting a different font.)
- The Timer display now includes a “+” or “-” sign to indicate the direction of the countdown.
- Added six new Apple logo “flavors” (Indigo, Ruby, Sage, Key Lime, Graphite, Snow).
- Fixed a bug which caused a crash due to a buffer overrun if more than 255 characters were typed in the password dialog.
- Fixed a problem where BlackWatch did not always resize its window correctly if another application changed the screen resolution.
- Fixed a display glitch where pixels in the corners of the screen (just outside the rounded-corner desktop region) weren't blacked out if another application had taken over the entire screen.
- Fixed a problem where it was possible to switch out of BlackWatch by pressing command-tab when the Unlock Keychain dialog was being displayed. (The modal version of this dialog is now used.)
- BlackWatch now intercepts all command and control key events when sleeping in password-protected mode, reducing the opportunity for 3rd-party extension “hot keys” to bypass security.
- Fixed a bug where Finder windows were sometimes drawn on top of BlackWatch's window if BlackWatch was in the Startup Items folder and “Fade screen immediately at startup” was selected.
- Fixed another bug with handling window updates: in some cases, windows drawn on top of the main window (the password dialog, or notification alerts) would leave a white rectangle after being dismissed.
- Fixed a bug where digits were not always erased correctly in the Mac OS and Apple Logo digital clocks when displaying seconds, or after waking from system sleep.
- Fixed a problem calculating the width of the scrolling notification banner, which could cause the banner to fail to wrap around the screen as expected.
• What was new in 1.5.3 (4/3/2000)
- Added support for system sleep on 68K machines.
- Menus can now be included in a "BlackWatch Custom Resources" file. (A French translation of BlackWatch is included as an example; merci, Michel Depeige!)
- If you press the Return, Enter, or Esc keys to wake up, they will no longer dismiss the password dialog immediately.
- Fixed a bug where modifier keys would wake up BlackWatch only if no other key had been pressed since going to sleep.
- Fixed a bug where the screen wasn't always updated corrrectly after the password dialog was dismissed, when password entry was required to open Preferences.
- Fixed a display glitch with the Timer clock when set to the smallest size. If the event date string (e.g. "days since 12/25/1999") is too wide to fit on one line using a 9-point font, the text is wrapped into two lines.
- Fixed a problem (introduced by new code in version 1.5.2) where BlackWatch could fail to set the menu bar and the control strip to the correct state on waking from sleep.
- Fixed a long-standing bug with handling window updates when BlackWatch was sleeping in password-protected mode. The bug could be triggered if another window, such as a notification alert, was displayed on top of the password dialog and subsequently dismissed. Because of this bug, it was possible for BlackWatch to get into a state where it could stop giving up time to any other processes until it woke up, with the unfortunate result of causing servers to become unresponsive.
• What was new in 1.5.2 (3/7/2000)
- The clock formerly known as Y2K Timer can now be set to count down (or up) to a user-specified date. The date range supported is roughly 30,000 B.C. to 30,000 A.D. in the Gregorian calendar; however, due to a limitation of the StringToDate conversion function, only dates after 1000 A.D. can currently be entered in the dialog box, and dates far in the future (after 10,000 A.D.) aren't always interpreted correctly. This may be of interest for those of you getting an early jump on your Y10K software compliance audit.
- Added an option to require a password when opening the Preferences dialog.
- If a file named "BlackWatch Custom Resources" is present in the Preferences folder when BlackWatch starts up, its resources will override those found in the application. This allows dialogs and strings to be customized without having to modify the application file.
- Added an option to automatically activate BlackWatch on system sleep (currently available only on PowerPC machines with the Power Manager.)
- Fixed a bug which could cause a crash after waking up from system sleep if the lid of a PowerBook was closed while BlackWatch was active.
- Fixed a bug where unerased bits were sometimes left on the screen after moving a digital clock. This usually occurred when the System font was set to something other than Charcoal or Chicago (e.g. Textile), although it could also occur with some international date formats.
- Fixed a bug where clocks weren't drawn correctly on 1-bit displays with "white background" active.
• What was new in 1.5.1 (11/14/99)
- Added Notification Manager support; messages are scrolled across the top of the main screen.
- Added a digital clock option to the Apple logo style.
- Replaced the outdated QuickTime 2.0 logo clock with the Mac OS logo.
- Fixed a bug which could cause a crash when waking from sleep under Mac OS 9.0 when the "Unlock keychain to unlock screen" option was active.
- Fixed a bug where you could accidentally lock yourself out by specifying "Require password to unlock screen" without having set up a password. BlackWatch now forces an initial password to be set if one doesn't already exist when Require Password is checked.
- Fixed a compatibility issue with ACTION GoMac (and other utilities which change the desktop region) where BlackWatch did not always resize its window correctly to cover the entire screen.
- Fixed a small memory leak that occurred when quitting and relaunching the application.
- Removed the dependency on Color QuickDraw; BlackWatch now runs on a Macintosh Plus. (Previous versions generated an "unimplemented trap" error on classic Macs.)
• What was new in 1.5 (9/11/99)
- Improved password security; passwords can now be up to 255 characters in length, instead of 15.
- Added Keychain support (available on PowerPC machines running Mac OS 9.0 or later). You can choose to lock your keychain automatically when going to sleep, and to unlock your keychain in order to wake up (instead of entering your BlackWatch password.)
- Fixed a crash when displaying dialog boxes on Mac OS 9.0. (My 'dlgx' resources incorrectly specified some bits which were reserved, and which are now used by Appearance in 9.0.)
- BlackWatch should now quit gracefully, instead of crashing with an "unimplemented trap" error, if you attempt to run it on a "classic" Macintosh model without Color QuickDraw.
- Fixed a bug where the first movement of the clock on the screen could occur after a much shorter time interval than specified.
- Fixed a bug where the clock wasn't refreshed right away after dismissing a dialog on top of it.
- The special corners for "sleep now" and "never sleep" are now optional and can be turned off.
- The command-key equivalent for the Quit menu item is now optional and can be turned off.
- BlackWatch now performs a "gamma fade" to dim the screen, without attempting to bring itself to the front or displaying a window, if the monitor supports gamma fading and nothing needs to be drawn (i.e. both the "Draw clock" and "Require password..." options are turned off.)
• What was new in 1.4.1 (1/28/99)
- Fixed several bugs which could cause a crash when opening the Preferences dialog. The crash occurred on machines running Kaleidoscope without Appearance Manager, and on machines with 32-bit dirty ROMs (such as the SE/30.)
- Clocks are now drawn correctly on 1-bit (black & white) displays.
- The Appearance Manager is no longer required to set the clock size.
- Added the ability to adjust the rate at which the clock is repositioned.
- Added a "white background" option for active-matrix LCDs.
- Added new iMac "flavors" to the Apple Logo style.
• What was new in 1.4 (12/12/98)
- Redesigned the Preferences dialog to be less cluttered (and leave room for future expansion...)
- You can now increase the size of the clock, up to 4 times the "normal" size. (Note: this option is only available if the Appearance Manager is present, since it relies on a control definition provided by Appearance.)
- Fixed a long-standing bug where BlackWatch would go to sleep at the scheduled idle interval in spite of typing activity in threaded applications, if keystrokes were the only activity during the interval.
- Fixed a bug which could cause a crash if you tried to force-quit BlackWatch by pressing option-command-escape.
- Fixed a bug which prevented Gestalt 'SAVC' screen saver commands from working correctly. (For programmers, the "TestGestalt" tool is included to demonstrate programmatic control of BlackWatch and other screen savers which support this standard.)
- Fixed a bug introduced in 1.3 which prevented BlackWatch from recognizing changes in screen resolution (the "Display Manager aware" flag somehow got turned off when I updated my development environment.)
- Fixed a bug where the Apple logo wasn't drawn properly if you removed Apple's Helvetica font, or replaced it with Adobe's version (which has different metrics.)
• What was new in 1.3 (9/21/98)
- Added a Y2K (Year 2000) countdown timer.
- Added a "Sleep immediately at startup" option, after multiple requests for this feature.
- Added a "Bondi blue" option to the "Apple Logo" style, for style-conscious iMac owners.
- BlackWatch will now wake up from sleep if a modifier key (shift, option, command, or control) is pressed.
- Fixed a bug which caused a crash when the Preferences dialog was opened under Mac OS 8.5.
- Fixed a bug which caused a crash if you turned "Draw Clock" off, then clicked "Cancel" in the password dialog when waking up from sleep.
- Fixed a bug where BlackWatch would occasionally go to sleep while the mouse was moving, or during typing.
- Fixed a bug where BlackWatch would always go to sleep if the mouse entered the Sleep Now corner and was not moving 1 second later, regardless of whether it actually remained in the corner for 1 second.
- Fixed a bug where moving the mouse into the "Sleep Now" corner would do nothing if BlackWatch was in front.
- Fixed a bug which caused a 32-byte memory leak every time the password dialog was displayed.
• What was new in 1.2 (2/15/98)
- Added a digital clock option to the QuickTime logo.
- Checkboxes in the Preferences dialog now have more meaningful titles, depending on which clock style is selected.
- Fixed a problem with the idle interval not being properly rendered under the Appearance Manager if the text was greater than a single digit. BlackWatch now forces the line width to be recalculated when opening the Preferences dialog.
• What was new in 1.1 (11/17/97)
- BlackWatch now takes advantage of the Appearance Manager, if it's present (Mac OS 8 and later.) All dialogs and controls are drawn in the current system-wide appearance.
- Fixed a problem with the way BlackWatch checked the "Sleep Now" corner. When certain CPU-intensive applications were running, it was possible to move the mouse into the "Sleep Now" corner and nothing would happen.
• What was new in 1.0 (8/15/97)
- First version for general release (almost a year later!)
• What was new in 1.0a3 (9/11/96)
- First internal alpha release, with a working Preferences dialog.
