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| Description: | Like the chimes of a grandfather clock, ProdMe is intended to help the user stay aware of the passage of time by playing a sound at regular intervals. Unlike traditional clock chimes, any time interval can be set, using any of the available alert sounds. Great for anyone who finds that time tends to slip away faster than expected. Features: • Chimes can be set at either arbitrary time intervals or synchronized with the clock (like traditional clock chimes) • Includes settings that duplicate the clock chimes functionality found in Mac OS 9 (a great feature that was inexplicably left out of Mac OS X) • Alarm clock • Scheduled mute times • Visual notifications via Growl • Independent volume, mute, and sound settings for each running copy of the widget • Honors 12-hour or 24 hour time format, as specified in the International system preferences |
| Author: | CruftForce7 |
| Version: | 1.1 |
| New in v1.1: | • Updated for Mac OS 10.5 • Bug fix: Number entry via the numeric keypad now works correctly. |
| Uploaded on: | November 11th 2007 at 7:10 PM |
| Rating: |
(4.58 stars) [Show Detailed Ratings]
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| Downloads: | 5711 (all versions), 1339 (this version) |
Date & Time - ProdMe
Comments
This widget is pretty flippin' sweet. Made well, looks good, works great. And it's useful. ...I use it to make myself keep up my page a minute reading speed, and there are tons of other uses. So download this.
Posted by: dabeech on Sep 25, 05 (9:02 PM) for version 0.1b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
I flipped it over, chose the custom interval, and typed 10 in the seconds field. I then pressed Return. The entire widget became invisible. I was still able to close it by holding down Option and clicking the close button. You might want to look at your code. Pressing return probably hides the back div but doesn't make the front div visible at the same time.
Posted by: IanTheMacFan on Sep 25, 05 (9:28 PM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease add different colors! I'll help with graphics!
Posted by: jtbandes on Sep 25, 05 (9:51 PM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
Also make it collapseable so it just shows time until next chime and volume in a very small widget. Again, I'll help with graphics if you want.
Posted by: jtbandes on Sep 25, 05 (9:52 PM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
Ian- Thanks for the bug report, I hadn't tried that before. Weird behavior indeed; not sure what's causing it offhand, but I'll figure it out and post an update. Also, I evidently need to make it more clear that the right-hand field is for minutes, not seconds. There's a tooltip that says what it's for, but I should note this in the label text itself. I never really thought about using this for intervals of less than a minute...
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 25, 05 (9:56 PM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
I like the design and the Idea,
but I cant flip it back to front once I flipt it to the back??
Posted by: Donadm on Sep 25, 05 (11:57 PM) for version 0.1b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
Donadm- It won't flip back for you? That's very odd. For the most part, I'm using the standard boilerplate code that Apple provides for the "Done" button, and I've never seen that behavior (nor can I reproduce it). What settings are you using on the back?
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 26, 05 (12:55 AM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
Do this to get that problem: Try to type in a custom time, then press return. it flips, but is blank on the front. Then press "i" again, and it changes to the back (but without the flipping motion, strangely). Then the Done button fails to flip it. So the problems are probably related?
Posted by: dabeech on Sep 26, 05 (5:08 AM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
Thanks, that clears it up. This is related to the bug that IanTheMacFan posted about earlier. I've fixed the problem now, so I'll post an update shortly.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 26, 05 (5:58 AM) for version 0.1b (previous version)
Nice app. Does what it says. Doesn't seem to eat too many resources. The default sound is too quiet, IMO. Maybe the volume should go to 11. 
Gripes? It is not clear how to reset when the next chime goes off (I have to select no preset time to clear the timer, then select the preset time interval again to start the clock. Can't we have a start button on the front?). Other than that, nice.
Posted by: darkstream on Sep 26, 05 (6:17 AM) for version 0.1b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
This is a great idea. Two requests:
1) For people using multiple instances of the widget, it would be cool if text label could distinguish them;
2) I would *love* an "egg timer" option to only have the chime go off once (this would be great for meditation, cooking, etc).
Otherwise, I've been using this for a little while and it definitely has made me aware of my tendency to daydream. Thanks for your hard work!
Posted by: becky on Sep 26, 05 (8:34 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
Thanks for your comments and suggestions, everyone, the feedback is greatly appreciated! On to some specifics:
darkstream- You were right about the volume of the default sound being too soft, so in this version I brought the level up so that it's in line with the volume of Apple's alert sounds. The reset button is a good idea, too; it doesn't matter much for me given the way I use the widget, but I can see how it could be useful, and it should be trivial to implement.
becky- 1) Instead of a text field, how about distinguishing the widgets using different background colors? I've been looking for a logical reason to add that feature (apart from cosmetic appeal), and I think you've just given me one. 2) This is a feature I'm not likely to add, mainly because there are several other widgets out there that do this well already. I'm also kind of partial to the "do one thing, and do it well" approach. Have you seen YOLK mini? (http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/showcase/details.php?wid=691) It's a great widget that does just what you're asking for.
jtbandes- Good suggestion about the collapse feature. I'll definitely be adding that, though I'm not sure how soon.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 26, 05 (9:51 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version)
Nice! Loud ringing volume knocked me off my chair - just what I was looking for.
Posted by: darkstream on Sep 27, 05 (6:20 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version)
AWESOME graphics dude!
Brilliant idea and well implemented, good job!
Posted by: SiliconX on Sep 27, 05 (6:23 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
I really Like this widget.
Any chance there can be timing functionality based on the system clock so I can make guarentee that the chime goes off at the top and bottom of every hour insteasd of 30 minutes from when I set the widget?
Posted by: krager on Sep 27, 05 (10:18 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
Agreed. When setting it to chime every hour it needs to go off at every whole "real" hour: 12:00h, 13:00h. 14:00h etc. When setting it to 30 minutes: 12:00h, 12:30h, 13:00h, 13:30h etc.
Otherwise great job.
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 27, 05 (10:53 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
krager, neoWave- Yes, that's one of the features I have planned; in fact, that's why all the preset time intervals (with the exception of 45 minutes) are devisors of 60. The reason it doesn't behave that way now is because I haven't personally wanted that feature yet. 
Expect it in the next update.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 27, 05 (11:27 PM) for version 0.2b (previous version)
Cool, glad to hear it!
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 28, 05 (8:18 AM) for version 0.2b (previous version)
Great new features!
Posted by: SiliconX on Sep 28, 05 (12:58 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
Thanks for the update!
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 28, 05 (2:20 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
There's no edit button so sorry about that.
I liked the initial design without the buttons on the side more. It looked way more streamlined which is now a bit screwed-up, is there any way for you to remove those buttons and add the options it sets to the back (preferences side)?
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 28, 05 (2:24 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
This widget is very useful Thanks!
(Design also rocks
)
Posted by: Rik on Sep 28, 05 (3:13 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
..."Done" Button is working now it flips back to front!
thanks!
Don
Posted by: Donadm on Sep 28, 05 (3:45 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
neoWave- Unfortunately (from your perspective), I really, really like the new buttons. This widget was always intended to have a kind of "digital stopwatch" look to it, and I think the buttons give it a more engaging appearance. There's also a practical reason to have them there, in that the effects of both buttons are only visible on the front face. True, I could use a menu to change the color, but the function of the Reset button would be very confusing if it were on the back, and most people would probably assume that it would be used for restoring default settings. Having it on the front allows the user to see immediately that when you click it, the time until the next chime updates, indicating that the countdown timer has been reset.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 28, 05 (10:28 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
My only complaint is the name. How could you miss out on iProd?
Posted by: VeritusD on Sep 29, 05 (12:15 AM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
Hasn't anyone else noticed that you can click the volume bars on the front to change the volume?
It's also very slightly transparent.
Posted by: IanTheMacFan on Sep 29, 05 (12:31 AM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
@CruftForce7
That's okay.
@IanTheMacFan
I've noticed the clickable volume bars and transparency from the start.
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 29, 05 (9:13 AM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
I'd like to point out one more thing: When setting your widget to chime every hour it always sounds 4 seconds passed the hour. Not sure why this is, maybe it's just my Mac.
Did you get my PM btw? =)
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 29, 05 (6:03 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
neoWave- Yep, I just responded to your PM a couple minutes ago.
The reason you're noticing a delay is because I'm polling the system clock at 5 second intervals in order to figure out when to play the chime. I could poll it every second, but I don't think there would be much point to that, since a) the QuickTime plugin introduces a short delay when playing the sounds anyway, b) I don't want to waste more processor cycles than necessary, and c) this isn't supposed to be a precision instrument anyway. The actual amount of delay that you hear is dependent upon when you set the timer and clicked the Done button relative to the current time.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Sep 30, 05 (3:44 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
It doesn't really matter, just wanted to know if it wasn't my Mac acting up.
Posted by: neoWave on Sep 30, 05 (5:10 PM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
Really excellent additions, Jim. Thanks for being such a responsive developer.
Posted by: darkstream on Oct 02, 05 (1:02 AM) for version 0.4b (previous version)
"Includes settings that duplicate the clock chimes functionality found in Mac OS 9 (a great feature that was inexplicably left out of Mac OS X)"
This is there in Panther.
Posted by: IanTheMacFan on Oct 03, 05 (9:16 PM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
IanTheMacFan- Really? Where? If it is, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me where to find it. The closest thing I've found is the "Announce the time" feature in the Date & Time preference pane, but that's not at all the same, since it can only use the speech synthesizer.
darkstream- Thanks much! I'm glad that this widget is useful for people other than myself.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Oct 03, 05 (9:58 PM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
Ooh, I don't like the new change away from setting my own time. Reset button doesn't work now. I liked being able to set a 15 minute reminder. Helped me pace my projects. Now I'm locked into :00, :15, :30, and :45 past the hour. It's 11:49am. At quarterly setting the clock will only go off at 12 noon, not 12:04pm. I realize that may sound like a piddly detail, but I had grown used to saying "I have 15 minutes to do X" then hit the button. Now instead of me controlling the flow of time, your gadget tells me when to start.
Is this a bug when you implemented the OS 9 style, or the way you really want this to function? I've downgraded in the meantime.
Posted by: darkstream on Oct 04, 05 (7:00 PM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
No, you can still set your own time interval: Select "Other" in the Chime Type menu and you get the old interface. The Reset button is enabled in that mode. (Yes, I need to work on making the menu item names more clear.)
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Oct 04, 05 (7:33 PM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
What about setting it like an alarm clock? For example, I would like to be able to hear a chime at, say, 9:50 pm every night. I didn't see anything that would enable me to do this using the currently available options. Did I miss something?
If not, then I'd like to request this as being the next feature.
Posted by: SiliconX on Oct 06, 05 (3:24 AM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
SiliconX - Thanks for your suggestion, I'll consider adding that feature. For all the clock-like widgets that have been released, I am surprised that there are so few that have an alarm capability; I could only find two ("Flip Clock" and "Alarm Clock", and neither one of them works in the way that I would prefer. Now that I've changed the way the widget's preferences are arranged, it will be easier for me to add new features like this without making the user interface completely unwieldy.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Oct 13, 05 (12:29 AM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
SWEET I love this widget good looking, cool colors, and works great.
Posted by: spyker3292 on Oct 21, 05 (12:58 AM) for version 0.5b (previous version) View Detailed Rating
Widget now hangs with this version. It will work for a while, then stop - defaulting to blank state. Killing the dock and restarting Dashboard does not reset it. Removing it from the dashboard, deleting the prefs, then putting it back in doesn't reinitialize it. Even deleting it, killing the dock/dashboard, then redownloading it doesn't fix it. Only a reboot will bring function back to the widget.
I'm not sure if this will help you or not, but holding down the option key to delete it shows that the widget is fighting for control with other widgets. The only way to delete it is to open the widget browser forcing a steady X button for all widgets.
Please don't get discouraged by this negative bug report. I love this widget and want to see it aid my productivity again.
Posted by: darkstream on Oct 21, 05 (5:44 PM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
darkstream- On the contrary, I very much appreciate the bug reports and other comments, both good and bad. As the version number indicates, I still consider this a Beta release, since I expect that I haven't nailed all the bugs yet. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to properly and completely test the widget on my own, so I'm dependent on people who are willing to put up with the frustration of a) using a buggy product, and b) complaining about it. There's no way I could find all the problems on my own.
Regarding this particular bug, I haven't been able to reproduce it yet, but I'll keep trying. If you don't mind, could you send me an email or a PM listing exactly which settings you are using? I have seen the behavior that you're talking about when you hold down the option key to get the close button, but I kind of doubt it's related; showing and hiding the close button is a function that is directed by Dashboard itself, and as far as I know, widgets don't (and can't) have any control over that. Still, I don't recall seeing that happen with other widgets, so perhaps I'm doing something that's messing with it indirectly. I'll pay more attention to it in the future and see if I can figure out why it's happening.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on Oct 22, 05 (3:01 AM) for version 0.5b (previous version)
Wow. I've taken a really LONG time to get back to you. LOL I believe I fixed that problem by deleting the widget's pref file.
So far so good on the new version. I'll let you know how the new muting feature works for me. The new drawer is a nice addition, btw. On my system I should let you know that white lines appear over and around the gadget as I flip the it back and forth when accessing the prefs. But the color fading (silly but cool addition works snazzy.
Keep up the great work! This is one of my all time favorite widgets. (And "Annoying Alarm" is truly annoying. Congratulations! LOL)
Posted by: darkstream on May 20, 06 (11:30 AM) for version 0.7b (previous version)
darkstream- Thanks for the feedback, and no worries about the delay; it took me a really long time to get this update out the door, after all. I'm glad to hear that you haven't encountered any major bugs thus far, since I had to rewrite a large chunk of existing code this time around. I haven't seen any white lines appearing when the widget flips over, but I doubt that I'd be able to do anything about that anyway, since Apple's code handles the graphics for that animation. Still, I might be doing something odd that causes it indirectly, so I'll keep a look out for that problem. There's also a slim chance that it may be a problem with your graphics card (or its driver software) since I'm pretty sure that OpenGL is being used for the flip animation. Don't know why that would only affect this widget, though.
Posted by: CruftForce7 (developer) on May 22, 06 (12:22 PM) for version 0.7b (previous version)
I have a feature request: In Clock Alarm mode, it would be great if the "repeat until dismissed" option could have the functionality of the Clock Chime; that is, once the initial alarm goes off at the specified time, it will be repeated every x minutes until it is dismissed.
An example to help you see where I'm coming from: I have an alarm set to go off at 2:45 each day to remind me to walk the dogs, which has the sound of dogs barking. If I'm in the middle of something that I need to finish before going out, I want to be reminded again in 5 or 10 minutes (so I don't get so caught up in my work that I forget altogether). Where this differs from current functionality is that right now my only option is to have the sound (in this case, barking dogs) play continuously until I hit Snooze, which is 1) disruptive, especially if I'm on the phone when the alarm goes off, and 2) incredibly processor-intensive (this route actually caused all 4 instances of ProdMe that I had running at the time to crash the one time I tried it). Having the option of the alarm automatically repeating at user-defined interval until it is dismissed would solve both of these problems, as well as removing the need to actually hit Snooze.
Of course, I'm not advocating removing Snooze as an option, as it definitely has appropriate uses and I'm sure is very helpful for many users. I visualize three radio buttons, for the user to choose 1) automatic repeats, as above, 2) continuous repeats with Snooze, or 3) no repeats. Within each of the first two options would be the user-definable time period between alarms, either automatic or with Snooze. This way you wouldn't as much have to rewrite code as just add another option (at least, I think). And I'm sure I'm not the only person who would find this to be a really helpful & useful feature.
Let me know if I can clarify further.
(PS - Despite the above -- which I currently work around with sticky Growl notifications, which is imperfect but works -- I absolutely *love* ProdMe and find it to be one of the most indispensable widgets I've come across. Keep up the good work!)o
Posted by: becky on Aug 06, 06 (5:04 PM) for version 0.7b (previous version)
Very nice, liked it very much. Thank you.
But, it seems that Growl notification does not work. I see that the Prodme app exists in the applications list of Growl, but no notifications.
Posted by: ocaklilar on Sep 24, 07 (10:20 AM) for version 1.0 (previous version) View Detailed Rating
Great work!
Here's what I hope is an easy request. Would it be possible to have a 30 second prod as well as the longer times? Even better, could true custom times be implemented? I'd like to use the tool for stretching workout prompts, and 1 minute is longer than I need. This change might create functionality for a whole new class of users. Thanks.
Posted by: daver on Jun 27, 08 (11:56 AM) for version 1.1 (current version) View Detailed Rating
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