Silence is a HackMaster hack that causes your Palm Computing® platform device to be completely silent during the time periods that you specify. Regardless of the sound settings in your system preferences, your device will make absolutely no sound at all. Program in the times that you have regularly scheduled meetings, church services, etc. Silence also provides an immediate action toggle control, so you can make your device silent independently of programmed times.
Features:
Silence comes packaged in either a ZIP or a SIT archive. You should have downloaded the one that is appropriate for your desktop computer system. When you unzip or unstuff the archive file, as the case may be, you should have the following files:
Palm OS 2.0 or greater. This means that Silence will not run on the Pilot 1000 or 5000 (unless you have installed an upgrade memory card that has Palm OS 2.0 or greater on it).
HackMaster or EVPlugBase. Silence is a HackMaster hack. You must have HackMaster (or EVPlugBase) installed in order for Silence to work. Without HackMaster or EVPlugBase, Silence will run, and not crash your device, but it will not do anything. HackMaster is shareware, and you can download it from DaggerWare. EVPlugBase is freeware, and can be downloaded from Tucows.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT EVPLUGBASE: It has been reported that EVPlugBase causes sporadic fatal errors on the Handspring Visor. If you have a Visor, Foursquare Development recommends that you use HackMaster instead of EVPlugBase.
Silence comprises two separate PRC files: SilenceHack.PRC is the HackMaster hack portion; Silence.PRC is the control panel portion, and appears in the app launcher as "Silence".
If you are not sure how to install software on your device, see the User's Guide that came with your device.
To install Silence:
HackMaster.prc or
EVPlugBase.prc, install one of them.Silence.prc and SilenceHack.prc onto
your device.When you first launch Silence you will see a registration dialog. If you have purchased Silence and received the unlock key, you can enter the key (first tap on the Unlock key field to cause the blinking cursor to appear), then tap the "OK" button. Otherwise, just tap the "Not now" button. You can use Silence without unlocking it, but each time you launch it you will see the registration dialog (see section 6.1 for other limitations in the unlocked version). After you have unlocked Silence, this dialog will no longer appear.
There are two primary ways that you use Silence to make your device silent: programmed silent periods, and immediate silence. You can program any number of silent periods, and they can overlap. A programmed silent period is said to be active if the current date and time is between the periods start and end. Your device will be silent if any of the programmed silent periods is active, or if the immediate silence is active.
You can select from three different ways that Silence can indicate the silence status of your device.
During the times that Silence has made your device silent, it does not prevent alarms from happening; it simply prevents them from making any sound. Other alarm indications still happen, such as flashing the backlight, or lighting up a TaleLight device or activating an external vibrator.
Since alarms that occur while the device is silent do not make any noise, it is possible (even likely) that you will miss some alarms. Silence has an optional feature that causes it to emit a single beep when the silence has ended if an alarm has occured and gone un-noticed.
Silence allows you to program any number of time periods during which your device will remain silent. You can make any silent period a repeating period, or make it a one-time-only period (much like Date Book appointments that either repeat or don't). All of the repeat options that are available for Date Book appointments are also available for repeating silent periods. In addition, silent periods can cross midnight, unlike Date Book appointments. This is because you get to specify both the date and time at which each silent period begins and ends.
When a repeating silent period ends, its start date is automatically adjusted according to its repeat settings, and it remains in the list of programmed silent periods.
When a one-time-only silent period ends, it is deleted from the list.
If a repeating silent period is active, and you would like to deactivate it without deleting it (for example, your weekly status meeting ended early), you can make it idle. You can then, if you want, change it from idle back to active. Either active or idle, when the period ends its start date will be adjusted per its repeat settings.
Immediate silence is independent of any programmed silent periods. Activating the immediate silence is a quick and easy way to make your device silent immediately. The immediate silence has a programmable time period. You can select practically any number of hours or minutes, after which the immediate silence will end. Or, you can specify "forever", in which case the immediate silence never ends, and your device will remain silent indefinitely (until you deactivate the immediate silence).
Immediate silence can be toggled on and off using a pen stroke from any of the four silkscreened buttons (Home, Menu, Calc, or Find) to any of the other three. You can choose to enable or disable this feature, and also select which buttons define the start and end of the stroke.
Silence can use two different means to indicate the silence status of your device, even when you are running other applications. One means is a popup message box that appears whenever the silence status changes. The other means is a small icon (a loudspeaker with a line through it) that you can place anywhere you want on the screen. This icon appears only when the device is silent; its absence indicates that the device is not silent. Alternatively, you can disable both of these indication methods, and simply launch Silence if you want to know the silence status.
Silence is highly flexible and configurable to meet your needs. This section of the User's Manual provides detailed information about the various controls that comprise the Silence user interface.
This is the form that Silence presents when you first launch it (assuming that you have entered the unlock key, and that SilenceHack is enabled in HackMaster). Refer to Figure 1 while reading the descriptions of the controls on the main form.
1: Time of day This field simply shows the current time.
2: Programmed silent period This is a sample programmed silent period. It begins at 9:25pm on December 16, and ends at 10:25pm on December 16. It repeats weekly. It is currently active.
3: Programmed
silent period list This part of the screen can display up to 9 programmed
silent periods. If you have programmed more than 9 silent periods, up and down
scroll arrow buttons appear near the lower right corner of the screen,
allowing you to scroll the list. The list is divided into 6 columns:
Tapping anywhere in the first 5 columns of a silent period will bring up the Silent Period Details form, where you can modify the silent period's settings, or delete it.
4: Silence indicator This icon shows the silent state of the device.
5: Immediate silence This checkbox activates and deactivates the immediate silence, and also acts as an indicator when the pen stroke is used to toggle the immediate silence.
6: Immediate silence duration Use this numeric field and popup list to set the time duration for the immediate silence. If you select "Forever" in the popup list the numeric field disappears. If you select "Hours" or "Minutes" you can enter a value from 1 to 99 in the numeric field. You cannot change the numeric field or the popup list if immediate silence is active.
7: New Tap this button to create a new programmed silent period. The Silent Period Details form will appear.
This form is used to create a new programmed silent period, or to modify or delete an existing one. Refer to Figure 2 while reading descriptions of the controls on the Silent Period Details form.
1: Start date and time These trigger boxes show the period's currently programmed start date and time. Tap the date box to bring up a selector form that allows you to choose a different date; tap the time box to bring up a selector form that allows you to choose a different time. Times can be set with a resolution of 5 minutes.
2: End date and time These trigger boxes show the period's currently programmed end date and time.
3: Repeat by These pushbuttons control the period's repeat type. The Every and the Repeat on controls change based on the repeat type. For more information about repeats, see the Date Book section of your device's user guide.
4: Every
This numeric field is the repeat multiplier. In the figure shown, changing
the "1" to a "2 would cause a repeat every two weeks (every other week). The
label on this control changes according to the selected repeat type (Every __
Day(s), Every __ Week(s), etc.).
5: Repeat on For weekly repeat, this is set of 7 pushbuttons that allow you to select the day(s) of the week that the period is to repeat on. For monthly repeat, this is a set of two pushbuttons that allow you to select repeat by day of the month (e.g. the 16th of the month), or weekday of the month (e.g. the third Saturday of the month). For the other repeat types this control does not appear.
6: Repeat description This field shows a verbose English language description of the repeat, as dictated by the settings above. This description should make it very easy to program whatever repeat you desire.
7: OK Tap this button to save the displayed settings and return to the main form. If the Silent Period Details form is for a new silent period, it is created and added to the list.
8: Cancel Tap this button to discard any changes that you made to the settings, and return to the main form. If the Silent Period Details form is for a new silent period, it is not created.
9: Delete This button appears only for an existing silent period; if you are creating a new silent period, it does not appear. Tap it to delete the silent period. A confirmation dialog will appear; tap Yes to actually delete the silent period, or No to cancel the delete. If you tap Yes you will be taken back to the main form.
This form contains general options settings. Bring this form up by tapping the Menu button, then Options (on the menu bar), then General (on the Options menu). Refer to Figure 3 while reading descriptions of the controls on the Silence Options form.
1: Default start time Use these pushbuttons to select the default starting time for new programmed silent periods. The start time will be adjusted either to the previous or the next 5 minute value (start and end times have a resolution of 5 minutes).
2: Pen stroke immediate silence toggle Enable this checkbox to enable the pen stroke immediate silence toggle.
3: Pen stroke
start Use this popup list to select which of the four silkscreen buttons
will define the start of the pen stroke.
4: Pen stroke end Use this popup list to select which of the four silkscreen buttons will define the end of the pen stroke.
5: Beep for missed alarm With this feature enabled, your device will emit a single beep when it becomes un-silent, and an alarm has gone un-noticed because the device was silent.
6: OK Tap this button to save the displayed option settings and return to the main form.
7: Cancel Tap this button to discard any changes that you made to the option settings, and return to the main form.
This form contains settings for the optional silence indicators. Bring this form up by tapping the Menu button, the Options (on the menu bar), then Indicator (on the Options menu). Refer to Figure 4 while reading descriptions of the controls on the Indicator Options form.
1: Indicator
selector Use these pushbuttons to select the type of silence status
indication you will receive while using other applications
on your device.
2: Icon position Use this popup list to select the corner of the screen in which to display the silence indicator icon (if it is enabled).
3: Icon offset Use these two numeric fields to specify horizontal and vertical offset from the selected corner for the silence indicator icon (if it is enabled). The values are in units of pixels (the entire screen is 160 pixels wide and 160 pixels high).
4: OK Tap this button to save the displayed option settings and return to the main form.
5: Cancel Tap this button to discard any changes that you made to the option settings, and return to the main form.
Silence gets along very well with other applications on your device, as long as you have Silence and the other application(s) configured properly. This section gives general recommendations, as well as specific recommendations for some applications.
The pen stroke immediate silence toggle feature of Silence can interfere with other hacks that make use of similar pen strokes. Silence's pen stroke start and end points are selectable, so it should be possible to select a stroke that does not interfere with those of other hacks.
There are some applications that Silence cannot silence. These are typically games that generate sound by poking directly into the device's hardware registers. One such game is Galax; there are probably others.
Silence is shareware. You can purchase it from PalmGear H.Q. or Handango. When you purchase it, you will receive by email an unlock key that you enter into Silence's registration screen. Registered users are entitled to free upgrades forever, and get first priority for technical support. You can always download the latest version of 3AlarmHack from our web site: http://home.att.net/~foursquaredev/.
When ordering, please include the Pilot User Name and RegCode that appears on the registration screen. If you desire, you can copy the RegCode and paste it into a Memo Pad memo, then HotSync your device, after which the RegCode will be on your desktop computer (in the Memo Pad part of the Palm Desktop). You can then copy and paste it into the order form in your web browser. To copy the RegCode, drag your stylus across it to highlight it, then tap Menu, then select Edit->Copy.
We welcome all comments, suggestions, bug reports, praise, and criticism. Send all correspondence to Foursquare Development via email to foursquaredev@att.net. If you are reporting a bug, please be sure to include the following information:
Until you unlock Silence with a valid unlock key, it contains two limitations:
Read carefully the following terms and conditions before using this software. Use of this software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty.
This is not free software. Subject to the terms below, you are hereby licensed to use this software for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 30 days. If you use this software after the 30-day trial period, you must pay the purchase price of $5. See above for information on how to purchase Silence. All purchases are final; use the trial period to your advantage.
Unlicensed use of Silence after the 30-day evaluation period is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws.
The laws of the State of Ohio shall govern this agreement.
THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.
You are hereby licensed to make as many copies of the evaluation version of this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of the original evaluation version to anyone; and distribute the evaluation version of the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above.
You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting donations, for any such copies, however made; and from distributing the software and/or documentation with other products (commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission.
Palm Computing and HotSync are registered trademarks, and Palm, Palm OS, and the Palm Computing platform logo are trademarks of Palm, Inc., 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries.