Want A Free Timer?

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.jabsystems.co.uk/products/pocket-pc-timer' target='_blank'>http://www.jabsystems.co.uk/product...pocket-pc-timer</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The Pocket PC Timer is set to two minutes by default and will countdown the seconds before buzzing to let you know that time is up. It doesn't stop there though, as the secondary elapsed time counter will continue adding up the minutes you spend on the task, allowing you to track exactly how long your estimated two-minute task took you. The timer can be set at any value between 1 second and 59 minutes and 59 seconds. The elapsed time counter will continue counting once the main timer has counted down to zero, and can record a lot more than 59 minutes and 59 seconds elapsed time for those really poor estimates! This timer comes complete with big onscreen buttons to start (and stop) the timer as well as resetting the clock to your chosen time limit to allow for efficient usage (sometimes a stylus is just too fiddly)."</i><br /><br />Always nice to have something free to play with, especially if you don't already have a preferred program. If you're looking for an innovative and interesting timer, check out this new one by the same author as nActionr.

[Jason Lee]

Thanks for posting this! This is exactly what i need. I used to have Spb time installed but only used the timers... I was a horrible waste to have a 2-3 Mb program installed and only use one little feature of it. This will give me a nice handy timer again for timing those card/board games. 40Kb is much more acceptable. ;)

[BevHoward]

40Kb is much more acceptable.

Looks like a neat app... looking forward to trying it.

This will give me a nice handy timer again for timing those card/board games.

Might also take a look at stoptime... been using it for years as it's flexibility is amazing.

http://home.comcast.net/~jonsachs/#StopTime%202.0

For gaming, it has the ability to customize "links" between multiple timers... for example, you can set up a "chess clock" so that when one player ends his move, stopping his timer starts the timer of his opponent and at the end of play, the cumulative times for each player are recorded.

The lap timer also has the ability to compute lap speeds based on the entry of the lap length and put's it all in a copyable text format.

oh... 230k

[Lex]

Only seems to work if PPC stays on. :-(

[Gerard]

Installed it... but found that it failed to launch, popping up an error about the .NET Compact Framework being installed on an absent card or not installed at all. So in order to run this, I'd have to install the rather large .NET CF. Done that quite a few times, to test many softwares which rely on it, and every time I've installed it I have also uninstalled it within a day or two. That's because I have yet to find a .NET CF-dependent program with functionality I could not find in other software not dependent upon it, and more importantly, because .NET applications take several seconds to launch. I can't be bothered waiting that long, every... single... time... so yup, toss this one on my scrap heap as well. I'm done actually trying .NET apps. If this one had a warning in some obvious place that it was one, I'd not have wasted the developer's bandwidth downloading the CAB, but they didn't so much as bother to mention it on the Timer page, and certainly don't have the usual 'download CF .NET' link carried on most such pages I've seen.

[JonathanBallinger]

That's a fair point Gerard. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I have updated the page so that people unwilling to use the .NET Framework will be able to skip the Pocket PC Timer before they've downloaded and attempted to run it.

Lex, I'm not aware of a way to make a countdown timer tick down while the Pocket PC is suspended. I chose not to If you meant that you'd expect the program to set an Outlook alarm, no it doesn't do that. It is intended to be just a simple countdown timer that can be used for short tasks. If there is a way to allow a program to run while the Pocket PC is suspended, I'd be interested in a site that explains the techie details of how to do so, and would certainly implement it as long as the methods aren't the usual "prevent suspension of the Pocket PC" ones that I have seen so far.

[Jason Lee]

The timer keeps running for me when I turn off my 8125. It just doesn't sound the alarm. Which is fine. I LOVE that this program is simple. No registry entries, no notification que items to mess my device up.

I finally broke down and installed .net some time ago since you can now install 4 out of the 5 mb to your storage card. Plus there are 4 or more other .net apps I have running now.

It is very nice to have this nice and simple timer. That is all I want so I don't have to use the hard to set timer on my watch or a huge program for my pocket pc.

[asims]

I'm with Lex on the timer not running if the ppc is off. I had set it to run for 5 min. Well, I've also set the ppc to turn off if not used for 5 min. When there was 1 sec left, the ppc turned off. I thought it was hilarious when I turned it back on and saw it still on 1 sec. As soon as I turned the ppc on, the 1 sec counted down and the alarm sounded.

[JonathanBallinger]

I've done some more digging into this, and all three of you are right.

Pocket PCs suspend, Smartphones don't. This post explains in more detail: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2005/08/01/446240.aspx

What I haven't been able to find out is whether Windows Mobile 6 has the Smartphone method the guy posting in that hinted at, or if that's for the next Windows Mobile.

For now though, it seems that the only solution for timers longer than 5 minutes is to not use the auto power off feature on non-Smartphones that don't use the Smartphone power model (or enter a system notification).

The joys of Windows Mobile development :p

[asims]

My earlier post didn't do justice to the program nor to the developer. To be able to write a good program earns my respect (if it doesn't crash my ppc and I can use it, it's a good program for me :D ). To give it away even after putting a lot of time and effort into it earns even more. Thanks!