The calendar application is a simple, plain ASCII file based, date planner and reminder. It is just meant to be an example of how to build real-world applications with the mechanisms, views and tools described in the previous chapter. Anyway, if you like it, just feel free to use it.
All data is stored and read from an ASCII file that can be specified by the biss.calendar.DefDateFile property setting in the calendars configuration file ~/.java/biss.calendar (default is 'dates.dat').
The calendar application is started by executing the command
0pt
[] java biss.calendar.DateBrowser
or, in case you also want to start a background thread watching your dates to expire, by the command:
0pt
[] java biss.calendar.DateWatchDog
The following is a brief description of its main views and how they can be used.
The DateViewer is the Dialog view to add, modify and remove dates.
The box drawn right from the time label shows some additional information about a timeslot occupation: filled white means not occupied, filled gray a single occupation, a number represents multiple occupation count and filled red warns about several occupations overlapping in time.
The Modify, Insert and Remove buttons refer to the selected date, the Store button saves all dates to disk. Most actions are also available from the BarMenu:
Note that in this beta version, all date and time entries must be
specified in European format ( 24 hours hh:mm
time,
e.g. 16:33 and
dd.mm.yyyy
date, e.g. 16.01.1997)
Once you are familiar with the usage of the DateBrowser, you should use the DateWatchdog application instead, which is a combination of the DateBrowser and a background thread watching its alarm dates. The check interval can be specified by the biss.calendar.WatchDelay property setting ( default is 5 minutes). The DateController view is used to launch a DateBrowser (via Edit button) or to exit the application ( close views and watcher thread).
When the Watchdog detects pending alarm dates a notification dialog like this comes up:
To view, edit or remove an alarm date, select the entry from the ItemPane and push the Edit button to open a DateViewer on it. Most probably you expect the alarm entry to be processed now, so uncheck the DateViewers alarm Checkbox for that entry, store the modification to disk and close the dialogs. If you do not, the next check will bring up the alarm again.