[CTP] Zune clock and date 1.1

Adrian Vinca · 05-11-2008, 01:24 PM

Game Name: Zune Clock
Creator: Adrian Vinca
Version: 1.5
Description: Clock which displays the date and time and has media player capabilities. It allows adjusting the date and time displayed (it doesn't modify the internal hardware clock). The value gets saved and loaded the next time you start the application.

Updated: I've just posted a new version (1.5) which adds the media player capabilities. Now you can select a playlist from the application, you can move to the next previous song. It displays the art for the current album, the artist and the current song.

Updated: I've just posted a new version (1.1) which allows specifying a custom background.

Features:
- Clock
- Displays the time
- Displays the date
- Allows setting the date/time
- New Media player
- Up/Down adjusts the volume
- Left/Right moves to the previous/next song
- Displays the album art
- Displays the artist and the song title
- Can select a playlist directly from the application (settings)
- Can set the shuffle mode (settings)
- Custom background
- Can specify any picture from the Zune as custom background (you need to have a few pictures first)

Controls:
- Back Button - exits the application
- Up/Down - Volume
- Left/Right - Previous/Next song
- Pause Button - Pause/resume
- Click on the zune pad - enters setting mode
* Back - exits setting mode
* Up/Down - increments the selected setting
* Left/Right - cycles through the different settings (background, hours, minutes, seconds, days)
* Click on the Zune pad - resets the current setting to the default value
- When a playlist is selected - plays the selected playlist
- When setting the time: sets the offset to 0 (so that you will see the hardware date/time)
- When setting the background: sets the background to "No background"
* Pause/Back - exits setting mode

More details: http://blogs.msdn.com/adrianvinca/ar...k/default.aspx
Download URL: http://cid-a912b1c0a524f973.skydrive...x/Zune%20Clock
Screenshots:

Note: Need to add screenshot showing the multimedia capabilities.

Changelist:
1.5
New features and improvements:
- New feature: Media player
- Up/Down adjusts the volume
- Left/Right moves to the previous/next song
- Displays the album art
- Displays the artist and the song title
- New feature: Can select a playlist to play it
- New feature: Dim the background while in setting mode
- Update: Changed some controls for the setting mode (to make space for the pause button - which was needed for the media player):
- Click on the zune pad to enter the settings mode (previously it was the pause button)
- Back button to exit settings mode (previousely also the pause button used to do that)
- Bug: Fixed some possible crashes if the name of the background has non-latin characaters

Zune Clock 1.1
- New feature: Background customization (you need to have a few pictures on the Zune)
- Bug: Fixed a bug which caused the settings data to become corrupt in some cases
- Bug: Performance improvements (application loops slower than initially - a clock doesn't need a very high refresh rate)
- Update: Using white color for the settings (it makes the text more visible when having a custom background)
- Update: The application version is displayed when in setting mode
- Code fix: Fixed the sources so that they compile fine on Debug
- Code fix: Refactored some of the settings code to make space for future settings

sandman · 05-11-2008, 01:26 PM

i am assuming that it will run 24/7 if you leave it on? cant you make it to where the backlight goes away to save battery life?

the best one ive seen yet tho. good job!

linkofhyrule007 · 05-11-2008, 01:33 PM

Nice and simple, I like it. I'd say the next step is a stopwatch and [1 or 2] alarms. Also maybe allowing you to use your own picture as the background like you can on the Zune menu?

Adrian Vinca · 05-11-2008, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandman

i am assuming that it will run 24/7 if you leave it on? cant you make it to where the backlight goes away to save battery life?

the best one ive seen yet tho. good job!

Thanks for the feedback! I still need to figure out if/how I can control the Zune power management. So far, the only thing I can say is that the Zune goes automatically to standby after a while (this is the default behavior, I haven't changed anything there). It's still not clear to me if the application is still running when the Zune is in standby mode.

Adrian Vinca · 05-11-2008, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linkofhyrule007

Nice and simple, I like it. I'd say the next step is a stopwatch and [1 or 2] alarms. Also maybe allowing you to use your own picture as the background like you can on the Zune menu?

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions! Here are some comments about each suggestion:

Stopwatch - this should be possible to do. I will consider adding this feature for the next release.

Alarms - I don't know how/if I can contrl the Zune power management from an XNA Application. After a while, the zune goes to standby and I don't know if the application is still running while in standby. If it doesn't, than I'm afraid that the alarms won't be that reliable. Anyway, I will do some experimentation and see how that works.

Background - That's something I really wanted to do. I need to find out if there is any way to get the default Zune background from an XNA application. The other option would be to allow chosing a custom background, but that seems quite a bit of work because I would need to provide some UI to browse/choose a background.

7aurelius · 05-11-2008, 02:10 PM

man your a god in my eyes...I had a 1st and a second gen and always wanted a simple dang clock! thanks for your time

linkofhyrule007 · 05-11-2008, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adrian Vinca

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions! Here are some comments about each suggestion:

Stopwatch - this should be possible to do. I will consider adding this feature for the next release.

Alarms - I don't know how/if I can contrl the Zune power management from an XNA Application. After a while, the zune goes to standby and I don't know if the application is still running while in standby. If it doesn't, than I'm afraid that the alarms won't be that reliable. Anyway, I will do some experimentation and see how that works.

Honestly, out of the three I mentioned, the stopwatch would probably be what I'd use the most.

But I'm *pretty sure* the app still stays running even when it's in standby.

miceylulu · 05-11-2008, 02:14 PM

This one may not be as pretty as the ZBClock, but the fact that you can specifically set the time, up to the second, and it shows the date (correctly, too) really sells this for me

spenc938 · 05-11-2008, 02:22 PM

I really like the simplistic look. Having the date is nice too.

mandelorapido · 05-11-2008, 02:26 PM

Nice man, really good clock! It is nice that the settings you choose are loaded the next time the application starts.

Keep the good work, keep improving those XNA abilities... if you are able to figure out how to do zune power management with an application, imagine the possibilities... Right now I'm thinking of an alarm clock... like waking me up in the morning with some songs I choose...

Thanks for your effort!