Countdown Clock

[Dunner]

Is there a way to have the LCD countdown from a certain date? Like Halloween or Christmas. I posted this in the wrong forum. Didn't know there was a software section.

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[reider]

Is there a way to have the LCD countdown from a certain date? Like Halloween or Christmas. I posted this in the wrong forum. Didn't know there was a software section.

I`m sure one of our current Plugin writers will be able to better comment on this. Perhaps, a Plugin that allows memorable events/dates as a reminder screen and a countdown feature.

Steve

 

[Dunner]

Thank you. Also, if you could example how to use the plugin. I am a newbie.

 

[Dunner]

I was able to write a plugin for smarite which will show the countdown to Halloween. On Halloween the display will just show Happy Halloween. I also have a screen for Christmas as well.

I was wondering what the difference between smartie and crystalcontrol2 is. Is it just as easy to write one for Crystalcontrol2?

 

[jc634]

I was wondering what the difference between smartie and crystalcontrol2 is. Is it just as easy to write one for Crystalcontrol2?

Contact jdgordon and/or crystalcontrol admin.

Jim

 

[X7JAY7X]

Dunner, I was thinking of making one for LCD Smartie, but seems you beat me to it. However, do you think you can add support for external input where the user would input a day and a date into the plugin??

 

[Dunner]

Good question. Can I? I just started learning c from a book I got from Sam's Club about a week ago. Hopefully, I can. That is a good idea though. Because I now have one for Christmas and Halloween. When the time expires, it comes up with saying Merry Christmas or Happy Halloween everyone. Then you have to update the file after that. I guess writing a dat file with the date would be good idea and then the dll could convert it and start the countdown.

 

[jdgordon]

just a suggestion...

last year in uni i had to write up a program that did basically exactly what your doing here.. but i didnt keep the code

so i suggest u make a function that can figure out the number of days between any 2 dates and get the user to input the date they want to countdown to... easy to get todays date..

havta check me but a year is a leap year if its divisible by 4 and not by 100...

hope that helps...
________
Pissing Xxx

 

[Dunner]

I will have to thank you. This forces me to keep reading the book.(I hope I didn't sound forward last reply) That would have been nice if you kept the code, but I think I will be able to figure it out. But, if you do find it, send it my way. I know there is a better way to convert time to computer time and your program probably did this. http://www.cprogramming.com/index.html has the statement to convert to leap year. I will have to find it.

My next thing I would like to do is make a brithday reminder(or event) It would list all the birthdays or whatever for that month, and then tell you if the birthday or event was today.

 

[reider]

just a suggestion...

last year in uni i had to write up a program that did basically exactly what your doing here.. but i didnt keep the code

so i suggest u make a function that can figure out the number of days between any 2 dates and get the user to input the date they want to countdown to... easy to get todays date..

havta check me but a year is a leap year if its divisible by 4 and not by 100...

hope that helps...

I knew there was something missing there. Didn`t say anything cos "I couldn`t remember what the heck it was" I know you quoted from memory too.

Now I`ve got it.... checks whether year is a leap year in the gregorian calender

// a year is leap if it is divisable by four but not if divisible by 100
// unless it is divisible by 400

I used that at the Uni too, though this example is from elsewhere, it does though follow the context.

Steve

 

[X7JAY7X]

Dunner it can be done.

The way it could be done is like this

$dll(countdown,1,date,name)

Where date is the date you want to countdown to and name is the name given to that date.

Does this help? A .dat file is not really necessary because lcdsmartie will save a screen.

You would have to "break up" the date probably by using the "/" as the delimiter.

I do not have time to write a plugin right now, but if you need some help let me know.

X7JAY7X

 

[reider]

With respect, if its for CC2 then this is the right place. Whereas, LCDSmartie should be discussed in the '3rd party software discussion', not in the CC2 section. Are you thinking of a CC2 version too Dunner? Or is this just going to be LCDSmartie stuff? I welcome this as a CC2 feature, we do sorely need something like this.

I have to point this out or we may get flooded with all sorts of 3rd party stuff. This forum is dedicated in the mainstream to CC2.

Steve

 

[Dunner]

I understand your concern reider, but if you followed my conversion then you can plainly see it was originally for CC2. I had asked for help in programming for CC2, but didn’t get a lot of input. The only help I got was look in your plug-ins directory. It is always frustrating to someone who has just started out in C, like me, to answers like this. If anyone was interested in the success of a program like CC2, then there should be more information on the subject. I am a newbie to C, and I was able to write one for Smartie with just reading the C book in under a week. Smartie just seemed to be easier to write for because when there was so much information about it. But, I certainly can see the potential of a program like CC2, because I can see doing a lot more things. Like a screen savers with Pac-man racing a crossed the screen or maybe Space Invaders. That would be cool. Or telling me when computer is on the network, so that I can send them an instant message which is displayed on my LCD. I have 6 computers at home, that would awesome.

It is going to take me a while to learn C, I will admit to that. But, I also know that the dll file I made for Smatie could be easily incorporated to CC2; I just need to find the right person to help. The CC2 forum seemed to be the right direct to go, all I need is a little push.

 

[reider]

No worries there Dunner, we`ll sort out an access route for you. The point I tried to make was that it started as a CC2 query and then it was heading toward an LCDSmartie endevour, at the request of someone else. No fault of yours, I just needed to be sure we were still on the CC2 track. If you contact Admin with any queries re the plugins I`m sure all your questions and an approach to it will be sorted. This is how our present Plugin writer did it I believe. There are various SDKs available with source too, Admin will put you straight on this. Might have a go myself one day, put it off till now.

Now we know we`re on the CC2 route, perhaps X7JAY7X will repost any queries in the third party section where they belong. With respect, this is not a dedicated LCDSmartie forum/thread and the wrong place for a discussion to take place.

Steve

 

[jc634]

My, oh my, we are getting a little testy here!

Quite frankly, I think it would be great to have a plugin for both programs.

The better one program becomes just leads to more improvements in another one. Afterall, when was the last REAL enhancement you saw in MS Office products, which has NO competition any more?

Jim

 

[X7JAY7X]

Agreed JC634

Reider, I dont know why you care so much where this thread is. It was a simple question from dunner. Like he said, not much help with CC2 plugins so he worked on Smartie. Maybe CC2 plugins should have more information and then more would probably be written. Smartie has the option of 4 or 5 different programming languanges with sample code.

I am not trying to debate which program is better and I really dont think it matters how and where this thread ended up. Unless the forum admin asks me to change the post, I do not plan to "repost any queries in the third party section".

 

[CF Mark]

Anyway, back on topic...

Plugins for CrystalControl2 could be written in other languages that can be compiled to DLL files (ie, VB, Delphi, etc).
Itll just need someone to make up the libraries and headers to do so.

I would do this, but i dont know VB or Pascal well enough

Ill add a making a countdown plugin to my to-do list (its a long list though ).

 

[Dunner]

Wow! (Agreeing with Jc634 and X7JAY7X)

After reider’s reply, it got me started on updating the Countdown Clock again. I am just about finished believe it or not, which could be used with both with CC2 or Smarti. (Noticed I threw that in) What a good motivator he is! At first I hoped someone could come up with the plugin for me, but then I realized it was better for me to do it myself. And I would learn something in the process. Next week I could ask for a chicken counter. The requests could be endless. No one has the time to do all that, and I realize that. That is why there is source code. Thank God! Anyway, I was planning on making an event calendar next (For both) Hopefully, not causing as much excitement as my initial request.

I am thinking they should open another part of the forum for CC2 VS Smartie or others. How about a document section for CC2 Plug-ins? But, all in all, the whole thing comes down to buying CrystalFontz LCDs. You can have the largest LCD on your computer and it doesn’t do you any good if you don’t have the software to back it up. Who is going to buy a CrystalFontz LCD if they can’t get it to do what they want it to do? Before getting my 634 it was probably the Smartie program that was greatest motivator for me buying it. I have 6 computers. If I buy an LCD for all of them, how much is that? With CC2 I couldn’t tell what it did, let alone its functionality. Only by buying a display can you see CC2’s potential. CC2’s programmer probably has a lot to do besides programming, but if he spreads the wealth, things will start falling into place for CC2.

I understand reider’s point about keeping the Indians on one side and Cowboy on the other. But, like the old saying, “Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.” Plus, when CrystalFontz links to all the software for their products, they show all the software. Not just one.

 

[jc634]

Wow! (Agreeing with Jc634 and X7JAY7X)

I am just about finished believe it or not, which could be used with both with CC2 or Smarti.

Make sure you post it! I just love finding the bugs in CC2 and plugins.

I'm not sure I have a need for an counter, but I might just find one once you get it up and running.

Jim

 

[X7JAY7X]

Good work dunner, let me know when you post the Smartie Plugin


My next plugin is going to be animating characters, these characters are going to be user defined through the plugin......................unless you want to do it dunner??............j/k