Vasquez Talk To Me 0.1.4 - Speaking clock

[degritxda]

Tested on HTC P4350 Herald with stock WM6 unbranded.
The purpose of this is to have the handheld tell me what time it is in the way I choose.

I first made a mortscript to do that (http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...&postcount=659), but I wanted it to have the dignity of a stand-alone app (I have nothing against mortscripts though, they're brilliant). Since my experience with developing for windows, and even more so developing for windows mobile, == NULL, I looked (once again) for ways to get all set up and learn very quickly.
After being reminded for the nth time (it's an every-six-months or so process, recursive) that no, you don't infact learn c++ quickly, even less some newish language you've never seen before, I stumbled onto PPL, what I would think of as a script interpreter with a fairly easy to use IDE.

The result of my few hours of fighting with PPL is attached below for the joy of all children and elderly people.



Installation:
Place the contents of the zip in a folder wherever you like on the device, then link buttons or shortcuts at leisure to vasquez.exe.

Settings:
The file setup.exe modifies the few settings for the app.
Actor - which sounds set to use (only default available for now);
Format - hh mm only for now, to be joined by "o'clock", "and a half", "quarter to" and so on;
AM/PM - use am/pm or not where appropriate;
12/24 - use a 12 or 24 hours cycle.
Note that using 24 hours the AM/PM setting is ignored.

Bottom Line:
PPL, while easy to use and learn, has its downs:
1) an app that would have taken a few kbs requires instead more than 2mb, because of having to pack the interpreter together with the code (only to be expected really);
2) it takes a while to run the app (each exe being ~1.2mb) and it feels oddly wrong having to wait a few seconds for such a settings menu to appear (you'll see what I mean if you try).

It is my intention to develop this further, although I'd much prefer to rewrite it "properly" using Cwhateversappropriate or .NET or dunnowhat.
But first I'll have to find someone to tutor me through the setting up stage because I always stop before even starting. (Anyone ? Hih, hih. )



Thanks for bearing with my rambling.

[oldsap]

nice little app.

comments:
- maybe you could recode your checkbox' so that when AM/PM is selected, the 24Hr checkbox will automatically be unchecked, and vice versa.
- the wav file's volume are a bit low

[zenkinz]

using a lang interpretator or managed framework would always have its cost and overheads.

I always prefer to build utility using native Win32 instead of .NET for the same reason, especially if I am interested just to get the job done and need to keep it lean and mean...

[degritxda]

Originally Posted by zenkinz using a lang interpretator or managed framework would always have its cost and overheads. I always prefer to build utility using native Win32 instead of .NET for the same reason, especially if I am interested just to get the job done and need to keep it lean and mean...

What's the deal with the various Visual Thisandthat ? Do they work like this (with all the understandable differences) or are they as lean and mean as any notepad-made C++ ?

[Solaris_irc]

great app i use it avery day. Is there any plans to update it? could you plz add the feature to use a diferent wav file for sayin 1hr and 1min, cause I made spanish sounds for your app but when it says One One AM, in spanish should be Una Uno AM, but there is only a file for the 1.

[galaxys]

very cool clock...did not know this even excisted. Nice work!

[Jasand]

thanks for this,

however the sounds are very quiet so when i get home tonight ill amplify the sounds and see what they sound like.

if they sound good ill uplaod the amplified sounds for you if you dont mind?

[Jasand]

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a...f98b593799bd67

I have done some playing and here are three level of sounds:

quiet is just normal if you want to use original sounds
medium is amplified by 400%
Loud is amplified by 800%

anymore and distortion was really noticeable. Just extract the files and replace default sounds with the sounds from the folder you wish.

[Crypt!c]

hi, how to i link the vasquez.exe to buttons? any recommended programs?

[wapvirus]

Any chance of wma support as these files can be made much smaller, Bug found i get a crackling when time is played i have tested with different sound samples and it's still present still great and i look forward to watching this app grow

I am running 6.5 on omap 200mhz