2 <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC
"-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.5-Based Variant V1.1//EN" "dtd/kdedbx45.dtd" [
3 <!ENTITY kappname
"&kalarm;">
4 <!ENTITY package
"kdepim">
5 <!ENTITY % addindex
"IGNORE">
6 <!ENTITY % English
"INCLUDE"><!-- change language only here -->
9 <!-- The language must NOT be changed here. -->
11 <book id=
"kalarm" lang=
"&language;">
13 <bookinfo id=
"kalarminfo">
14 <title>The
&kalarm; Handbook
</title>
18 <firstname>David
</firstname>
19 <surname>Jarvie
</surname>
21 <address>&David.Jarvie.mail;
</address>
25 <othercredit role=
"developer">
26 <firstname>David
</firstname>
27 <surname>Jarvie
</surname>
28 <affiliation><address>&David.Jarvie.mail;
</address></affiliation>
29 <contrib>Developer
</contrib>
32 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
36 <year>2001</year><year>2002</year><year>2003</year><year>2004</year><year>2005</year><year>2006</year><year>2007</year><year>2008</year><year>2009</year><year>2010</year><year>2011</year><year>2012</year><year>2013</year><year>2016</year>
37 <holder>&David.Jarvie;
</holder>
40 <legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
42 <!-- Don't change format of date and version of the documentation -->
44 <date>2013-
05-
28</date>
45 <releaseinfo>2.10.03 (
&kde; 4.11)
</releaseinfo>
48 <para>&kalarm; is a personal alarm message, command and email scheduler for
&kde;.
</para>
53 <keyword>KDE
</keyword>
54 <keyword>kdepim
</keyword>
55 <keyword>kalarm
</keyword>
56 <keyword>alarm
</keyword>
57 <keyword>reminder
</keyword>
58 <keyword>scheduler
</keyword>
64 <chapter id=
"introduction">
65 <title>Introduction
</title>
67 <para>&kalarm; lets you schedule the display of personal alarm
68 messages, the playing of sound files, the execution of commands and
69 the sending of emails.
</para>
71 <para>In its default graphical mode,
&kalarm; displays the list of
72 pending alarms, showing their times and details. You can create new
73 alarms, or you can select existing alarms for modification or
74 deletion. You can also optionally view expired alarms.
</para>
76 <para>When configuring an alarm, you can choose whether it should
77 repeat, and whether the alarm should be canceled if it cannot be
78 triggered at its scheduled time. For display alarms, you can type in
79 a message text, specify a text or image file to display, or specify a
80 command whose output should be displayed. You can also choose the
81 color of the alarm message, and whether to play a sound or speak the
84 <para>Alarms may also be scheduled from the command line, or via
&DBus;
85 calls from programs.
</para>
87 <para>When an alarm message is due, it is displayed on each
&kde;
88 desktop to ensure that you don't miss it. The message window shows the
89 time for which the alarm was scheduled. It usually has a defer option
90 to ask for the alarm to be displayed again later. An example of an
94 <screeninfo>Screenshot of the
&kalarm; message window
</screeninfo>
97 <imagedata fileref=
"alarmmessage.png" format=
"PNG"/>
100 <phrase>Alarm message
</phrase>
105 <para>When the alarm specifies a command to execute or an email to
106 send,
&kalarm; displays nothing.
</para>
108 <para>&kalarm; usually shows an icon in the system tray, although this
109 can be hidden if desired.
</para>
113 <chapter id=
"using-kalarm">
114 <title>Using
&kalarm;</title>
116 <para>When it is run with no command line parameters,
&kalarm; starts
117 in graphical mode, and displays the current list of outstanding
120 <tip><para>All spin boxes in
&kalarm; have an acceleration facility.
121 To make the value change by larger steps, hold down the
122 &Shift; key while you click on the spin arrow
127 <imagedata fileref=
"spinbox.png" format=
"PNG"/>
132 <sect1 id=
"alarm-types">
133 <title>Alarm Types
</title>
135 <para>The basic functions available from the different alarm types
136 which
&kalarm; provides are:
</para>
140 <para>Display alarms display either a text message which you type in,
141 or the contents of a text or image file, or the textual output from a
142 command which is run when the alarm triggers. In addition to
143 displaying one of these items, they can also play audio files, have
144 their text spoken, or emit a simple beep. You can also specify
145 commands to be executed before and after the alarm message is
150 <para>Command alarms execute either a command or a shell script which
151 you can type in. Nothing is displayed unless an error occurs.
</para>
155 <para>Email alarms send a email. Nothing is displayed unless an error
160 <para>Audio alarms play an audio file. Nothing is displayed unless an
166 <title>Error Handling
</title>
168 <para>If an error occurs when an alarm triggers, an error message will
169 be displayed (unless you have previously specified not to show that
170 type of message again).
</para>
172 <para>If an execution error occurred the last time a command alarm
173 triggered, a white on red exclamation mark is shown in the message
174 color column. Details of the error are displayed in a tooltip if you
175 position the cursor over that line in the alarm list. The same error
176 indications are shown for display alarms if an execution error
177 occurred for a pre- or post-alarm command specified in the Special
178 Actions dialog, except that the color column is not changed to a red
184 <sect1 id=
"alarm-list">
185 <title>Alarm List
</title>
187 <para>The main
&kalarm; window displays the current list of pending
188 alarms, showing their times, repetition intervals, colors, and
189 message texts, names of files to play or display, commands to execute
190 or email subjects. (For a recurring alarm, the time shown is its next
191 scheduled trigger time. For an alarm with a reminder, the time shown
192 is the time of the alarm proper, not the reminder time.) An icon at
193 the left of each alarm text/file/command/email subject indicates the
194 type of alarm.
</para>
197 <screeninfo>Screenshot of the
&kalarm; main window
</screeninfo>
200 <imagedata fileref=
"mainwindow.png" format=
"PNG"/>
203 <phrase>Main window
</phrase>
208 <para>For a repeated alarm, the list shows its next scheduled trigger
209 time and its basic repetition interval (
⪚ <quote>1 Day
</quote> for
210 a daily recurrence,
<quote>3 Weeks
</quote> for a recurrence which
211 triggers on Monday and Wednesday every third week,
212 <quote>Login
</quote> for a repeat-at-login alarm).
</para>
214 <para>If an execution error occurred the last time a command alarm
215 triggered, or the last time a display alarm's pre- or post-alarm
216 command was executed, an error indication is shown in the color
217 column, as described in
<link linkend=
"errors">Error Handling
</link>
220 <sect2 id=
"listappear">
221 <title>Changing the Alarm List Appearance
</title>
223 <para>The alarms may be ordered by date/time, repeat interval, color,
224 type or text by clicking on the titlebar for the appropriate column.
225 To reverse the sort order, click the column titlebar again.
</para>
227 <para>You can optionally show the remaining time until each alarm is
228 due, together with, or instead of, the alarm's scheduled time.
229 To show or hide the alarm time column, select
230 <menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Show Alarm
231 Times
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
232 To show or hide the time-to-alarm column, select
233 <menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Show Time To
234 Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. At least one of these columns is
237 <para>If you use multiple alarm calendars, you can color code alarms
238 according to which calendar they belong to, by selecting a different
239 background color for each calendar (see
240 <link linkend=
"using-calendars">Using Calendars
</link>).
</para>
245 <title>Archived Alarms
</title>
247 <para>By default,
&kalarm; archives alarms for a limited period once
248 they have expired or been deleted. (But note that alarms which you
249 delete are stored only if they have already triggered at least once.)
250 You can control whether
&kalarm; archives expired alarms, and for how
252 <link linkend=
"preferences-storage">Configuration dialog
</link>.
</para>
254 <para>Archived alarms may be shown in the alarm list by selecting
255 <menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Show Archived
256 Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. To hide them again, deselect
257 <menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Show Archived
258 Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
263 <title>Searching the Alarm List
</title>
265 <para>You can search through the alarm list to find alarms containing
266 a search text. To invoke this, select
<menuchoice>
267 <guimenu>Edit
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Find...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
268 In the search dialog, select the alarm types which you wish to search.
269 To continue searching for more alarms which match, use
<menuchoice>
270 <guimenu>Edit
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Find Next
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
272 <guimenu>Edit
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Find Previous
</guimenuitem>
273 </menuchoice>.
</para>
275 <para>Searching is performed as follows:
</para>
279 <para>Text message alarms: the message text is searched.
</para>
283 <para>File display alarms: the file path/
&URL; is searched.
</para>
287 <para>Command alarms: the command line or command script is
292 <para>Email alarms: in addition to the subject and body of the email,
293 the recipients and the URLs of attachments are searched.
</para>
297 <para>Audio alarms: the file path/
&URL; is searched.
</para>
301 <note><para>Only alarms currently shown in the alarm list can be
302 selected for searching. So if you want to search archived alarms, you
303 must first display them as described in the section above.
</para></note>
307 <sect1 id=
"create-edit">
308 <title>Creating and Manipulating Alarms
</title>
311 <title>Creating a New Alarm
</title>
313 <para>To create a new alarm, do one of the following, and then select
314 the type of alarm from the list which appears. This displays the
315 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> through which
316 you configure the alarm.
</para>
320 <para>Select
<menuchoice><guimenu>File
</guimenu>
321 <guimenuitem>New
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
325 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon
327 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>New Alarm
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
328 from the context menu.
</para>
332 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click in the alarm list and
333 choose
<menuchoice><guimenuitem>New
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from
334 the context menu.
</para>
338 <para>Alternatively, you can create new alarms preconfigured from
339 various sources:
</para>
343 <para>To base your new alarm on an alarm template, follow the
344 instructions in the
<link linkend=
"templates">Alarm Templates
</link>
349 <para>To base your new alarm on an existing one, highlight the existing
350 alarm in the list and select
<menuchoice>
351 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Copy
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
352 This opens the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>
353 already filled in with a copy of the selected alarm's details.
</para>
357 <para>To create a new alarm which displays an existing email message,
358 drag the email from
&kmail; onto
&kalarm;'s main window or system tray
359 icon. Then select the
<guilabel>Display Alarm
</guilabel> option. This
360 opens the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> with
361 the entire email message (including sender, recipient,
&etc;) as the
366 <para>To create a new email alarm to send a copy of an existing email
367 message, drag the email from
&kmail; onto
&kalarm;'s main window or
368 system tray icon. Then select the
<guilabel>Email Alarm
</guilabel>
369 option. The
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> is
370 preset with the entire email message except sender.
</para>
374 <para>To create a new alarm which displays a summary of an existing
375 to-do, drag the to-do from
&korganizer; or other application onto
376 &kalarm;'s main window or system tray icon. This opens the
377 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> with the
378 to-do contents as the alarm text.
</para>
382 <para>To create a new command alarm, drag the text of a script
383 starting with
<quote>#!
</quote> onto
&kalarm;'s main window or system
384 tray icon. Then select the
<guilabel>Command Alarm
</guilabel> option.
385 This opens the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>
386 preset with the script text.
</para>
390 <para>To create a file display alarm, drag a text or image file
&URL;
391 onto
&kalarm;'s main window or system tray icon. This opens the
392 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> and sets the
397 <para>To create an audio alarm, drag an audio file
&URL; onto
398 &kalarm;'s main window or system tray icon. This opens the
399 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> and sets the
404 <para>To create a text message alarm, drag any piece of text onto
405 &kalarm;'s main window or system tray icon. If prompted, select the
406 <guilabel>Display Alarm
</guilabel> option. This opens the
407 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> preset with
408 the alarm text.
</para>
412 <para>You can automatically create birthday alarms for people in
413 &kaddressbook; as described in
<link linkend=
"birthdays">Importing
414 Birthdays from
&kaddressbook;</link>.
</para>
421 <sect2 id=
"edit-alarm">
422 <title>Modifying an Existing Alarm
</title>
424 <para>To modify an existing pending alarm (expired alarms cannot be
425 amended), do one of the following:
</para>
429 <para>Double click on its entry in the alarm list.
</para>
433 <para>Select it by clicking on its entry in the alarm list. Then
434 choose
<menuchoice><guimenu>Edit
</guimenu>
435 <guimenuitem>Edit
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
439 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on its entry in the alarm
441 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Edit
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the
446 <para>This displays the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit
447 dialog
</link>.
</para>
452 <title>Deleting/Reactivating an Alarm
</title>
454 <para>To delete existing alarms, select one or more by clicking on
455 their entries in the alarm list. Then do one of the following:
</para>
459 <para>Choose
<menuchoice>
460 <guimenu>Edit
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Delete
</guimenuitem>
461 </menuchoice>.
</para>
464 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the selected entries
466 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Delete
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
467 from the context menu.
</para>
470 <para>To delete them without a confirmation prompt, type
471 &Shift;-
<keycap>Delete
</keycap>.
</para>
475 <para>When you delete an active alarm, it is archived, provided that
476 it has triggered at least once before being deleted, and provided that
477 expired alarms are archived at all. (Use the
478 <link linkend=
"preferences-storage">Configuration dialog
</link> to
479 control whether and for how long archived alarms are stored.) When you
480 delete an archived alarm, or an active alarm which has not yet
481 triggered, it is removed permanently.
</para>
483 <para>You can reactivate a deleted alarm from the archived alarms list,
484 provided that it has not yet expired. To do this, first display
485 archived alarms, as described in
486 <link linkend=
"expired">Archived Alarms
</link>. Then:
</para>
490 <para>Select one or more appropriate archived alarms by clicking on
491 their entries in the alarm list. Then choose
<menuchoice>
492 <guimenu>Actions
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Reactivate
</guimenuitem>
493 </menuchoice>.
</para>
496 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the desired entries in
497 the archived alarm list and choose
498 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Reactivate
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
499 from the context menu.
</para>
506 <title>Enabling/Disabling an Alarm
</title>
508 <para>See
<link linkend=
"enable-disable">Enabling and Disabling Alarms
</link>
509 for how to enable and disable alarms, either individually or as a whole.
</para>
514 <title>Setting an Alarm to Wake from Suspend
</title>
516 <para>See
<link linkend=
"wake-suspend">Wake From Suspend
</link> for
517 how to configure an alarm to wake up your system from suspension or
523 <title>Acknowledging an Alarm
</title>
525 <para>See
<link linkend=
"message-window">Alarm Message Window
</link>
526 for how to acknowledge alarms.
</para>
530 <sect2 id=
"templates">
531 <title>Alarm Templates
</title>
533 <para>If you frequently want to set up similar alarms, you can create
534 an alarm template to avoid having to enter all the details from
535 scratch each time. A template can contain all the details which an
536 alarm can contain, apart from the start date.
</para>
538 <para>As an example, you may regularly want to set an
539 alarm to remind you about a television program whose time varies
540 from week to week. The template would contain all the alarm details
541 (message text, whether to play a sound,
&etc;) except for the time and
542 date. Now, to create the alarm, all you need to do is open the
543 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> with that
544 template and then enter the time and date.
</para>
546 <para>To create an alarm based on a template, open the
547 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> preset with
548 the template details:
</para>
552 <para>Select the
<menuchoice>
553 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>New
</guimenuitem>
554 <guimenuitem>New Alarm From Template
</guimenuitem>
555 </menuchoice> menu item, and then select the desired template.
</para>
559 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon
561 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>New Alarm
</guimenuitem>
562 <guimenuitem>New Alarm From Template
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
563 from the context menu. Then select the desired template.
</para>
567 <para>Open the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>
568 in the usual way, and click the
569 <guibutton>Load Template...
</guibutton> button to select a template to
570 preset the dialog with.
</para>
575 <title>Configuring Templates
</title>
577 <para>You can create, modify or delete templates using the Alarm
578 Templates dialog, or you can create a new alarm template based on an
579 existing alarm.
</para>
581 <para>To create a new alarm template, do one of the following:
</para>
585 <para>Display the Alarm Templates dialog by selecting the
<menuchoice>
586 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Templates...
</guimenuitem>
587 </menuchoice> menu item, clicking
<guibutton>New
</guibutton>, and
588 choosing the alarm type from the list which appears. This displays a
589 blank Template Edit dialog.
</para>
593 <para>Display the Alarm Templates dialog by selecting the
<menuchoice>
594 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Templates...
</guimenuitem>
595 </menuchoice> menu item, select an existing template from the list and
596 click
<guibutton>Copy
</guibutton>. This opens the Template Edit dialog
597 already filled in with a copy of the existing template's
602 <para>Highlight an alarm in the alarm list and select
<menuchoice>
603 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Create Template...
</guimenuitem>
604 </menuchoice>. This opens the Template Edit dialog already filled in
605 with a copy of the selected alarm's details.
</para>
609 <para>To modify an existing template, display the Alarm Templates
610 dialog by selecting the
<menuchoice>
611 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Templates...
</guimenuitem>
612 </menuchoice> menu item and click
<guibutton>Edit
</guibutton>. This
613 displays the Template Edit dialog which is described below.
</para>
615 <para>To delete existing templates, display the Alarm Templates
616 dialog by selecting the
<menuchoice>
617 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Templates...
</guimenuitem>
618 </menuchoice> menu item, select one or more templates and click
619 <guibutton>Delete
</guibutton>. A confirmation prompt is issued to
620 prevent accidental deletions.
</para>
625 <title>Template Edit Dialog
</title>
627 <para>The Template Edit dialog is similar to the
628 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>. The
629 following controls are different:
</para>
633 <para>Enter the template's name in
<guilabel>Template name
</guilabel>.
634 It is the template's name which is displayed in template selection
635 lists, so it is best to choose a name which will remind you of its
636 function. Each template's name must be unique.
</para>
640 <para>In the
<guilabel>Time
</guilabel> group box, select one of:
</para>
644 <para><guilabel>Default time
</guilabel> if you do not wish to specify
645 any trigger time. Alarms based on this template will initially
646 use the normal default trigger time for new alarms.
</para>
650 <para>Check
<guilabel>Time
</guilabel> to enter a time when the alarm
651 is to be triggered.
</para>
655 <para>Check
<guilabel>Date only
</guilabel> to specify that the alarm
656 should only have a date, not a time.
</para>
660 <para>Check
<guilabel>Time from now
</guilabel> to enter how long (in
661 hours and minutes) after the alarm is created, that it should be
668 <para>In the
<guilabel>Recurrence Rule
</guilabel> group box in the
669 <guilabel>Recurrence
</guilabel> tab, no day or month need be selected
670 for weekly or yearly recurrences, respectively.
</para>
678 <sect2 id=
"calendars">
679 <title>Alarm Calendars
</title>
681 <para>If you only use one computer and work independently, it may not
682 matter to you where
&kalarm; stores its alarms. But if you need to
683 access alarms on more than one computer, or in more than one location
684 on your local computer, you can define
<quote>alarm calendars
</quote>
685 to tell
&kalarm; to use other alarm calendars additional to, or in
686 place of, its default ones.
</para>
688 <para>You can view and manipulate calendars via the calendar list,
689 which can be displayed alongside the alarm list in
&kalarm;'s main
690 window. Alarms from all alarm calendars are shown merged together in
691 the alarm list. When you save a new alarm, you can set a configuration
692 option to determine whether it is automatically saved into the default
693 calendar, or whether you will be prompted to choose a calendar. When
694 you edit an existing alarm, it is automatically saved back into its
695 original alarm calendar.
</para>
698 <screeninfo>Screenshot of the
&kalarm; main window, showing the
699 calendar list
</screeninfo>
702 <imagedata fileref=
"mainwindow-calendars.png" format=
"PNG"/>
705 <phrase>Main window showing the calendar list
</phrase>
711 <title>Calendar Types and Options
</title>
713 <para>Alarm calendars are categorized by alarm type and storage type.
714 They can be disabled, set read-only, or made the default calendar for
715 their alarm type.
</para>
719 <term>Alarm type
</term>
721 <para>The three alarm entity types
– active alarms, archived
722 alarms and alarm templates
–
723 are stored in separate alarm calendars.
&kalarm; therefore has three
724 standard default calendars, one for each type (see
725 <link linkend=
"faq">Questions and Answers
</link> for details), which
726 you can change if you wish.
</para>
731 <term>Storage type
</term>
733 <para>&kalarm; handles three alarm calendar storage
737 <listitem><para>Local file: Alarms are stored in a single local file
738 in iCalendar format.
&kalarm; uses local file calendars by default
739 (see
<link linkend=
"faq">Questions and Answers
</link> for details).
740 <quote>Local files
</quote>, in addition to files on the local
741 computer, can include alarm calendars on the local network as long as
742 their location can be represented by a path name starting with
743 <literal>/
</literal>.
</para>
746 <listitem><para>Local directory: Alarms are stored in a local folder,
747 each alarm being stored in a separate iCalendar file within the
748 folder. This storage method has the advantage that in the event of
749 file corruption, you should lose only one alarm, not the entire
753 <listitem><para>Remote file: Alarms are stored in a single remote
754 file in iCalendar format. This storage method allows you to access
755 your alarm data remotely no matter where you are, or enables alarm
756 calendars to be viewed by other people. When using remote files,
757 &kalarm; works with a local cache of the data.
</para>
759 <warning><para>If a remote alarm calendar is shared between users,
760 changes made by one person may not be automatically made available to
761 another user, or there could be a time delay before the other user
762 sees it. So one user could make a change which is then overwritten by
763 another user without either person noticing what has happened. The
764 technical reason for this is that a change made by person A will only
765 be available to person B after person A's cached copy has first been
766 saved to the remote file, and then person B's cached copy
767 of the remote file has been reloaded. When and if the calendar is
768 saved and reloaded depends on the calendar configuration parameters
769 which each user has set for that alarm calendar.
</para>
771 <para>Ways to avoid this problem include adjusting the calendar save
772 and reload configuration parameters, or adopting a policy that users
773 other than the alarm calendar's owner should open it in read-only
774 mode.
</para></warning>
781 <term>Enabled/disabled status
</term>
783 <para>Disabling a calendar has the same
784 effect as removing it, except that it still appears in the calendar
785 list for easy re-enabling. When disabled, its alarms are ignored and
786 do not appear in the alarm list or list of templates. When it is
787 re-enabled, its alarms are once again shown and, if it is an active
788 alarm calendar, made active.
</para>
793 <term>Read-only status
</term>
795 <para>A read-only calendar's alarms cannot be
796 changed or added to. So you cannot edit its alarms, or save new alarms
797 to it. Also, it is not possible to defer its alarms, since to do so
798 would need the deferral time to be saved into the alarm. After its
799 alarms trigger, they are not removed from the calendar and archived
800 until you or another user accesses the calendar in read-write
803 <para>You can set the read-only status of a calendar in the calendar
804 configuration dialog. However, some calendars cannot be made
805 writeable, for various reasons:
</para>
808 <listitem><para>If a calendar was created by another application, it
809 would be unsafe to allow
&kalarm; to update it, since differences in
810 data format might make it unusable by the creating application.
</para>
813 <listitem><para>If the calendar was created by a later version of
814 &kalarm;, data might be lost if your version of
&kalarm; updated
818 <listitem><para>If the calendar was created by a previous version of
819 &kalarm;, data could be lost or it could be made unusable for the
820 previous
&kalarm; version if your version of
&kalarm; updated it. You
821 will be prompted whether to convert its format so as to make it
822 writeable, bearing in mind the potential compatibility problems if the
823 previous
&kalarm; version needs to access it again.
</para>
826 <listitem><para>If you do not have permission to write to the
827 calendar file or folder.
</para>
831 <para>If you need write access to alarms in a calendar which cannot be
832 made writeable, you can copy its alarms by importing them into a
833 writeable calendar using the latter calendar's
834 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Import...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> context
835 menu option (see
<link linkend=
"import">Importing Alarms from External
836 Calendars
</link>).
</para>
841 <term>Default calendar status
</term>
843 <para>One calendar of each alarm type can optionally be made the
844 default calendar for that alarm type. New alarms are automatically
845 saved to the default calendar for the appropriate alarm type, unless
846 you have selected the prompt option for new alarms and templates in the
847 <link linkend=
"preferences-storage">Configuration dialog
</link>.
</para>
854 <sect3 id=
"using-calendars">
855 <title>Using Calendars
</title>
857 <para>You can view and manipulate calendars via the calendar list,
858 which can be displayed or hidden by
<menuchoice>
859 <guimenu>View
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Show Calendars
</guimenuitem>
860 </menuchoice>. When using the calendar list, first select the alarm
861 type using the combo box above the list. Then either click on one of
862 the buttons below the list, or
<mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click
863 on the appropriate calendar in the list and choose an item from the
864 context menu. The actions available are:
</para>
868 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Add...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
870 <para>Add a calendar of the selected type to the list. You are asked
871 to choose a storage type, following which the calendar configuration
872 dialog is displayed, where you can enter the location of the calendar
873 and its characteristics. If there is no existing alarm calendar in
874 the specified location, a new one will be created.
</para>
879 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Remove
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
881 <para>Remove the selected calendar from the list. The calendar itself
882 is left intact; it is simply removed from the list, and may
883 subsequently be reinstated in the list if desired.
</para>
888 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Edit...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
890 <para>Edit the selected calendar. This displays the configuration
891 dialog for the selected calendar.
</para>
896 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Reload
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
898 <para>Reload the selected calendar. The calendar is re-read from its
899 storage location, ensuring that there is no discrepancy between what
900 &kalarm; displays and the current state of the calendar. If the
901 calendar is shared with other users, any changes which they have made
902 will now be seen by
&kalarm;.
</para>
904 <warning><para>If you reload a remote calendar, any changes to alarms
905 which you have made since the calendar was last saved will be lost.
906 Also, any alarms which have expired since the last save may be
907 retriggered.
</para></warning>
912 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Save
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
914 <para>Save any changes to the selected calendar. The calendar is
915 updated with any alarm changes which have occurred since the last time
916 the calendar was saved or reloaded. This is only useful for remote
917 calendars, since local calendars are automatically saved after every
918 change. You can configure when and how frequently a remote calendar
919 should be automatically saved, using its configuration dialog (via
920 the
<menuchoice><guimenuitem>Edit...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
921 context menu option).
</para>
923 <warning><para>If you save a remote calendar which is shared with other
924 users, any changes which they have made since you last reloaded the
925 calendar (automatically or manually) will be lost.
</para></warning>
930 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Import...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
932 <para>Import alarms from an external calendar file into the selected
933 calendar. This is described in
934 <link linkend=
"import">Importing Alarms from External Calendars
</link>.
935 This option is not available for disabled or read-only
941 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Export...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
943 <para>Export all the alarms in the selected calendar to an external calendar
944 file. This is described in
945 <link linkend=
"export">Exporting Alarms to External Calendars
</link>.
946 This option is not available for disabled calendars.
</para>
951 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Show Details
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
953 <para>Display details about the selected calendar. This shows the
954 calendar's location, storage type and status information.
960 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Use as Default
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
962 <para>Make the selected calendar the default calendar for the selected
963 calendar type. This option is not available for disabled or read-only
969 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Set Color...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
971 <para>Select a background color for highlighting this calendar's alarms
972 in the alarm list. This enables you to see at a glance which alarms
973 belong to a particular calendar.
</para>
978 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Clear Color
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
980 <para>Clear color highlighting for this calendar's alarms in the alarm
991 <title>Importing Alarms from External Calendars
</title>
993 <para>You can import alarms from other calendar files into
&kalarm;.
994 The import function scans the selected calendar
995 file for events containing alarms, and copies them (with new unique
996 IDs) into
&kalarm;'s calendar. Events without alarms, and calendar
997 entries other than events, are ignored. There are two ways to import
1002 <para>Use
<menuchoice><guimenu>File
</guimenu>
1003 <guimenuitem>Import Alarms...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to import
1004 alarms of all types (active alarms, archived alarms and alarm
1005 templates) from the calendar.
</para>
1007 <para>If you have configured
1008 <link linkend=
"calendars">alarm calendars
</link>, alarms of each type
1009 will be added to the appropriate default calendar, or if you have
1010 selected the prompt option for new alarms and templates in the
1011 <link linkend=
"preferences-storage">Configuration dialog
</link>, you will
1012 be prompted for the calendar to use.
</para>
1016 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on a calendar in the
1017 calendar list, and choose
1018 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Import...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the
1019 context menu. This imports alarms of the currently selected type into
1020 that calendar. For example, if the selected calendar type is alarm
1021 templates, alarm templates (and not active alarms or archived alarms)
1022 will be imported.
</para>
1026 <warning><para>If you import alarms from calendar files which were
1027 created by applications other than
&kalarm;, the alarms may be changed
1028 by the import process
– even alarm times may change. This depends
1029 on the data storage conventions used by the other application, and is
1030 unavoidable if those conventions differ from what
&kalarm; expects.
1031 Always check imported alarms for unexpected changes, and adjust them
1032 as necessary.
</para></warning>
1037 <title>Exporting Alarms to External Calendars
</title>
1039 <para>You can export alarms from
&kalarm; to other calendar files,
1040 either the alarms currently selected in the alarm list, or all the
1041 alarms from an alarm calendar. The methods to do this are given below.
1042 Whichever method is used, you can either create a new calendar file
1043 or append the exported alarms to an existing calendar file. To append
1044 the alarms, check
<guilabel>Append to existing file
</guilabel> in the
1045 file selection dialog; otherwise, any existing file is
1050 <para>To export the alarms currently selected in the alarm list,
1051 <mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the selection and choose
1052 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Export...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the
1053 context menu, or use
<menuchoice><guimenu>File
</guimenu>
1054 <guimenuitem>Export Selected Alarms...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> in
1055 the main menu.
</para>
1059 <para>To export all the alarms from a calendar,
1060 <mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on a calendar in the calendar
1062 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Export...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> from the
1063 context menu.
</para>
1069 <sect2 id=
"birthdays">
1070 <title>Importing Birthdays from
&kaddressbook;</title>
1072 <para>You can set up display alarms for birthdays stored in
1073 &kaddressbook;, by
<menuchoice><guimenu>File
</guimenu>
1074 <guimenuitem>Import Birthdays...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. This
1075 displays a dialog which allows you to select which birthdays to create
1080 <para>In the
<guilabel>Alarm Text
</guilabel> group box, you can set up
1081 the text to be displayed in the birthday alarm messages. The message
1082 text is created by combining the
<guilabel>Prefix
</guilabel> text
1083 followed by the person's name followed by the
1084 <guilabel>Suffix
</guilabel> text. No spaces are added, so remember to
1085 include any necessary trailing space in
<guilabel>Prefix
</guilabel>
1086 and leading space in
<guilabel>Suffix
</guilabel>.
</para>
1088 <note><para>If you change the alarm text, the birthday selection list
1089 will be re-evaluated.
</para></note>
1093 <para>In the
<guilabel>Select Birthdays
</guilabel> list, select the
1094 birthdays which you want to create alarms for. Note that the list
1095 shows only those entries in
&kaddressbook; which contain a birthday
1096 and which do not already have a birthday alarm in the format currently
1097 defined in the
<guilabel>Alarm Text
</guilabel> group box.
</para>
1101 <para>The remaining controls are the same as for
1102 <guilabel>Text
</guilabel> alarms in the
1103 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>.
</para>
1107 <para>If you have configured
1108 <link linkend=
"calendars">alarm calendars
</link>, the alarms will be
1109 added to the default active alarm calendar, or if you have selected the
1110 prompt option for new alarms and templates in the
1111 <link linkend=
"preferences-storage">Configuration dialog
</link>, you will
1112 be prompted for the calendar to use.
</para>
1117 <title>Undo / Redo
</title>
1119 <para>You can undo and redo the most recent changes which you have
1120 made during the current session of
&kalarm;. Most actions can be
1121 undone, including creation, edit and deletion of alarms and alarm
1122 templates, and reactivation of alarms. To prevent excessive resources
1123 being used by the undo history, the number of changes stored is
1124 limited to the last
12.
</para>
1126 <para>To undo the last change, select
<menuchoice>
1127 <guimenu>Edit
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Undo
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
1128 To redo the last change which was undone, select
<menuchoice>
1129 <guimenu>Edit
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Redo
</guimenuitem>
1130 </menuchoice>.
</para>
1132 <para>To undo a change other than the last one, click on the
1133 <guibutton>Undo
</guibutton> button in the toolbar and hold the mouse
1134 button down. A list of actions will be displayed from which you can
1135 choose the one to undo. If you don't see the action which you are
1136 looking for, remember that you may need to undo more recent changes
1137 first, which the desired change depends on. For example, if you edited
1138 an alarm and then deleted it, you cannot undo the edit until you have
1139 first undone the deletion.
</para>
1141 <para>Redoing a change other than the last one can be done in a
1142 similar manner, using the
<guibutton>Redo
</guibutton> toolbar
1148 <sect1 id=
"alarm-edit-dlg">
1149 <title>The Alarm Edit Dialog
</title>
1151 <para>The Alarm Edit dialog enables you to view and edit an alarm.
1152 When you first use
&kalarm;, a simplified form of the dialog is
1153 displayed, with only a small number of options visible. To see all
1154 options, click the
<guibutton>More Options
</guibutton> button; to
1155 revert to the simplified dialog, click the
1156 <guibutton>Less Options
</guibutton> button.
&kalarm; always remembers
1157 your last display choice whenever the Alarm Edit dialog is
1160 <para>You can configure the default values of many of the settings in
1161 the Alarm Edit dialog using the
1162 <link linkend=
"preferences-edit">Configuration dialog's Edit tab
</link>.
</para>
1165 <screeninfo>Screenshot of the simplified Alarm Edit dialog
</screeninfo>
1168 <imagedata fileref=
"editwindow-simple.png" format=
"PNG"/>
1171 <phrase>Simplified Alarm Edit dialog for a display alarm
</phrase>
1173 <caption><para>Simplified Alarm Edit dialog for a display alarm
</para></caption>
1178 <screeninfo>Screenshot of the Alarm Edit dialog showing all options
</screeninfo>
1181 <imagedata fileref=
"editwindow.png" format=
"PNG"/>
1184 <phrase>Alarm Edit dialog for a display alarm, showing all options
</phrase>
1186 <caption><para>Alarm Edit dialog for a display alarm, showing all options
</para></caption>
1191 <title>Alarm Action
</title>
1193 <para>The controls in the
<guilabel>Action
</guilabel> group box vary
1194 depending on the type of alarm being edited.
</para>
1197 <title>Display Alarms
</title>
1199 <para>Display alarms display a window when the alarm triggers. Select
1200 the method used to generate the alarm window contents, using the combo
1201 box at the top:
</para>
1205 <para><guilabel>Text message
</guilabel> in order to enter an alarm
1206 message text (which may include newlines) in the edit box.
</para>
1210 <para><guilabel>File contents
</guilabel> to enter the path or
&URL; of
1211 a text or image file whose contents are to be displayed in the alarm
1212 message. Use the button beside the edit box to display a file selection
1213 dialog. The
<guilabel>Speak
</guilabel> option is not available for this
1214 type of alarm.
</para>
1218 <para><guilabel>Command output
</guilabel> to specify that the alarm
1219 message text will be generated by a command which is executed when the
1221 <link linkend=
"command-alarm">Command Alarms
</link> below for details
1222 of how to enter the command or command script to execute.
</para>
1226 <para>The controls available for display alarms are:
</para>
1230 <para>The
<guilabel>Sound
</guilabel> option allows you to select
1231 whether an audible alarm should sound when the alarm message is
1232 displayed. Choose:
</para>
1236 <para><guilabel>None
</guilabel> to display the alarm silently.
</para>
1240 <para><guilabel>Beep
</guilabel> to sound a beep.
</para>
1244 <para><guilabel>Speak
</guilabel> to have the alarm message spoken as
1245 well as being displayed. This option is only available if you have
1246 &jovie; (from the kdeaccessibility package) installed and configured,
1247 together with a compatible speech synthesizer,
⪚
1248 <application>Festival
</application>.
</para>
1252 <para><guilabel>Sound file
</guilabel> to play an audio file. Use the
1253 button on the right to display the Sound File dialog which lets you
1254 select a file to play and set volume and repetition options. If you
1255 hover the mouse over the selector, a tooltip will display the audio file
1256 currently selected.
</para>
1258 <para>In the Sound File dialog:
</para>
1262 <para>Enter the sound file path, or use the button beside the
1263 edit box to display a file selection dialog. You can listen to the
1264 selected file by clicking the play button to the left of the edit
1265 field. That button then changes function to allow you to stop playing
1266 when you have heard enough.
</para>
1270 <para>Check
<guilabel>Repeat
</guilabel> to continually repeat the
1271 audio file for as long as the alarm is displayed. (The alarm message
1272 window contains a button to stop playing the sound should you need
1273 silence but still want to display the alarm.)
</para>
1277 <para>Check
<guilabel>Volume
</guilabel> and adjust the slider
1278 control if you want to adjust the volume at which the audio file is
1283 <para>If you wish, you can fade the volume. Fading means to start
1284 playing the audio file at one volume and gradually change to the final
1285 volume, over a specified time interval. The final volume is that
1286 entered in
<guilabel>Volume
</guilabel> above. To enable fade, check
1287 <guilabel>Fade
</guilabel>, and then enter the fade period in seconds
1288 in the
<guilabel>Fade time
</guilabel> field, and adjust the
1289 <guilabel>Initial volume
</guilabel> slider.
</para>
1293 <tip><para>You can use the
<guibutton>Try
</guibutton> button to test out
1294 the selected sound levels.
</para></tip>
1300 <para>Use the
<guibutton>Font
& Color...
</guibutton> button to
1301 select a font, and foreground and background colors, for the alarm
1302 message. In the
<guilabel>Choose Alarm Font
& Color
</guilabel>
1303 dialog, check
<guilabel>Use default font
</guilabel> to display the
1304 message in whatever font is configured as the default at the time
1305 the message is displayed. To choose a specific font for the message,
1306 uncheck
<guilabel>Use default font
</guilabel>. (The default font and
1307 colors can be set in the
1308 <link linkend=
"preferences-edit">Configuration dialog
</link>.)
</para>
1310 <para>The selected colors are shown in the alarm message text entry
1315 <para>Use the
<guibutton>Special Actions...
</guibutton> button to
1316 specify shell commands to execute before or after displaying the
1317 alarm. In the
<guilabel>Special Alarm Actions
</guilabel>
1322 <para>In the
<guilabel>Pre-alarm action
</guilabel> field, enter a
1323 shell command to execute before the alarm is displayed. Note that
1324 &kalarm; will wait for the command to complete before displaying the
1327 <para>A pre-alarm action is only executed once when the alarm message
1328 is initially displayed, including when a reminder message is replaced
1329 by the actual alarm message. It is
<emphasis>not
</emphasis> executed
1330 in any of the following circumstances:
</para>
1333 <listitem><para>When a reminder message is displayed.
</para></listitem>
1334 <listitem><para>When the message is redisplayed after deferring the
1335 alarm, unless
<guilabel>Execute for deferred alarms
</guilabel> is
1336 checked.
</para></listitem>
1337 <listitem><para>When the message was displaying at the time you logged
1338 off and is then restored when you log back in.
</para></listitem>
1339 <listitem><para>When a recurring alarm triggers but the alarm message
1340 (or a deferred alarm message) from a previous occurrence of the alarm
1341 is still visible; in other words, when the previous occurrence of the
1342 alarm has not yet been acknowledged.
</para></listitem>
1345 <para>The pre-alarm action can be used to control whether to display
1346 the alarm message:
</para>
1349 <listitem><para>Check
<guilabel>Cancel alarm on error
</guilabel> to
1350 cancel the alarm if the pre-alarm command returns an error status.
1351 This will prevent the alarm message from being displayed, and any
1352 post-alarm action from being executed.
</para></listitem>
1354 <listitem><para>Normally, if the pre-alarm command returns an error,
1355 an error message is displayed and an error indication is shown in the
1356 alarm list. These error notifications can be prevented by checking
1357 <guilabel>Do not notify errors
</guilabel>.
</para></listitem>
1362 <para>In the
<guilabel>Post-alarm action
</guilabel> field, enter a
1363 shell command to execute when the alarm is acknowledged (whether by
1364 clicking
<guibutton>Close
</guibutton> or by using the close button
1365 in the window's titlebar). It is
<emphasis>not
</emphasis>
1366 executed in any of the following circumstances:
</para>
1369 <listitem><para>When a reminder message is closed.
</para></listitem>
1370 <listitem><para>When you defer the alarm, except when the deferred
1371 alarm is finally acknowledged.
</para></listitem>
1372 <listitem><para>When the alarm message is closed due to logging
1373 out.
</para></listitem>
1378 <para>See
<link linkend=
"command-alarm">Command Alarms
</link> below
1379 for details of how shell commands are executed.
</para>
1385 <sect3 id=
"command-alarm">
1386 <title>Command Alarms
</title>
1388 <para>Command alarms execute a command without displaying any alarm
1391 <note><para>This alarm type is not available if
&kde; is running in
1392 kiosk mode.
</para></note>
1394 <para>When the command is executed, the environment variable
1395 <envar>KALARM_UID
</envar> contains the event UID for the alarm. Note
1396 that when the command is executed from the Alarm Edit dialog's
1397 <guibutton>Try
</guibutton> button,
<envar>KALARM_UID
</envar> will be
1398 blank if it is a new alarm, or if the alarm has been modified in the
1399 dialog, because the alarm only acquires a UID when it is saved in the
1400 alarm calendar.
</para>
1402 <para>The controls available for command alarms are:
</para>
1406 <para>The
<guilabel>Enter a script
</guilabel> check box lets you choose
1407 whether to enter a shell command line or a script.
</para>
1409 <para>If this option is unchecked, you can enter a shell command line
1410 to execute. The command is passed straight to the default shell (defined
1411 by the
<envar>SHELL
</envar> environment variable), and may include
1412 whatever options, parameters, piped commands,
&etc; are permitted by
1413 the shell in a single line command.
</para>
1415 <para>If this option is checked, you can enter the text of a script to
1416 execute. Remember to include a first line such as
1417 <literal>#!/bin/bash
</literal> to ensure that the correct command
1418 interpreter is invoked.
</para>
1422 <para>Use the
<guilabel>Command Output
</guilabel> group box to specify
1423 what you want to be done with any terminal output which the command
1424 produces when it executes.
</para>
1428 <para>Check
<guilabel>Execute in terminal window
</guilabel> to cause
1429 the command to be executed in a terminal window. You can choose
1430 which type of terminal window should be used in the
1431 <link linkend=
"preferences-general">Configuration dialog
</link>.
</para>
1435 <para>Check
<guilabel>Log to file
</guilabel> to save the command's
1436 output in a file. The output, prefixed by a heading showing the time
1437 at which the command was scheduled to run, will be appended to any
1438 existing contents of the file. Enter the file name in the edit box, or
1439 use the button beside the edit box to display a file selection
1444 <para>Check
<guilabel>Discard
</guilabel> to throw away the command's
1453 <title>Email Alarms
</title>
1455 <para>Email alarms send an email without displaying any alarm
1458 <para>Fill in the recipients' addresses, the email subject line and the
1459 message body in the three edit fields. Use the button beside the
1460 addressee edit box to display your
&kde; address book from which you
1461 can select email recipients. Attachments may be added using the
1462 <guibutton>Add...
</guibutton> button. Note that attached files must
1463 still exist when the alarm is triggered; no copy is stored at the time
1464 the alarm is configured. To remove an attachment, highlight it in the
1465 drop-down list and click the
<guibutton>Remove
</guibutton>
1468 <para>Set the following options:
</para>
1472 <para>The
<guilabel>From
</guilabel> combo box allows you to select
1473 which
&kmail; identity to use as your email address for sending the
1474 email. This option only appears if your
<guilabel>From
</guilabel>
1475 email address in the
1476 <link linkend=
"preferences-email">Configuration dialog
</link> is set to
1477 <guilabel>Use
&kmail; identities
</guilabel>. Otherwise your email
1478 address is preset in the
1479 <link linkend=
"preferences-email">Configuration dialog
</link>, rendering
1480 this option inapplicable.
</para>
1484 <para>Check
<guilabel>Copy email to self
</guilabel> to send a blind
1485 copy of the email to yourself when the alarm is triggered. The email
1486 address to which the copy will be sent may be set in the
1487 <link linkend=
"preferences-email">Configuration dialog
</link>, the
1488 default being your email address set in the
&kde; System
1496 <title>Audio Alarms
</title>
1498 <para>Audio alarms play an audio file without displaying any alarm
1501 <para>Set the following options:
</para>
1505 <para>Enter the sound file path, or use the button beside the
1506 edit box to display a file selection dialog.
</para>
1510 <para>Check
<guilabel>Repeat
</guilabel> to continually repeat the
1511 audio file until the
<guilabel>Stop Play
</guilabel> option is
1512 selected. To stop playing the file, select the
1513 <menuchoice><guimenu>Actions
</guimenu>
1514 <guimenuitem>Stop Play
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu option, or
1515 <mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon
1517 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Stop Play
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
1518 from the context menu. If you wish, you can set up a global
1519 shortcut key for this action.
</para>
1523 <para>Check
<guilabel>Volume
</guilabel> and adjust the slider
1524 control if you want to adjust the volume at which the audio file is
1529 <para>If you wish, you can fade the volume. Fading means to start
1530 playing the audio file at one volume and gradually change to the final
1531 volume, over a specified time interval. The final volume is that
1532 entered in
<guilabel>Volume
</guilabel> above. To enable fade, check
1533 <guilabel>Fade
</guilabel>, and then enter the fade period in seconds
1534 in the
<guilabel>Fade time
</guilabel> field, and adjust the
1535 <guilabel>Initial volume
</guilabel> slider.
</para>
1542 <title>Deferral
</title>
1544 <para>If the alarm is a recurring alarm and it was deferred after it
1545 was last displayed, the
<guilabel>Deferred Alarm
</guilabel> group box
1546 shows the time the alarm was deferred to.
1547 <guibutton>Change...
</guibutton> displays a dialog which allows you to
1548 change the deferred time or to cancel the deferral.
</para>
1555 <para>In the
<guilabel>Time
</guilabel> group box, select either
</para>
1559 <para><guilabel>At date/time
</guilabel> to enter the date and time
1560 when the alarm is to be triggered. Check
<guilabel>Any time
</guilabel>
1561 if you want to specify only a date for the alarm: in this case the
1562 alarm will be displayed at the first opportunity on or after the
1563 configured start-of-day time, on the specified date.
1564 (
<link linkend=
"preferences-time">Configuring
&kalarm;</link>
1565 describes how to set the start-of-day time.)
</para>
1567 <para>For a non-recurring alarm, the date/time which you enter must be
1568 in the future, or if you enter only a date it must be today or later.
1569 For a recurring alarm, there are no such restrictions since the start
1570 date/time will be automatically adjusted to the first recurrence due
1571 after the current time.
</para>
1575 <para><guilabel>Time from now
</guilabel> to enter how long after now
1576 (in hours and minutes) the alarm should be triggered.
</para>
1580 <para>If desired, choose a time zone to apply to the alarm. This time
1581 zone is used for all dates and times relating to this alarm, including
1582 recurrence and exception dates and times. Normally, you should leave
1583 the time zone controls unchanged unless you have a good reason to
1586 <para>The time zone controls are displayed only when the selected time
1587 zone is different from the default time zone set in the
1588 <link linkend=
"preferences-time">Configuration dialog
</link>, or if
1589 you click the
<guibutton>Time Zone...
</guibutton> button.
</para>
1593 <para>In the combo box, choose the time zone which this alarm is to
1594 use. When creating a new alarm, this is initially set to the time zone
1596 <link linkend=
"preferences-time">Configuration dialog
</link>, which
1597 will be your computer's time zone unless you have changed it.
</para>
1601 <para>Check
<guilabel>Ignore time zone
</guilabel> if you want to use
1602 the local computer time (on whichever computer
&kalarm; happens to be
1603 running on at the time), ignoring time zones.
</para>
1605 <warning><para>You are recommended not to select this option if the
1606 alarm has a recurrence specified in hours and minutes; if you do, the
1607 alarm may occur at unexpected times after daylight saving time
1608 shifts.
</para></warning>
1615 <title>Reminder
</title>
1617 <para>For a display alarm, check
<guilabel>Reminder
</guilabel> if you
1618 want to display a reminder either before or after the main alarm and
1619 each of its recurrences (if any). Enter how long in advance or
1620 afterwards, using the edit controls beside the check box. Note that
1621 if the alarm recurs, the reminder period is normally limited to
1622 being less than the recurrence or sub-repetition interval.
</para>
1624 <note><para>Reminders are not displayed for sub-repetitions within a
1625 recurrence. Reminders are only shown for each main recurrence of the
1626 alarm.
</para></note>
1628 <para>If the alarm recurs, check
<guilabel>Reminder for first
1629 recurrence only
</guilabel> if you only want a reminder for the alarm's
1630 first recurrence. If this is checked, and it is an advance reminder,
1631 the reminder period is not subject to the normal limit of being less
1632 than the recurrence or sub-repetition interval.
</para>
1638 <title>Cancelation
</title>
1640 <para>The late-cancelation options determine how an alarm is treated
1641 after its scheduled time:
</para>
1645 <para>The
<guilabel>Cancel if late
</guilabel> check box determines what
1646 happens if the alarm cannot be triggered at its scheduled time.
</para>
1648 <para>Check this box to cancel the alarm if it cannot be triggered
1649 within a specified time period after the right time. The time period
1650 is selected using controls which appear when you check the box. For
1651 example, if you enter a time period of
1 hour, the alarm will be
1652 triggered at the first opportunity up to an hour after it is due, but
1653 if it cannot be triggered within an hour its activation will be
1656 <note><para>The lateness of date-only alarms,
&ie; ones for which the
1657 <guilabel>Any time
</guilabel> option is selected, is calculated from
1658 the start-of-day time on the alarm's scheduled date.
</para></note>
1660 <para>Leave the box unchecked to trigger the alarm at the first
1661 opportunity starting at the scheduled time, regardless of how late it
1664 <note><para>An alarm can only be triggered while you are logged in,
1665 and while both X and
&kalarm; are running.
</para></note>
1669 <para>Check
<guilabel>Auto-close window after this time
</guilabel> if
1670 you want the alarm window to be automatically closed if it is still
1671 showing at the expiry of the late-cancelation time.
</para>
1678 <title>Recurrence
</title>
1680 <para>Specify whether or how the alarm should be repeated using the
1681 <guilabel>Recurrence
</guilabel> tab.
</para>
1683 <note><para>The alarm's basic repetition characteristics are displayed
1684 for convenience in the title of the
<guilabel>Recurrence
</guilabel>
1685 tab. The recurrence interval is shown first, followed by any
1686 sub-repetition interval set up using the
1687 <guibutton>Sub-Repetition
</guibutton> button.
</para></note>
1689 <para>In the
<guilabel>Recurrence Rule
</guilabel> group box, set the
1690 recurrence type or time period as follows:
</para>
1693 <listitem><para>To trigger the alarm once only, select
<guilabel>No
1694 recurrence
</guilabel>.
</para></listitem>
1696 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>At login
</guilabel> to trigger the
1697 alarm whenever you log in, until its scheduled end time. Then, at its
1698 scheduled end time it will finally be triggered one last time. (Note
1699 that an alarm repeated at login will also be triggered any time you
1700 restart
&kalarm;.)
</para></listitem>
1703 <para>To make the alarm recur at regular intervals, select one of the
1704 time period types and then enter in the
1705 <guilabel>Recur every
</guilabel> box how many time periods should
1706 elapse between recurrences. For example, to repeat
1707 every fortnight, you could select
<guilabel>Daily
</guilabel> and enter
1708 a value of
14, or select
<guilabel>Weekly
</guilabel> and enter a value
1709 of
2. Depending on the time period type selected, you may have further
1714 <para>For a weekly recurrence, check each day in the week on which you
1715 wish to trigger the alarm.
</para>
1719 <para>For a monthly recurrence, you may select either a fixed date, or
1720 a position (
⪚ the second Tuesday).
</para>
1724 <para>For a yearly recurrence, you may select either a fixed day in
1725 the month, or a position in a month (
⪚ the last Saturday in
1726 May). Check each month of the year in which you wish to trigger the
1729 <para>If you set up a yearly recurrence for February
29th, you can
1730 specify how it is to be handled in non-leap years by selecting the
1732 <guilabel>February
29th alarm in non-leap years
</guilabel>
1736 <listitem><para><guilabel>None
</guilabel>: the alarm will occur on
1737 February
29th in leap years, but will be suppressed in non-leap
1741 <listitem><para><guilabel>28 Feb
</guilabel>: the alarm will occur on
1742 February
29th in leap years, and on February
28th in non-leap
1746 <listitem><para><guilabel>1 Mar
</guilabel>: the alarm will occur on
1747 February
29th in leap years, and on March
1st in non-leap
1754 <tip><para>To set a daily alarm to occur only on weekdays, use a
1755 weekly recurrence and check each weekday.
</para></tip>
1760 <para>In the
<guilabel>Recurrence End
</guilabel> group box, set the
1761 overall recurrence time span as follows:
</para>
1764 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>No end
</guilabel> to continue the
1765 repetitions indefinitely.
</para></listitem>
1767 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>End after
</guilabel> to specify the
1768 total number of occurrences of the alarm.
</para></listitem>
1770 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>End by
</guilabel> to specify the
1771 date/time until which the alarm will be repeated. Note that this uses
1772 the same time zone as the alarm's start time.
</para>
1774 <note><para>The end date/time determines when the last main recurrence
1775 will be, but does not limit sub-repetitions. If sub-repetitions are
1776 configured, they will trigger as normal after the last main recurrence,
1777 regardless of the end date/time.
</para></note>
1781 <para>The
<guilabel>Exceptions
</guilabel> group box allows you to
1782 exclude certain date/times from the recurrence which you have set up.
1783 Note that these controls are not shown in the simplified form of the
1784 Alarm Edit dialog: to see them, click
1785 <guibutton>More Options
</guibutton>.
</para>
1789 <para>The list of exceptions (
&ie; excluded date/times) is shown on
1790 the left. To add a new exception, enter a date on the right and press
1791 <guibutton>Add
</guibutton>. To change an exception, highlight it in
1792 the list, enter the new date on the right and press
1793 <guibutton>Change
</guibutton>. To delete an exception, highlight it
1794 in the list and press
<guibutton>Delete
</guibutton>.
</para>
1798 <para>You can restrict an alarm not to occur on holidays by checking
1799 <guilabel>Exclude holidays
</guilabel>. This does not change the way
1800 the alarm is scheduled; it simply suppresses the alarm whenever it
1801 happens to trigger on a holiday. You can select your holiday country
1803 <link linkend=
"preferences-time">Configuration dialog
</link>.
</para>
1807 <para>You can restrict an alarm to occur only during working time by
1808 checking
<guilabel>Only during working hours
</guilabel>. This does not
1809 change the way the alarm is scheduled; it simply suppresses the alarm
1810 whenever it happens to trigger outside working hours. Work days and
1811 working hours are set in the
1812 <link linkend=
"preferences-time">Configuration dialog
</link>.
</para>
1817 <title>Sub-Repetition
</title>
1819 <para>You can use the
<guibutton>Sub-Repetition
</guibutton> button to
1820 set up a repetition within a repetition. In this case, each time the
1821 alarm is due as specified in the main recurrence, instead of being
1822 triggered just once it is triggered repeatedly in accordance with your
1823 sub-repetition specification. For example, to set up an alarm which
1824 repeats every hour from noon to
6 pm each Thursday, you would set up a
1825 weekly recurrence on Thursday at
12:
00, and use the Sub-Repetition
1826 dialog to specify an interval of
1 hour and either a count of
6 or a
1827 duration of
6 hours.
</para>
1829 <para>In the Sub-Repetition dialog which is displayed when you click
1830 the
<guibutton>Sub-Repetition
</guibutton> button, check
1831 <guilabel>Repeat every
</guilabel> to set up a repetition, or uncheck
1832 it to remove the repetition. If
<guilabel>Repeat every
</guilabel> is
1833 checked, set up the repetition as follows:
</para>
1836 <listitem><para>Enter the time interval between repetitions in the
1837 controls beside
<guilabel>Repeat every
</guilabel>. Select the desired
1838 time units (
⪚ <guilabel>days
</guilabel>) and then enter the number
1842 <listitem><para>Specify either the repetition count or its
1846 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>Number of times
</guilabel> to enter
1847 how many times the alarm should be triggered after the main
1848 recurrence. So, for example, to make the alarm occur
4 times at each
1849 main recurrence,
&ie; 3 additional times, you should enter
3
1853 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>Duration
</guilabel> to enter the
1854 total time period during which the alarm should be repeated. This need
1855 not be an exact multiple of the repetition interval; it will
1856 automatically be rounded down when you click
1857 <guibutton>OK
</guibutton>.
</para>
1863 <note><para>To prevent overlapping sub-repetitions for the same alarm,
1864 a sub-repetition's duration is restricted to be less than the longest
1865 interval between main recurrences. Each time the alarm recurs as
1866 specified in the main recurrence, any still active sub-repetition
1867 which started at the previous recurrence is automatically
1868 cancelled.
</para></note>
1874 <title>Other Controls
</title>
1876 <para>For display alarms, the
1877 <guilabel>Confirm acknowledgment
</guilabel> check box lets you specify
1878 whether you will be prompted for confirmation when you close the alarm
1879 message window. This may be used as a safeguard against accidental
1880 acknowledgment of alarms.
</para>
1882 <para>Select
<guilabel>Show in
&korganizer;</guilabel> to add the
1883 alarm to
&korganizer;'s active calendar, where it will appear as an
1884 event without an alarm. This option allows you to track alarms in
1885 &korganizer; while still making use of
&kalarm;'s functions.
</para>
1887 <note><para>If you later modify or delete the alarm in
&kalarm;, the
1888 &korganizer; event will be modified or deleted correspondingly. But
1889 if you change the event in
&korganizer;, the alarm in
&kalarm; will
1890 not be affected.
</para></note>
1892 <para>Press the
<guibutton>Load Template
</guibutton> button to select
1893 a template to preset the dialog with, as described in
<link
1894 linkend=
"create-edit">Creating and Manipulating Alarms
</link>.
</para>
1896 <para>Press the
<guibutton>Try
</guibutton> button to test the alarm
1897 and check whether it works correctly. The alarm is executed just as
1898 if it had been scheduled in the normal way. In the case of an audio
1899 alarm, press the
<guibutton>Try
</guibutton> button a second time to
1900 stop playing the sound file.
</para>
1902 <para>Press the
<guibutton>OK
</guibutton> button
1903 when all details are correct, to add the alarm to the scheduled
1904 list. Note that when editing an existing alarm, the
1905 <guibutton>OK
</guibutton> button is disabled while no changes have
1911 <sect1 id=
"message-window">
1912 <title>Alarm Message Window
</title>
1914 <para>When an alarm message is due, it is displayed on each
&kde;
1915 desktop and cannot be covered by ordinary windows, to ensure that
1916 you see it. The message window shows the time for which the alarm was
1917 scheduled, so that you can see when it popped up if you were away from
1918 the computer at the time. If the alarm's scheduled time is in a
1919 different time zone from your local computer's setting, its time zone
1920 will also be displayed. (For reminder messages, the date/time shown is
1921 that for the main alarm or its recurrence, not the reminder message
1922 time, and the window title is
<quote>Reminder
</quote>.)
</para>
1924 <para>Alarm message windows remain visible until you acknowledge them,
1925 unless
<guilabel>Auto-close window after late-cancelation
1926 time
</guilabel> was checked in the
<link
1927 linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>. In the case of a
1928 recurring alarm, if an unacknowledged message window remains from a
1929 previous occurrence of the alarm, the existing window is simply popped
1930 up when the alarm recurs. This avoids having to acknowledge multiple
1931 copies of the same message should you not wish, or be unable, to
1932 acknowledge a message at the time it appears.
</para>
1934 <para>The alarm message window provides whichever of the following
1935 options are applicable to the displayed alarm:
</para>
1939 <para>Acknowledge the alarm by clicking the
1940 <guibutton>Close
</guibutton> button. This closes the window (after a
1941 prompt for confirmation, if you selected
1942 <guilabel>Confirm acknowledgment
</guilabel>).
</para>
1946 <para>Edit the alarm by clicking the
<guibutton>Edit...
</guibutton>
1947 button. This displays the
1948 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>.
</para>
1952 <para>Display options to defer the alarm until later by clicking the
1953 <guibutton>Defer...
</guibutton> button. Then select
1954 <guilabel>Defer to date/time
</guilabel> to enter the date and time
1955 when the message is to be redisplayed, or select
<guilabel>Defer for
1956 time interval
</guilabel> to enter how long after now (in hours and
1957 minutes) the message should be redisplayed. Then click
1958 <guibutton>OK
</guibutton> to defer the alarm message and close its
1961 <note><para>The time the alarm is deferred to must be earlier than its
1962 next scheduled occurrence or next advance reminder. For this reason,
1963 the
<guibutton>Defer...
</guibutton> button in the alarm message window
1964 and the
<guibutton>OK
</guibutton> button in the Deferral dialog are
1965 disabled one minute before the next occurrence or advance
1967 <para>Note that if a reminder is configured
<emphasis>after
</emphasis>
1968 the alarm, you
<emphasis>can
</emphasis> defer the alarm past its
1969 reminder time. In this case, the reminder will be
1970 suppressed.
</para></note>
1972 <note><para>The
<guibutton>Defer...
</guibutton> button is not
1973 available for alarms which are displayed at login due to the
1974 <guilabel>Repeat at login
</guilabel> option having been
1975 selected.
</para></note>
1979 <para>Stop playing the alarm's sound file by clicking the button
1980 showing the
<quote>stop playing
</quote> symbol.
</para>
1984 <para>If the alarm message was created by dragging an email from
1985 &kmail;, you can directly access the email in
&kmail; by clicking the
1986 button showing the
&kmail; icon. This will select and highlight the
1987 email in
&kmail;'s folder list.
</para>
1989 <warning><para>If
&kmail;'s indexes are regenerated, the link to the
1990 email in
&kmail; will be lost.
</para></warning>
1994 <para>The button showing the
<guiicon>&kalarm;</guiicon> icon provides
1995 a convenient way to activate
&kalarm;.
</para>
1999 <para>You can choose in the
2000 <link linkend=
"preferences-view">Configuration dialog
</link> which of
2001 two different modes should be used to display alarm message
2006 <para>As a normal window. In this mode, the keyboard focus is taken
2007 by the alarm message window when it appears, so if you are typing at
2008 the time your keystrokes will be diverted to it rather than your
2009 original application.
</para>
2013 <para>As a non-modal window. In this mode, the keyboard focus is
2014 unaffected when the alarm message window appears, so it will not
2015 interfere with your typing. However in this mode the window has no
2016 titlebar or frame, so you cannot move it or resize it.
</para>
2020 <note><para>When an alarm is displayed on top of a full screen
2021 application, it is shown as a non-modal window regardless of this
2022 configuration setting. This is due to a limitation of the window
2023 system.
</para></note>
2026 <title>Positioning of Message Windows
</title>
2028 <para>You can choose in the
2029 <link linkend=
"preferences-view">Configuration dialog
</link> which of
2030 two schemes should be used to position alarm message windows:
</para>
2034 <para>The windows are displayed as far away from the current mouse
2035 cursor as possible. This minimizes disruption to your work flow and
2036 minimizes the possibility of accidentally acknowledging the
2041 <para>The windows are displayed in the center of the screen. To reduce
2042 the chance of accidentally acknowledging the alarm, the buttons on the
2043 window are initially disabled, becoming active only after a
2044 configurable delay.
</para>
2048 <para>If you have several alarm message windows, or error messages,
2049 displayed, you can spread the windows out across the screen to make
2050 them all visible, or group them all together again in the top left
2051 corner of the screen, by means of the
<menuchoice>
2052 <guimenu>View
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Spread Windows
</guimenuitem>
2053 </menuchoice> menu option. If you wish, you can set up a global
2054 shortcut key for this action.
</para>
2059 <sect1 id=
"system-tray">
2060 <title>System Tray Operation
</title>
2062 <para>&kalarm; by default displays an icon in the system tray. The icon
2063 provides both control and an alarm monitoring status indication. A
2064 normal
&kalarm; icon indicates that alarms are being monitored, while
2065 a gray icon indicates that alarms are not being monitored. If some
2066 individual alarms are disabled, a small cross is overlaid on the
2069 <para>&kalarm;'s system tray icon is by default automatically hidden
2070 whenever there are no alarms due in the next
24 hours. You can change
2071 the auto-hide time limit, or always show the system tray icon, using
2072 the
<link linkend=
"preferences-view">Configuration dialog
</link>. To
2073 show the icon when it has been automatically hidden, click the arrow
2074 in the system tray to reveal hidden icons.
</para>
2076 <para>If you hover the mouse cursor over the system tray icon, a
2077 summary of the first few message alarms due in the next
24 hours are
2078 displayed as a tooltip. You can switch this feature off, or configure
2079 the number of alarms to display and their format, in the
2080 <link linkend=
"preferences-view">Configuration dialog
</link>.
</para>
2082 <para><mousebutton>Left
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon to
2083 toggle between displaying and hiding the
&kalarm; main window.
</para>
2085 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon to
2086 display its context menu:
</para>
2090 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Enable Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2091 <listitem><para><action>Enables or disables monitoring of alarms.
</action></para>
2093 <link linkend=
"enable-disable">Enabling and Disabling Alarms
</link>
2099 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>New Alarm
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2100 <listitem><para><action>After you select the alarm type from the list
2101 which appears, opens the Alarm Edit dialog to create a new
2102 alarm.
</action></para>
2107 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Stop Play
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2108 <listitem><para><action>Halts playback of the audio file currently
2109 playing.
</action></para>
2114 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Spread Windows
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2115 <listitem><para><action>Spreads alarm and error message windows across
2116 the screen, or groups them together again.
</action></para>
2121 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Configure
&kalarm;...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2122 <listitem><para><action>Displays the
&kalarm; Configuration dialog.
</action></para>
2123 <para>The Configuration dialog is described in
2124 <link linkend=
"preferences">Configuring
&kalarm;</link>. It
2125 includes options relating to the
&kalarm; system tray icon.
</para>
2130 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Restore / Minimize
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2131 <listitem><para><action>Restores or minimizes the main
&kalarm; window.
</action></para>
2136 <term><menuchoice><guimenuitem>Quit
</guimenuitem></menuchoice></term>
2137 <listitem><para><action>Closes the
&kalarm; system tray
2138 icon and main windows.
</action></para>
2139 <para>Quits
&kalarm; if no alarm message windows are displayed.
</para>
2145 <title>Displaying
&kalarm; in the System Tray
</title>
2147 <para>You must be running the
&kde; desktop or another suitable window
2148 manager in order to display
&kalarm; in the system tray.
</para>
2150 <para>Select
<menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu>
2151 <guimenuitem>Show in System Tray
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to display
2152 &kalarm; in the system tray according to the preferences set in the
2153 <link linkend=
"preferences-view">View
</link> tab of the Configuration
2156 <para>To remove
&kalarm; from the system tray, deselect
2157 <menuchoice><guimenu>View
</guimenu>
2158 <guimenuitem>Show in System Tray
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
2160 <para>To choose whether or not
&kalarm; will be shown at startup in
2161 the system tray, use the
<link linkend=
"preferences-view">View
</link>
2162 tab of the Configuration dialog.
</para>
2166 <sect1 id=
"refreshing">
2167 <title>Refreshing Alarms
</title>
2169 <para>If in the unlikely event that any alarm was not triggered when
2170 it should have been, you can refresh the alarm list and trigger any
2171 missed alarms by selecting
2173 <guimenu>Actions
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Refresh Alarms
</guimenuitem>
2174 </menuchoice>. This causes
&kalarm; to reload all alarm
2177 <para>You can reload an individual calendar and refresh its alarms in
2179 <mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> clicking the calendar in the
2180 calendars list and selecting the
2181 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Reload
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu
2182 option. See
<link linkend=
"calendars">Alarm Calendars
</link> for
2187 <sect1 id=
"enable-disable">
2188 <title>Enabling and Disabling Alarms
</title>
2190 <para>Alarms may be enabled and disabled either as a whole or
2191 individually:
</para>
2195 <para><quote>Alarm monitoring
</quote> applies to alarms as a whole.
2196 While alarm monitoring is disabled, no alarms are triggered at all.
2197 While alarm monitoring is enabled (the normal situation), all alarms
2198 which are not individually disabled will trigger at the appropriate
2201 <para>When alarm monitoring is re-enabled, alarms which would have
2202 triggered while it was disabled are now triggered (unless any
2203 late-cancel option prevents this). In other words, disabling alarm
2204 monitoring has the same effect as stopping
&kalarm; – alarms are
2205 postponed until it is re-enabled.
</para>
2209 <para>Alarms may be individually enabled and disabled, independently
2210 of the alarm monitoring status. So the enabled/disabled status of
2211 individual alarms will be unchanged by disabling and then re-enabling
2212 alarm monitoring. Unlike alarm monitoring which could potentially be
2213 disabled due to
&kalarm; not running, individual alarms can only be
2214 disabled if you use menu commands to do so.
</para>
2216 <para>When an alarm is individually re-enabled, it is not now
2217 triggered if it became due while disabled. In other words, disabling
2218 an individual alarm cancels all its occurrences until it is
2221 <para>An alarm's individual enabled/disabled status is indicated by
2222 its color in the alarm list (the color being configurable in the
2223 <link linkend=
"preferences-view">View
</link> tab of the Configuration
2228 <para>For an alarm to trigger, it must be individually enabled as well
2229 as alarm monitoring being enabled.
</para>
2232 <title>Enabling Alarm Monitoring
</title>
2234 <para>For alarm monitoring to occur,
&kalarm; must be running. Once you
2235 run
&kalarm;, it will from then on start automatically whenever you log
2236 in unless you later disable it in the
2237 <link linkend=
"preferences-general">General
</link> tab of the
2238 Configuration dialog.
</para>
2240 <para>If alarm monitoring is currently disabled, do one of the
2241 following to enable alarms:
</para>
2245 <para>Select
<menuchoice><guimenu>Actions
</guimenu>
2246 <guimenuitem>Enable Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
2250 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon
2252 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Enable Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
2253 from the context menu.
</para>
2260 <title>Disabling Alarm Monitoring
</title>
2262 <para>You can temporarily disable alarm monitoring, which prevents
2263 &kalarm; from checking any alarms either until you re-enable alarms, or
2264 – assuming that
&kalarm; is configured to start at login
–
2265 until the next time you log in.
</para>
2269 <para>Unselect
<menuchoice><guimenu>Actions
</guimenu>
2270 <guimenuitem>Enable Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
2274 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the system tray icon
2276 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Enable Alarms
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
2277 from the context menu.
</para>
2281 <para>Run
&kalarm; with the command line option
2282 <option>--disable-all
</option>.
</para>
2286 <para>Stop
&kalarm; as described in
2287 <link linkend=
"quitting">Quitting
&kalarm;</link>.
</para>
2291 <para>Alarms may be permanently disabled by preventing
&kalarm; from
2292 being started at login using the
2293 <link linkend=
"preferences-general">General
</link> tab of the
2294 Configuration dialog.
</para>
2299 <title>Enabling and Disabling Individual Alarms
</title>
2301 <para>To enable individual alarms which are currently disabled, do
2302 one of the following:
</para>
2306 <para>Select one or more alarms by clicking on their entries in the
2307 alarm list. Then choose
<menuchoice>
2308 <guimenu>Actions
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Enable
</guimenuitem>
2309 </menuchoice>.
</para>
2313 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the desired entries in
2314 the alarm list and choose
2315 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Enable
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
2316 from the context menu.
</para>
2320 <para>To disable individual alarms which are currently enabled, do one
2321 of the following:
</para>
2325 <para>Select one or more alarms by clicking on their entries in the
2326 alarm list. Then choose
<menuchoice>
2327 <guimenu>Actions
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Disable
</guimenuitem>
2328 </menuchoice>.
</para>
2332 <para><mousebutton>Right
</mousebutton> click on the desired entries in
2333 the alarm list and choose
2334 <menuchoice><guimenuitem>Disable
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
2335 from the context menu.
</para>
2342 <sect1 id=
"wake-suspend">
2343 <title>Wake From Suspend
</title>
2345 <para>It is possible to configure a selected alarm to wake your
2346 computer from hibernation or suspension when the alarm triggers, so
2347 that the alarm action can occur even when the system was shut down.
2348 This function is controlled by a dialog which is accessed by selecting
2349 <menuchoice><guimenu>Actions
</guimenu>
2350 <guimenuitem>Wake From Suspend
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. The dialog
2351 allows the Wake From Suspend alarm to be set, cancelled or
2354 <para>Use of the Wake From Suspend function requires
2355 administrative privileges. You will be prompted for the root password
2356 when you set or cancel a Wake From Suspend alarm.
</para>
2358 <note><para>Wake From Suspend is not supported on some computers,
2359 especially older ones, and some computers only support setting a
2360 wakeup time up to
24 hours ahead. There may also be restrictions on
2361 which suspend mode the function will wake from. You should consider
2362 setting up test alarms to check your system's capability before
2363 relying on this feature.
</para></note>
2365 <warning><para>Your computer can only schedule a single Wake From
2366 Suspend at a time. If you use this function with
&kalarm;, you must
2367 ensure that this does not conflict with any other application which
2368 also uses Wake From Suspend. Whenever an application schedules or
2369 clears Wake From Suspend, this cancels any previously set Wake From
2370 Suspend, no matter whether set by
&kalarm; or any other
2371 application.
</para></warning>
2373 <para>The Wake From Suspend dialog is used in conjunction with the
2374 alarm list in
&kalarm;'s main window.
</para>
2378 <para><guibutton>Use highlighted alarm
</guibutton>: this sets the
2379 alarm currently highlighted in the alarm list as the Wake From Suspend
2380 alarm. Any existing scheduled Wake From Suspend is cancelled, as
2381 explained above. The button is enabled only if exactly one alarm is
2386 <para><guibutton>Cancel wake from suspend
</guibutton>: this cancels
2387 any existing Wake From Suspend (whether set by
&kalarm; or any other
2388 application - see above). Note that this only cancels the wakeup
2389 function associated with the alarm; the alarm itself is not deleted
2390 and will continue to operate as normal.
</para>
2394 <para><guibutton>Show current alarm
</guibutton>: this highlights the
2395 current Wake From Suspend alarm in the alarm list, so that it can be
2396 identified. The button is disabled if no Wake From Suspend is
2397 currently configured.
</para>
2401 <para>The
<guilabel>Number of minutes before alarm to wake from
2402 suspend
</guilabel> control allows you, if you wish, to ensure that the
2403 system has time to fully restore itself before the alarm triggers, so
2404 that the alarm can trigger at the correct time.
</para>
2410 <sect1 id=
"quitting">
2411 <title>Quitting
&kalarm;</title>
2413 <para>Quit
&kalarm; by selecting
<menuchoice>
2414 <guimenu>File
</guimenu><guimenuitem>Quit
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>,
2415 or
<menuchoice><guimenuitem>Quit
</guimenuitem></menuchoice> in the
2416 system tray icon context menu. Alternatively, if the system tray icon
2417 is not visible, close all
&kalarm;'s windows.
</para>
2422 <chapter id=
"preferences">
2423 <title>Configuring
&kalarm;</title>
2425 <para>To configure
&kalarm;'s operation to suit your system and your
2426 personal preferences, select
<menuchoice><guimenu>Settings
</guimenu>
2427 <guimenuitem>Configure
&kalarm;...
</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
2428 This displays the Configuration dialog.
</para>
2430 <sect1 id=
"preferences-general">
2431 <title>General
</title>
2433 <para>The
<guilabel>General
</guilabel> section lets you control
2434 &kalarm;'s overall behavior:
</para>
2438 <para><guilabel>Start at login
</guilabel>:
&kalarm; will be started
2439 automatically at
&kde; session login, ensuring that
&kalarm; runs at
2440 all times unless you manually quit.
</para>
2442 <warning><para>This option should always be checked unless you intend
2443 to discontinue use of
&kalarm;.
</para></warning>
2445 <note><para>This option is automatically reselected whenever
&kalarm;
2446 is run. So if you have unchecked this option and want to continue to
2447 prevent
&kalarm; from running at login, you need to uncheck this
2448 option again each time you run
&kalarm;.
</para></note>
2452 <para><guilabel>Warn before quitting
</guilabel>: When alarms are
2453 disabled while
&kalarm; is not running, selecting this option prompts
2454 you for confirmation if you attempt to terminate
&kalarm; using the
2455 system tray icon's
<menuchoice><guimenu>Quit
</guimenu></menuchoice>
2456 option. This prevents accidental disabling of alarms. For safety, this
2457 option is automatically re-enabled by default whenever you change run
2461 <listitem><para><guilabel>Confirm alarm deletions
</guilabel>: Specify
2462 whether you should be prompted for confirmation each time you delete
2466 <listitem><para><guilabel>Default defer time interval
</guilabel>:
2467 Enter the default time interval, in hours and minutes, to show
2468 initially when the Defer Alarm dialog is displayed. Note that if an
2469 alarm has been deferred previously, the interval shown initially in the
2470 Defer Alarm dialog will be equal to the deferral interval used the last
2471 time that alarm was deferred.
</para>
2474 <listitem><para><guilabel>Terminal for Command Alarms
</guilabel>:
2475 Here, you can select which type of terminal window should be used for
2476 command alarms which are executed in a terminal window. Some of the
2477 most common terminal window applications are preconfigured,
⪚
2478 <application>xterm
</application>,
&konsole;, although only those
2479 which are installed on your system will be shown here. You can view
2480 the actual command options used for each application by displaying the
2481 context help for its radio button.
</para>
2483 <para>If you want to use another application, or want to use one of
2484 those listed but with different command options, select
2485 <guilabel>Other
</guilabel> and enter the command to invoke the
2486 terminal window. By default, the alarm's command string will be
2487 appended to what you specify. Alternatively, you may specify where the
2488 alarm's command string should be inserted, by use of the following
2495 <para>The alarm's command string will be substituted.
</para>
2501 <para>The alarm's command string will be substituted, with a
<literal>sleep
</literal> appended.
</para>
2507 <para>A temporary command file containing the alarm's command string will be created, and the command to execute the file will be substituted.
</para>
2513 <para>A temporary command file containing the alarm's command string will be created with a
<literal>sleep
</literal> appended, and the command to execute the file will be substituted.
</para>
2519 <para>&kalarm;'s name in the current language will be substituted.
</para>
2524 <para>When the command alarm is triggered, its command string will be
2525 quoted before being inserted into the terminal window command.
</para>
2531 <sect1 id=
"preferences-time">
2532 <title>Time and Date
</title>
2534 <para>The
<guilabel>Time and Date
</guilabel> section lets you set
2535 options relating to time and date:
</para>
2538 <listitem><para><guilabel>Time zone
</guilabel>: Select your time zone.
2539 &kalarm; uses this time zone throughout, except when you override it
2540 for individual alarms.
</para>
2543 <listitem><para><guilabel>Holiday region
</guilabel>: Select which
2544 country's or region's holidays to use. This affects recurring alarms
2545 for which the option to exclude holidays is selected.
</para>
2548 <listitem><para><guilabel>Start of day for date-only
2549 alarms
</guilabel>: Set the start-of-day time for the purposes of
2550 triggering date-only alarms,
&ie; ones for which the
<guilabel>Any
2551 time
</guilabel> option was selected. On the date when they are due,
2552 such alarms will be output at the earliest opportunity during the
2553 24 hours starting from the start-of-day time.
</para>
2556 <listitem><para><guilabel>Working Hours
</guilabel> group box: These
2557 options let you define your working hours, needed when the
2558 <guilabel>Only during working hours
</guilabel> option is selected for
2560 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>.
</para>
2563 <listitem><para>Check each day which is a working day.
</para>
2566 <listitem><para><guilabel>Daily start time
</guilabel>: enter the time
2567 at which you start work each day.
</para>
2570 <listitem><para><guilabel>Daily end time
</guilabel>: enter the time
2571 at which you finish work each day.
</para>
2576 <listitem><para><guilabel>KOrganizer event duration
</guilabel>: Enter
2577 the event duration to set in
&korganizer; for alarms which are copied to
2578 &korganizer;. The default duration is zero.
</para>
2584 <sect1 id=
"preferences-storage">
2585 <title>Storage
</title>
2587 <para>The
<guilabel>Storage
</guilabel> section lets you choose options
2588 for saving and archiving alarms:
</para>
2592 <para><guilabel>New Alarms
& Templates
</guilabel>: Specify which
2593 calendar to store new alarms and alarm templates in when using
2594 multiple alarm calendars:
</para>
2598 <para><guilabel>Store in default calendar
</guilabel>: New alarms and
2599 alarm templates are automatically added to the default alarm calendar
2600 without prompting for confirmation.
</para>
2604 <para><guilabel>Prompt for which calendar to store in
</guilabel>:
2605 When you create a new alarm or alarm template and there is more than
2606 one writeable alarm calendar, you will be prompted to choose which
2607 calendar to save it in. Note that when alarms are saved on expiry,
2608 they are always stored in the default archived alarm calendar without
2614 <listitem><para><guilabel>Archived Alarms
</guilabel> group box: These
2615 options control the storage of archived alarms in the default archived
2616 alarm calendar.
</para>
2619 <listitem><para><guilabel>Keep alarms after expiry
</guilabel>:
2620 Select this option to archive expired and deleted alarms. Deselect it
2621 to keep no record of alarms once they cease to be active. Note that
2622 deleted alarms are only archived if they have previously been
2623 triggered. If you delete an alarm before it ever triggers, it is
2627 <listitem><para><guilabel>Discard archived alarms after
</guilabel>:
2628 Set the number of days to store expired and deleted alarms in the
2629 archive, after which they are permanently deleted.
</para>
2632 <listitem><para><guibutton>Clear archived alarms
</guibutton>: This
2633 button discards all currently archived alarms from the default archived
2634 alarm calendar. (Other archived alarm calendars are left unchanged in
2635 case they are shared with other people.) This has no effect on
2636 alarms which subsequently expire or are deleted; they will continue to
2637 be archived according to the selected options.
</para>
2645 <sect1 id=
"preferences-email">
2646 <title>Email
</title>
2648 <para>The
<guilabel>Email
</guilabel> section lets you choose options
2649 for sending and addressing email alarms:
</para>
2653 <para><guilabel>Email client
</guilabel>: Specify the email
2654 client to be used to send email alarms:
</para>
2657 <listitem><para><guilabel>KMail
</guilabel>: When an email alarm is
2658 triggered, the email is sent using
&kmail; (which is started first if
2659 necessary) as follows:
</para>
2662 <listitem><para>If
&kmail; is version
1.7 or later, the email is sent
2663 automatically.
</para>
2666 <listitem><para>If
&kmail; is an older version, the email is added to
2667 &kmail;'s
<filename>outbox
</filename> folder for later
2668 transmission.
</para>
2673 <listitem><para><guilabel>Sendmail
</guilabel>: When an email alarm is
2674 triggered, the email is sent automatically using
2675 &Sendmail;. This option will only work if
2676 your system is configured to use
&Sendmail;,
2677 or a
&Sendmail; compatible mail transport
2678 agent such as
<application>postfix
</application> or
2679 <application>qmail
</application>.
</para>
2685 <para><guilabel>Copy sent emails into
&kmail;'s sent-items folder
</guilabel>:
2686 Select this option if, every time an email alarm is triggered, you
2687 want a copy of the transmitted email to be stored in
&kmail;'s
2688 <filename>sent-items
</filename> folder.
</para>
2690 <note><para>This option is not available when
&kmail; is selected as
2691 the email client, since
&kmail; automatically does this.
</para></note>
2695 <para><guilabel>Notify when remote emails are queued
</guilabel>:
2696 Select this option to display a notification whenever an email alarm
2697 queues an email for sending to a remote system. This may be useful
2698 if, for example, you have a dial-up connection, or email is queued in
2699 &kmail;'s
<filename>outbox
</filename> folder, so that you can
2700 ensure that you do whatever is needed to actually transmit
2705 <para>Select your email address to be used as the sender's address in
2706 email alarms:
</para>
2709 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>From
</guilabel> to enter an email
2713 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>Use address from System
2714 Settings
</guilabel> to use the email address which is configured in the
2715 &kde; System Settings.
</para>
2718 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>Use
&kmail; identities
</guilabel> to
2719 be able to choose at the time you configure an email alarm which of
2720 &kmail;'s email identities to use.
&kmail;'s default identity will be
2721 used for alarms which were already configured before you selected this
2728 <para>Select your email address to be used for sending blind copies of
2729 email alarms to yourself when the
2730 <guilabel>Copy email to self
</guilabel> option is selected:
</para>
2733 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>Bcc
</guilabel> to enter an email
2734 address. If blind copies are to be sent to your account on the
2735 computer which
&kalarm; runs on, you could simply enter your user
2736 login name here.
</para>
2739 <listitem><para>Select
<guilabel>Use address from System
2740 Settings
</guilabel> to use the email address which is configured in the
2741 &kde; System Settings.
</para>
2748 <sect1 id=
"preferences-view">
2751 <para>The
<guilabel>View
</guilabel> section lets you control some
2752 aspects of
&kalarm;'s appearance. In the
<guilabel>General
</guilabel>
2757 <para><guilabel>Show in system tray
</guilabel> group box: When
2758 selected, the system tray icon is displayed while
&kalarm; is running,
2759 subject to the selected option:
</para>
2763 <para><guilabel>Always show
</guilabel>: The system tray icon is always
2768 <para><guilabel>Automatically hide if no active alarms
</guilabel>:
2769 The system tray icon is hidden if there are no active alarms.
</para>
2773 <para><guilabel>Automatically hide if no alarm due within time period
</guilabel>:
2774 The system tray icon is hidden if no alarm is due within the entered
2775 time period, starting from now.
</para>
2779 <para>When the system tray icon is automatically hidden, you can make
2780 it visible by means of the system tray option to show hidden icons.
</para>
2782 <para>When
<guilabel>Show in system tray
</guilabel> is selected,
2783 closing the system tray icon closes all
&kalarm; main windows, and if
2784 no message windows are visible, quits the application.
</para>
2788 <para><guilabel>System Tray Tooltip
</guilabel> group box: These options
2789 control what information is shown in the tooltip which appears when the
2790 mouse cursor hovers over
&kalarm;'s system tray icon.
</para>
2794 <para><guilabel>Show next
24 hours' alarms
</guilabel>: When selected,
2795 a summary of the first few alarms due in the next
24 hours is
2800 <para><guilabel>Maximum number of alarms to show
</guilabel>: Deselect
2801 this option to display all of the next
24 hours' alarms. Select it to
2802 set the maximum number of alarms which will be displayed.
</para>
2806 <para><guilabel>Show alarm time
</guilabel>: Select this option to show
2807 the time at which each alarm is scheduled.
</para>
2811 <para><guilabel>Show time until alarm
</guilabel>: Select this option to
2812 show the length of time remaining before each alarm's next scheduled
2813 occurrence. The length of time is shown in hours and minutes.
</para>
2817 <para><guilabel>Prefix
</guilabel>: Specify a symbol or text to show in
2818 front of the length of time until the alarm, to distinguish it from the
2819 time at which the alarm is scheduled.
</para>
2827 <para>The
<guilabel>Alarm List
</guilabel> group box allows the
2828 selection of the colors used in the alarm list in
&kalarm;'s main
2829 window, to show disabled and archived alarms.
</para>
2833 <para>The
<guilabel>Alarm Windows
</guilabel> tab contains options to control
2834 the appearance of alarm message windows.
</para>
2838 <para><guilabel>Position windows far from mouse cursor
</guilabel>:
2839 Select this option to display alarm message windows as far away from
2840 the current mouse cursor position as possible. This minimizes the
2841 chance of accidentally acknowledging an alarm by unintentionally
2842 clicking on a button just as the message window appears.
</para>
2846 <para><guilabel>Center windows, delay activating window buttons
</guilabel>:
2847 Select this option to display alarm message windows in the center of
2848 the screen. To reduce the chance of accidentally acknowledging the
2849 alarm, the window's buttons are initially disabled. The delay in
2850 seconds before they become active is set in
2851 <guilabel>Button activation delay (seconds)
</guilabel>.
</para>
2855 <para><guilabel>Message windows have a titlebar and take keyboard focus
</guilabel>: This
2856 option controls whether alarm message windows are modal or not,
&ie;
2857 whether they grab the keyboard focus when they appear. See the
2858 <link linkend=
"message-window">Alarm Message Window
</link> section for
2864 <sect1 id=
"preferences-edit">
2867 <para>The
<guilabel>Edit
</guilabel> section lets you choose
2868 default values for the options in the
2869 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>:
</para>
2872 <listitem><para>The
<guilabel>General
</guilabel> tab contains options
2873 which apply to all alarm types.
</para>
2876 <listitem><para>Set the default states for the
<guilabel>Show in
2877 KOrganizer
</guilabel> and
<guilabel>Cancel if late
</guilabel> check
2881 <listitem><para>Set the default recurrence type.
</para>
2884 <listitem><para>Select the default handling in non-leap years of
2885 yearly recurrences scheduled for February
29th.
</para>
2890 <listitem><para>The
<guilabel>Alarm Types
</guilabel> tab contains
2891 options which apply to specific types of alarm.
</para>
2895 <para>For display alarms:
</para>
2898 <listitem><para>Set the default states for the
2899 <guilabel>Auto-close window after this time
</guilabel> and
2900 <guilabel>Confirm acknowledgment
</guilabel> check boxes.
</para>
2903 <listitem><para>Set the default reminder period units.
</para>
2906 <listitem><para>Set the default special display alarm actions.
</para>
2909 <listitem><para>Set the default sound options. Note that a default
2910 sound file may be specified even if the sound type is not set to
2911 <guilabel>Sound file
</guilabel>.
</para>
2917 <para>For command alarms:
</para>
2920 <listitem><para>Set the default states for the
<guilabel>Enter a
2921 script
</guilabel> and
<guilabel>Execute in terminal window
</guilabel>
2928 <para>For email alarms:
</para>
2931 <listitem><para>Set the default state for the
<guilabel>Copy email to
2932 self
</guilabel> check box.
</para>
2939 <listitem><para>The
<guilabel>Font
& Color
</guilabel> tab lets you
2940 set the default appearance of alarm messages. Select their default
2941 font, and foreground and background colors.
</para>
2948 <chapter id=
"cmdline-operation">
2949 <title>Command Line Operation
</title>
2951 <para>When command line parameters are supplied,
&kalarm; does not
2952 display the list of scheduled alarms as described in
<link
2953 linkend=
"using-kalarm">Using
&kalarm;</link> above. Command line
2954 options specific to
&kalarm; may be used to perform the following
2958 <listitem><para>schedule a new alarm
</para>
2960 <listitem><para>control
&kalarm;'s display mode
</para>
2962 <listitem><para>obtain help
</para>
2966 <para>Additional command line options are provided primarily to enable
2967 other programs to interface to
&kalarm;. They are described in the
2968 chapter
<link linkend=
"cmdline-interface">Developer's Guide to
2969 &kalarm;</link>.
</para>
2971 <para>The command line must only contain options applicable to one
2972 &kalarm; operation. If you want to perform multiple operations, you
2973 must invoke
&kalarm; multiple times with a single set of options each
2976 <sect1 id=
"cmdline-schedule">
2977 <title>Schedule a New Alarm
</title>
2979 <para>The following options are used to schedule a new alarm:
</para>
2985 <entry>Option
</entry>
2986 <entry>Description
</entry>
2991 <entry><option>-a
</option>,
<option>--ack-confirm
</option></entry>
2992 <entry>Prompt for confirmation when the alarm message is
2993 acknowledged.
</entry>
2996 <entry><option>-A
</option>,
<option>--attach
<replaceable>URL
</replaceable></option></entry>
2997 <entry>Specify the path or
&URL; of a file which is to be attached
2998 to the email. This option may be repeated as necessary.
2999 <option>--mail
</option> must be specified with this option.
</entry>
3002 <entry><option>--auto-close
</option></entry>
3003 <entry>Automatically close the alarm window after the expiry of the
3004 <option>--late-cancel
</option> period.
3005 <option>--late-cancel
</option> must be specified with this
3009 <entry><option>-b
</option>,
<option>--beep
</option></entry>
3010 <entry>Make an audible beep when the message is displayed.
3011 <option>--speak
</option>,
<option>--play
</option> and
3012 <option>--play-repeat
</option> cannot be specified with this
3016 <entry><option>--bcc
</option></entry>
3017 <entry>Blind copy the email to yourself.
3018 <option>--mail
</option> must be specified with this option.
</entry>
3021 <entry><option>-c
</option>,
<option>--color
</option>,
<option>--colour
3022 <replaceable>color
</replaceable></option></entry>
3023 <entry>Set the message background color to the specified
&Qt;
3024 color name or hex code
0xRRGGBB.
</entry>
3027 <entry><option>-C
</option>,
<option>--colorfg
</option>,
<option>--colourfg
3028 <replaceable>color
</replaceable></option></entry>
3029 <entry>Set the message foreground color to the specified
&Qt;
3030 color name or hex code
0xRRGGBB.
</entry>
3033 <entry><option>-d
</option>,
<option>--disable
</option></entry>
3034 <entry>Disable the alarm. It will not trigger until it has been
3035 manually enabled.
</entry>
3038 <entry><option>--disable-all
</option></entry>
3039 <entry>Disable alarm monitoring. This prevents any alarms from
3040 being triggered until you re-enable alarms or restart
&kalarm;,
⪚
3042 <option>--triggerEvent
</option> cannot be specified with this
3046 <entry><option>-e
</option>,
<option>--exec
<replaceable>commandline
</replaceable></option></entry>
3047 <entry>Specify a shell command to execute. If specified, this option
3048 must be the last
&kalarm; option in
&kalarm;'s command line. All
3049 subsequent command parameters and options are interpreted as
3050 forming the command line to execute.
<option>--file
</option> and
3051 <option>--exec-display
</option> and
<option>--mail
</option> cannot
3052 be specified with this option.
3053 <option>--ack-confirm
</option>,
<option>--beep
</option>,
3054 <option>--color
</option> and
<option>--colorfg
</option> are ignored
3055 with this option.
</entry>
3058 <entry><option>-E
</option>,
<option>--exec-display
<replaceable>commandline
</replaceable></option></entry>
3059 <entry>Specify a shell command to execute to generate the alarm
3060 message text. If specified, this option must be the last
&kalarm;
3061 option in
&kalarm;'s command line. All subsequent command parameters
3062 and options are interpreted as forming the command line to execute.
3063 <option>--exec
</option>,
<option>--file
</option> and
3064 <option>--mail
</option> cannot be specified with this option.
</entry>
3067 <entry><option>-f
</option>,
<option>--file
<replaceable>URL
</replaceable></option></entry>
3068 <entry>Specify the path or
&URL; of a text or image file whose
3069 contents are to form the alarm message.
<option>--exec
</option>,
3070 <option>--exec-display
</option> and
<option>--mail
</option> cannot
3071 be specified, and
<replaceable>message
</replaceable> must not be
3072 present with this option.
</entry>
3075 <entry><option>-F
</option>,
<option>--from-id
3076 <replaceable>ID
</replaceable></option></entry>
3077 <entry>Use the specified
&kmail; identity as the sender of the
3078 email.
<option>--mail
</option> must be specified with this
3082 <entry><option>-i
</option>,
<option>--interval
3083 <replaceable>period
</replaceable></option></entry>
3084 <entry>Set the interval between repetitions of the alarm.
3085 Hours/minutes are specified in the format
3086 <replaceable>nHnM
</replaceable>, where
<replaceable>n
</replaceable>
3087 is a number,
⪚ 3H30M. Other time periods are specified in the
3088 format
<replaceable>nX
</replaceable>, where
3089 <replaceable>n
</replaceable> is a number and
3090 <replaceable>X
</replaceable> is one of the following letters: Y
3091 (years), M (months), W (weeks), D (days). If
3092 <option>--recurrence
</option> is also specified, Y (years) and M
3093 (months) are not allowed.
3094 Mandatory if
<option>--repeat
</option> or
<option>--until
</option>
3095 is specified.
</entry>
3098 <entry><option>-k
</option>,
<option>--korganizer
</option></entry>
3099 <entry>Show the alarm as an event in
&korganizer;'s active
3103 <entry><option>-l
</option>,
<option>--late-cancel
3104 <replaceable>period
</replaceable></option></entry>
3105 <entry>Cancel the alarm if it cannot be triggered within the
3106 specified
<replaceable>period
</replaceable> after the correct time.
3107 Hours/minutes are specified in the format
3108 <replaceable>nHnM
</replaceable>, where
<replaceable>n
</replaceable>
3109 is a number,
⪚ 3H30M. Other time periods are specified in the
3110 format
<replaceable>nX
</replaceable>, where
3111 <replaceable>n
</replaceable> is a number and
3112 <replaceable>X
</replaceable> is one of the following letters: W
3114 The default value of
<replaceable>period
</replaceable> is
1
3118 <entry><option>-L
</option>,
<option>--login
</option></entry>
3119 <entry>Trigger the alarm every time you log in.
3120 <option>--interval
</option>,
<option>--repeat
</option> and
3121 <option>--until
</option> cannot be specified with this
3125 <entry><option>-m
</option>,
<option>--mail
3126 <replaceable>address
</replaceable></option></entry>
3127 <entry>Send an email to the specified address. This option may be
3128 repeated as necessary.
<option>--exec
</option>,
3129 <option>--exec-display
</option> and
<option>--file
</option> cannot
3130 be specified with this option.
3131 <option>--ack-confirm
</option>,
<option>--beep
</option>,
3132 <option>--color
</option> and
<option>--colorfg
</option> are ignored
3133 with this option.
</entry>
3136 <entry><option>-p
</option>,
<option>--play
<replaceable>URL
</replaceable></option></entry>
3137 <entry>Specify the path or
&URL; of an audio file to be played once,
3138 either as an audio alarm or when the alarm message is displayed.
3139 <option>--play-repeat
</option>,
<option>--beep
</option> and
3140 <option>--speak
</option> cannot be specified with this
3144 <entry><option>-P
</option>,
<option>--play-repeat
<replaceable>URL
</replaceable></option></entry>
3145 <entry>Specify the path or
&URL; of an audio file to be played
3146 repeatedly, either until
<guilabel>Stop Play
</guilabel> is used, or
3147 for as long as the alarm message is displayed.
3148 <option>--play
</option>,
<option>--beep
</option> and
3149 <option>--speak
</option> cannot be specified with this
3153 <entry><option>--recurrence
3154 <replaceable>spec
</replaceable></option></entry>
3155 <entry>Set the alarm to recur. Specify the recurrence using iCalendar
3157 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445
</ulink>),
3158 ⪚ <quote>FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=
4;INTERVAL=
3;BYDAY=-
1MO
</quote>.
3159 <option>--until
</option> cannot be specified with this
3163 <entry><option>-r
</option>,
<option>--repeat
3164 <replaceable>count
</replaceable></option></entry>
3165 <entry>Set the number of times the alarm should be triggered, or if
3166 a recurrence is specified with
<option>--recurrence
</option>, the
3167 number of times the alarm should be triggered each time
3168 <option>--recurrence
</option> activates it (
&ie; a repetition within
3169 a recurrence). If
<option>--recurrence
</option> is not present,
3170 specify -
1 to repeat the alarm indefinitely.
3171 <option>--interval
</option> must be, and
<option>--until
</option>
3172 cannot be, specified with this option.
</entry>
3175 <entry><option>-R
</option>,
<option>--reminder
3176 <replaceable>period
</replaceable></option></entry>
3177 <entry>Output a reminder alarm the specified length of time before
3178 or after the main alarm and each of its recurrences (if any).
3179 The
<replaceable>period
</replaceable> is specified in
3180 the same format as described for
<option>--late-cancel
</option>.
3181 By default, the reminder will occur before the alarm. To specify a
3182 reminder after the alarm, prefix
<replaceable>period
</replaceable>
3183 with
<replaceable>+
</replaceable>,
⪚ +
3D. This option cannot be
3184 specified with
<option>--exec
</option>,
<option>--mail
</option> or
3185 <option>--reminder-once
</option>.
</entry>
3188 <entry><option>--reminder-once
3189 <replaceable>period
</replaceable></option></entry>
3190 <entry>Output a reminder alarm once, the specified length of time
3191 before or after the first recurrence of the alarm. No reminder will
3192 be displayed before or after subsequent recurrences (if any). The
3193 <replaceable>period
</replaceable> is specified in the same format as
3194 described for
<option>--reminder
</option>. This option cannot
3195 be specified with
<option>--exec
</option>,
<option>--mail
</option>
3196 or
<option>--reminder
</option>.
</entry>
3199 <entry><option>-s
</option>,
<option>--speak
</option></entry>
3200 <entry>Speak the message when it is displayed. This option requires
3201 &jovie; to be installed and configured, together with a compatible
3202 speech synthesizer.
<option>--beep
</option>,
<option>--play
</option>
3203 and
<option>--play-repeat
</option> cannot be specified with this
3207 <entry><option>-S
</option>,
<option>--subject
3208 <replaceable>subject
</replaceable></option></entry>
3209 <entry>The subject line of the email.
<option>--mail
</option> must
3210 be specified with this option.
</entry>
3213 <entry><option>-t
</option>,
<option>--time
3214 <replaceable>date/time
</replaceable></option></entry>
3215 <entry>Trigger alarm on the date or at the date/time specified.
3216 Specify a date without a time in the format
3217 <replaceable>yyyy-mm-dd [TZ]
</replaceable>; specify a date and time
3218 by
<replaceable>[[[yyyy-]mm-]dd-]hh:mm [TZ]
</replaceable> (where
3219 omitted, date fields default to the values for today).
3220 If no time zone is specified, the local system time zone is
3221 assumed. If a time zone specifier
<replaceable>TZ
</replaceable> is
3222 present, it may be the name of a system time zone (
⪚
3223 <userinput>Europe/London
</userinput>),
<userinput>UTC
</userinput>
3224 representing the UTC time zone, or
<userinput>Clock
</userinput> to
3225 use the local computer clock and ignore time zones.
</entry>
3228 <entry><option>-v
</option>,
<option>--volume
3229 <replaceable>percentage
</replaceable></option></entry>
3230 <entry>Set the audio volume for playing the audio file. This option
3231 can only be used when
<option>--play
</option> or
3232 <option>--play-repeat
</option> is specified.
</entry>
3235 <entry><option>-u
</option>,
<option>--until
3236 <replaceable>date/time
</replaceable></option></entry>
3237 <entry>Repeat the alarm until the date or date/time specified.
3238 Specify the date or date/time using the same syntax as for
3239 <option>--time
</option>. Note that if
<option>--time
</option> is
3240 specified, the time zone will be taken from its value and no time
3241 zone may be included in the
<option>--until
</option> value.
3242 <option>--interval
</option> must be, and
3243 <option>--repeat
</option> and
<option>--recurrence
</option> cannot
3244 be, specified with this option.
</entry>
3247 <entry><replaceable>message
</replaceable></entry>
3248 <entry>Message text to display or, if
<option>--mail
</option> is
3249 specified, the body of the email message.
</entry>
3255 <para>Either a message text,
<option>--file
</option>,
3256 <option>--exec
</option>,
<option>--exec-display
</option>,
3257 <option>--play
</option> or
<option>--play-repeat
</option> must be
3258 specified; except as noted above, all the options are optional.
</para>
3260 <para>Two alternative examples which display a multi-line message with
3261 a red background at
10 p.m. on the
27th of this month are:
</para>
3263 <informalexample><screen>
3264 <prompt>%
</prompt> <userinput><command>kalarm
</command> <option>-c
<replaceable>red
</replaceable></option> <option>-t
<replaceable>27-
22:
00</replaceable></option> <option><replaceable>"Remember to\nSTOP"</replaceable></option></userinput>
3265 <prompt>%
</prompt> <userinput><command>kalarm
</command> <option>-c
<replaceable>0xFF0000</replaceable></option> <option>-t
<replaceable>27-
22:
00</replaceable></option> <option><replaceable>"Remember to\nSTOP"</replaceable></option></userinput>
3271 <sect1 id=
"cmdline-other">
3272 <title>Other Options
</title>
3274 <para>The following options are used to perform various functions,
3275 including displaying the
3276 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link>.
</para>
3282 <entry>Option
</entry>
3283 <entry>Description
</entry>
3288 <entry><option>--edit
<replaceable>eventID
</replaceable></option></entry>
3289 <entry>Display the Alarm Edit dialog to edit the alarm with the
3290 specified event ID.
</entry>
3293 <entry><option>--edit-new-audio
</option></entry>
3294 <entry>Display the Alarm Edit dialog, in order to edit a new audio
3298 <entry><option>--edit-new-command
</option></entry>
3299 <entry>Display the Alarm Edit dialog, in order to edit a new command
3303 <entry><option>--edit-new-display
</option></entry>
3304 <entry>Display the Alarm Edit dialog, in order to edit a new display
3308 <entry><option>--edit-new-email
</option></entry>
3309 <entry>Display the Alarm Edit dialog, in order to edit a new email
3313 <entry><option>--edit-new-preset
<replaceable>templateName
</replaceable></option></entry>
3314 <entry>Display the Alarm Edit dialog, preset with the alarm template
3315 of the specified name, in order to edit a new alarm.
</entry>
3318 <entry><option>--list
</option></entry>
3319 <entry>Output a list of scheduled alarms to
<filename>stdout
</filename>.
3320 The list shows brief details of each pending alarm: its resource
3321 identifier (if using Akonadi), UID, next scheduled time and message
3322 text or file.
</entry>
3325 <entry><option>--tray
</option></entry>
3326 <entry>Display
&kalarm; as an icon in the system tray.
</entry>
3329 <entry><option>--disable-all
</option></entry>
3330 <entry>Disable monitoring of all alarms.
</entry>
3338 <sect1 id=
"cmdline-help">
3339 <title>Help Options
</title>
3341 <para>The following help options are common to all
3342 &kde; programs:
</para>
3348 <entry>Option
</entry>
3349 <entry>Description
</entry>
3354 <entry><option>--help
</option></entry>
3355 <entry>Shows a brief options help text.
</entry>
3358 <entry><option>--help-qt
</option></entry>
3359 <entry>Shows numerous generic
&Qt;-specific options.
</entry>
3362 <entry><option>--help-kde
</option></entry>
3363 <entry>Shows numerous generic
&kde;-specific options.
</entry>
3366 <entry><option>--help-all
</option></entry>
3367 <entry>Shows all options.
</entry>
3370 <entry><option>--author
</option></entry>
3371 <entry>Shows the names and email addresses of
&kalarm; authors.
</entry>
3374 <entry><option>-v
</option>,
<option>--version
</option></entry>
3375 <entry>Shows the running versions of the
&Qt; library ,
&kde; and
3379 <entry><option>--license
</option></entry>
3380 <entry>Show license information.
</entry>
3389 <chapter id=
"developers">
3390 <title>Developer's Guide to
&kalarm;</title>
3392 <para>&kalarm; provides an interface to allow other applications to
3393 request the following functions:
</para>
3396 <listitem><para>schedule a new alarm
</para></listitem>
3397 <listitem><para>cancel an already scheduled alarm
</para></listitem>
3398 <listitem><para>trigger an already scheduled alarm
</para></listitem>
3399 <listitem><para>display the Alarm Edit dialog
</para></listitem>
3400 <listitem><para>list scheduled alarms
</para></listitem>
3403 <para>Each of the above functions is implemented both by a
&DBus; call
3404 and by the command line.
&DBus; calls should be used in preference if
3405 &kalarm; is already running.
</para>
3407 <sect1 id=
"dbus-interface">
3408 <title>&DBus; Interface
</title>
3410 <para>The
&DBus; calls described in this document are all implemented
3411 in
&kalarm;'s
<constant>/kalarm
</constant> &DBus; object path. The
3412 interface is defined in the files
3413 <filename>org.kde.kalarm.kalarm.xml
</filename> and
3414 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>.
</para>
3416 <refentry id=
"cancelEvent">
3418 <refentrytitle>cancelEvent
</refentrytitle>
3421 <refname>cancelEvent
</refname>
3422 <refpurpose>cancel an already scheduled alarm.
</refpurpose>
3426 void cancelEvent(const QString
& <replaceable>eventID
</replaceable>)
3430 <title>Parameters
</title>
3433 <term><parameter>eventID
</parameter></term>
3435 <para>Specifies the unique ID of the event to be canceled.
</para>
3443 <title>Description
</title>
3445 <para><function>cancelEvent()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to cancel
3446 the specified alarm.
&kalarm; deletes the alarm from the calendar
3447 without displaying or executing it.
</para>
3452 <refentry id=
"triggerEvent">
3454 <refentrytitle>triggerEvent
</refentrytitle>
3457 <refname>triggerEvent
</refname>
3458 <refpurpose>trigger an already scheduled alarm.
</refpurpose>
3462 void triggerEvent(const QString
& <replaceable>eventID
</replaceable>)
3466 <title>Parameters
</title>
3469 <term><parameter>eventID
</parameter></term>
3471 <para>Specifies the unique ID of the event to be triggered.
</para>
3479 <title>Description
</title>
3481 <para><function>triggerEvent()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to trigger
3482 the immediate display or execution of the specified alarm (regardless
3483 of what time it is scheduled for).
&kalarm; retrieves the alarm from
3484 the calendar and then displays or executes it.
</para>
3486 <para>If the alarm is already due,
&kalarm; then deletes all scheduled
3487 occurrences of the alarm up to the current time, and if no repetitions
3488 of the alarm still remain, the alarm is deleted from the calendar. If
3489 the alarm is not due yet, its scheduled occurrences are left
3495 <refentry id=
"scheduleMessage">
3497 <refentrytitle>scheduleMessage
</refentrytitle>
3500 <refname>scheduleMessage
</refname>
3501 <refpurpose>schedule a new alarm message.
</refpurpose>
3505 bool scheduleMessage(const QString
& <replaceable>message
</replaceable>,
3506 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3507 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3508 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3509 const QString
& <replaceable>bgColor
</replaceable>,
3510 const QString
& <replaceable>fgColor
</replaceable>,
3511 const QString
& <replaceable>font
</replaceable>,
3512 const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
3513 int
<replaceable>reminderMins
</replaceable>,
3514 const QString
& <replaceable>recurrence
</replaceable>,
3515 int
<replaceable>subRepeatInterval
</replaceable>,
3516 int
<replaceable>subRepeatCount
</replaceable>)
3519 bool scheduleMessage(const QString
& <replaceable>message
</replaceable>,
3520 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3521 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3522 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3523 const QString
& <replaceable>bgColor
</replaceable>,
3524 const QString
& <replaceable>fgColor
</replaceable>,
3525 const QString
& <replaceable>font
</replaceable>,
3526 const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
3527 int
<replaceable>reminderMins
</replaceable>,
3528 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
3529 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
3530 int
<replaceable>recurCount
</replaceable>)
3533 bool scheduleMessage(const QString
& <replaceable>message
</replaceable>,
3534 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3535 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3536 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3537 const QString
& <replaceable>bgColor
</replaceable>,
3538 const QString
& <replaceable>fgColor
</replaceable>,
3539 const QString
& <replaceable>font
</replaceable>,
3540 const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
3541 int
<replaceable>reminderMins
</replaceable>,
3542 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
3543 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
3544 const QString
& <replaceable>endDateTime
</replaceable>)
3548 <title>Parameters
</title>
3551 <term><parameter>message
</parameter></term>
3553 <para>Specifies the text of the message to be scheduled, or if
3554 <parameter>flags
</parameter> has the
3555 <userinput>DISPLAY_COMMAND
</userinput> bit set, specifies the command
3556 line to execute to generate the message text.
</para>
3561 <term><parameter>startDateTime
</parameter></term>
3563 <para>Specifies the scheduled date, or date and time, at which the
3564 message should be displayed. For a date-only alarm, the string should
3565 be in the format
<replaceable>YYYY-MM-DD [TZ]
</replaceable> (as
3566 returned by
<methodname>QDate::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). For
3567 an alarm with a date and time, the string should be in the format
3568 <replaceable>YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM[:SS] [TZ]
</replaceable> (as returned by
3569 <methodname>QDateTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>) or
3570 <replaceable>HH:MM[:SS] [Clock]
</replaceable> (as returned by
3571 <methodname>QTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). If no date is
3572 specified, today's date is used. Note that any seconds value is
3575 <para>If no time zone is specified, the local system time zone is
3576 assumed. If a time zone specifier
<replaceable>TZ
</replaceable> is
3577 present, it may be the name of a system time zone (
⪚
3578 <userinput>Europe/London
</userinput>),
<userinput>UTC
</userinput>
3579 representing the UTC time zone, or
<userinput>Clock
</userinput> to use
3580 the local computer clock and ignore time zones.
</para>
3585 <term><parameter>lateCancel
</parameter></term>
3587 <para>Causes the alarm to be canceled if it cannot be triggered within
3588 the specified number of minutes after the alarm's scheduled time. If
3589 the value is
0, the alarm will not be canceled no matter how late it
3590 is triggered.
</para>
3595 <term><parameter>flags
</parameter></term>
3597 <para>Specifies the logical OR of the desired alarm flags. The flag
3598 bits are those defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
3599 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Note that not all flag bits are
3600 applicable to message alarms.
</para>
3605 <term><parameter>bgColor
</parameter></term>
3607 <para>Specifies the background color for displaying the message. The
3608 string may be in the format
<quote>#RRGGBB
</quote> (as returned by
3609 <methodname>QColor::name()
</methodname>) where RR, GG and BB are
3610 two-digit hexadecimal values for red, green and blue. Alternatively
3611 the string may be in any of the other formats accepted by
3612 <methodname>QColor::setNamedColor()
</methodname>, such as a name from
3613 the X color database (
⪚ <quote>red
</quote> or
3614 <quote>steelblue
</quote>). Set the string to null to specify the
3615 current default background color.
</para>
3620 <term><parameter>fgColor
</parameter></term>
3622 <para>Specifies the foreground color for displaying the message. The
3623 format of the string is the same as for
3624 <parameter>bgColor
</parameter>, or alternatively set the string to
3625 null to specify the current default foreground color.
</para>
3630 <term><parameter>font
</parameter></term>
3632 <para>Specifies the font for displaying the message. The format of the
3633 string is that output by
<methodname>QFont::toString()
</methodname>.
3634 Set the string to null to use the default message font current at the
3635 time the message is displayed.
</para>
3640 <term><parameter>audioURL
</parameter></term>
3642 <para>Specifies the audio file which is to be played when the message
3643 is displayed. Set the value to null if no audio file is to be
3649 <term><parameter>reminderMins
</parameter></term>
3651 <para>Specifies the number of minutes in advance of the main alarm and
3652 of each of its recurrences (if any) at which a reminder alarm should
3653 be displayed. Specify a negative value for a reminder to be displayed
3654 after the main alarm. Specify
0 if no reminder is required.
</para>
3659 <term><parameter>recurrence
</parameter></term>
3661 <para>Specifies a regular recurrence for the alarm, using iCalendar
3662 syntax as defined in
3663 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445
</ulink>.
3664 For example,
<quote>FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=
4;INTERVAL=
3;BYDAY=-
1MO
</quote>
3665 would specify
4 repetitions at
3-monthly intervals on the last Monday
3666 of the month. For a non-recurring alarm, specify an empty
3672 <term><parameter>recurType
</parameter></term>
3674 <para>Specifies the recurrence type for the alarm. The permissible
3675 values are MINUTELY, DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY. These
3676 are defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
3677 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Monthly recurrences are of the
3678 day of the month type, and yearly recurrences are of the date in
3679 the year type, with the date in both cases taken from the
3680 <parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> parameter.
</para>
3685 <term><parameter>recurInterval
</parameter></term>
3687 <para>Specifies the number of periods
3688 (minutes/days/weeks/months/years as specified by
3689 <parameter>recurType
</parameter>) between recurrences of the
3695 <term><parameter>recurCount
</parameter></term>
3697 <para>Specifies the number of times that the alarm should be
3698 repeated. Specify -
1 to repeat the alarm indefinitely.
</para>
3703 <term><parameter>endDateTime
</parameter></term>
3705 <para>Specifies the end date, or date and time, for recurrences of the
3706 alarm. If
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> includes a time, this
3707 parameter must also include a time; if
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter>
3708 contains only a date, this parameter must also contain only a
3709 date. It must not contain a time zone specifier; the same time zone as
3710 for
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> is used to interpret this
3711 parameter's value.
</para>
3716 <term><parameter>subRepeatInterval
</parameter></term>
3718 <para>Specifies the number of minutes between sub-repetitions of
3719 the alarm. Specify
0 for no sub-repetition. Ignored if no recurrence
3720 is specified.
</para>
3725 <term><parameter>subRepeatCount
</parameter></term>
3727 <para>Specifies the number of sub-repetitions of the alarm,
3728 including the initial occurrence.
</para>
3735 <refsect1 id=
"scheduleMessage-descrip">
3736 <title>Description
</title>
3737 <para><function>scheduleMessage()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to
3738 schedule the specified alarm message for display at the specified date
3739 and time. It has three forms. The most general form allows an
3740 arbitrary recurrence to be specified
– use this also for
3741 non-repeating alarms. The other forms provide convenient access to a
3742 restricted set of alarm recurrence types, one specifying a repetition
3743 count and the other an end time.
</para>
3745 <para>If the scheduled time (including any repetitions) has already
3746 passed,
&kalarm; immediately displays the message (unless the
3747 <parameter>lateCancel
</parameter> value indicates that it is now too
3748 late to display the alarm, in which case
&kalarm; ignores the
3749 request). If the scheduled time (or a repetition) is in the future,
3750 &kalarm; adds the alarm message to the default active alarm calendar
3751 for later display.
</para>
3755 <refentry id=
"scheduleFile">
3757 <refentrytitle>scheduleFile
</refentrytitle>
3760 <refname>scheduleFile
</refname>
3761 <refpurpose>schedule a new alarm which displays the contents of a
3762 text or image file.
</refpurpose>
3766 bool scheduleFile(const QString
& <replaceable>URL
</replaceable>,
3767 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3768 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3769 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3770 const QString
& <replaceable>bgColor
</replaceable>,
3771 const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
3772 int
<replaceable>reminderMins
</replaceable>,
3773 const QString
& <replaceable>recurrence
</replaceable>,
3774 int
<replaceable>subRepeatInterval
</replaceable>,
3775 int
<replaceable>subRepeatCount
</replaceable>)
3778 bool scheduleFile(const QString
& <replaceable>URL
</replaceable>,
3779 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3780 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3781 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3782 const QString
& <replaceable>bgColor
</replaceable>,
3783 const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
3784 int
<replaceable>reminderMins
</replaceable>,
3785 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
3786 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
3787 int
<replaceable>recurCount
</replaceable>)
3790 bool scheduleFile(const QString
& <replaceable>URL
</replaceable>,
3791 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3792 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3793 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3794 const QString
& <replaceable>bgColor
</replaceable>,
3795 const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
3796 int
<replaceable>reminderMins
</replaceable>,
3797 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
3798 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
3799 const QString
& <replaceable>endDateTime
</replaceable>)
3803 <title>Parameters
</title>
3806 <term><parameter>URL
</parameter></term>
3808 <para>Specifies the text or image file whose contents are to be
3809 displayed in the message to be scheduled.
</para>
3814 <term><parameter>startDateTime
</parameter></term>
3816 <para>Specifies the scheduled date, or date and time, at which the
3817 message should be displayed. For a date-only alarm, the string should
3818 be in the format
<replaceable>YYYY-MM-DD [TZ]
</replaceable> (as
3819 returned by
<methodname>QDate::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). For
3820 an alarm with a date and time, the string should be in the format
3821 <replaceable>YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM[:SS] [TZ]
</replaceable> (as returned by
3822 <methodname>QDateTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>) or
3823 <replaceable>HH:MM[:SS] [Clock]
</replaceable> (as returned by
3824 <methodname>QTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). If no date is
3825 specified, today's date is used. Note that any seconds value is
3828 <para>If no time zone is specified, the local system time zone is
3829 assumed. If a time zone specifier
<replaceable>TZ
</replaceable> is
3830 present, it may be the name of a system time zone (
⪚
3831 <userinput>Europe/London
</userinput>),
<userinput>UTC
</userinput>
3832 representing the UTC time zone, or
<userinput>Clock
</userinput> to use
3833 the local computer clock and ignore time zones.
</para>
3838 <term><parameter>lateCancel
</parameter></term>
3840 <para>Causes the alarm to be canceled if it cannot be triggered within
3841 the specified number of minutes after the alarm's scheduled time. If
3842 the value is
0, the alarm will not be canceled no matter how late it
3843 is triggered.
</para>
3848 <term><parameter>flags
</parameter></term>
3850 <para>Specifies the logical OR of the desired alarm flags. The flag
3851 bits are those defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
3852 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Note that not all flag bits are
3853 applicable to file alarms.
</para>
3858 <term><parameter>bgColor
</parameter></term>
3860 <para>Specifies the background color for displaying the file. The
3861 string may be in the format
<quote>#RRGGBB
</quote> (as returned by
3862 <methodname>QColor::name()
</methodname>) where RR, GG and BB are
3863 two-digit hexadecimal values for red, green and blue. Alternatively
3864 the string may be in any of the other formats accepted by
3865 <methodname>QColor::setNamedColor()
</methodname>, such as a name from
3866 the X color database (
⪚ <quote>red
</quote> or
3867 <quote>steelblue
</quote>). Set the string to null to specify the
3868 current default background color.
</para>
3873 <term><parameter>audioURL
</parameter></term>
3875 <para>Specifies the audio file which is to be played when the message
3876 is displayed. Set the value to null if no audio file is to be
3882 <term><parameter>reminderMins
</parameter></term>
3884 <para>Specifies the number of minutes in advance of the main alarm and
3885 of each of its recurrences (if any) at which a reminder alarm should
3886 be displayed. Specify a negative value for a reminder to be displayed
3887 after the main alarm. Specify
0 if no reminder is required.
</para>
3892 <term><parameter>recurrence
</parameter></term>
3894 <para>Specifies a regular recurrence for the alarm, using iCalendar
3895 syntax as defined in
3896 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445
</ulink>.
3897 For example,
<quote>FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=
4;INTERVAL=
3;BYDAY=-
1MO
</quote>
3898 would specify
4 repetitions at
3-monthly intervals on the last Monday
3899 of the month. For a non-recurring alarm, specify an empty
3905 <term><parameter>recurType
</parameter></term>
3907 <para>Specifies the recurrence type for the alarm. The permissible
3908 values are MINUTELY, DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY. These
3909 are defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
3910 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Monthly recurrences are of the
3911 day of the month type, and yearly recurrences are of the date in
3912 the year type, with the date in both cases taken from the
3913 <parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> parameter.
</para>
3918 <term><parameter>recurInterval
</parameter></term>
3920 <para>Specifies the number of periods
3921 (minutes/days/weeks/months/years as specified by
3922 <parameter>recurType
</parameter>) between recurrences of the
3928 <term><parameter>recurCount
</parameter></term>
3930 <para>Specifies the number of times that the alarm should be
3931 repeated. Specify -
1 to repeat the alarm indefinitely.
</para>
3936 <term><parameter>endDateTime
</parameter></term>
3938 <para>Specifies the end date, or date and time, for recurrences of the
3939 alarm. If
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> includes a time, this
3940 parameter must also include a time; if
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter>
3941 contains only a date, this parameter must also contain only a
3942 date. It must not contain a time zone specifier; the same time zone as
3943 for
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> is used to interpret this
3944 parameter's value.
</para>
3949 <term><parameter>subRepeatInterval
</parameter></term>
3951 <para>Specifies the number of minutes between sub-repetitions of
3952 the alarm. Specify
0 for no sub-repetition. Ignored if no recurrence
3953 is specified.
</para>
3958 <term><parameter>subRepeatCount
</parameter></term>
3960 <para>Specifies the number of sub-repetitions of the alarm,
3961 including the initial occurrence.
</para>
3969 <title>Description
</title>
3970 <para><function>scheduleFile()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to schedule
3971 the specified text or image file for display at the specified date and
3972 time. Apart from specifying a file path or
&URL; and omitting the
3973 foreground color and font, its usage is identical to
3974 <link linkend=
"scheduleMessage-descrip"><function>scheduleMessage
</function></link>
3975 - see the description of that function for further details.
</para>
3980 <refentry id=
"scheduleCommand">
3982 <refentrytitle>scheduleCommand
</refentrytitle>
3985 <refname>scheduleCommand
</refname>
3986 <refpurpose>schedule a new alarm which executes a shell
3987 command.
</refpurpose>
3991 bool scheduleCommand(const QString
& <replaceable>commandLine
</replaceable>,
3992 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
3993 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
3994 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
3995 const QString
& <replaceable>recurrence
</replaceable>,
3996 int
<replaceable>subRepeatInterval
</replaceable>,
3997 int
<replaceable>subRepeatCount
</replaceable>)
4000 bool scheduleCommand(const QString
& <replaceable>commandLine
</replaceable>,
4001 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4002 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4003 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4004 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
4005 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
4006 int
<replaceable>recurCount
</replaceable>)
4009 bool scheduleCommand(const QString
& <replaceable>commandLine
</replaceable>,
4010 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4011 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4012 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4013 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
4014 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
4015 const QString
& <replaceable>endDateTime
</replaceable>)
4019 <title>Parameters
</title>
4022 <term><parameter>commandLine
</parameter></term>
4024 <para>Specifies the command whose execution is to be scheduled. The
4025 <parameter>flags
</parameter> parameter indicates whether this
4026 parameter contains a shell command line or a command script.
</para>
4031 <term><parameter>startDateTime
</parameter></term>
4033 <para>Specifies the scheduled date, or date and time, at which the
4034 message should be displayed. For a date-only alarm, the string should
4035 be in the format
<replaceable>YYYY-MM-DD [TZ]
</replaceable> (as
4036 returned by
<methodname>QDate::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). For
4037 an alarm with a date and time, the string should be in the format
4038 <replaceable>YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM[:SS] [TZ]
</replaceable> (as returned by
4039 <methodname>QDateTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>) or
4040 <replaceable>HH:MM[:SS] [Clock]
</replaceable> (as returned by
4041 <methodname>QTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). If no date is
4042 specified, today's date is used. Note that any seconds value is
4045 <para>If no time zone is specified, the local system time zone is
4046 assumed. If a time zone specifier
<replaceable>TZ
</replaceable> is
4047 present, it may be the name of a system time zone (
⪚
4048 <userinput>Europe/London
</userinput>),
<userinput>UTC
</userinput>
4049 representing the UTC time zone, or
<userinput>Clock
</userinput> to use
4050 the local computer clock and ignore time zones.
</para>
4055 <term><parameter>lateCancel
</parameter></term>
4057 <para>Causes the alarm to be canceled if it cannot be triggered within
4058 the specified number of minutes after the alarm's scheduled time. If
4059 the value is
0, the alarm will not be canceled no matter how late it
4060 is triggered.
</para>
4065 <term><parameter>flags
</parameter></term>
4067 <para>Specifies the logical OR of the desired alarm flags. The flag
4068 bits are those defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4069 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Note that not all flag bits are
4070 applicable to command alarms.
</para>
4075 <term><parameter>recurrence
</parameter></term>
4077 <para>Specifies a regular recurrence for the alarm, using iCalendar
4078 syntax as defined in
4079 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445
</ulink>.
4080 For example,
<quote>FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=
4;INTERVAL=
3;BYDAY=-
1MO
</quote>
4081 would specify
4 repetitions at
3-monthly intervals on the last Monday
4082 of the month. For a non-recurring alarm, specify an empty
4088 <term><parameter>recurType
</parameter></term>
4090 <para>Specifies the recurrence type for the alarm. The permissible
4091 values are MINUTELY, DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY. These
4092 are defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4093 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Monthly recurrences are of the
4094 day of the month type, and yearly recurrences are of the date in
4095 the year type, with the date in both cases taken from the
4096 <parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> parameter.
</para>
4101 <term><parameter>recurInterval
</parameter></term>
4103 <para>Specifies the number of periods
4104 (minutes/days/weeks/months/years as specified by
4105 <parameter>recurType
</parameter>) between recurrences of the
4111 <term><parameter>recurCount
</parameter></term>
4113 <para>Specifies the number of times that the alarm should be
4114 repeated. Specify -
1 to repeat the alarm indefinitely.
</para>
4119 <term><parameter>endDateTime
</parameter></term>
4121 <para>Specifies the end date, or date and time, for recurrences of the
4122 alarm. If
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> includes a time, this
4123 parameter must also include a time; if
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter>
4124 contains only a date, this parameter must also contain only a
4125 date. It must not contain a time zone specifier; the same time zone as
4126 for
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> is used to interpret this
4127 parameter's value.
</para>
4132 <term><parameter>subRepeatInterval
</parameter></term>
4134 <para>Specifies the number of minutes between sub-repetitions of
4135 the alarm. Specify
0 for no sub-repetition. Ignored if no recurrence
4136 is specified.
</para>
4141 <term><parameter>subRepeatCount
</parameter></term>
4143 <para>Specifies the number of sub-repetitions of the alarm,
4144 including the initial occurrence.
</para>
4152 <title>Description
</title>
4153 <para><function>scheduleCommand()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to
4154 schedule the specified shell command line, or command script, for
4155 execution at the specified date and time. Apart from specifying a
4156 command and omitting the message color, font and audio file
4157 parameters, its usage is identical to
4158 <link linkend=
"scheduleMessage-descrip"><function>scheduleMessage
</function></link>
4159 - see the description of that function for further details.
</para>
4164 <refentry id=
"scheduleEmail">
4166 <refentrytitle>scheduleEmail
</refentrytitle>
4169 <refname>scheduleEmail
</refname>
4170 <refpurpose>schedule a new alarm which sends an email.
</refpurpose>
4174 bool scheduleEmail(const QString
& <replaceable>fromID
</replaceable>,
4175 const QString
& <replaceable>addresses
</replaceable>,
4176 const QString
& <replaceable>subject
</replaceable>,
4177 const QString
& <replaceable>message
</replaceable>,
4178 const QString
& <replaceable>attachments
</replaceable>,
4179 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4180 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4181 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4182 const QString
& <replaceable>recurrence
</replaceable>,
4183 int
<replaceable>subRepeatInterval
</replaceable>,
4184 int
<replaceable>subRepeatCount
</replaceable>)
4187 bool scheduleEmail(const QString
& <replaceable>fromID
</replaceable>,
4188 const QString
& <replaceable>addresses
</replaceable>,
4189 const QString
& <replaceable>subject
</replaceable>,
4190 const QString
& <replaceable>message
</replaceable>,
4191 const QString
& <replaceable>attachments
</replaceable>,
4192 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4193 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4194 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4195 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
4196 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
4197 int
<replaceable>recurCount
</replaceable>)
4200 bool scheduleEmail(const QString
& <replaceable>fromID
</replaceable>,
4201 const QString
& <replaceable>addresses
</replaceable>,
4202 const QString
& <replaceable>subject
</replaceable>,
4203 const QString
& <replaceable>message
</replaceable>,
4204 const QString
& <replaceable>attachments
</replaceable>,
4205 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4206 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4207 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4208 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
4209 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
4210 const QString
& <replaceable>endTime
</replaceable>)
4214 <title>Parameters
</title>
4217 <term><parameter>fromID
</parameter></term>
4219 <para>The
&kmail; identity to use as the sender of the email. If
4220 empty, the sender's email address will be that configured in
4222 <link linkend=
"preferences-email">Email preferences
</link>.
</para>
4227 <term><parameter>addresses
</parameter></term>
4229 <para>A comma separated list of recipients' email addresses.
</para>
4234 <term><parameter>subject
</parameter></term>
4236 <para>Specifies the subject line of the email.
</para>
4241 <term><parameter>message
</parameter></term>
4243 <para>Specifies the email message body.
</para>
4248 <term><parameter>attachments
</parameter></term>
4250 <para>A comma-separated list of paths or
&URL;s of files to send as
4251 email attachments.
</para>
4256 <term><parameter>startDateTime
</parameter></term>
4258 <para>Specifies the scheduled date, or date and time, at which the
4259 message should be displayed. For a date-only alarm, the string should
4260 be in the format
<replaceable>YYYY-MM-DD [TZ]
</replaceable> (as
4261 returned by
<methodname>QDate::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). For
4262 an alarm with a date and time, the string should be in the format
4263 <replaceable>YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM[:SS] [TZ]
</replaceable> (as returned by
4264 <methodname>QDateTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>) or
4265 <replaceable>HH:MM[:SS] [Clock]
</replaceable> (as returned by
4266 <methodname>QTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). If no date is
4267 specified, today's date is used. Note that any seconds value is
4270 <para>If no time zone is specified, the local system time zone is
4271 assumed. If a time zone specifier
<replaceable>TZ
</replaceable> is
4272 present, it may be the name of a system time zone (
⪚
4273 <userinput>Europe/London
</userinput>),
<userinput>UTC
</userinput>
4274 representing the UTC time zone, or
<userinput>Clock
</userinput> to use
4275 the local computer clock and ignore time zones.
</para>
4280 <term><parameter>lateCancel
</parameter></term>
4282 <para>Causes the alarm to be canceled if it cannot be triggered within
4283 the specified number of minutes after the alarm's scheduled time. If
4284 the value is
0, the alarm will not be canceled no matter how late it
4285 is triggered.
</para>
4290 <term><parameter>flags
</parameter></term>
4292 <para>Specifies the logical OR of the desired alarm flags. The flag
4293 bits are those defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4294 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Note that not all flag bits are
4295 applicable to email alarms.
</para>
4300 <term><parameter>recurrence
</parameter></term>
4302 <para>Specifies a regular recurrence for the alarm, using iCalendar
4303 syntax as defined in
4304 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445
</ulink>.
4305 For example,
<quote>FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=
4;INTERVAL=
3;BYDAY=-
1MO
</quote>
4306 would specify
4 repetitions at
3-monthly intervals on the last Monday
4307 of the month. For a non-recurring alarm, specify an empty
4313 <term><parameter>recurType
</parameter></term>
4315 <para>Specifies the recurrence type for the alarm. The permissible
4316 values are MINUTELY, DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY. These
4317 are defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4318 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Monthly recurrences are of the
4319 day of the month type, and yearly recurrences are of the date in
4320 the year type, with the date in both cases taken from the
4321 <parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> parameter.
</para>
4326 <term><parameter>recurInterval
</parameter></term>
4328 <para>Specifies the number of periods
4329 (minutes/days/weeks/months/years as specified by
4330 <parameter>recurType
</parameter>) between recurrences of the
4336 <term><parameter>recurCount
</parameter></term>
4338 <para>Specifies the number of times that the alarm should be
4339 repeated. Specify -
1 to repeat the alarm indefinitely.
</para>
4344 <term><parameter>endDateTime
</parameter></term>
4346 <para>Specifies the end date, or date and time, for recurrences of the
4347 alarm. If
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> includes a time, this
4348 parameter must also include a time; if
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter>
4349 contains only a date, this parameter must also contain only a
4350 date. It must not contain a time zone specifier; the same time zone as
4351 for
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> is used to interpret this
4352 parameter's value.
</para>
4357 <term><parameter>subRepeatInterval
</parameter></term>
4359 <para>Specifies the number of minutes between sub-repetitions of
4360 the alarm. Specify
0 for no sub-repetition. Ignored if no recurrence
4361 is specified.
</para>
4366 <term><parameter>subRepeatCount
</parameter></term>
4368 <para>Specifies the number of sub-repetitions of the alarm,
4369 including the initial occurrence.
</para>
4377 <title>Description
</title>
4378 <para><function>scheduleEmail()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to
4379 schedule the specified email for sending at the specified date and
4380 time. Apart from specifying the email header and contents and omitting
4381 the message color, font and audio file parameters, its usage is
4383 <link linkend=
"scheduleMessage-descrip"><function>scheduleMessage
</function></link>
4384 - see the description of that function for further details.
</para>
4389 <refentry id=
"scheduleAudio">
4391 <refentrytitle>scheduleAudio
</refentrytitle>
4394 <refname>scheduleAudio
</refname>
4395 <refpurpose>schedule a new alarm which executes a shell
4396 command.
</refpurpose>
4400 bool scheduleAudio(const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
4401 int
<replaceable>volumePercent
</replaceable>,
4402 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4403 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4404 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4405 const QString
& <replaceable>recurrence
</replaceable>,
4406 int
<replaceable>subRepeatInterval
</replaceable>,
4407 int
<replaceable>subRepeatCount
</replaceable>)
4410 bool scheduleAudio(const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
4411 int
<replaceable>volumePercent
</replaceable>,
4412 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4413 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4414 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4415 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
4416 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
4417 int
<replaceable>recurCount
</replaceable>)
4420 bool scheduleAudio(const QString
& <replaceable>audioURL
</replaceable>,
4421 int
<replaceable>volumePercent
</replaceable>,
4422 const QString
& <replaceable>startDateTime
</replaceable>,
4423 int
<replaceable>lateCancel
</replaceable>,
4424 unsigned
<replaceable>flags
</replaceable>,
4425 int
<replaceable>recurType
</replaceable>,
4426 int
<replaceable>recurInterval
</replaceable>,
4427 const QString
& <replaceable>endDateTime
</replaceable>)
4431 <title>Parameters
</title>
4434 <term><parameter>audioURL
</parameter></term>
4436 <para>Specifies the audio file which is to be played.
</para>
4441 <term><parameter>volumePercent
</parameter></term>
4443 <para>Specifies the volume level to use, as a percentage of full
4444 volume. Specify -
1 to use the default volume.
</para>
4449 <term><parameter>startDateTime
</parameter></term>
4451 <para>Specifies the scheduled date, or date and time, at which the
4452 message should be displayed. For a date-only alarm, the string should
4453 be in the format
<replaceable>YYYY-MM-DD [TZ]
</replaceable> (as
4454 returned by
<methodname>QDate::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). For
4455 an alarm with a date and time, the string should be in the format
4456 <replaceable>YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM[:SS] [TZ]
</replaceable> (as returned by
4457 <methodname>QDateTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>) or
4458 <replaceable>HH:MM[:SS] [Clock]
</replaceable> (as returned by
4459 <methodname>QTime::toString(Qt::ISODate)
</methodname>). If no date is
4460 specified, today's date is used. Note that any seconds value is
4463 <para>If no time zone is specified, the local system time zone is
4464 assumed. If a time zone specifier
<replaceable>TZ
</replaceable> is
4465 present, it may be the name of a system time zone (
⪚
4466 <userinput>Europe/London
</userinput>),
<userinput>UTC
</userinput>
4467 representing the UTC time zone, or
<userinput>Clock
</userinput> to use
4468 the local computer clock and ignore time zones.
</para>
4473 <term><parameter>lateCancel
</parameter></term>
4475 <para>Causes the alarm to be canceled if it cannot be triggered within
4476 the specified number of minutes after the alarm's scheduled time. If
4477 the value is
0, the alarm will not be canceled no matter how late it
4478 is triggered.
</para>
4483 <term><parameter>flags
</parameter></term>
4485 <para>Specifies the logical OR of the desired alarm flags. The flag
4486 bits are those defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4487 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Note that not all flag bits are
4488 applicable to command alarms.
</para>
4493 <term><parameter>recurrence
</parameter></term>
4495 <para>Specifies a regular recurrence for the alarm, using iCalendar
4496 syntax as defined in
4497 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445
</ulink>.
4498 For example,
<quote>FREQ=MONTHLY;COUNT=
4;INTERVAL=
3;BYDAY=-
1MO
</quote>
4499 would specify
4 repetitions at
3-monthly intervals on the last Monday
4500 of the month. For a non-recurring alarm, specify an empty
4506 <term><parameter>recurType
</parameter></term>
4508 <para>Specifies the recurrence type for the alarm. The permissible
4509 values are MINUTELY, DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY. These
4510 are defined in class
<classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4511 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>. Monthly recurrences are of the
4512 day of the month type, and yearly recurrences are of the date in
4513 the year type, with the date in both cases taken from the
4514 <parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> parameter.
</para>
4519 <term><parameter>recurInterval
</parameter></term>
4521 <para>Specifies the number of periods
4522 (minutes/days/weeks/months/years as specified by
4523 <parameter>recurType
</parameter>) between recurrences of the
4529 <term><parameter>recurCount
</parameter></term>
4531 <para>Specifies the number of times that the alarm should be
4532 repeated. Specify -
1 to repeat the alarm indefinitely.
</para>
4537 <term><parameter>endDateTime
</parameter></term>
4539 <para>Specifies the end date, or date and time, for recurrences of the
4540 alarm. If
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> includes a time, this
4541 parameter must also include a time; if
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter>
4542 contains only a date, this parameter must also contain only a
4543 date. It must not contain a time zone specifier; the same time zone as
4544 for
<parameter>startDateTime
</parameter> is used to interpret this
4545 parameter's value.
</para>
4550 <term><parameter>subRepeatInterval
</parameter></term>
4552 <para>Specifies the number of minutes between sub-repetitions of
4553 the alarm. Specify
0 for no sub-repetition. Ignored if no recurrence
4554 is specified.
</para>
4559 <term><parameter>subRepeatCount
</parameter></term>
4561 <para>Specifies the number of sub-repetitions of the alarm,
4562 including the initial occurrence.
</para>
4570 <title>Description
</title>
4571 <para><function>scheduleAudio()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to
4572 schedule the specified audio file to be played at the specified date
4573 and time. Apart from specifying a volume and omitting the message
4574 color and font parameters, its usage is identical to
4575 <link linkend=
"scheduleMessage-descrip"><function>scheduleMessage
</function></link>
4576 - see the description of that function for further details.
</para>
4580 <refentry id=
"dbus_edit">
4582 <refentrytitle>edit
</refentrytitle>
4585 <refname>edit
</refname>
4586 <refpurpose>Display the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit
4587 dialog
</link> to edit an alarm.
</refpurpose>
4591 bool edit(const QString
& <replaceable>eventID
</replaceable>)
4595 <title>Parameters
</title>
4598 <term><parameter>eventID
</parameter></term>
4600 <para>Specifies the unique ID of the event to be edited.
</para>
4607 <title>Return value
</title>
4608 <para><returnvalue>false
</returnvalue> if the specified
4609 alarm could not be found or is read-only,
4610 <returnvalue>true
</returnvalue> otherwise.
</para>
4615 <title>Description
</title>
4617 <para><function>edit()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to display the
4618 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> to edit the
4619 specified alarm.
</para>
4624 <refentry id=
"dbus_editnew">
4626 <refentrytitle>editNew
</refentrytitle>
4629 <refname>editNew
</refname>
4630 <refpurpose>Display the
<link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit
4631 dialog
</link> to edit a new alarm.
</refpurpose>
4635 bool editNew(int
<replaceable>type
</replaceable>)
4638 bool editNew(const QString
& <replaceable>templateName
</replaceable>)
4642 <title>Parameters
</title>
4645 <term><parameter>type
</parameter></term>
4647 <para>Specifies the alarm type. The permissible values are DISPLAY,
4648 COMMAND, EMAIL, AUDIO. These are defined in class
4649 <classname>KAlarmIface
</classname> in
4650 <filename>kalarmiface.h
</filename>.
</para>
4655 <term><parameter>templateName
</parameter></term>
4657 <para>Specifies the name of an alarm template to base the new alarm
4665 <title>Return value
</title>
4666 <para><returnvalue>false
</returnvalue> if
<parameter>type
</parameter>
4667 has an invalid value, or if no template with the name
4668 <parameter>templateName
</parameter> can be found;
4669 <returnvalue>true
</returnvalue> otherwise.
</para>
4674 <title>Description
</title>
4676 <para><function>editNew()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to display the
4677 <link linkend=
"alarm-edit-dlg">Alarm Edit dialog
</link> to edit a new
4678 alarm. If an alarm type is specified as a parameter, a blank dialog is
4679 displayed. Alternatively, if an alarm template name is specified as a
4680 parameter, the dialog is preset with details from the template.
</para>
4685 <refentry id=
"dbus_list">
4687 <refentrytitle>list
</refentrytitle>
4690 <refname>list
</refname>
4691 <refpurpose>Return a list of scheduled alarms.
</refpurpose>
4699 <title>Return value
</title>
4700 <para>List of alarms, separated by newlines, each in the format
4701 <returnvalue><replaceable>resource_id
</replaceable>:
<replaceable>UID
</replaceable> <replaceable>time
</replaceable> <replaceable>text
</replaceable></returnvalue> (if using Akonadi),
4703 <returnvalue><replaceable>UID
</replaceable> <replaceable>time
</replaceable> <replaceable>text
</replaceable></returnvalue> (if using KResources).
</para>
4708 <title>Description
</title>
4710 <para><function>list()
</function> is a
&DBus; call to return a string
4711 containing a summary of scheduled alarms. The list shows brief details
4712 of each pending alarm: its resource identifier (if using Akonadi), UID,
4713 next scheduled time and message text or file.
</para>
4720 <sect1 id=
"cmdline-interface">
4721 <title>Command Line Interface
</title>
4723 <para>Command line options are provided to enable other programs to
4724 start up
&kalarm; if it is not already running, in order to trigger or
4725 cancel scheduled alarms, or schedule new alarms. The reason for using
4726 command line options for this purpose is that if
&kalarm; were started
4727 without any command line parameters and then sent
&DBus; requests, it
4728 would start in its default graphical mode, which is clearly undesirable
4729 for an inter-program request.
</para>
4731 <note><para>Programs should first check whether
&kalarm; is already
4732 running; if it is, they should instead use
&DBus; calls to request these
4733 operations.
</para></note>
4735 <para>The command line options for scheduling a new alarm are as
4736 described in the chapter
<link linkend=
"cmdline-operation">Command Line
4737 Operation
</link>. The options for triggering and canceling scheduled
4738 alarms are as follows:
</para>
4740 <note><para>Normal users may also if they wish use these command line
4741 options (assuming that they can supply the necessary parameter
4742 information).
</para></note>
4748 <entry>Option
</entry>
4749 <entry>Description
</entry>
4754 <entry><option>--cancelEvent
<replaceable>eventID
</replaceable></option></entry>
4755 <entry>Cancel the alarm with the specified event ID.
4756 <option>--triggerEvent
</option> cannot be specified with this
4760 <entry><option>--triggerEvent
<replaceable>eventID
</replaceable></option></entry>
4761 <entry>Trigger the alarm with the specified event ID. The action
4762 taken is the same as for the
4763 <link linkend=
"triggerEvent">triggerEvent()
</link> &DBus; call.
4764 <option>--cancelEvent
</option> cannot be specified with this
4771 <para>Examples are:
</para>
4773 <informalexample><screen>
4774 <prompt>%
</prompt> <userinput><command>kalarm
</command> <option>--triggerEvent
<replaceable>&kalarm;-
387486299.702</replaceable></option></userinput>
4775 <prompt>%
</prompt> <userinput><command>kalarm
</command> <option>--cancelEvent
<replaceable>&kalarm;-
388886299.793</replaceable></option></userinput>
4784 <title>Questions and Answers
</title>
4787 &updating.documentation;
4789 <qandaset id=
"faqlist">
4792 <para>What configuration files does
&kalarm; use?
</para>
4795 <para><filename>$KDEHOME/share/config/kalarmrc
</filename>
4796 holds your
&kalarm; preferences.
</para>
4798 <filename>$KDEHOME/share/config/kresources/alarms/stdrc
</filename>
4799 holds your alarm calendar configuration.
</para>
4801 <para>($
<envar>KDEHOME
</envar> is usually
4802 <filename class=
"directory">˜/.kde
</filename> or similar.)
</para>
4808 <para>Where does
&kalarm; store its alarms?
</para>
4812 <para>The names of the calendar files which
&kalarm; creates the first
4813 time it is run are as follows (but these may be overridden by entries
4814 in the
<parameter>General
</parameter> section of
&kalarm;'s preferences
4819 <para><filename>$KDEHOME/share/apps/kalarm/calendar.ics
</filename>
4820 holds active alarms (overridable by the
4821 <parameter>Calendar
</parameter> entry).
</para>
4825 <para><filename>$KDEHOME/share/apps/kalarm/expired.ics
</filename>
4826 holds archived alarms (overridable by the
4827 <parameter>ExpiredCalendar
</parameter> entry).
</para>
4831 <para><filename>$KDEHOME/share/apps/kalarm/template.ics
</filename>
4832 holds alarm templates (overridable by the
4833 <parameter>TemplateCalendar
</parameter> entry).
</para>
4837 <para>You can find out which calendar files are currently in use by
4838 viewing each calendar's details in the alarm calendars list. The file
4839 names are stored in the alarm calendar configuration file.
</para>
4841 <para>Details of alarms currently being displayed are stored in the
4843 <filename>$KDEHOME/share/apps/kalarm/displaying.ics
</filename>.
</para>
4849 <para>What format are alarms stored in?
</para>
4852 <para>The calendar files in which
&kalarm; stores its alarms are text
4853 files whose format is defined by the document
4854 <ulink url=
"http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/rfc2445.html">RFC2445 -
4855 Internet Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object Specification
4856 (iCalendar)
</ulink>. This is the standard format used by all kdepim
4857 applications.
&kalarm; uses certain non-standard properties, in
4858 conformance with RFC2445. These are documented in the
4859 <filename>DESIGN.html
</filename> file which is distributed with
4866 <para>What is the program
<application>kalarmautostart
</application>?
</para>
4869 <para><application>kalarmautostart
</application> is a little helper
4870 program whose function is to autostart
&kalarm; at login.
</para>
4872 <para>&kalarm; is usually restored by the session manager at login
4873 (to redisplay its windows in the same state as they were when you
4874 logged off). But if it was not running when you logged off, it would
4875 not be started by the session manager and therefore needs to be
4876 autostarted. The problem is that when an application is both session
4877 managed and autostarted, there is no guarantee as to which will occur
4878 first. If autostart gets in first, it will prevent the session manager
4879 from restoring the application's state.
</para>
4881 <para>To avoid this problem,
4882 <application>kalarmautostart
</application> is autostarted at login
4883 instead of
&kalarm;. All it does is wait for a short time (to ensure
4884 that the session manager has time to do its job) before starting
4885 &kalarm;, at which point it terminates.
</para>
4893 <chapter id=
"credits">
4895 <title>Credits and License
</title>
4901 Program copyright
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008,
2009,
2010,
2011 &David.Jarvie; &David.Jarvie.mail;
4905 Documentation copyright
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008,
2009,
2010,
2011 &David.Jarvie; &David.Jarvie.mail;
4908 <!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->
4910 &underFDL; <!-- FDL: do not remove -->
4912 &underGPL; <!-- GPL License -->
4914 <para>Thanks go to the author of the
&kde; 1 KAlarm application,
4915 Stefan Nikolaus
<email>stefan.nikolaus@stuco.uni-oldenburg.de
</email>,
4916 who kindly agreed to allow the name
&kalarm; to be used by this
4917 application, which has been available for
&kde; 2 onwards.
4922 <appendix id=
"installation">
4923 <title>Installation
</title>
4925 <sect1 id=
"getting-kalarm">
4926 <title>How to Obtain
&kalarm;</title>
4928 &install.intro.documentation;
4930 <para>&kalarm; is also available as a standalone package for
&kde; 4,
4931 as well as older versions for
&kde; 3 and
&kde; 2, from
4932 <ulink url=
"http://www.astrojar.org.uk/kalarm">http://www.astrojar.org.uk/kalarm
</ulink>
4937 <sect1 id=
"requirements">
4938 <title>Requirements
</title>
4940 <para>&kalarm; requires the standard
&kde; libraries to be installed
4941 (the
<filename>kdelibs
</filename> and
<filename>kdepimlibs
</filename>
4942 packages), plus the
<filename>kdebase/runtime
</filename> package. To
4943 compile from source, you also need the relevant library development
4944 packages, and the
&Qt; development package.
</para>
4946 <para>The following optional packages enhance
&kalarm; at runtime if
4947 they are installed:
</para>
4950 <listitem><para>&jovie; (from kdeaccessibility package): if installed
4951 and configured, together with a compatible speech synthesizer package,
4952 it allows
&kalarm; to speak alarm messages when they are
4957 <para>You can find a list of changes in the
4958 <filename>Changelog
</filename> file, or at
<ulink
4959 url=
"http://www.astrojar.org.uk/kalarm">http://www.astrojar.org.uk/kalarm
</ulink>.
</para>
4962 <sect1 id=
"compilation">
4963 <title>Compilation and Installation
</title>
4965 <para>If you cannot obtain a suitable precompiled binary package, you
4966 need to compile
&kalarm; yourself from source files. Get the source
4967 package file
<filename>kdepim-x.x.tar.bz2
</filename> or
4968 <filename>kalarm-x.x.tar.bz2
</filename> (or similar), depending on
4969 whether you want to install
&package; or just
&kalarm;. Unpack it in a
4970 new folder using a command similar to
4971 <userinput><command>tar
</command> <option>xvfj
4972 <replaceable>package.tar.bz2
</replaceable></option></userinput>, and
4973 change to the folder which has been created.
</para>
4975 &install.compile.documentation;
4977 <warning><para>If you install
&kalarm; into a folder different from
4978 where
&kde; is installed, it will not run correctly unless you make
4979 its location known to
&kde;. To do this, you must prefix the
4980 <envar>KDEDIRS
</envar> environment variable with
&kalarm;'s location,
4981 each time before you start
&kde;.
</para>
4983 <para>For example, if
&kde; is installed in
4984 <literal>/opt/kde
</literal>,
<envar>KDEDIRS
</envar> might normally
4985 be set to
<literal>/etc/opt/kde:/opt/kde
</literal>. If you install
4986 &kalarm; into
<literal>/usr/local
</literal>, you would need to set
4987 <envar>KDEDIRS
</envar> to
4988 <literal>/usr/local:/etc/opt/kde:/opt/kde
</literal> before starting
4989 &kde;.
</para></warning>
4991 <para>The standalone version of
&kalarm; has a special configuration
4992 option which allows you to select which languages documentation is to
4993 be installed for by specifying a language code, or a list of language
4994 codes, as a parameter to
<command>./configure
</command>. By default,
4995 documentation in all available languages is installed. A list of
4996 documentation languages included in the package, together with their
4997 codes, is in the
<filename>DOC-LANGUAGES
</filename> file. For example,
4998 to install only French and British English documentation:
</para>
5000 <para><userinput><command>./configure
</command> --enable-doc-language=
<replaceable>"fr en_GB"</replaceable></userinput></para>
5002 <para>Note that this option has no effect on which user interface
5003 translations are installed.
</para>
5007 <sect1 id=
"configuration">
5008 <title>Configuration
</title>
5010 <para>No special configuration is required to set up
&kalarm; to run
5011 on the
&kde; desktop. Once you have run
&kalarm; for the first time,
5012 it will start every time you log in, in order to monitor scheduled
5015 <para>To run
&kalarm; on a non-
&kde; desktop, the main requirement is
5016 to ensure that
&kalarm; is run automatically whenever you log in. More
5017 detailed instructions are contained in the
5018 <filename>INSTALL
</filename> file which is distributed with
5025 &documentation.index;
5030 sgml-minimize-attributes:nil
5031 sgml-general-insert-case:lower
5033 sgml-indent-data:nil