everything a regular $500 Stand Alone Bridge Clock would do and much more.  Michael Angelo Ravera

download bridgeklok
Version 1.8 October 2021
Nederlands

New in version 1.6: Time periods in the Round directives may also be given in the format "mm:ss".


Bridge timer

A bridge session consists of a number of rounds with a short break in between. The bridge timer counts down the time during such a round with corresponding break, and sounds a number of signals in the process:

All time intervals and the corresponding sounds are adjustable and may be preset per round. For instance one may program a longer break after round 3 and choose a different signal to indicate that break.

screenshot

In the title bar one finds information about the status of the program, such as the current round.
Below that the menu bar is shown with menu's "Bestand (=File)", "KLOK", "Bewerk (=Edit).

The KLOK menu

Via "Selecteer Script" in the menu "Bestand" one selects a script containing the commands to be processed. Subsequently one may use the menu KLOK to start the session, and if desired, to intervene in its course. The commands of this menu may also be given by the keyboard, as indicated in the menu KLOK.
The option "Vooruit" (function key F1) goes directly to the next "event", such as an alarm or an end of round. This is a useful option in the testing of a script.
Apart from menu KLOK and the keyboard there is third way to operate the clock:

The buttons

rondje Start / Pause / Continue. Green when the clock is running. Red when it is stopped.
terug increase the duration
korter decrease the duration.

The Script

The course of events is determined by a file containing a series of commands for program bridgeklok. The commands are processed sequentially.

An example of such a script is:

Size auto
Font 10 Tahoma

Color FgdA 0 0 79
Color BkdA 255 255 215
Color FgdB 255 82 0
Color BkdB 0 82 0

Tune Start TUNES\win5.wav
Tune Alarm1 TUNES\Tower Clock.wav
Tune Alarm2 TUNES\CUCKOO3.mp3
Tune Break TUNES\Le_Piccadilly.mp3
Tune Extra TUNES\espoirs.mp3

END Prolog

Round 30 15 5 2
Round 30 15 5 2
Round 30 15 5 9 extra
Round 30 15 5 2
Round 30 15 5 2
Round 30 15 5 2 TUNES\JUNGLDRM.WAV

END

The line Size specifies the window size. Possible options:

The line Font specifies the font. The number is the point-size divided by 20.
Some font-style options, such as "Bold", are ignored.

The four lines Color specify the colors of text (FgdA) and background (BkdA) during the round, and of text (FgdB) and background (BkdB) during the break. The numbers are the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values.

The lines Tune specify the signals to be given at the start of the round, when reaching the alarm times, and at the start of the break. The signals themselves are specified as sound files. The file name is either relative to the working directory, as in this example, or an absolute path name. The files don't have to be "wav" or "mp3" files. The only requirement is that the system may "open" them.
Maybe you don't want one of the signals at all. Then, omit the name of the sound file. Or, let 2 or 3 of the points in time, Alarm1 Alarm2 and Break, coincide.

The line END Prolog marks the end of commands that should be processed before the start. If this line is absent the session starts right after the script is selected.

The lines Round specify the time intervals of the session: in this example 6 rounds, of 30 minutes each, with an alarm at 15 minuten before the end, and a second alarm at 5 minutes before the end of the round. The break after every round is 2 minutes, except for round 3 where the break lasts 9 minutes. After these numbers one may specify an alternative for the Break signal, that replaces the break tune, for this round only. It may be given in two different ways: as done after round 3, by the word "extra", which refers to the file given by "Tune Extra", or by giving the file name directly, as after round 6.

Time periods in the Round directives may also be given in the format "mm:ss".

See also the examples supplied.

Programming a session

The scripts, describing a session, are stored in the working directory that was chosen at the time of installation. You may reach this directory using "Bestand > Werkmap Verkennen". The scripts have extension ".clk".

To program a session:

Notes

default.clk

On startup the script "default.clk" is processed. Settings that should be the same for every application, e.g. "size maxi", may be put in default.clk

Media Player

The music files are opened with the program that was specified in Windows for the file type. Possibly the "music player" shows a pop-up window, which in this case is annoying. Ususally it is sufficient to minimize this window only once, and chances are it will stay minimized. A suitable nice and unobstrusive media player is @MAX Tray Player. Also Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player work well.

default program for music

Possibly it is difficult after installation of Tray Player to set it as the default program for playing music. When trying to "Associate file type with a program" @Mac TrayPlayer is not in the list. In that case try the following
  1. open Explorer and go to a file of type ".mp3"
  2. right click on the file
  3. select "open with"
  4. If @Max Tray Player is not in the list there will be an option to browse and choose another app on this PC (details depend on Windows version).
  5. Browse to the right program, probably C:\Program Files (x86)\TrayPlayer\TrayPlayer.exe
  6. click "open"
  7. Go again to "Associate file type with a program"
  8. and see, for .mp3 @Max TrayPlayer is now one of the possibilities.
  9. Follow the same procedure for ".wav" and ".mid" files.

Sleeping speakers

Some speakers go in "standby" mode after some time of inactivity. Fine for saving energy, but what if they need a few seconds to wake up? Possibly the progammed signal has just finished at that time. If you have such speakers, copy or rename file "TUNES\noise.wav.orig" to "TUNES\noise.wav". This file contains only noise and will be played by the program 4 seconds before every signal. Thus the speakers will be in active state when the real signal comes along.

Inverse video near the end of a round

The last interval of a round, from Alarm2 to the end, is emphasized by exchanging the text and background colors.

De-installation

The bridgeklok program may be uninstalled in the usual way via the Configuration screen.

other applications

The "timer" may be used, not only as a bridge timer, but also for all kinds of applications, even as a kitchen timer.
The programme even works as a normal wall clock when it has nothing else to do.