1 Topic by CalvinOZ (edited by CalvinOZ 2009-06-16 04:44:15)

  • Registered: 2009-06-14
  • Posts: 5

Topic: 2 minor alarm behaviour changes

Hi all,

A couple of points about the 'alarms' functions on the Chumby if I may:

1. The 'one time alarm' currently, after having actually elapsed (ie: has been acted on) still appears in the 'alarms' list. I presume the reaon for this (in original reasoning of the logic of the Chumby alarms functions) was so that a user could subsequently return and 'edit' this alarm to a new date/time and make it active again.

I can't really see the point of this however. The number of keystrokes required to edit an alarm is basically the same as creating a new 'one time alarm' entry from scratch.

I suggest that a 'one time alarm' should automatically remove itself from the 'alarms' list after it has completed.

2. I recently had occassion to edit my alarms list. I selected an entry (a 'one time alarm' I no longer needed) and hit the delete key. Nothing happened, so I hit the delete key again - an act I shortly thereafter regretted.

I then discovered that my Chumby was momentarily 'busy' and had in fact recognised the first press of the delete key. Me having then pressed the delete jey again resulted in one of my 'daily' alarms also being deleted - and I then had to go through all the hastle of setting it back up again.

I suggest that the delete function on the 'alarms' screen be changed that 'permanent' alarms (ie: dialy/weekly/certain day of week alarms that you would not normally be deleting on a regular basis) be protected with a confirm screen - ie: a prompt asking 'are you sure' before they are actually deleted.

Calvin.

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
  • Offline
  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: 2 minor alarm behaviour changes

1) Actually, if all you're doing is changing the time, and none of the other actions, editing an existing alarm has several few steps - note the "DONE" button early in the process - it allows the user to short-circuit the rest of the configuration.  If it weren't for this, I'd agree with you.

2) I'll have QA look into it - that seems odd.  Can you give me an idea how many alarms were in your list at the time?  Also, I don't see how any alarms would be considered more "permanent" than any others.  I'll talk with Product Management about whether it makes sense to add an "are you sure" dialog.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2009-06-14
  • Posts: 5

Re: 2 minor alarm behaviour changes

Duane wrote:

1) Actually, if all you're doing is changing the time, and none of the other actions, editing an existing alarm has several few steps - note the "DONE" button early in the process - it allows the user to short-circuit the rest of the configuration.  If it weren't for this, I'd agree with you.

Hi Duane,

I actually HADN'T noticed the "Done" button, I'll have to pay closer attention next time :-)  It still would be nice if we at least had the option of having 'one time' alarms delete themselves after having been enacted.

Duane wrote:

2) I'll have QA look into it - that seems odd.  Can you give me an idea how many alarms were in your list at the time?  Also, I don't see how any alarms would be considered more "permanent" than any others.  I'll talk with Product Management about whether it makes sense to add an "are you sure" dialog.

Only a couple of alarms in this list at the time my "little accident" happened, although the number of itmes on the list isn't really relevant to the situation. The problem came about because of my impatience hitting the "delete" key and not seeing an immediate response :-( and the Chumby ultimately (after the short delay) faithfully doing what i asked it to do and deleting two items off the list.

My point about "permanent alarms" may not have been made clearly enough. If an alarm is a "daily" or "weekly" or a "specific day" event, then most likely it will used MORE than just once - that is what I meant by a "permanent" alarm.

Most users would probably have the odd occassion where one of these "permanent" alarms may have to be temporarily disabled because it not needed (eg: I'm on holidays this week and Don't want the 6AM wakeup), but most likely the alarm event would not be deleted from the alarm list in such circumstances - hence my request for a confirmation warning before a deletion of these alarms.