Topic: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Hello,

I currently have my clock alarm set up with a news station, and have the “emergency” alarm set up to come on five minutes after the regular alarm is set to go off (in case the network’s down). Currently, the “wake up” screen has two buttons on it, one for turning off the alarm and the other for the snooze feature. I would like to see a third button added, perhaps with a “Leave Alarm On” label (or something similar), which would bring up a second screen that consisted of a volume slider and a “Turn Alarm Off” button (which would give the same result as the current alarm off button). When I wake up in the morning, I like to listen to the radio for a few minutes, but if I currently leave it on for any longer than five minutes, the beeping emergency alarm starts up, and the entire alarm procedure then has to be shut down. If I still want to listen to the radio at that point, I have to navigate down to the appropriate category/subcategory menu options, and start the audio stream manually again. It would just be a lot more convenient to allow a seamless continuance of that audio stream directly from the “wake up” screen.

Conversely, if something could be programmed into the alarm wake up scenario that could automatically sense when the network is up (and simply shut off the emergency alarm option at that point so it doesn’t come on at the five minute mark), that would solve the problem as well.

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Hi
I have another suggestion. I usually wake up to one of the music stations as my alarm. I would like a feature where I could tap a button and it would keep the music playing and then start cycling through my widgets. That way I can check news, weather etc while listening to the music before I get out of bed.

Thanks
John

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

> I would like a feature where I could tap a button and it would keep the
> music playing and then start cycling through my widgets. That way I can
> check news, weather etc while listening to the music before I get out of
> bed.

As kind of a complement idea to the alarm audio continuing while the widgets cycle, it would be nice to have some sort of a small semi-transparent button constantly available on screen while the widgets are cycling through. This button would essentially serve the purpose of turning a pre-determined “favorite” audio stream on and off. With my old alarm clock, I got used to turning on the radio if I was going to be in the bedroom a few minutes – a single switch, on or off, and since I only listened to one radio station that was the extent of my effort. If I try to do something similar with the Chumby, I’m spending a minute or two just trying to drill down to the station I want to play. A transparent “audio stream on/off” button would get around all that menu navigation.

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

I really, really hope this is being taken in to consideration.  I would love to leave my radio on after I wake up in the morning, but after 5 minutes the back up alarm kicks in and totally kills my morning mojo magic.  Thank you. Please chumby people. Please.

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

There is a way to do this in the current Control Panel Beta - once you dismiss the alarm, you can go to the Music screen and restart the music stream that was playing for the alarm just dismissed.  This button doesn't differentiate between music started with the alarm and through the normal methods.

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

The latest beta Control Panel allows "pluggable" alarms screens that enable this type of capability for anyone that wants to develop a custom screen.

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Hi Duane -

I looked for this needed/wanted feature in the forum but couldn't find it, so here's a suggestion.

It would be really great if, while it's in alarm mode with the instructions to play a stream (from the My Streams screen) and while a pre-determined stream is playing, we could change the stream right there on the spot.  Before I switched to the Chumby I would wake up to one station on the alarm clock then easily change the station.  With the Chumby, I have to do the following in my morning stupor:
* Turn off the alarm
* Hit the top button
* Open the music screen
* Scroll down to "My Streams"
* Select "My Streams"
* Select the stream I want to listen to

So a choice of alternate streams during the wake-up mode would be much appreciated... or even just a decrease in steps to get to other channels would be nice.  Thanks!!

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Hmmm, OK, we'll look into this.

I'm not totally sure how we could make it easier than the steps you listed and still be general enough to support all of the music sources.

For the specific case you just asked for, my guess is that a pluggable alarm screen (as mentioned in the post before yours) would handle it.

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Duane wrote:

Hmmm, OK, we'll look into this.

I'm not totally sure how we could make it easier than the steps you listed and still be general enough to support all of the music sources.

For the specific case you just asked for, my guess is that a pluggable alarm screen (as mentioned in the post before yours) would handle it.

Assuming some of us (me) don't know how to create a pluggable alarm screen to add that functionality is there some way to download one that's been created?

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Actually, it would be great if amongst the list of screens that could play once an alarm is dismissed we could open any of the music choices.  Right now, when we program a custom alarm we can only choose any of the channels or a few other options.  If we could choose from any of the music screens - in my case, "My Streams" - I'd be pretty happy with that.

11 (edited by dhl 2009-05-01 23:26:13)

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Duane wrote:

The latest beta Control Panel allows "pluggable" alarms screens that enable this type of capability for anyone that wants to develop a custom screen.

Duane, is there documentation for how pluggable alarm screens work? I have an idea I'd like to try out but I couldn't find any reference on how to hook in. Where should I look to get started? Thanks!

--dhl

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Yeah, there's some basic stuff here and here.

13

Re: Modifications to the alarm off/snooze screen.

Duane wrote:

Yeah, there's some basic stuff here and here.

perfect, thanks!