PawPrint.net Forum

WT is one of the oldest programs on my machine -- I´ve been running it for many years and its always been great.

But recently the problems have started piling up: Help and Search now working, abends, bad dst dates, and now just not working at all, maybe after the latest XP patch.

I think it would be great if Scott could pass the WT baton to the community -- this program´s too good to die, but it seems he can´t and that´s that I guess.

So where to know?  Are there any apps out there that are even half as good as this one was in its hayday?

ian
...

I just want to add, in response to the threads title,

There is NO alternative to World Time,

One cannot replace that which is damn near perfect with a mere substitute.

OK I know the last update on this thread was 5 years ago, but I hope to breath new life into this, as  long time user of this application, and one who has just find her again after many years, (could not remember the name of the program or author, sorry) I would love to know if there was any development on the possibility of a version 7, or simply a newer Version6.
I personally would prefer a choice between web based and Application Based, I am old school and do not like automatic updates in general, I do not even let my OS update itself.
this is one reason I love World Time and am so happy to have found it again.
and in this era of Bloated Search Engines, that´s not an easy task.

whatever the case, thank you for making one of the Best Programs/Applications that has ever been written for a Computer.
 

I am doing my best to not let things die and I am actually still working on a web enabled database for the time zones and DST rules that should make updates to both much easier - allowing people to make their own.

My main problem at the moment is just time - I just have so many things on the go with regular work that WT keeps getting pushed aside for pressing deadlines etc.

My other problem is that the only laptop I had with a working copy of Delphi recently died. I have all the code and components for WT backed up and copied to other systems but no functioning Delphi install there - so I need to get that all squared away before I can actually move forward with it again.

As of yet - the best I can say is that I haven´t abandoned anything and am still working to get the data up to date asap.

Seem that this discussion is dead now. So Baker any update on your WT plan?

Would really love to help if I can.

Hi sbaker

I would love to help. Haven´t been coding for years. I saw that you´re using Delphi for WT.

I´m interested to see how I can help. WT is a great tool. I personally like the Time Calculator (although it has a bug I believe).

I regularly need to be on conference calls that have around the world participants and the organizer would never be able to tell me what time it would happen in my part of the world.

I like the idea of having it run on even my mobile and able to access the web to get the updates. Maybe the update file can be copied from my laptop over to my mobile to save on Data cost using the mobile. :o)

Let me know if you think I can help.

The disadvantage to a totally Web-based program is that it requires one to be on-line to the Internet.  Road warriors such as I are often in locations where we have no access to the Internet.

So I believe a better solution is a PC-based program where one can update the DST settings by going on-line.  This is needed because some countries, such as Brazil, change their DST settings every year.

Well I´m glad you like that concept because that is exactly what I´m working for WorldTime right now. The desktop version will pull from a web based version so you can access both and the data will be online in wiki form so hopefully will be able to be kept better up to date by not having a single point of update = me :)

The thing with these desktop programs is that you have to install them on both work and home and when you reinstall you end up having to reinstall.  And saving all your settings again is a hassle. As I mentioned I go online for World Clock It allows you to save your list of cities and come back to them later.

Thats a good idea but an online version seems more reasonable. One that I like is World Clock because you can save your list of cities and access them later.  The site isn´t too developed but i like that feature.

Hi, Scott,

I haven´t read anything since the end of 2006 about your plan to replace WorldTime with a Flash-based program.  I like this idea, because then I would be able to run it on my Mac without the need for a Windows emulation or virtualization program, such as VMware Fusion or Parallels.

I also like the idea of a Web-updateable database on timezones & Daylight Saving Time.  The DSTs around the world change so often that no one person can possibly monitor and record the changes.  You might consider a field for the person updating a DST to indicate an "official" URL confirming the information she has supplied.  I suggest this because, unfortunately, there will be jokers inputting false info (sigh).  A proposed update to the database would need approval by a responsible person who checks the URL for authenticity before posting the change to the DB.

So what´s the status of your replacement project?  WorldTime is a great program with a large installed base.  We all want to see it given new life, not die.

Hi Scott

Would love to hear about your plan.
I´m not an expert on these but would love to get my hands dirty.

Let me know.

Hello Scott...

For me, the ´Run problem´ was associated with the use of TitleBar clocks. When I turned that feature off, the problem disappeared. With it on, the problem returned, and it also inhibited use of Start menu´s Help and Suport and Search functions.

I was not the first to find this. I checked it out after someone else (I forget who) posted it on this forum! I would guess that a few of those who report having no experience of the ´Run problem´ are just not using TitleBar clocks.

(I changed the title - for encouragement)

I´m planning to try and devote at least an hour a day to this from now on for a bit. I´ve installed Delphi 7 on my main dev box and started trying to get WT to compile on it (lotsa components to deal with)

As far as the locations database goes - that is almost done - I just need to create an interface for it (I coded it about two years ago for http://www.bosunsmate.org and the Vessel tracker there)

Anyway - I´m going to try and keep you up-to-date and I plug away at this a bit.

Hi

I really like the idea of a database we could all contribute to to keep it up to date.  I am certainly willing to contribute to the Australian part of it.

By the way, From today Perth and the rest of Western Australia is on daylight saving time.  They are 2 hours behind Sydney/Melbourne (i.e. their base time is unchanged at GST+8 but they are now 1 hour ahead of their base time and will go back last Sunday Oct and forward last Sunday March - rule 122).  This will be for 3 years, then they will have a referendum to decide if they want to keep it.

Queensland and Northern Territory remain sane and do not use DST.

I do not have the run issue and have been using v6 since it came out 6.0.0.941.  However I think it was related to alarms or chimes and I do not have these.

The only thing I can think of regarding the "RUN" being broken issue is that it is somehow related to the timesync process.

Basically when WT tries to do a timesync it runs a separate application and I believe that the component I´m using to detect the type of network connection is causing a problem with XP

Unfortunately I don´t have this problem here - Run works fine (isn´t it always the case)

Perhaps try renaming or moving timesync.exe and then start WT and let me know if the problem persists.

I am going to install Delphi 7 on my main dev box today and see if I can´t devote some time to this.


Just FYI for all... I am truly kinda busy right now - but I want to ensure this program doesn´t die - I also admit, I´m a bit afraid of how quickly my servers are going to crash if I ever release a new version ;)

Anyway, here is the plan:

• All location management is planned to come out of WT and put on-line into a database.
• Try to re-create the timesync portion and resolve the errors

What do you all think if I moved the entire clock management to a web site - thus you would create and select your clocks here on http://www.pawprint.net and then download a custom clock file? the entire location management system would then become something of a wiki...

I´d do it all in XML like versaverter and then theoretically people could share locations...

Basically I´m looking for ways to automate and gain community support for locations management and data correction over time...

PS: what do you think of the new look for the forum?

Hello Scott...

Let me start by saying that I was amazed when, years ago now, I found WorldTime, and installed it. That such an incredible product should have been freeware truly opened my eyes.

It was with genuine sadness that I removed v6.0.0.941 from my PC after experiencing the sync freezes you refer to on a daily basis. I re-install Windows XP Pro every six months from scratch, but nothing made any difference. I also found the problems with the TitleBar clock that you have mentioned.

So, I was very pleased to see you might be able to do something about these things.

It is 20 years since I last produced a computer program, so I cannot volunteer any assistance, but I am surprised you have not been inundated with offers to assist you in your proposed new SWF version.

Even though I am not currently using WT, I still check this forum daily, I shall follow the fortunes of the best clock utility I have ever used, with unabated interest!

Hi Scott.

First, a big thanks for creating this application in the first place. Its been great and if you can find a way to make it live again, that would be wonderful.

Title bar clocks *do* work in XP, at least on some of my machines (one with SP1, and even another with IE7, though run... is broken, which has been attributed to WT).  

My main issue is that on my main, fully-updated system, WT just hangs on startup and there doesn´t seem any way of reviving it -- I´ve deleted everything and reinstalled but to no avail. I wish I could give you some clue as to what was going on.  Is there any logging I can turn on at startup?

The other problem for me is the out of date dst dates for UK/Europe(?) -- a problem which will affect the US too next year.

ian
...

I can understand the desire to make WorldTime run on additional platforms
but how about fixing some of the bugs in the current version first. I am
running version 6.0.0.941.

1. The Alarm Manager does not work properly when an alarm is created durring
standard time and reused durring daylight savings time. The alarm is an
hour early or late I don´t remember which. I assume this would be a problem
if the alarm is set reoccuring and crosses the change.

2. When adding a new locaiton using Loacation Manager in version 6 the
lattitude and longitude are not saved correctly. Thus the map locaiton will not be shown correctly and the Astronomical Data function will not work correctly. The only way I have found to make this happen is to cause a duplicate of the location to be created. That is there are two entries for Redwood City, in my case . I do not remember precisely how I did it but I think I created the new location and then did an update which created the duplicate entry.

UPDATE:
IN FACT I JUST DID THIS ON MY LAPTOP AND THE PROCEDURE I DESCRIBED IS CORRECT. FILL IN THE DATA FOR THE NEW LOCATION AND SELECT "ADD" THEN CORRECT THE BAD DATA AND SELECT "UPDATE". THERE WILL NOW BE TWO ENTRIES FOR THE ONE LOCATION BUT ALL THE DATA WILL BE CORRECT

There is also a minor bug in the Daylight Savings Time Rule select box.
If I select a location or Update a current location the rule number will be
displayed without any leading zeroes and a colon and the title. If I make
a change in another area and then Update I will get an error. I have to
use the dropdown list to select the rule with the leading zeroes.

Reguarding Daylight Savings Time. I believe that the United States is
changing the rule for the change in 2007 or 2008. I could see this as a
problem if all the other countries that use the same rule do not change
to conform to the U.S. rule. If this in fact happens it would be nice to
have a program to change whole regions at the same time.

3. Reguarding the synclog. It would be nice at a minimum to remove the
exclamation point (!) from the end of the time last column in the log.
This would allow the difference (error) to easily be converted to seconds in
Excel or some other spreadsheet. Even better would be for the program to
display the difference in seconds directly.

These seem like easy fixes to make but I realize that may not be the case.

UPDATE:
Just thought I would add that my XP laptop runs WorldTime just fine and I have
all the latest Microsoft updates except Explorer 7. Time Sync works. I am using
the Time-a.nist.gov server. I just noticed a minor bug. The View Log button
on the Preferences Synchronization tab does not work. It points to the main
directory not the Data subdirectory.

I deleated a section dealing with a problem of WorldTime not starting up
automatically on my XP Laptop. I read through the Readme file and noticed the
admonition to make sure the shotcut "Start in:" directory was correct. When I
checked on my laptop I noticed that I had put the EXE file not a shortcut to
WorldTIme in the startup directory. I made the change and now it of course works
just fine on startup.
 
I think this is a great program. Thanks for all the past work.

I´d love to open source WT... problem is that I cant - It uses components that I purchased and I´m not allowed to let out...

However I do have a plan - I have been thinking (in the last few days) of trying to re-create WorldTime using Flash.

As SWF version would permit WT to be run on Macs and on PDAs  I could then link it to the planned locations database on the web and solve almost all the problems.

It´s a fairly major undertaking - but I would be happy to work with other people on it´s development.

What do you think of this option?


I am planning to try and have a look at the current exe and see if I can´t create some bandaid patch version to solve the XP issues.

I know that the two main problems are: the Title-bar clock (not supported in XP any more) and the timesync - what causes WT to hang sometimes.