WorldTime can run on a Macintosh Plus or any newer Macintosh. I suspect that it may not run on Macintosh models older than the Macintosh Plus, though I haven't been able to verify this.
WorldTime and all other so-called "Control Panel Documents" or "Control Panels" require System 4.1 or newer. WorldTime will only run with system versions which use the Gregorian calendar (the calendar used in North America, Britain, etc.) or the Japanese calendar. If your system has a Control Panel that allows you to switch from the Gregorian calendar to other calendars, you will have to switch to the Gregorian calendar before you use WorldTime.
WorldTime works well with System 7.
If you use WorldTime with the Japanese system, all text displayed by WorldTime will be in Japanese. If you use WorldTime with any of the English-language systems, all text will be displayed in English. With the USA system, the American phrase "Daylight Saving Time" will be used instead of "Summer Time." If WorldTime is used with the systems of other regions, the text will be displayed in English, except for the names of the months and the days of the week.
****** What WorldTime Does
WorldTime does three things.
1) It tells you what time it is in other cities, taking into account Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time.
2) It automatically resets your computer's clock at the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time.
3) It allows you to change the location of your computer as it is stored in your computer's memory and reset the clock appropriately.
Your Macintosh has what is usually called "Parameter RAM" or "PRAM." This RAM is battery-powered so that, even if the computer is unplugged, the information stored in it will not be lost. Various Control Panel settings are stored in the PRAM.
Among the various settings stored in PRAM are the latitude, longitude, and time zone of your Macintosh. If you want to find out where your machine thinks it is without using WorldTime, you can use the Map Control Panel. The Map will also tell you what time it THINKS it is in other cities around the world. This information about the time in other cities around the world is wrong nearly half the time because the Map Control Panel has no information about Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time.
This is why I wrote WorldTime. I wanted to know what time it REALLY was in Tokyo and London.
I also designed WorldTime to reset the clock at the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time. I did this for convenience and because using other people's programs to do the job would confuse WorldTime's calculations. I added an INIT resource to WorldTime to reset the clock as the computer starts up so that the clock is reset even if I don't open WorldTime.
****** If You Have an Earlier Version of WorldTime
If you already have an earlier version of WorldTime, and you don't want to reenter your city list, download COPLST.SEA from CompuServe. This small application, called CopyCityList 2.0.1, copies city lists from one copy of WorldTime to another. You can't use CopyCityList 1.0 or ResEdit to copy lists to or from WorldTime 1.5 and other versions because the resource type and internal format of the city list has changed. CopyCityList 2.0.1 will copy city lists to and from any version of WorldTime through 1.5.
****** Paying For WorldTime
You can pay for WorldTime through CompuServe. Just GO SWREG. The registration ID for WorldTime is 116.
If you want to pay by mail, send what you think is a fair price to:
J. David Sexton
C/O Sheilah Mann
1713 Eastwood Court
Fort Collins, CO 80525
U.S.A.
After April 1, 1993 it may be possible to transfer payment in yen for WorldTime to my bank account in Yamaga, Kumamoto, Japan. If you want to do this, please contact me at my e-mail address, which is at the end of this manual.
Please note that checks sent to this Fort Collins address will be deposited in my American bank account, but letters sent there won't reach me. I'll be in Japan. However, I should get e-mail sent to me at the address at the end of this manual.
****** Installing WorldTime
Just put WorldTime into the System Folder. If you're using System 7, a dialog will appear asking you if you want to put WorldTime into the Control Panels Folder. Answer "OK."
Don't lock the WorldTime file or use it from a locked volume. It won't break anything if you do, but it will keep WorldTime from doing everything it was designed to do. If WorldTime is locked, it will do its best to calculate and display the correct time, but it won't EVER reset the clock if it can't save information about the change in the WorldTime file. If this happens, WorldTime will display the time it wants to set the clock to, rather than the time the clock is actually set to.
(1) After you've put WorldTime into the System Folder, open it (start it up). Look at the pop-up menu labeled "Here:" to see what city your computer thinks it is in.
(2) If the city name displayed in the "Here:" pop-up menu is the name of your city, go to step 7. The "Here:" pop-up menu may be blank; that is, you may see only the small triangle that indicates a pop-up menu. Don't worry if this is what you see; just go on to step 3.
(3) Pop up the "Here:" menu to see if the name of your city is listed there. If it is, select it and go to step 7.
(4) If you DON'T have the Map Control Panel document, go to step 6. If you DO have the Map Control Panel document, open it (start it up), type the name of your city and click "Find." If your city is NOT in Map's city list, close Map, go back to WorldTime, and go on to step 6. If your city IS in Map's city list, click "Set" to set your computer's location to your city. Then close Map and go back to WorldTime. Go on to step 5.
(5) Click on the "Add City" button. The latitude, longitude and time zone fields in the "Add City" dialog should already be set. While holding down the option key, select a city with the same Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings as your city in the pop-up menu to the right of the "Name of City" field. This will set the Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings. If a city with the same Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings is not in the list, you can, of course, use the arrows to set these settings. Finally, type the name of your city and click the "Add City" button to add the city and return to WorldTime's main dialog. You should now see the name of your city displayed in the "Here:" pop-up menu. Go to step 7.
(6) Click on the "Add City" button. In the "Add City" dialog, type the name of your city and set the correct time zone, settings for Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time and the correct latitude and longitude for your city. You can set the Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings by selecting a city with the same Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings as your city in the pop-up menu to the right of the "Name of City" field while holding down the option key. If you don't know the correct latitude and longitude, you can set them approximately using the world map. Just click the "Map" button and then click on the world map itself at the location of your city. This will set the time zone as well as the latitude and longitude. This time zone setting will be an estimate based on the longitude; you may have to change it after you return to the "Add City" dialog. When you have finished setting everything, click the "Add City" button to add the city and return to WorldTime's main dialog. Back in the main dialog, select your city in the "Here:" pop-up menu.
(7) Use the "-hr" or "+hr" button, if necessary, to set your computer's clock to the correct time. Installation of WorldTime is complete.
****** The Small Black Circle
A small black circle to the right of the date and time in WorldTime's main dialog indicates that the city is on Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time.
****** Adding, Changing and Viewing Information about Cities
To view the information about a city in WorldTime's city list, click on the "Add City" button in WorldTime's main dialog. You can use the pop-up menu to the right of the "Name of City" field to select any city in the list and the "Map" button to see the location of the city displayed on a small world map. Click "Cancel" to return to the main dialog.
Although WorldTime keeps its city list in alphabetical order (according to the rules of the region of your system), it identifies cities by their latitude and longitude. This means that if you add a city with the same latitude and longitude as a city already in WorldTime's list, WorldTime replaces the entry which has that latitude and longitude; it doesn't create a new entry in the city list.
Because WorldTime knows a city by its location, you can change the name, time zone and Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings for a city by clicking the "Add City" button in WorldTime's main dialog to go to the "Add City" dialog, selecting the city with the pop-up menu to the right of the "Name of City" field, changing the name, time zone or Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings and clicking the "Add City" button. A dialog will appear warning you that you are replacing an entry already in the city list with a new entry.
If you hold down the option key while you select a city with the pop-up menu in the Add City dialog, only the Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings will be changed. The city name, time zone, latitude and longitude settings will remain unchanged. This makes it easier to set these settings. You only have to select a city with same Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings as the city you are adding while holding down the option key.
There is a small world map available from the "Add City" dialog which you can use to set the latitude, longitude and time zone. Click the "Map" button, and then click on the world map itself to set the latitude, longitude and time zone. The time zone setting will be an estimate based on the longitude.
WorldTime ignores blanks at the end of a city's name. If you use a version of the system that uses either the Roman or Japanese script systems, this should always work perfectly; WorldTime treats these two script systems as special cases. With system versions that use other script systems (e.g. the Arabic system), WorldTime asks the system to define blanks for it. You may not agree with the system's judgements about what is and is not a blank.
If the location stored in Parameter RAM is the location of a city that WorldTime doesn't have in its city list, the "Here:" menu in WorldTime's main dialog will be blank. You'll see only the small triangle that indicates a pop-up menu. In the pop-up menu, the default item will be "Macintosh's Location." If the location stored in the Parameter RAM is the location of a real city, you can add that city to WorldTime's city list by clicking on the "Add City" button. The time zone, latitude and longitude fields will already be set. You will only need to enter the name and Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings for the new city. When you click on the "Add City" button in the "Add City" dialog and return to the main dialog, you'll see the new city's name in the "Here:" pop-up menu.
If the location stored in Parameter RAM is the location of a city that WorldTime doesn't have in its city list, WorldTime will consider the time to be Standard Time. Therefore, if you add a city to WorldTime's city list at this location, and that city is on Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time, WorldTime will reset your clock to Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time. Similarly, if you delete the "Here" city while it is on Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time, WorldTime will reset your clock to Standard Time.
****** When WorldTime Resets the Clock
In America, the change from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time is supposed to take place at 2 AM Daylight Time (1 AM Standard Time). The change from Standard Time to Daylight Time is supposed to take place at 2 AM Standard Time (3 AM Daylight Time).
I and WorldTime DON'T follow this convention. WorldTime always changes to and from Daylight Time/Summer Time at midnight Standard Time. WorldTime is international and will not conform to the standards of any one country.
When WorldTime is open (running) at the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time, it will automatically reset the clock. However, WorldTime doesn't have to be open to reset the clock. WorldTime includes an INIT which will reset the clock, if appropriate, as the computer starts up.
WorldTime's INIT operates only at start-up. The INIT uses no memory or processor time after start-up.
****** If Your Computer Beeps During Start-Up
If your computer beeps three times while it is starting up, it's because WorldTime thinks it should reset the clock, but can't save information about the change in the WorldTime file. If this happens, it will beep three times and it will NOT reset the clock.
If your computer beeps twice while it is starting up, it means that your Macintosh has had a problem setting its clock. I know of nothing that could cause this to happen.
****** Errors
If your computer beeps three times when you open (start up) WorldTime, it's because WorldTime thinks it should reset the clock, but can't save information about the change in the WorldTime file. If this happens, it will beep three times and it will NOT reset the clock.
If your computer beeps twice while its clock is being set, it means that your Macintosh has had a problem setting its clock. I know of nothing that could cause this to happen.
The name of a city in WorldTime's city list is not allowed to begin with a hyphen (minus sign) or contain a return. The name of city is also not allowed to be more than 31 bytes long or too long to be displayed in the pop-up menus. If you try to edit the city name in any way that creates these conditions, WorldTime will beep once and cancel your editing. Blanks that you type at the end of city's name are ignored.
If changes can't be saved to the WorldTime file, an alert will appear to tell you about the problem. This alert will include an error number. The two error numbers you are most likely to see are
-61 The file is locked or you don't have permission to change it.
-44 The disk is locked.
****** Using WorldTime with Other Programs
WorldTime makes two assumptions about other programs that set the clock and change the computer location stored in Parameter RAM:
1) No program other than WorldTime will reset the clock at the beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time.
2) A program other than WorldTime that changes the computer's latitude and longitude and resets the clock at the same time will not know about Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time.
Assumption 1 means that WorldTime will NOT get along with the Daylight Saving Time INIT. Assumption 2 means that WorldTime will get along quite well with the Map Control Panel.
Both assumptions mean that WorldTime will not get along with other copies of itself in other System Folders used to start up the computer. It's best to keep just one copy of WorldTime in one System Folder, the one you use most often. Alternatively, you could move your one copy of WorldTime from System Folder to System Folder.
I suspect that most people always start up their computers from one System Folder on one hard disk and don't have to worry about this.
****** Using WorldTime with the Map Control Panel
WorldTime gets along quite well with the Map Control Panel if you remember one simple rule: don't leave the Map Control Panel open under System 7 while you change the computer's location using the "Here:" pop-up menu in WorldTime's main dialog.
The Map Control Panel assumes that no other program can change the computer's latitude and longitude while the Map Control Panel is open. This is a bug.
With System 7, it is always possible that another program will change the various settings in the PRAM, including the latitude and longitude.
One use I've found for the Map Control Panel is to help add cities to WorldTime's city list. I set the location of the computer and the time zone with Map. Then I switch back to WorldTime and add the city to WorldTime's list. See "Adding, Changing and Viewing Information about Cities" above.
****** Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Yuki Busch of Fort Collins. Yuki suggested appropriate Japanese for the text displayed by WorldTime. I would also like to thank users who made helpful suggestions for improvement. I should also thank Greg Younger of Fort Collins whose design for the WorldTime icon inspired the design I finally created.
****** Disclaimer
I've worked pretty hard to make WorldTime bugless. I believe it will work as I have said it will work. Of course, I can't guarantee that it is perfect. As you can see below, I did make a mistake in an earlier version that I later detected.
So, for the record, I do not guarantee that WorldTime is free of errors, nor do I guarantee that it will be suitable for any use that you might make of it. It is possible that WorldTime may fail you in some way.
Please remember that governments around the world can change the starting dates for Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time and Standard Time without notifying me. I believe the dates that I entered in WorldTime's city list were correct when I entered them, but I may be mistaken. Even if they are correct, as I believe them to be, some of them will almost certainly become incorrect eventually. When this happens you can correct your city list by following the instructions above, under "Adding, Changing and Viewing Information about Cities."
I must also make it clear that neither Apple Computer Inc., nor any agent or employee of Apple Computer Inc. was in any way involved in the production of WorldTime, so, of course, Apple Computer Inc. can not possibly assume any legal responsibility for WorldTime.
****** Revisions
*Version 1.5.1
This is a bug fix. Version 1.5 didn't respond correctly if another program changed the computer's location to a city not in WorlTime's city list.
*Version 1.5
With version 1.5 the forward delete key on extended keyboards works correctly in the "Add City" dialog.
Version 1.5 causes the pop-up menu to the right of the "Name of City" field in the "Add City" dialog to set only the Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings for a city if the option key is held down while the city is selected. This makes it easier to set these fields.
Version 1.5, unlike earlier versions, does not allow a new city being added to have the same name as a city already in the city list, and it ignores blanks at the end of city names. It also refuses to add a city with invalid Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time settings.
It is no longer possible to specify the fifth Sunday, Monday, etc. of a month as a starting date for Daylight Saving Time/Summer Time or Standard Time. Such dates will not occur every year, so I assume that no government will specify starting dates in such a way. For the same reason, it is not possible to specify a starting date of February 29. It was this change that caused the internal format of the city list to change. This format change is the reason I had to write a new version of CopyCityList.
Version 1.5 now alphabetizes its city list when you open it if it is used with the system of a region different from that of the last system with which your copy of WorldTime was opened.
*Version 1.4.1
Version 1.4.1 fixes a mistake I made. WorldTime should beep three times just after it is opened (started up) if it finds that it should reset the clock but can't because the change can't be saved to the WorldTime file. Version 1.4 beeped constantly instead of just three times.
*Version 1.4
Version 1.4 adds a pop-up menu and a small world map to the "Add City" dialog to make it easier to edit the city list. It also displays a warning alert if an entry in the city list is about to be replaced.
*Version 1.3
Version 1.3 refuses to run with systems that use calendars other than the Gregorian calendar and the Japanese calendar.
*Version 1.2
Version 1.2 allows the use of the function keys F2, F3 and F4 for cutting, copying and pasting in the "Add City" dialog when not using System 7.
*Version 1.1
Version 1.1 uses the Macintosh's main Clipboard for cutting and pasting in the "Add City" dialog, not just the private clipboard used by dialog boxes. Version 1.1 also takes steps to make sure that a return cannot be pasted into a city's name.
*Version 1.0
Version 1.0 is the first version of WorldTime ever released. No earlier development or "beta" versions were released to anyone.
****** How To Reach Me
CompuServe: 72730,1304
INTERNET: 72730.1304@compuserve.com
I should get all e-mail messages, but I won't get letters mailed to the Fort Collins address above. I'll be in Japan. That address is just for paying for WorldTime.
