BlueMoon |
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Copyright © 2000-2005 by Stormgate Communications, LLC | email: storm@sgsw.com |
BlueMoon is released as Donationware.
If you like it and fund it useful, please visit our website and make a donation.
Check our website at palm.sgsw.com for updates and other products from Stormgate Communications, LLC
See the Change History for a list of new features and bug fixes in this release.
See the Changes for Previous Users section if you are upgrading from a previous version of BlueMoon.
Quick Start Guide
Tap the "New" button to create an event. To log occurrences, tap the left side of the list (on or left of the dot) or go to the event screen by tapping the item to the right side of the dot, and tap the "Add" button from there.
Events may be sorted, and the type of information displayed in the list can be controlled by the buttons and popup list at the top of the screen.
(New users of BlueMoon can skip this section...)
Please note that BlueMoon now requires PalmOS 3.0 or later!
When running the new version (1.14 - 1.16) of BlueMoon for the first time, the database of events is converted to the new format. This format is NOT compatible with the older versions of BlueMoon (i.e. earlier than 1.14). Please make a backup of your BlueMoon data file "BLmn_Events.pdb" before installing and running the new software. This will allow you to go back to the old version of the software if for some reason you don't like the new release.
The conversion process will ask if an event is a "one-time" or
"unscheduled repeat" in some cases if it cannot determine this from
the
data. If any of the events convert incorrectly, you can change their type
via a menu option on the entry screen. Note that changing the type will
require re-entering the repeat setup (history data is not lost)
The old "annual" events are now part of a more general category of
"Fixed Repeat" events. One important behavioral difference - they
now
show "due" until an ocurrence is added (they used to show due only
on the
day that they were actually due on).
BlueMoon has two main functions:
1) Keep track of when something occurred last and when it's due again.
2) Keep a history log of when things occurred and some information about each
occurrence.
Keep track of when something occurred last and when it's due again.
Unlike a repeating event on a calendar, BlueMoon events "float" - they are relative to when they last occurred. This makes them great for keeping track of things that happen at some specified interval but that usually don't happen on an exact day. You may want to remember to call a distant relative every couple of months, but you don't call on an exact date for instance.
Another good use of this capability is to keep track of when you last ate at a certain restaurant or fast-food place. If you have multiple children, this can really be handy!
Keep a history log of when things occurred and some information about each occurrence.
Sometimes things occur and we want to keep a log of each and every occurrence, or at least a count of how many times something has happened. Examples of these types of things include tracking medical symptoms (for allergies perhaps) or having information showing when you did some required activities (instrument calibrations and checks etc.).
This is the main screen, which shows the list of events you have entered. The item list area contains several parts. The left area will show an
indicator that a repeating event is "due" by displaying the
alarm clock symbol. Tapping on that symbol or the circle just to it's
right will register a new occurrence of an event (even if not due or not
repeating). This is a quick way to say "I just did this". Tapping on the far right side of the screen will take you directly to an evemt's history screen. Tapping an entry anyplace other than on the far left and far right sides of the screen will take you to it's detail screen. The column on the right can be changed to display various types of information accessible via the popup list at the head of the column. The information show can be:
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At the bottom of the screen you will see the popup list which lets you control by which criteria the list is sorted, as well as the gadget that controls the order (ascending or descending). | ![]() |
At the top just to the right of "BlueMoon"
is a display of how many items are in the list, both currently and total.
For example, a display of "12/45"
would indicate that of 45 total items, 12 are currently in the list due
to category or "Due" conditions. If the display is a single
number such as "45",
that indicates that there are 45 items total and all are currently showing
(if you scroll down!).
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Last, but not least, the "All" and "Due" buttons
along with the popup just to the right of the "Due" button select
whether you see all items in the selected category or just the repeating
events that are due to be done again in the desired timeframe.
Toggle Tap An additional feature of the "All" and "Due" pushbuttons
is to allow quick toggling between the "All" category
and a specific category If the "All" pushbutton is selected,
tapping it again will toggle the category shown in the upper right between
"All" and, let's say, "Personal". This is a quick
way to check for everything that is due to be done again. Tap "Due"
once and then again (if the category is not already "All" of
course) to see all due items in all categories. |
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When you tap the "New" button o the main event list screen, the "Add New Event" screen is shown. This screen let's you set the new event's name as well as choose which type of event you wish to create.
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The four event types are:Track Unscheduled Ocurrences This is for events which don't repeat on any predictable schedule. To
just keep track of when something happens, this is the type to choose. One Time Event An event which will only occur once, and you want to be able to see the
amount of time until it occurs or since it occurred. Repeat On Fixed Dates These events happen the same day or date, regardless of the last time
one occurred. Repeat At Floating Intervals An event which occurs at a specific desired interval, but whose next
due date is based on the last time it occurred. |
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This screen shows the information about an event entry. Tap the "Add Occurrence" button to log an occurrence of this event. By selecting the "1st" event, you can see at a glance when the first occurrence you have stored in the history list was. Note that you cannot edit the first occurrence from this screen, only the latest one (assuming that you have the preferences option that locks editing the last occurrence turned off of course). |
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The "Actions" menu let's you:
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The "Change Type" menu lets you change the base type of an entry. History information is retained, but the event's setup information will be lost when this is done. |
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The "Note" button let's you create, edit or view a text note related to this event. This note applies to the entire event. There isn't a separate note for each individual occurrence of the event. Use the tag and amount features if you need to have a little bit of specific information for each individual occurrence. | ![]() |
The "..." button brings up the Duration View. This shows the duration in several different units. |
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Floating events are those that repeat at a fixed intervals from the last time that they occurred. This is the event type to use when the date or a specific day is not when an event is due, but the time since the last time it happened. Tapping the repeat selector (in this scrren it has the text "Float: 2 weeks 9:00 am") will bring up the screen that allows specifying the repeat interval. |
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This is the repeat interval screen. You can enter the interval by directly specifying a number and selecting the unit (i.e. minutes, hours, days, weeks, months). The buttons with the labels such as "24 Hr", "2 Dy" etc. allow quickly setting common intervals. The "regular" checkbox will cause all of the intervals to be calculated from the start date and time. Example: "Regular" checkbox not checked, and a start date of May 12th set. The intervals set is 5 days. This will result in the event being "due" on May 12th. If an occurrence is entered for May 14th (two days late) then the next due date will be May 19th. Example: "Regular" checkbox is checked, and a start date of May 12th set. The intervals set is 5 days. This will result in the event being "due" on May 12th. If an occurrence is entered for May 14th (two days late) then the next due date will be May 17th, even though that is only three days after the last occuence - the due dates are all calculated based on the start date regardless of when the occurrences actually happen. |
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The "Due Time" allows setting the time of day that the event should be considered "due". Note that this is only applicable for intervals specified in days, weeks or months. For those intervals, this allows you to have an event show as due at, for example, 9:00 am on the next due date even if the previous occurence was at 11:00 am. The "Start" date and time allow setting when this event should be considered due if it has never occured. Snooze lets you delay when an event is due. If, for example, an event came due but you wanted to postpone doing it (but still be reminded), then you can use the snooze option to be reminded agian at a later date or time. The Alarm setting lets you set a standard Palm alarm to occur when the event is due. The advance selector (in the screen example it shows "1 minute") allows you to set the alarm to occur a certain amount of time before the event is actually considered due. The date and time shown below the advance selector are the date and time that the alarm is set to happen. |
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Fixed events always are due on the specified date and/or times, regardless of when the last occurrence actually happened. These events can be configured in a number of ways to accomodate events that need to happen daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. The "Start" date and time allow setting when this event should be considered due if it has never occured. Snooze lets you delay when an event is due. If, for example, an event came due but you wanted to postpone doing it (but still be reminded), then you can use the snooze option to be reminded agian at a later date or time. The Alarm setting lets you set a standard Palm alarm to occur when the event is due. The advance selector (in the screen example it shows "1 minute") allows you to set the alarm to occur a certain amount of time before the event is actually considered due. The date and time shown below the advance selector are the date and time that the alarm is set to happen. |
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DailyA daily event can be configured to be due on any or all days of the week. Up to three times per day can be set for this event to be due. The screen at right shows an event that is due every day at 9:00 am. |
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This screen shows an event configured to be due only on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00 pm. |
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WeeklyWeekly events are those that occur on some weeks. These can be set to be due on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or all weeks of the month. The days of the week can also be specified. Note that the days are the same for all of the weeks. (i.e. you cannot configure an event to be due on Tuesday of the 1st week and Friday of the 3rd week. If you need to do this you would need to set up two seperate weekly events) (Note that a weekly repeat set for "all" weeks is essentially the same as the daily repeat type.)
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This screen shows an event that will be due on Wednesday of the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month at 7:00 pm. |
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MonthlyA monthly event can be configured to occur on one or more days of one or more months. |
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The screen to the right shows an event that will be due on May 22nd at 9:00 am. Additional days could also be enabled as well. The "C" buttons will clear all of the months or days respectively. The "A" button will select all months. |
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This screen shows an event due on the 18th of every month. |
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YearlyYearly events are due on one day each year. (i.e. a birthday or anniversary etc.) These screens show an event due on June 16th at 9:00 am. |
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Yearly events have one special attribute that other events do not have - you can choose to display the "Planned" occurence of the event as well as the "Actual" ocurrence. This screen shows a Birthday event for a birth on April 17th, 1994. |
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On the event screen at the right, the "P" button is selected, showing the planned information. Regardless of when the last occurrence was logged, this will show the time since the last planned occurence The time until the next occurrence will always show the time until the planned occurrence that is after the last logged occurrence. (this sounds more confusing than it actually is when you try in on your Palm!) |
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This screen also shows the planned occurrence information, but in this case it shows the time since the first planned birthday, i.e.the person's age. Note that you don't have to enter any actual occurrences to have the "Since" information show correctly when in the "Planned" mode. The "Planned" versus "Actual" mode is retained on an event-by-event basis, so once you set a birthday to "Planned" mode it will remember that state. |
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One-time events are those events that occur only one time (that clears it up, doesn't it!) This allows you to see the time until or since some singular event like High School or University graduation etc. Note that the time "since" a one-time event is based on the event setting itself, not the time of any occurence(s) that might exist. This is different than the other events types! |
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These events require only that a specific date and time be set. The Alarm setting lets you set a standard Palm alarm to occur when the event is due. The advance selector (in the screen example it shows "1 minute") allows you to set the alarm to occur a certain amount of time before the event is actually considered due. The date and time shown below the advance selector are the date and time that the alarm is set to happen. |
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A non-repeating event is actually an event that may repeat, but not at any particular interval. These events are the ones that you want to record when that happen, but don't need them to be due on any particular date or at an interval. In most cases, these will be events that you don't actually plan when they will occur - you just want to keep track of when they did occur. |
The "Details" button will let you control several aspects about what data is stored for this event, it's category etc. The "Tags" button will take you to the screen that allows setting up to nine tags for this event. History The "History" popup is very important. Here you set what kinds
of information are kept in the history list for each occurrence. This
allows you to minimize the memory that BlueMoon uses to store the history.
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Capacity The capacity popup can be used to control how many occurrences of this event are kept stored in your Palm Computing Device. If the limit is set to 25 for example, when you add the 26th occurrence the oldest occurrence will be deleted automatically. Note that the occurrence count will be increased beyond the storage capacity so that you can still see how many times in total something occurred even if you don't want to retain the date and time of each occurrence. Units The units used to display the duration (since last and until next) can
be set to "Automatic" in which case the best match (Hours, Days,
Weeks, Months etc.) will be used to display the duration. You can also
set a specific unit and that will be used regardless of the duration ("Hmm,
I see it's been 311 hours since I've been to my favorite fast-food restaurant"). The "Priority" setting can be used if you want to have your events sorted by a priority you can assign to each event (select "Priority" in the sorting popup list on the entry list screen). |
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Category The Category popup list allows you to set the category that this event belongs in. Private You can mark an event as "private" by setting the "Private" checkbox. |
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To-Do IntegrationThe "To-Do" button brings up the dialog that lets you set the details of how this event is transferred to the standard Palm To-Do list. Enable To-Do - If checked, this event will be added to the built-in To-do list application when due and the "Update To-do" operation is performed. Category - Select the "To Do" application category to place this item in when it is added to the built-in Palm To-do list. Priority - Sets the priority given this event when it is added to the To-do list.
To set up the To-Do integration Make sure that the "Enable To-Do" checkbox is checked. For the details on how this To-do list integration works, see the section Preferences - To-do Setup |
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TagsThe Tags screen allows entering nine differetn tags. One of the tags from this list can then be set for each occurence of the event (if the history type is one that uses tags). |
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Default Tag The "Default Tag" is the tag that will be set by default when an occurrence of this event is entered. The "Show Time" checkbox controls whether or not the time shows up or just the date. |
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Amount Decimal Point The "Amount Decimal Point" let's you enter fixed-point non-integer values. What that means is that you can set this, for example, to "2" and enter numbers like: 12.34, 12.00, 36.40. The following table shows the range of values for each combination of amount (normal or big) and the decimal point selection. Note that this shows the "practical range" not the full exact binary range. Rounded Units If you set the "Rounded" checkbox you won't see fractional times such as 3.4 weeks, the numbers will be rounded to a whole number. Show Time If this option is enabled, the time of day as well as the date will be shown for the ocurrence of the event. Show Amount Totals If this event is defined to use amounts, the "Show Amount Totals" checkbox will let you see the sum for all occurrences stored in the event's history. For some things this makes sense ("Wow, I've spent a total of 5,239 hours playing Everquest(r) so far!") and for some things like recording the severity of your allergies that day it doesn't make sense to see the total. The "History" screen has a Migrate menu that allows multiplying all of the amounts by 10, 100 or 1000. If you had been dealing with floating-point number by using an implicit decimal point (i.e. you would represent 12.3 as 123 and 45.0 as 450 etc.) this allows you to use the new decimal point feature and convert your existing data. For example, if you had been using an implicit tenths decimal point (123 meaning 12.3) set DP to 1 and select the "Amounts x10" choice from the Migrate menu. Count Down Normally, adding an occurrence of an event causes the total occurrence count for that event to increase by one. If the "Count Down" checkbox is set, adding an event will cause the total count to be reduced by one. |
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The history screen shows you a scrolling list of all occurrences of this event. The date, time, tag and amount can be changed by tapping them (will bring up the appropriate dialog depending on where on the line you tap).
You can sort the history list by date (the default), amount and tag. Note: The history list is always kept sorted by date when not in this screen, so if you sort by amount, exit the history list and then return later, the sorting will be by date. The number in the upper right corner is the count of occurrences actually stored in the history. Once you reach the capacity defined for this event this number will not change, although the count on the entry screen will increase as occurrences are added. |
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The screen to the right shows the "tag" dialog, and a tag being set or changed for one of the historical occurrences of this event. |
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For events that have occurred more than once, you can see some simple statistics about how often these events occur on average and the longest and shortest times between their occurrence. You can also see the minimum, maximum and average for the amounts (if applicable). This information is based only on the events currently stored in the history list. |
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Start with due events - If set, this will change what happens when you return to the BlueMoon application. This option will cause the main listing screen to be displayed, and only the "Due" events to be shown. Confirm New Occurrences - Causes a dialog to pop up every time you add a new occurrence to help prevent adding one inadvertently. Lock Last Occurrence - Prevent changing the date, time tag, or amount of the last occurrence via the entry screen. Changes can of course still be made via the History screen. This can prevent you from inadvertently changing the last occurrence when you intend to add a new occurrence Warn about History full - This will cause a warning dialog to pop up when entering a new occurrence of an event if that new occurrence would cause the oldest entry in the history log to be aged off (deleted). Occurrence Del Adjusts Count - If enabled, this will cause the occurrence count to be reduced when an existing occurrence is manually deleted. The default behavior is to change the count when an event is added, but not adjust the count when an event is deleted. Unit Attribute - The duration (time until, time since) values can have an appropriate modifier added to them as determined by this setting.
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The "Entry Defaults" apply to new events you create. These settings will be what the new events start out with for their detail attributes. Note that these can be changed subsequently on a per-event basis to give each event it's own custom characteristics. (via the "Details" button in the event screen.) For further information on these options, see the Entry Details screen description. |
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Each category can have it's own unique setting for what is shown in the right-hand column in the main list, whether all items or just the due items show, and the sorting method to use. If these checkboxes are selected, that particular option will be unique to each category. |
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BlueMoon can interact with the built-in Palm To-do application. You can configure BlueMoon to place an entry in your To-do list when that repeating event is due. BlueMoon can also add an occurrence to the event list when you mark that item as completed in the To-do application. Please read the following carefully to decide how best to configure this feature if you decide to take advantage of it - there are several ways to set this up. Here is what happens when BlueMoon updates the To-do list. First, any
BlueMoon events that have been placed on the To-do list previously are
checked. If they have been completed, then an occurrence is added for
that event. There are three ways to cause BlueMoon to update the To-do list. You
can cause this to happen by selecting the "Actions | Update To-do
List" menu item from the main event list screen. Each entry that BlueMoon places in the To-do list gets tagged with some special text to help BlueMoon recognize that event when it checks to see if they have been completed. The default tag is "<BL>", but can be changed to anything that you desire. This tag can also be either appended to the event's name, come before the event's name, or be placed in the note of the event. Some examples are:
NOTE: To allow BlueMoon to recognize the event, the name of the To-do entry MUST NOT BE CHANGED by the user once that item has been created in the To-do list. In general, the steps to follow to enable BlueMoon to interact with the To-do application are:
Each event has it's own checkbox to enable this event's being added to the To-do list. There are probably some events that you don't want to show up on that list when they become due, and some that you do. |
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Enable Category Tap Toggle - Enables the feature that allows toggling the current category by tapping the "All" or "Due" pushbuttons a second time. Enable Occurrence List Tap - If checked, this will allow quick entry of an event's occurrence by tapping the item's line in the main item list. This area is about 20 pixels wide on the left side of the screen. Show Event Count - Allows turning of the event count display at the top of the entry list screen. Alternate List Format - Changes the way that the icons and alphabetical indicators at the left side of the entry list are shown. Direct History Tap - If enabled, tapping the far right side of the the row in the entry list will bring up that event's history screen. Set Due Color - (Color devices only) This button allows selecting the color to use for "due" items in the main entry list. |
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The stored history for an event can be exported to a "memo" in CSV format. From the PC Desktop, this data can then easily be used in a database or spreadsheet as desired.
The Export item on the Actions menu in either the "Entry" screen or the "History" screen will cause that item's history to be exported to a memo titled BlueMoon: <item name>. This will appear in the "unfiled" category in the memo application.
Note: Due to the size limitation on memos, a very large history will not
be able to be exported completely.
Depending on the type of history configured for the item (date only, date &
time, tag, amount) you can export about 100 to 400 occurrences per event.
A sample exported history memo looks like this:
BlueMoon: Made Up Example
10/13/99 6:19 pm,"Blue",27
10/5/99 3:20 pm,"Green",75
Printing is supported via the PalmPrint server application, which must be purchased separately from Stevens Creek Software. At the time this manual was written (Mar 2000) the SCS Print Server to allow printing from BlueMoon and other products was available for $19.95. This software allows printing to a variety of serial and IR printers and is the method used by many other applications to provide printing capabilities.
There are four reports that can be printed from BlueMoon. These are accessed via menu selections in the respective screens.
Event List - Print Details
For all events currently selected, this will print details about each event, including it's history.
=== #2 of 17 ===
Name: Call Mom Count: 37 Last: 3/14/00 Since: 12 days Next: 3/17/00 Until: 2 days Repeat: 3 days --- History --- 0 | 3/14/00 | Phone 1 | 2/28/00 | Phone 2 | 2/22/00 | Phone 3 | 1/31/00 | Phone 4 | 1/23/00 | Visit 5 | 1/17/00 | Phone
Event List - Print List
For all events currently selected, this will print a one-line summary.
Num Name Last 0 | BBQ @ Lynne's | 9/19/99 1 | Call Mom | 3/14/00 2 | Clean dog's water bowl | 2/15/00 3 | Contacts | 3/25/00
Event - Print
Prints details and history.
History - Print
Prints just the history
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