Ubuntu Countdown Timer

Quite some time went into this over the course of two weeks (since I had to figure everything out because Intro to Visual Basic doesn't deal with dates or timers or even saving simple settings). Here's how I did the Ubuntu Countdown Timer in Visual Studio 2k8.

Program can be downloaded here: box.net eiejhsl617

First off, the design. Since this was going to just be a timer and nothing else I decided on an equally simplistic design, Honestly though, you can go with whatever suits your fancy, the only thing you should keep in mind when designing is "Is this user friendly".

I like to use all labels since they're so easy to manipulate and that's what I did, I used all labels (just changed the preferences on how they looked). Also, to make the preferences window just double click on the word preferences (or whatever you choose to name it) and the program will start the code out for you as a click event.

Code:

Private Sub uiPreferencesLabel_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles uiPreferencesLabel.Click
        preferences.Show()
    End Sub

The only thing I had to type in was "Preferences.Show()". And that's why Visual Basic is the easiest language to learn kiddies.

For the preferences window you're going to have to right click on the project name in the solution explorer and add a new .vb window form. (I named it preferences, because I'm such a good namer of things).

Note, subsequent code files will be hard to understand in their browser windows (unless you have a big monitor), best thing to do is add the code to notepad and turn wordwrap off.

Next up is the MainForm.vb code.

Code:


Public Class MainForm

    Private today As Date

    Dim thisYear As Integer = Year(Date.Now)
    Dim thisMonth As Integer = Month(Date.Now)
    Dim daysInMonth As Integer = Date.DaysInMonth(thisYear, thisMonth)
    Dim difference As Integer
    Dim monthDifference, dayDifference, hourDifference, minuteDifference, secondDifference As Long
    Dim timeSpan As TimeSpan
    Dim todayPlusAMonth As Date = DateAdd(DateInterval.Month, 1, today) 'confirmed this works
    Dim todayTotalDaysPlusAMonth As Long
    Dim trueDayDifference As Long

    Dim newPoint As New System.Drawing.Point
    Dim X, Y As Integer

    Private Sub MainForm_MouseDown(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles MyBase.MouseDown
        X = Control.MousePosition.X - Me.Location.X
        Y = Control.MousePosition.Y - Me.Location.Y
    End Sub

    Private Sub MainForm_MouseMove(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles MyBase.MouseMove
        If e.Button = Windows.Forms.MouseButtons.Left Then
            newPoint = Control.MousePosition
            newPoint.X -= (X)
            newPoint.Y -= (Y)
            Me.Location = newPoint
            My.Settings.WindowPosition = newPoint
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub MainForm_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        'had to put this in because the TopMost option didn't load unless you opened the preferences menu.
        If My.Settings.TopMost = True Then
            Me.TopMost = True
        End If
        'this is for the window position
        Me.Location = My.Settings.WindowPosition
    End Sub

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Me.BackColor = Module1.backgroundColor

        today = Date.Now
        today = today

        monthDifference = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, today, releaseDate)

        dayDifference = DateDiff(DateInterval.Day, today, releaseDate) 'this is the total number of days, not the true difference
        todayTotalDaysPlusAMonth = DateDiff(DateInterval.Day, todayPlusAMonth, releaseDate)
        trueDayDifference = dayDifference - todayTotalDaysPlusAMonth
        trueDayDifference = trueDayDifference - today.Day - (trueDayDifference - releaseDate.Day)
        TimeSpan = releaseDate.Subtract(today)
        hourDifference = TimeSpan.Hours
        minuteDifference = timeSpan.Minutes
        secondDifference = timeSpan.Seconds

        If secondDifference < 0 Then
            secondDifference = secondDifference + 60
        ElseIf secondDifference > 60 Then
            secondDifference = secondDifference - 60
        End If

        If trueDayDifference < 0 Then
            monthDifference = monthDifference - 1
            trueDayDifference = trueDayDifference + daysInMonth
        End If

        difference = Date.Compare(today, releaseDate)
        If difference < 0 Then
            uiMonthsLabel.Text = monthDifference.ToString
            uiDaysLabel.Text = trueDayDifference.ToString
            uiHoursLabel.Text = hourDifference.ToString
            uiMinutesLabel.Text = minuteDifference.ToString
            uiSecondsLabel.Text = secondDifference.ToString
            uiReleaseNameLabel.Text = releaseName
        Else
            uiReleaseNameLabel.Text = "TIME = OVER!"
        End If
        'don't mind me
        Debug.WriteLine("Release Name: " & releaseName & vbNewLine & _
                        "Release Date: " & releaseDate & vbNewLine & _
                        "Release Date.Hour: " & releaseDate.Hour & vbNewLine & _
                        "Today: " & today.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "This Year: " & thisYear.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "This Month: " & thisMonth.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Days In The Month: " & daysInMonth.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Difference (Time End?): " & difference.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Month Difference: " & monthDifference.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Day Difference: " & dayDifference.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Hour Difference: " & hourDifference.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Minute Difference: " & minuteDifference.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Second Difference: " & secondDifference.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "Today Plus a Month: " & todayPlusAMonth.ToString & vbNewLine & _
                        "True Day Difference: " & trueDayDifference.ToString & vbNewLine)
    End Sub

    Private Sub MainForm_KeyPress(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) Handles MyBase.KeyPress
        If e.KeyChar = Chr(27) Then '27 is the ASCII code for ESC.
            Me.Close()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub uiPreferencesLabel_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles uiPreferencesLabel.Click
        preferences.Show()
    End Sub
End Class


Since the code tags only print out in green it'll be a little difficult to sort through. As a rule anything with ' in front of it is a comment, or something that is ignored by the compiler.

I chose to have all my variables class level out of habit, you don't need to do it though I find it easier if I ever need to use a variable in two parts of the code. (since variables written inside a private sub stay in a private sub).

The two _MouseMove events are coupled together, the first one gets where the mouse position is and applies it to the variables X and Y. Then the next one uses those variables to determine where you moved the program and saves it to the settings (more on settings later.

In visual basic if you want to know what a section of code does look at the _***** section of the code right after the private sub, easy. I'm going to skip the mainform_Load for now since I said more on settings later.

Timer1_Tick. This is just adding a simple timer to the program. You can activate the _tick event by double clicking (normally this would activate the _Click event but since the Timer is not seen by the user the default is _Tick (or every time the tick event is scheduled to happen (see preferences)). This is where all the math comes in (oh silly, math is everywhere, you will never escape it). This was originally difficult because my teacher, when asked, told me to use the DateDiff function. Which is great when you want the total number of hours between two dates, not so great if you don't want to see, "4 months, 126 days, 24123 hours.....". So that was only useful for figuring out the days and months. What I had to do was add a month onto the current date and subtract the total days from that date. Look at the msdn of the micro$oft website if you want a more in-depth look at the DateDiff and other functions (seriously, go do that, use Google if you can't find it). The reason there is pieces of code that makes sure seconds doesn't go lower than 0 and no more than 60 was because if you have a dateTime that is less than the current time then you will get a negative seconds or seconds above 60. Same applies for the Day difference.

The difference variable holds the date.compare function (spits out a -1 or 0 or 1 depending on the location of the date it's supposed to be counting down to and today. So if today is less than the countdown date difference = -1. We can use this to determine if the date has arrived.
All the next part does is add the differences to the labels (which are invisible to the user if nothing is added), this section should be obvious.

Debug.WriteLine() is a function that spits out what the variables equal in a different window (since if you never see the lesser parts of the math code you'll want to make sure they're spitting out the correct number. I highly recommend you always do a debug.WriteLine for all code.

Ignore the _KeyPress event, all this does is check if the ESC is pressed, and if it is, closes the form. You'll learn this in any Intro class.

Also, make sure all preferences are double checked. By default the Timer1 is disabled (to be enabled by code or the user) but since mine is a countdown timer it should always be enabled. This can cause a lot of confusion if you don't have this checked by default or have something in your code that does it for you.

The Preferences.vb window.

Contents: A check box, another label which opens up a color picker (I'll tell you how in the code), a name label followed by a text box, and a date time picker with a few buttons thrown in. Also a Color Picker and another Timer.

Now for the code:

Code:


Option Explicit On
Option Strict On
Option Infer Off

Public Class preferences

    Private Sub Label1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Label1.Click
        Dim newColor As Color
        ColorDialog1.ShowDialog()
        newColor = ColorDialog1.Color
        Module1.backgroundColor = newColor
        My.Settings.Color = newColor
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Call Reset()
        Me.Close()
    End Sub

    Private Sub CheckBox1_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CheckBox1.CheckedChanged
        If CheckBox1.CheckState = CheckState.Checked Then
            MainForm.TopMost = True
            My.Settings.TopMost = True
        ElseIf CheckBox1.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked Then
            MainForm.TopMost = False
            My.Settings.TopMost = False
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
        Me.BackColor = Module1.backgroundColor
        Button1.BackColor = Module1.backgroundColor
    End Sub

    Private Sub preferences_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        If My.Settings.TopMost = True Then
            CheckBox1.CheckState = CheckState.Checked
        Else
            CheckBox1.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked
        End If
        'DateTimePicker1.Value = My.Settings.releaseDate
        'DateTimePicker1.Value = CDate(Format(DateTimePicker1.Value, "mm/dd/yyyy"))
        'causes annoying error and is completely useless, there isn't a way to change the default date time.
    End Sub

    Private Sub DateTimePicker1_ValueChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles DateTimePicker1.ValueChanged
        Dim newDate As Date
        newDate = DateTimePicker1.Value
        My.Settings.releaseDate = newDate
    End Sub

    Private Sub TextBox1_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.TextChanged
        Dim newName As String = String.Empty
        newName = TextBox1.Text
        My.Settings.releaseName = newName
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Me.Close()
    End Sub
End Class


Options are there as an application scope option to make sure you don't make any mistakes like converting a variable to something else weird.

I got lazy in labeling my labels (always do when it's a preference window and it's a bad habit). Anyway, label1 is the color changer. In a nutshell this is what that section does, creates a new color per the users choice and stores it in newColor. Then it changes the background option (it's a module variable. And if you noticed that there was a variable in the MainForm.vb code that wasn't created, CONGRATULATIONS! You get a cookie and a star to put by your name. I'll tell you how to use module variables in a bit). Then it adds that variable to the My.Settings.Color option which I should explain to you now since that's what I used to make sure the program can remember what you put in even if you shut down your computer.

In the top menu bar click Project, then click *Project Name* Properties option (usually it's the last one). Then click Settings. Here is where the magic happens. You have no options probably but we're going to add some based on the variables used in the code. To add a variable simply start typing it's name. Here is what I used.

Name:
TopMost
Type:
Boolean
Scope: (The only importance in this option is weather you want your user to be able to change this option or not)
User (to let the user change the variable)
Value:
False

And you've added your first setting that will save itself even if you restart your computer. And no messing around with dinky .txt files! The other options are Color (as system.drawing.color) WindowPosition (as system.drawing.point) releaseName and releaseDate (as string and date respectively). You will want to add just the date and ignore the time, it adds too many complications that I don't like to deal with .

Now we need some module level variables that will allow all forms to be able to change them.

Right click your project name in the Solution Explorer and add a module.vb form. This is what I added.

Code:


Module Module1
    Public backgroundColor As Color = My.Settings.Color
    Public topMost As Boolean = My.Settings.TopMost

    Public releaseName As String = My.Settings.releaseName
    Public releaseDate As Date = My.Settings.releaseDate

    Public Sub Reset()
        releaseDate = My.Settings.releaseDate
        releaseName = My.Settings.releaseName
    End Sub
End Module


Public for everyone to alter, variable name, variable type, and what it equals. This awesome module form will load once at startup for anything that is a public declaration. In the second part, the Public Sub Reset(), the Sub part of this declaration means that it isn't loaded when the program loads, and can only be loaded if it is called. (look again at the preferences.vb code, You'll find the code "Call Reset" under the okay button. This makes it so that the variables you changed stay changed, unlike the Cancel click event which just closes the form. (again, sorry I got lazy, button1 is the okay button while button2 is cancel).

You will also notice that I have another timer for the preferences.vb form. (yes there are two timers, not one.) This makes sure the background color stays the same. And the rest is self explanatory.

You may now ask me stuff.