Zune Clock 1.5

adrianvinca — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:14:00 GMT

A new evening away from GTA and a new version of the application. This time, I've added some media player capabilities to the player. I know, it may sound a little bit odd... or at least it did to me when somebody suggested me this on the forums. But it proved to be very easy to implement using the XNA. So finally, you can watch a clock while listening to some music on the Zune!

This time I won't post a photo because my camera is not currently charged.

You can download the latest version (and the older versions as well) from here:

http://cid-a912b1c0a524f973.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Zune%20Clock

New features and improvements:

    - New feature: Media player
        - Up/Down adjusts the volume
        - Left/Right moves to the previous/next song
        - Displays the album art
        - Displays the artist and the song title
    - New feature: Can select a playlist to play it
    - New feature: Dim the background while in setting mode
    - Update: Changed some controls for the setting mode (to make space for the pause button - which was needed for the media player):
        - Click on the zune pad to enter the settings mode (previously it was the pause button)
        - Back button to exit settings mode (previousely also the pause button used to do that)
    - Bug: Fixed some possible crashes if the name of the background has non-latin characaters

Features:

- Clock
    - Displays the time
    - Displays the date
    - Allows setting the date/time
- Media player
    - Up/Down adjusts the volume
    - Left/Right moves to the previous/next song
    - Displays the album art
    - Displays the artist and the song title
    - Can select a playlist directly from the application (settings)
    - Can set the shuffle mode (settings)
- Custom background
    - Can specify any picture from the Zune as custom background (you need to have a few pictures first)

Controls:

- Back Button - exits the application
- Up/Down - Volume
- Left/Right - Previous/Next song
- Pause Button - Pause/resume
- Click on the zune pad - enters setting mode
    * Back - exits setting mode
    * Up/Down - increments the selected setting
    * Left/Right - cycles through the different settings (background, hours, minutes, seconds, days)
    * Click on the Zune pad - resets the current setting to the default value
        - When a playlist is selected - plays the selected playlist
        - When setting the time: sets the offset to 0 (so that you will see the hardware date/time)
        - When setting the background: sets the background to "No background"
    * Pause/Back - exits setting mode

Zune Clock - My first XNA application

adrianvinca — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:17:00 GMT

Zune Clock 1.1

Encouraged by the positive feedback I've received so far, I did my best to stay away from GTAIV during the weekend and did some more work on the Zune Clock. So, I've added a new feature: the the ability to customize the background.

    What's new in this version:
    - New feature: Background customization (you need to have a few pictures on the Zune)
    - Bug: Fixed a bug which caused the settings data to become corrupt in some cases
    - Bug: Performance improvements (application loops slower than initially - a clock doesn't need a very high refresh rate)
    - Update: Using white color for the settings (it makes the text more visible when having a custom background)
    - Update: The application version is displayed when in setting mode
    - Code fix: Fixed the sources so that they compile fine on Debug
    - Code fix: Refactored some of the settings code to make space for future settings

Zune Clock 1.0

A few days ago, I've decided to give a try to the XNA CTP which allows creating applications for the Zune. So, I've started going through the tutorials and I've decided to create a Clock application. I know, XNA is meant to be used for writing games... but I always wanted to have a clock on the Zune :). I was impressed to discover that the Zune has an internal clock, which works even when the Zune is shut down. The only issue I had was that the time was a little bit off, and there was no way to set the internal clock. So I've added the ability to "adjust" the time displayed. Basically, you define an offset which gets applied to the hardware clock. The value gets saved so that the next time when you start the application, it will still show the correct time.

Description: Simple clock which displays the date and time. It allows adjusting the date and time displayed (it doesn't modify the internal hardware clock). The value gets saved and loaded the next time you start the application.

Features:
- displays the time
- displays the date
- allows setting the date/time
- the date/time adjustment is persisted so that the next time you start it you don't have to adjust it again.

Controls:
- Back Button - exits the application
- Pause Button - enters setting mode
    * Up/Down - increments the selected setting
    * Left/Right - cycles through the different settings (hours, minutes, seconds, days)
    * Click on the Zune pad - resets the adjustment to 0 (so that you will see the hardware date/time)
    * Pause/Back - exits setting mode

I hope you will find this application useful.

EDITED: This article explains how to install Games on the Zune: http://www.zuneboards.com/tip-of-the-week/how-to-install-games-on-your-zune.html