Specifying When Alarm Events Occur
AlarmX lets you control when events occur in many ways. This documentation walks you through them.
Use the list of Upcoming events to confirm that the events will repeat the way you want.
Basic Tab
Time
Use the time and date controls to specify the time, date, month, and year of the first of the alarm’s events. If you select a date in the past or a date that does not match the criteria you select (e.g., you specified every other Wednesday and a Monday is selected), AlarmX automatically uses the first valid date when you click the Save button.
Offset
You might specify an offset if you want to be notified before the event begins. For example, if you need ten minutes to get to your meeting, you can set the alarm for 2:00 PM and specify an offset of “10 minutes before.” You could, of course, set the alarm for 1:50 PM and not use an offset, but this way you can see that the alarm is for a 2:00 meeting and still be reminded before it starts.
In another example, you have a bill which is due on the first of every month, and you want to mail it a few days before it’s due. Create an alarm that goes off on the 1st of every month. In the Offset, enter “3”, select workdays, and select before. The alarm will now go off three workdays before the first day of every month.
The offset is applied after all other settings are applied. This means that AlarmX will first find a date/time that matches the constraints you specify on the Constraints page. Then it will apply the specified offset to that date/time. This is important because the date/time on which the event occurs may not match the criteria you specify on the Constraints page. So, you will use the offset when you want the alarm to go off before (or after) the event you specify using the other settings. For example: “Two days after Friday the 13th” or “One workday before a friend’s birthday.”
Note: If you select workdays (or non-workdays) for the offset, AlarmX determines the alarm’s first valid event date and time (without applying the offset). Then it adds or subtracts the specified number of workdays (or non-workdays) from that event. If that places the event in the past, AlarmX chooses that date for the event. This event date might not correspond to the offset you specified, but it is the earliest possible date for the event.
Ignore if … after the event
You can specify that AlarmX should ignore the event if it occurs more than a certain amount of time in the past. If you specify a non-zero value, the event will not occur if it has expired.
Repeat Tab
These settings control how often and how many times the alarm’s events will repeat.
Repeat every …
This controls how often the events occur. It can be minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. Note that all constraints you specify must be met. In other words, if you specify only Tuesdays and Fridays and that the alarm is to repeat every three months, it will only occur on days that are a Tuesday or a Friday.
By default, a new alarm is set to repeat one time (i.e., to have only one event).
Occurrences
If you want the alarm not to go off, select None. (You might do this if you don’t need the alarm at the moment but might want to use it in the future.)
If you want the alarm to go off only once, select Count and enter “1.”
If you want the alarm to go off multiple times, select Count and enter the number of events you want.
If you want the alarm to stop repeating on a certain date, select Until and specify the date in the calendar dropdown.
If you want the alarm to go off forever, select Forever.
Constraints Tab
These settings can limit the alarm to occur only on specific times, days, weeks, or months.
Only …
… these Weekdays
If you want the alarm to only go off on certain days of the week, select those weekdays. If no weekdays are selected, the alarm can go off on any day of the week.
… these Months
If you want the alarm to go off only during certain months of the year, check the box for each month that you want the alarm to possibly occur.
For example, you want an alarm to remind you to check the air conditioner settings and, therefore, to go off only during the summer months. Simply create an alarm that goes off every week, on Monday, perhaps. Next, select the Constraints tab on the alarm’s property sheet. Tick the checkbox for June, July, and August (or whatever the summer months are where you are). The alarm will now go off only during June, July, and August.
… these Weeks
If you want the alarm to go off only on certain weeks of the month, select those weeks by checking the corresponding checkbox. The alarm can be set to go off on either the first, second, third, fourth or last week of the month. (Note that, in some cases, the fourth and last weeks of a month are the same and the alarm will only go off once.)
Workday constraints
Any day
Events will occur on any day—workday or non-workday.
Only on workdays (skip non-workdays)
Events will occur only on workdays. If an event falls on a non-workday, AlarmX skips events until it reaches an event that is a workday.
Only on workdays (move to next workday)
Events will occur only on workdays. If an event falls on a non-workday, AlarmX moves the event ahead to the next workday on the calendar.
Never on workdays (skip workdays)
Events will never occur on workdays. If an event falls on a workday, AlarmX skips events until it reaches an event that is not a workday.
Never on workdays (move to next non-workday)
Events will never occur on workdays. If an event falls on a workday, AlarmX moves the event ahead to the next non-workday on the calendar.
Only between these times
Events will occur only if they are within the specified time range. Please note that the times are inclusive, so if the time range is 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and an event is at 8:00 AM, it will occur. If the event is at 11:00 AM, it will also occur. If the event is at 7:59 AM or 11:01 AM, however, it will not occur.
Please note that this setting can be used only if the alarm repeats by minutes or hours. (This is because if the alarm repeats by days, weeks, or anything else, it always occurs at the same time.)