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Multipurpose Digital Clock Control using .NET

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20 Feb 20042 min read 300.6K   13.4K   110   45
A digital clock user control which can be used as a regular clock, stop watch or count down timer. Options include changing display color, freezing the clock and setting multiple alarms.

Introduction

The Digital Clock Control is a versatile user control with options for:

  • Digital clock
  • Stop watch
  • Count down timer
  • Setting multiple alarms
  • Freezing the clock
  • Multiple color display
  • Resizable display

The digits can be displayed in three different colors - Red, Blue and Green.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

The control adjusts the digits size with the size of the rectangle of the control. A ratio of 1:2 is maintained between the height and the width of the large digits and half the size for smaller ones. The clock control also supports 2 types of formats - 12 hour and 24 hour.

Using the Digital Clock control

Place the SriClocks.dll and Digital.bmp files in a single directory. At design time, right click in the ToolBox of Visual Studio, browse for and select SriClocks.dll file. The following image shows the control selected:

Image 4

On pressing OK, the control is added to the ToolBox as shown below:

Image 5

Now, drag and drop the control on to a form to create the Digital Clock control as any other user control.

Demo project - TestClock.exe

The demo project included shows all the capabilities and usage of the Clock control. Here is a screenshot.

Image 6

Code to use the DigitalClockCtrl

To display a normal watch, which is also the default, just set the clock type to DigitalClock as shown below. Optionally, you may set the 24 hour or 12 hour format using ClockDisplayFormat of DigitalClockCtrl. The 12 hour format will display 'A' for AM and 'P' for PM. The default is the 12 hour format.

C#
// set the clock type to DigitalClock
digitalClockCtrl.SetClockType = SriClocks.ClockType.DigitalClock;
// setting display to 24 hour format
digitalClockCtrl.ClockDisplayFormat = SriClocks.ClockFormat.TwelveHourFormat;

To use the countdown timer, create and add delegates to the clock control's CountDownDone event. Then set the clock type to CountDown. When the countdown is over, the clock control will fire the CountDownDone event.

C#
// declare a callback method which implements the countdown 
// delegate declared in DigitalClockCtrl and add it to CountDownDone events
private void OnCountDownDone()
{
}
.....
.....
// Add the delegate method to CountDownDone events
// Whenever a countdown is over the clock control calls this delegate
digitalClockCtrl.CountDownDone += new DigitalClockCtrl.CountDown(OnCountDownDone);
......
// set the countdown time
digitalClockCtrl.CountDownTime = ms; // ms - milliseconds
digitalClockCtrl.SetClockType = SriClocks.ClockType.CountDown;

To start the stop watch, set the clock type to ClockType.StopWatch.

C#
// Start the stop watch
digitalClockCtrl.SetClockType = SriClocks.ClockType.StopWatch;

To freeze the clock display, set the clock type to ClockType.Freeze. This will freeze the clock till the clock type is reset to DigitalClock, CountDown or StopWatch. The functionality is particularly useful when using the stopwatch.

C#
// to freeze the clock display
digitalClockCtrl.SetClockType = SriClocks.ClockType.Freeze;

To change the display color, set the SetDigitalColor property of the control to one of the DigitalColor enumerations.

C#
// setting the digits color to GreenColor
digitalClockCtrl1.SetDigitalColor = SriClocks.DigitalColor.GreenColor;

To set alarms, create delegates and add them to RaiseAlarm event of the clock control. When an alarm is raised by the control, it fires the RaiseAlarm events.

// Create the Alarm delegates
public void OnRaiseAlarm()
{
}
....
....
// add the delegate to the RaiseAlarm event
digitalClockCtrl.RaiseAlarm += new DigitalClockCtrl.Alarm(OnRaiseAlarm);
....
// set the alarm which accepts values as System.DateTime structure.
// DateTime.Parse is used here to parse the input text from user
// When the alarm is raised by the control
// the OnRaiseAlarm method declared above is called
digitalClockCtrl.AlarmTime = DateTime.Parse(Alarmtime.Text);

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


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Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralLove it!!! Pin
raananv13-Mar-12 0:59
raananv13-Mar-12 0:59 
QuestionStopWatch Pin
Mr Apprentice12-Mar-12 23:11
Mr Apprentice12-Mar-12 23:11 
QuestionAwesome job Pin
Mister Horse11-Nov-11 11:22
Mister Horse11-Nov-11 11:22 
QuestionGreat Job Pin
carterlist1-Oct-11 1:09
carterlist1-Oct-11 1:09 
QuestionHow to use this in a Form Created Using Expression Blend Pin
ewics13-Aug-11 1:34
ewics13-Aug-11 1:34 
GeneralGeneric GDI+ error Pin
securigy22-Aug-10 4:59
securigy22-Aug-10 4:59 
GeneralRe: Generic GDI+ error Pin
Member 461314621-Aug-11 18:29
Member 461314621-Aug-11 18:29 
GeneralMore colors for digits? [modified] Pin
The Mighty Atom27-May-10 6:47
The Mighty Atom27-May-10 6:47 
QuestionMany Instants Not Working.... Pin
ASysSolvers10-Oct-09 7:41
ASysSolvers10-Oct-09 7:41 
Questionwhy use 111 for A char ? Pin
firas_maher2-Sep-09 19:47
firas_maher2-Sep-09 19:47 
QuestionCompact Framework? Pin
Pengie4-Dec-08 14:22
Pengie4-Dec-08 14:22 
QuestionAlarm Set help Pin
jackchow13-Nov-08 14:19
jackchow13-Nov-08 14:19 
Questionvb 2005? Pin
garyjohn_20006-Sep-07 11:56
garyjohn_20006-Sep-07 11:56 
QuestionStart time of Stopwatch Pin
fightclub77717-Jul-07 19:56
fightclub77717-Jul-07 19:56 
QuestionLicense? Pin
KcodeProj5-Jul-07 5:54
KcodeProj5-Jul-07 5:54 
AnswerRe: License? Pin
Sriram Chitturi5-Jul-07 6:02
Sriram Chitturi5-Jul-07 6:02 
GeneralRe: License? Pin
KcodeProj5-Jul-07 22:45
KcodeProj5-Jul-07 22:45 
GeneralClock Control Freeze Vales Pin
Mark Gales30-Jun-07 12:38
Mark Gales30-Jun-07 12:38 
GeneralCountdown Timer Pin
Brizee16-May-07 23:05
Brizee16-May-07 23:05 
GeneralRe: Countdown Timer Pin
Sriram Chitturi17-May-07 9:52
Sriram Chitturi17-May-07 9:52 
QuestionClock for VB.NET - aspx? Pin
Tmuld15-Mar-07 8:13
Tmuld15-Mar-07 8:13 
AnswerRe: Clock for VB.NET - aspx? Pin
Sriram Chitturi17-May-07 9:55
Sriram Chitturi17-May-07 9:55 
QuestionNewbie Trouble importing DigitalClock Control to VS 2005 Pin
stabarinde17-Jan-07 11:09
stabarinde17-Jan-07 11:09 
Questionmultiple clocks Pin
lnae26-Sep-06 2:14
lnae26-Sep-06 2:14 
AnswerRe: multiple clocks Pin
skst31-Oct-06 5:44
skst31-Oct-06 5:44 

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