Zune clock application (built using XNA)

[Nelson]

[Edited to show pix of clock, and download file - Admin]

Well, it's finally done. Here's version 1.0 of zClock.

I had to postpone the saving of timezones until the next version. You can still set the time zone, it just will not be saved.

This is sort of a rushed release, so there may be bugs. I will be heavily polishing this over the next few days.

Here it is: omg a clock

Comments/Questions/Suggestions all welcome
*Crosses fingers all goes well with deployment*

Cheers.








>> Original Post >>
Does anyone here besides me have programming experience in C# and XNA?
If so, maybe we can setup some sort of community here and pump out some fun stuff.

Btw, I will do my damnedest to get a clock. Mark my words.

Edit: Not having much luck so far, seems the DateTime structure is not being updated by the Zune Hardware.

[Nelson]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

[Diego15nets]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

[Nelson]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

There's a pitfall, it seems the Zune Hardware already has it's TimeZone set .. so I either need to figure out a way to programatically set the TimeZone or do approximations which would be inflexible and probably inaccurate with international users.

[Endless]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

There's a pitfall, it seems the Zune Hardware already has it's TimeZone set .. so I either need to figure out a way to programatically set the TimeZone or do approximations which would be inflexible and probably inaccurate with international users.

That's still cool!

[Nelson]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

There's a pitfall, it seems the Zune Hardware already has it's TimeZone set .. so I either need to figure out a way to programatically set the TimeZone or do approximations which would be inflexible and probably inaccurate with international users.

That's still cool!

I'll most likely end up making the Time Zone selectable, and store it on the device itself (I'm pretty sure the device allows storage of files for saved games and such, I can utilize this) and then use the Universal Time and convert to the selected Time Zone.

It'd take me a little bit of time to write an interactive UI and such, but it could work.

[1shado1]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Primitive?  Jeez, I hope it's not a SUNDIAL!!

Very cool, and good work!!

Question:  Forgive my ignorance, but will it still keep time even if the Zune is shut down (as opposed to sleep mode)??

[Jander]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

There's a pitfall, it seems the Zune Hardware already has it's TimeZone set .. so I either need to figure out a way to programatically set the TimeZone or do approximations which would be inflexible and probably inaccurate with international users.

That's still cool!

I'll most likely end up making the Time Zone selectable, and store it on the device itself (I'm pretty sure the device allows storage of files for saved games and such, I can utilize this) and then use the Universal Time and convert to the selected Time Zone.

It'd take me a little bit of time to write an interactive UI and such, but it could work.

Nelson, you're doing the unpossible. Most of us had given up hope on a clock, some get violent at the very mention of it for fear of false hopes to rear its ugly head.  I truly hope you can, single-handedly silence all those Zuners who absolutely must have a clock. In short, you're doing us all a great favor.

[Nelson]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Primitive?  Jeez, I hope it's not a SUNDIAL!!

Very cool, and good work!!

Question:  Forgive my ignorance, but will it still keep time even if the Zune is shut down (as opposed to sleep mode)??

Yes it will, the hardware keeps an internal clock which runs even when the device is off.

The only downside to Zune Games, is that the Zune restarts whenever a game exits (Get this..it's intended behavior.)

Absolutely disgusting, they really need to change that.

[Nelson]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

There's a pitfall, it seems the Zune Hardware already has it's TimeZone set .. so I either need to figure out a way to programatically set the TimeZone or do approximations which would be inflexible and probably inaccurate with international users.

That's still cool!

I'll most likely end up making the Time Zone selectable, and store it on the device itself (I'm pretty sure the device allows storage of files for saved games and such, I can utilize this) and then use the Universal Time and convert to the selected Time Zone.

It'd take me a little bit of time to write an interactive UI and such, but it could work.

Nelson, you're doing the unpossible. Most of us had given up hope on a clock, some get violent at the very mention of it for fear of false hopes to rear its ugly head.  I truly hope you can, single-handedly silence all those Zuners who absolutely must have a clock. In short, you're doing us all a great favor.

Heh yea, I've sort of been one of those whiners though. It's turned into sort of a joke at work..

Co-Worker: "Hey does anyone know the time...Nelson check your Zune."
Me: *grumble*

I plan to silence them tomorrow.

[Jander]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Awesome!

There's a pitfall, it seems the Zune Hardware already has it's TimeZone set .. so I either need to figure out a way to programatically set the TimeZone or do approximations which would be inflexible and probably inaccurate with international users.

That's still cool!

I'll most likely end up making the Time Zone selectable, and store it on the device itself (I'm pretty sure the device allows storage of files for saved games and such, I can utilize this) and then use the Universal Time and convert to the selected Time Zone.

It'd take me a little bit of time to write an interactive UI and such, but it could work.

Nelson, you're doing the unpossible. Most of us had given up hope on a clock, some get violent at the very mention of it for fear of false hopes to rear its ugly head.  I truly hope you can, single-handedly silence all those Zuners who absolutely must have a clock. In short, you're doing us all a great favor.

Heh yea, I've sort of been one of those whiners though. It's turned into sort of a joke at work..

Co-Worker: "Hey does anyone know the time...Nelson check your Zune."
Me: *grumble*

I plan to silence them tomorrow.

Hah! Nice. Give em' a nice what-for. 

[1shado1]

Alright, I got a primitive clock app working on the Zune. Just needs a bit of polishing and I'll release an initial version.

Primitive?  Jeez, I hope it's not a SUNDIAL!!

Very cool, and good work!!

Question:  Forgive my ignorance, but will it still keep time even if the Zune is shut down (as opposed to sleep mode)??

Yes it will, the hardware keeps an internal clock which runs even when the device is off.

The only downside to Zune Games, is that the Zune restarts whenever a game exits (Get this..it's intended behavior.)

Absolutely disgusting, they really need to change that.

Nelson, you da man!!  You computer wizards never cease to amaze me.

Yeah, the restart exiting Zune Games is bothersome..  I also noticed that I still suck at video games.  'Clock' is more my speed.

[Zunerama Ed.]

Nelson, count me in as KEENLY INTERESTED in what you create with this. Keep us posted!!

- Harvey

[Nelson]

Nelson, count me in as KEENLY INTERESTED in what you create with this. Keep us posted!!

- Harvey

Sure thing, the actual code for reading the internal Clock will probably end up being 20 lines of code, the rest of the world would go into building an infrastructure for a User Interface (Which would probably form the basis for other Applications in the pipeline too) and polishing.

So it may be a few days before I  have something presentable, but it's definitely do-able.

[Ricardo Dawkins]

So, if you can do a clock with XNA as a game can you use the media capabilities of XNA and Zune to set alarms and sleep timers ?

You have the media controls and the clock timer ....right ?