Configuring KAlarm
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Chapter 3. Configuring KAlarm

To configure KAlarm's operation to suit your system and your personal preferences, select Settings->Configure KAlarm.... This displays the configuration dialog.

General

The General section lets you control KAlarm's overall behavior:

  • Run Mode group box: These options control KAlarm's system tray icon, and also allow some control over KAlarm's use of system resources by specifying whether or not to run it continuously. If system performance is of concern, running it on demand without displaying the system tray icon may be desirable; running it continuously in the system tray uses more system resources but gives the benefits of displaying an alarm-enabled indication and making the application more accessible. Running KAlarm on demand does not affect the execution of alarms, since it is the alarm daemon and not KAlarm which monitors the alarm list and triggers alarms.

    • Run only on demand: KAlarm is run only when an alarm is triggered, if you run it manually, or while its system tray icon is displayed. In this mode the system tray icon can still be displayed, but closing the system tray icon has no effect on any KAlarm windows.

    • Run continuously in system tray: KAlarm runs continuously and the system tray icon is always displayed while it is running. In this mode, closing the system tray icon closes all KAlarm main windows, and if no message windows are visible, quits the application. The options available in this mode are:

      • Disable alarms while not running: Selecting this option has the effect that alarms will be disabled whenever KAlarm's system tray icon is not visible.

        • Warn before quitting: When alarms are disabled while KAlarm is not running, selecting this option prompts you for confirmation if you attempt to terminate KAlarm using the system tray icon's Quit option. This prevents accidental disabling of alarms. For safety, this option is automatically re-enabled by default whenever you change run mode.

    • Autostart at login: In continuous mode, this starts KAlarm at KDE session login, ensuring that KAlarm runs at all times unless you manually quit.

    • Autostart system tray icon at login: In on-demand mode, this displays KAlarm's system tray icon at login. KAlarm will run until the system tray icon is closed.

    • Start alarm monitoring at login: This starts alarm monitoring at KDE session login, by starting the alarm daemon. Note that in order for alarms to be activated, you also need to select appropriate options in the Run Mode group box.

      Warning

      This option should always be checked unless you intend to discontinue use of KAlarm.

      Note

      This option is automatically reselected whenever KAlarm is run. So if you have unchecked this option and want to continue to prevent the alarm daemon from running at login, you need to uncheck this option again each time you run KAlarm.

  • Start of day for date-only alarms: Set the start-of-day time for the purposes of triggering date-only alarms, that is, ones for which the Any time option was selected. On the date when they are due, such alarms will be output at the earliest opportunity during the 24 hours starting from the start-of-day time.

  • If you set up yearly recurrences for February 29th, specify how these are to be handled in non-leap years by selecting one of the following options:

    • February 28th: the alarm will occur on February 29th in leap years, and on February 28th in non-leap years.

    • March 1st: the alarm will occur on February 29th in leap years, and on March 1st in non-leap years.

    • Do not repeat: the alarm will occur on February 29th in leap years, but will be suppressed in non-leap years.

    Note

    Changing this option will not cause the next scheduled recurrence of any existing alarms to be re-evaluated. It will only affect new alarms, or existing alarms after they are next triggered.

  • Confirm alarm deletions: Specify whether you should be prompted for confirmation each time you delete an alarm.

  • Expired Alarms group box: These options control the storage of expired alarms.

    • Keep alarms after expiry: Select this option to store expired and deleted alarms. Deselect it to keep no record of alarms once they cease to be active. Note that deleted alarms are only stored if they have previously been triggered. If you delete an alarm before it ever triggers, it is discarded.

    • Discard expired alarms after: Set the number of days to store expired and deleted alarms, after which they are permanently deleted.

    • Clear expired alarms: This button discards all currently stored expired alarms. This has no effect on alarms which subsequently expire; they will continue to be stored according to the selected options.

  • Terminal for Command Alarms: Here, you can select which type of terminal window should be used for command alarms which are executed in a terminal window. Some of the most common terminal window applications are preconfigured, for example, xterm, Konsole, although only those which are installed on your system will be shown here. You can view the actual command options used for each application by displaying the context help for its radio button.

    If you want to use another application, or want to use one of those listed but with different command options, select Other and enter the command to invoke the terminal window. By default, the alarm's command string will be appended to what you specify. Alternatively, you may specify where the alarm's command string should be inserted, by use of the following codes:

    %c

    The alarm's command string will be substituted.

    %w

    The alarm's command string will be substituted, with a sleep appended.

    %C

    A temporary command file containing the alarm's command string will be created, and the command to execute the file will be substituted.

    %W

    A temporary command file containing the alarm's command string will be created with a sleep appended, and the command to execute the file will be substituted.

    When the command alarm is triggered, its command string will be quoted before being inserted into the terminal window command.

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