SetTime

SetTime, and the OpenGL 3D graphics version called SpaceTime, are Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) clients available with complete Visual C++ source code originally written as programming examples to legibly demonstrate:

For newbies looking to get into Windows programming with Visual C++, the learning curve is steep. Not only do you have to wrestle with the new object oriented syntax and 'paradigm' of C++, but the Windows API as encapsulated in MFC as well.

Both SetTime and SpaceTime were written as a protest against all the baroque and unreadable code out there and to hopefully make the process of finding useable code samples easier for other new programmers. It's most salient benefit is that it implements a complete program in one, readable, source code file while being completely MFC compliant. Bypassing the AppWizard and ClassWizard code generators enables SetTime and SpaceTime to be legible programming examples.

Incidentally, you can use these programs to keep your system clock in nearly perfect step with the rhythms of the universe while hopefully learning valuable and marketable skills in a burgeoning area of the computer industry. It's no exaggeration that object-oriented programmers who can craft Internet aware applications will continue to be in demand for the forseeable future.

Bottom line: if you decide that Visual C++ is for you, SetTime and its big brother SpaceTime may help make the learning process a little easier. If all you're looking for is accurate time, they can help you there as well.

All I ask is that you send along the price of a pint of Double Diamond ($5.00 U.S., Canadian, Australian, whatever) in the mail to this address, with my sincere thanks for your support.

As additional thanks for showing there are still honourable men on the Internet, I'll send you the complete Visual C++ source code and project files to both SetTime and SpaceTime (the OpenGL 3D Graphics Version) via an Email attachment.

In closing, I'd like to thank everyone for their interest in my small contributions to the wired community. I'm gratified that so many people throughout the world have used SetTime and SpaceTime as a basis for further study in VC++, MFC, WinSock and/or OpenGL programming. Between us all, we'll figure this stuff out...

Cheers Mate!

/P²

P.S. Check out http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/servers.html for a current list of NTP Servers, worldwide. It will help keep your use of SetTime local to your geography, and therefore more reliable. Remember to use a Stratum 2 (Secondary) timebase whenever possible.

Revision History:

98/09/05:

• SpaceTime Updated: Removed the Win95 OpenGL DLL files from the SpaceTime.zip file as they are huge, and mostly redundant by now as virtually everyone has a current copy of Win95 or later (Win98 and NT users already have OpenGL support).
• Included in the SpaceTime.zip file is a copy of SpaceTime (Mark II), a prototype of my new version featuring a completely redesigned rendering engine. Smaller, faster and with vastly improved image quality, this version allows any 3D Studio Max artwork to be decoded and rendered to the screen with OpenGL. Stay tuned for more enhancements as I continue to learn the finer points of OpenGL programming. Remember, complete source code to both SetTime and SpaceTime is available to anyone who buys me a beer!

98/03/25:

• Added colour control to SetTime, to handle the case where a strange desktop colour theme renders my digit display invisible.

98/01/20:

• Announcing the source code availability of SpaceTime, the OpenGL 3D Graphics version of SetTime, to all those who buy me a beer.

97/08/04:

• Added the SetTime Help Page as an option off the Help Menu to answer some usability questions, etc.

97/05/20:

• Added support which demonstrates Taskbar Notification Tray handling, such that SetTime will now allow you to minimize down to the Taskbar Tray with Right Mouse Options to either correct the system clock, or exit.
• Overhauled the SNTP protocol handling to now account for Local Clock Offset, per RFC2030. This will result in greater accuracy, provided both your CPU and Internet connections are fast.

97/03/05:

• While becoming increasingly impatient waiting for Java to grow up as a production language (but don't get me started), I've added a couple refinements to that old stalwart, SetTime, in response to some of the E-mail requests received of late. As such, I've added:
• Basic Multi-Threaded support to graphically monitor the time taken by timebases to respond to a query. This has been a job and a half. Sure makes me pine wistfully for the good old days of RSX and VMS system programming where Asynchronous System Traps, global event flags, and other obvious constructs were implemented so elegantly. Especially odd is that NT was architected by the same high priest of operating systems design: the infamous Dave Cutler who implemented RSX-11M in 1972 and VMS in 1978.
• Basic Progress Control Bar (on a Status Bar pane) to display the above mentioned timebase response delay. As an aside, this means that SetTime will continue polling a timebase every few seconds until successful, or until the user explicitly issues the 'Reset' menu option. This may further help those who put SetTime in their Start-up group to automatically set the PC clock on system boot. Remember to put some text on the target command line (ie: /RunOnce_and_Split) to enable this Set and Exit feature.

96/10/01:

• Added a 'Reset' option to the command menus to allow you to abandon hope that a Timebase will eventually respond. This is necessary as both Time/UDP and SNTP protocols use Unreliable Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets which can, and will, get dropped by Internet routers along the path to a distant Timebase.

96/05/30:

• Added a key in the System Registry to remember the last Timebase selected. The key is: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\P-Squared\SetTime\Options\TimeBase and defaults to tick.usno.navy.mil the first time SetTime is run.
• Added an Alternate Timebase Selection dialog box for those users for whom the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC is not the nearest timebase.
• Added Basic Command Line Handling. Now, anything on the command line (ie: /RunOnce) will cause SetTime to attempt to reset the system clock from the last selected Timebase. Useful if you are always connected to the Internet and have put SetTime in your STARTUP folder.
• Added a couple of GDI Graphics Objects to demonstrate basic functionality. The intention is to possibly adopt a panel display that resembles Michael Okuda's bridge consoles on Star Trek:The Next Generation, widely known as Okudagrams.
• Added a Message Box when SetTime discovers the PC is more than 30 minutes off from the Timebase clock. This helps catch bogus TZ variables. Safety tip: if a Timebase consistently reports the wrong time, it's a sign your TZ variable is set wrong. If you don't need a TZ variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT (or Environment Variables under NT), then remove it, and let Windows (NT or 95) handle Timezones and, especially, Daylight Savings Time settings.

• If you believe in upholding the shareware principle
• or desire the complete Visual C++ source code to SetTime and/or SpaceTime

To the many friends of SetTime and SpaceTime throughout America, please note:

• Apparently, $0.46 postage is needed for mail to Canada
• Ordinary chequing account cheques are fine (yup, that's how we spell 'checks' up here)
• Alternately, a US$5.00 bill (folded into a sheet of paper) would be especially appreciated by my bartender