This section is a reference manual for all the features in TapPoint RallyTimer. You can browse it using the contents links or print it out using your browser's Print command.
| Before starting a new session, you can adjust the
RallyTimer clock to synchronize it with an external official event clock
by tapping the Adjust Clock... button in the Sessions
list view (if a session is active, tap the Done
button to return to the Sessions view).
The Adjust Clock... button brings up the RallyTimer Clock dialog, which shows a running display of the clock in the format selected in the dialog. To change the time indicated by the RallyTimer clock, tap the Adjust... button, to bring up the Adjust Clock dialog, which displays the clock time in the format selected on the RallyTimer Clock dialog. To set the time, adjust the digits and then tap the Set button (or press one of the hardware Time buttons) at the exact time indicated. The running clock on the RallyTimer Clock dialog updates to show the adjusted time. |
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Note: Adjusting the RallyTimer clock does not affect the system time of day clock on your device. RallyTimer maintains an adjustment difference between its clock and the system clock, and adjusting the RallyTimer clock adjusts this difference. However, changing the system clock (through the system preferences) will affect the RallyTimer clock, so do not change the system clock while timing a session.
RallyTimer times a session by recording the exact time of day in a session time log each time the user presses the Time button. Each time the Time button is pressed, another time entry is added to the log. The times can be displayed in several different formats, and this format can be changed at a later time without affect the underlying precision of the times. The times are stored internally with a precision and accuracy of 1/100 of a second. Each time in the log is also associated with a car number, which can be specified by the user for each time entered.
| To start a new session, tap the New... button
in the Sessions list view (if a session is
active, tap the Done button to return to the Sessions
view), which brings up the New Session dialog.
In the New Session dialog you can specify an event name, checkpoint number, and checkpoint name (location) for record-keeping and display purposes. All three of these field are optional and can be left blank if desired. They can also be changed later (see 4. Session Details) Tap OK to start the new session. |
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| When a session is open, the RallyTimer view is displayed. Recorded times are displayed in two columns, in the format selected from the Time Format popup control in the upper-right of the screen. You can change the time format at any time before, during, or after the session without affecting the underlying precision of the recorded times (times are stored internally accurate to 1/100 sec). |
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| A time is added to the log each time the Time
button is tapped, and is displayed in the log followed by the car
number.
As an alternative to tapping the Time button on the screen, you can also press either of the device hardware buttons immediately to the left or right of the hardware up/down scroll buttons. |
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Note: The special functionality of the device hardware functions in RallyTimer can be disabled by a user preference (see 6. User Preferences)
When not in the RallyTimer view, the hardware buttons perform their normal action as assigned in the standard "Preferences" settings on your device (typically, launching the standard "Address" and "To Do List" applications).
Note: If you press a hardware or other button that results in switching to another application or exiting to the application launcher, RallyTimer will exit. However, if you have an active session open, RallyTimer will restore it the next time you launch RallyTimer, and the clock will resume at the same accuracy. Thus if you exit RallyTimer or want to briefly switch to another application, simply tap on the RallyTimer icon in the application launcher to restart it and resume timing.
| Each time in the log is associated with a car number, which is displayed
after it in the log. The car number for a time defaults to the car
number of the previous time + 1 (unless this number is was already used,
in which case the next higher non-duplicate is chosen), but you can change
it by tapping on the time in the time log, which brings up the Time
dialog.
The Time dialog displays the number of the time in the time log in the dialog title, and the time and car number in the dialog. You can adjust the car number by tapping the up/down arrows or entering a new number in the entry field. |
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You can delete a time from the log by tapping on the time on the log to bring up the Time dialog (see above) then tapping the Delete... button.
| RallyTimer normally starts in the Sessions
list view (unless an active session is open), which lists all of the
sessions that are stored on the device. The sessions are always
listed in chronological order by the session date and time (most recent
first), and display the session date, event name, and checkpoint number
(to change these fields see 4. Session Details). To open a saved session in the list, simply tap on it. You can scroll the list if necessary to see more entries by tapping the scroll arrows in the lower-right hand corner of the screen, or by using the hardware scroll up/down buttons on your device. To close and save an open session, tap the Done button in the RallyTimer view. Changes made to open sessions are always saved. |
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Each RallyTimer session has the following information associated and stored with it:
You can edit this information for a session in the Session
Details view. You can also get to the this view in any of the following
ways:
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| Each session can have a text note, called the Session
Note, attached to it, where you can record any notes for the
session. You can access the session note by tapping the Note
button in the Session Details view, or by
picking the "Session Note" command
from the Session menu in the RallyTimer
view.
If there is a note attached to a session, a note icon will appear next to the session in the Sessions list view and also in the session header in the RallyTimer view. Tapping the note icon in the session header will also open the Session Note view.
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Picking the Preferences command from the Options menu brings up RallyTimer's Preferences dialog. Here you can select options for RallyTimer's general operation. These settings will be remembered each time you start RallyTimer. |
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The "Large clock display" option will display the running time display in a large font, which can be useful for an in-car navigator, for example.
The "24 hour time format" checkbox controls whether times are displayed in 12 hour or 24 hour formats. If using the 12 hour format, an "am" or "pm" indicator is included in the RallyTimer Clock dialog (see 1. Synchronizing the RallyTimer Clock), but not in the time log.
Checking "Keep device on" will cause RallyTimer to disable the device's normal automatic power off feature, which ensures that the clock display will always be showing if desired.
The "Enable hardware Time buttons" option controls whether RallyTimer will intercept the device hardware buttons to register times when timing, as explained in 2.2. Recording and Viewing Times. If not enabled, the buttons will perform their normal operation (typically switching to the build-in "Address" and "To Do List" applications).
If the hardware Time buttons are enabled, then the "Sound" option controls whether the sound emitted by the device when these buttons are pressed is the same as for a normal button press (typically a "click" sound), or a louder sound (typically a "beep"), which is easier to hear in a loud environment.
You can share data with other users of RallyTimer by beaming information to and from devices with an infrared port.
To beam a session to another user of RallyTimer, open the session you wish to beam (if it is not already open), then pick the "Beam Session" command from the Session menu in the RallyTimer view. Note that RallyTimer must be installed on the receiving device for it to accept the session (but it does not have to be running). If you want to share a session with someone who does not have RallyTimer installed on their device, you can beam them a copy of RallyTimer before beaming them the session (see below). |
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RallyTimer is freeware and may be freely shared with others. You can beam a copy of RallyTimer to another device by using the Beam RallyTimer command, which is in the Options menu. |
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You can export session data to a standard text format memo in the standard Memo Pad application on your device. Exporting to a memo allows you to copy and paste the data into other documents on your device, and to HotSync® to transfer the session data to your desktop computer in a readable text format, which then allows you to print it, or paste it into desktop applications such as spreadsheets, email, etc.
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To export a session to a text memo, pick the Export to
Memo command from the Session menu in the
RallyTimer view, which brings up the Export
Session to Memo dialog. In the Export Session to Memo dialog, you can choose the time format to use, and whether to include Session Details (event name, checkpoint number, etc.), Car Numbers, and the Session Note in the output.
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In all cases, the output of an exported session is a new Memo Pad document in a standard "tab delimited" text format. This means that multiple fields on a line are separated by a tab character, which will allow the data to organize into columns when pasted into spreadsheets and tables in most desktop applications (see section 8.4 below for more information on pasting session data into a spreadsheet).
After tapping OK on the Export Session to Memo dialog, the data will be copied in text format to a new Memo document on your device (the original session data is still stored in the RallyTimer Sessions list). Depending on which version of the Palm OS® your device is running, you may then be asked whether you wish to accept the new memo into the Memo Pad application and which category to assign it to (creating a new category named "RallyTimer" is a convenient way to organize your exported sessions in the Memo Pad). The new memo will then be automatically opened (to switch back to RallyTimer after the memo opens, tap the Applications/Home button on your device and then tap on the RallyTimer icon). The new memo is given a title (also the first line of the memo) that contains the date, event name, and checkpoint number.
Once the new memo has opened, you can select and copy text from the session data if you want to paste it into any other applications on the handheld device. The following sections describe how to transfer the data to the desktop for pasting into desktop applications.
Note: If you modify the contents of the memo text in the Memo Pad, the original RallyTimer session will not be modified. Also, if you go back and modify the original RallyTimer session, you must export it again to get an updated copy in Memo Pad (the old memo will still exist as well, unless you delete it).
Once a session has been exported to a memo (see section 8.1 above), you can then copy it to your desktop computer by simply placing your device into the HotSync® cradle and pressing the HotSync® button. The exported memo will appear on the desktop along with the other memos in the "Memo" section of the Palm™ Desktop application. You can then view the memo, print it, copy and paste data from it, etc.
Note: Any changes made to the memo text on the desktop will be transferred back to the memo on the device at the next HotSync®, but the original RallyTimer session data will be unchanged.
Once a session has been exported to a memo and then transferred to the desktop via HotSync® (see sections 8.1-2 above), you can print it in the Palm™ Desktop application. For example, to print a memo in Palm™ Desktop 4.0, you can:
Click on the Memo button on the Palm™ Desktop vertical button bar to view the memos.
If necessary, pick All or the appropriate category from the Category dropdown control to see your exported memos.
Single-click a memo in the list to highlight it.
Pick File-Print from the Palm™ Desktop menus.
Pick Selection in the Print options portion of the Print dialog, and press OK.
Once a session has been exported to a memo and then transferred to the desktop via HotSync® (see sections 8.1-2 above), you can copy the text data from the Palm™ Desktop application and then paste into another desktop application. For example, to copy the text of a memo in Palm™ Desktop 4.0, you can:
Click on the Memo button on the Palm™ Desktop vertical button bar to view the memos.
If necessary, pick All or the appropriate category from the Category dropdown control to see your exported memos.
Single-click a memo in the list to highlight it (to copy only a portion of the text in a memo, double-click the memo in the list to open it and then select the desired text).
Pick Edit-Copy from the Palm™ Desktop menus (or press Ctrl+C if you opened the memo).
You can then switch to another desktop application and paste the data into it. For example, to paste session data into Microsoft® Excel, you can:
Launch or switch to Microsoft® Excel
Select the upper-left cell of the area where you want the pasted data to appear
Pick Edit-Paste or press Ctrl+V.
Note: If you use the sec or sec/10 time format when you export a session (see section 8.1 ) then Microsoft® Excel will treat the times numerically and format them as a time of day (use Format Cells... in Microsoft® Excel to specify a different format to display if desired). If you use the min/100 or min/1000 format, then Microsoft® Excel will interpret the times as simple text (which are displayed as written but cannot be involved in calculations).
In addition to the functionality available from the on-screen buttons and controls, RallyTimer has some commands in its application menus. To access the menus, tap the standard menu button on your device (to the left of the Grafitti writing area). The menus that are available vary depending on which RallyTimer view is displayed. The menus and menu commands available in RallyTimer are described below.
The Session menu, which is available in the RallyTimer view, and in reduced form in the Session Details view, has the following commands:
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The Options menu, which is available in the Sessions list view, the RallyTimer view, and the Session Details view, has the following commands:
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The following sections contain general information on TapPoint RallyTimer.
RallyTimer is freeware and may be freely shared with others, provided it is passed on unmodified and the copyright notice remains intact. The development of RallyTimer is funded by TapPoint's other products, so please see our other products at www.tappoint.com.
| To determine which version of RallyTimer is installed on a device, pick
the About RallyTimer command from the Options
menu. This
command displays the About RallyTimer dialog,
which contains the version number.
If you contact customer support at TapPoint with a question about RallyTimer, please indicate which version of RallyTimer you are using. |
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| Internal time accuracy | 1/100 sec |
| Time display formats | sec, sec/10, min/100, min/1000 |
| Maximum number of times recorded per session | 250 |
| Maximum number of saved sessions per device (if sufficient device memory) | Up to 65,534 |
TapPoint RallyTimer runs on any device running Palm OS® version 2.0 or later. This includes any Palm™ device except the Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 models, any Handspring™ device, and other devices by Sony, IBM, and others.
The RallyTimer application occupies about 55K of memory on the device. Saved sessions are very small, so you can save several sessions per each 1K of device memory.
For questions on the operation of TapPoint RallyTimer, look on http://www.tappoint.com/rallytimer for the latest product information, or send email to support@tappoint.com. For questions on downloading and installing RallyTimer, first consult the support contact of the source where you purchased RallyTimer (online or retail) or the reference material for your device.
For product feedback, and suggestions for future features or products, send email to suggest@tappoint.com.
For information on where you can purchase TapPoint RallyTimer, see http://www.tappoint.com/rallytimer.
TapPoint is a registered trademark of TapPoint, LLC.
Palm OS and HotSync are registered trademarks of Palm, Inc. Palm is a
trademark of Palm, Inc.
© 2002-2004 TapPoint, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
