Chronos Icon Chronos - Help and FAQ

Contents

How It Works
Chronos tries to match a set of triggers, be it time of day, location, or dock state. If ALL the triggers for a profile match, then the settings in that profile are set to the values specified. You can reuse triggers and settings in different profiles. For example, if you wanted one profile for being at home during the day and another for at night, you could use the same location trigger in two different profiles, each with a different time of day trigger.

Profiles

What is a Profile?
In Chronos, a Profile is a named collection of Triggers and Settings. Every time there is an action on your phone that Chronos is listening for, such as being inserted into a car dock, the battery running low, or simply being the correct time of day, each Profile is evaluated and the matching profile has its settings activated

Activating a Profile
Which profile gets changed to Active happens automatically. On each device event, Chronos looks for a matching profile and activates it. A match is made when:
  • The device is in any of the locations specified by the Location Triggers the Profile has
  • The time of day is between any of the Time of Day Triggers the Profile has
  • All other Trigger conditions the Profile has match
What this all means is that you can build a Profile, for example, that sets the screen brightness to full when the phone is plugged in, and either at home or at work. Or, go silent between 10am and 1pm, as well as 9pm to 8am, but only if headphones aren't inserted.

If no profiles can match the current state of the device, then the Default Profile is activated.

Manual Override
Sometimes you want to set a specific profile to be active without having to match Triggers. This can be done with Manual Override.
Selecting Manual Override sets all other profiles to inactive, and activates the settings associated with the selected profile. It will also prevent Chronos for automactially activating any other profiles while the override is active. Your override sticks until you release it.
To use Manual Override:
  • On the Profiles screen, long tap a profile name to bring up the context menu
  • Tap "Manual Override"
To release the override, thus allowing Chronos to set profiles automatically again:
  • On the Profiles screen, long tap a profile name to bring up the context menu
  • Tap "Release Override"
Only one profile may be set to Manual Override at a time.

Making a New Profile
To create a new Profile:
  1. Tap the Profiles tab
  2. Click the Menu button on your device, and select "New Profile" from the menu that appears
  3. Enter a name for this profile

Setting a Default Profile
A Profile may be set as the Default. The default Profile is activated when no other Profile has Triggers that all match the current state of the phone. Use this Profile to set the normal settings you'd use most of the time. The default Profile does not need to have any Triggers, though all others should have at least one.
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Profile you want to set as the Default
  3. Select "Set as Default" from the dialog that appears

Renaming a Profile
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Profile you want to rename
  3. Select "Rename" from the dialog that appears
  4. Enter a new name for the Profile
  5. Tap "Ok" to save your change, "Cancel" to keep the old name

Deleting a Profile
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Profile you want to delete
  3. Select "Delete" from the dialog that appears

Adding Settings to a Profile
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Profile you want to add Settings to
  3. Select "Add Settings" from the dialog that appears
  4. A list of Settings will appear. Tap each that you wish to add to the Profile. You must have created some Settings to add them.
  5. After you have chosen all the Settings you wish to add, tap "Ok"

Adding Triggers to a Profile
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Profile you want to add Triggers to
  3. Select "Add Triggers" from the dialog that appears
  4. A list of Triggers will appear. Tap each that you wish to add to the Profile. You must have created some Triggers to add them.
  5. After you have chosen all the Triggers you wish to add, tap "Ok"

Settings

What is a Setting?
A Setting is a named value you want to apply to some aspect of your phone. You can change all sorts of options on your phone, including:
  • Alarm Ringtone
  • Alarm Volume
  • Airplane Mode
  • Bluetooth
  • Call Volume
  • Launch Application
  • Media Volume
  • Notify Ringtone
  • Notify Vibration
  • Notify Volume
  • Ringtone
  • Ringer Mode
  • Ringer Vibration
  • Ringer Volume
  • Screen Brightness
  • Screen Timeout
  • Speakerphone
  • System Volume
  • Unlock Pattern
  • Haptic Feedback
  • DTMF Volume
  • Wallpaper
  • WiFi
When a Profile is active, the settings on your phone will be changed to the values in the Setting you specify.

A Note on Screen Brightness
Some devices, like the Motorola Droid, have an option to have the brightness level set automatically based on ambient light levels. This option must be unchecked for brightness Settings to work properly.

Also, due to the way system wide (not app specific) brightness setting commands work in Android 1.5 and later, the screen needs to refresh (turn it off, then on again) before the new backlight setting will take effect.

Making a New Setting
To create a new Setting:
  1. Tap the Settings tab if it is not already active
  2. Click the Menu button on your device, and select "New Setting" from the menu that appears
  3. Enter a name for this Setting
  4. Select the type of Setting from the list that appears
  5. Select the target value for this Setting from the next dialog

Editing a Setting
From time to time you may wish to change the value a setting has. Here's how to do it.
  1. Tap the Settings tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Setting you want to edit
  3. Select "Edit" from the dialog that appears
  4. Enter a new value for the Setting
  5. Tap the new value to save your change, "Cancel" to keep the old value

Renaming a Setting
  1. Tap the Settings tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Setting you want to rename
  3. Select "Rename" from the dialog that appears
  4. Enter a new name for the Setting
  5. Tap "Ok" to save your change, "Cancel" to keep the old name

Deleting a Setting
  1. Tap the Settings tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Setting you want to delete
  3. Select "Delete" from the dialog that appears

Adding a Setting to Profiles
  1. Tap the Settings tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Setting you want to add
  3. Select "Add to Profile" from the dialog that appears
  4. A list of Profiles will appear. Tap each one that you wish to add the setting to. You must have created some Profiles first.
  5. After you have chosen all the Profiles you wish to add, tap "Ok"

Triggers

What is a Trigger?
A Trigger is a named value you want to apply to some aspect of your phone. You can change all sorts of options on your phone, including:
  • Location
  • Time Of Day
  • Dock State
  • Power State
  • Wired Headset
Note: not all Trigger types are available on Android versions prior to 2.0.

Making a New Trigger
To create a new Trigger:
  1. Tap the Triggers tab if it is not already active
  2. Click the Menu button on your device, and select "New Trigger" from the menu that appears
  3. Enter a name for this Trigger
  4. Select the type of Trigger from the list that appears
  5. Select the target value for this Trigger from the next dialog

Making a Location Trigger
  1. Tap on the Triggers tab to open the triggers view
  2. Press the Menu key on your device, and select "New Trigger"
  3. Give your trigger a name, like "At Work" or "At Home." Names must be unique. Tap "Create"
  4. Choose "Location" from the list of trigger types
  5. A map will be displayed. Once your location has been acquired, an icon will be added to show where you are. You do not need to wait for this to happen, however.
  6. Scroll and zoom the map to where you would like the triggering location to be. Then, do a long tap (hold your finger down on the location for 1 second before releasing) to place a marker
  7. Once the marker is placed, another long tap somewhere else on the map will place a new marker, removing the old
  8. Starting inside the green range circle, draw your finger towards or away from the marker to resize the range. This will allow you to use one marker to cover a large area, which can come in handy. GPS does not work in buildings well, and the cell tower based coarse location service can have poor accuracy.
  9. When you have your marker in the position you want, and the range set to the distance you want, click the Menu button and select "Save." This will save the location information to the Trigger and return you to the Triggers screen.

Making A Time of Day Trigger
Time of Day is checked every minute.
  1. Tap on the Triggers tab to open the triggers view
  2. Press the Menu key on your device, and select "New Trigger"
  3. Give your trigger a name, like "Work Day" or "Sleeping." Names must be unique. Tap "Create"
  4. Choose "Time of Day" from the list of trigger types
  5. Select a "From" (aka Start) time. This will be the begining of the block of time the Trigger will match
  6. Select a "To" (aka End) time. This is the end of the time block. At any time between To and From the Trigger will match
  7. Select the days of the week you want this Trigger to be live. Day buttons run Sunday to Saturday. Buttons with black text are enabled, those with grey are disabled. Tap them to toggle.
  8. Click "Ok" to save the Trigger

Editing a Trigger
From time to time you may wish to change the value a Trigger has. Here's how to do it.
  1. Tap the Triggers tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Trigger you want to edit
  3. Select "Edit" from the dialog that appears
  4. Enter a new value for the Trigger
  5. Tap the new value to save your change, "Cancel" to keep the old value

Renaming a Trigger
  1. Tap the Triggers tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Trigger you want to rename
  3. Select "Rename" from the dialog that appears
  4. Enter a new name for the Trigger
  5. Tap "Ok" to save your change, "Cancel" to keep the old name

Deleting a Trigger
  1. Tap the Triggers tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Trigger you want to delete
  3. Select "Delete" from the dialog that appears

Adding a Trigger to Profiles
  1. Tap the Triggers tab if it is not currently active
  2. Do a long tap on the name of the Trigger you want to add
  3. Select "Add to Profile" from the dialog that appears
  4. A list of Profiles will appear. Tap each one that you wish to add the Trigger to. You must have created some Profiles first.
  5. After you have chosen all the Profiles you wish to add, tap "Ok"

Backup/Restore
It is always a good idea to back up your data. A good guideline is to always have important data in 3 places, one of which is in a different location. Chronos has the ability to back up all Profile, Trigger, and Setting data to the SD Card on your device.

To perform a Backup:
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Press the Menu key on your device
  3. Select "More" from the menu that appears
  4. Select "Backup Data" from the list
  5. Your data will be saved to /sdcard/chronos.xml. This process will overwrite any existing file without warning
To Restore data:
  1. Tap the Profiles tab if it is not currently active
  2. Press the Menu key on your device
  3. Select "More" from the menu that appears
  4. Select "Restore Data" from the list
  5. Chronos will load the data from the backup file. This process will overwrite any existing configuration without warning

Have More Questions?
Contact us! We are more then happy to assit you. If you find a problem or have suggestions for improvements, please let us know. We are always striving to make our apps better.

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