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Event Master existed in this simple form for quit some time. After a year or so I began thinking, wouldn't it be nice to be able to record details about the event along with the event itself - in other words to annotate the event with a small note. I then created a note editor which would allow me to do just that. The note editor was, and still is, a free form note editor (similar to Notepad) which enables you enter any text of your choosing.
Annotating events worked out so well I began creating bogus events with bogus dates just so I could attach notes to them, notes containing information I wanted to keep that wasn't related to any event. It was then I began realizing the importance of just being able to have stand-alone notes - notes not attached to events in any way.
Event Master was then modified to allow the user to create stand-alone notes. This also meant adding a Notes list view to Event Master. After the change you could request Event Master to display a list of events or a list of notes. When a list of notes was requested, the column headings for the list changed accordingly. Column headings for notes include Date Created, Date Modified and Description (a.k.a. Title).
After having created a number of stand-alone notes, I began to realize that it was not always easy to find a note after it was created. If you didn't give the note a proper description (title) or you didn't remember when you created or last modified it, finding it was almost impossible. This resulted in the implementation of a search engine. One which could search through all of the notes, looking at a note's title as well as its content, for the specified search string. A later enhancement enables you to request Event Master to display a list of only those notes which have the search string contained within their description fields (titles) or the body of the notes themselves.
As the number of events and notes began to grow I began to feel overwhelmed with information. I needed a way to organize the information in the database. Something which could enable me to categorize the information in the database and subsequently display only those categories that I was interested in at the time. So I decided to add a subType field to events and notes. Now when an event or note is created you are presented with the opportunity to assign a subType value to it. You can choose a value from a list or you type in any value you like, thus adding to the list. Once I had categories assigned to my objects, I could then limit the list to display only those categories that I was interested in at the time. I found this extremely useful when it came to birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. By restricting the list of events to these categories only and then sorting the list on the Days Until field, I found that I could create a report (printed list) which I could then take to my local card and gift store to be used as a shopping list. Instead of buying one card at a time, I was using the list to buy a couple of months worth at a time.
With the addition of the subType field everything seemed great. Event Master fulfilled all of my needs, all except one. I was still missing meetings at work. I would create an event for the meeting so that it would appear in my list of events to be viewed in the morning when I first signed on. This was great if the meeting was scheduled for the morning. If scheduled for the afternoon, however, there was still a good chance I'd miss the meeting because I'd get so wrapped up in my work I wouldn't pay attention to the time. The only solution was to create a third type of object in Event Master - the Alarm. The alarm, like an event has a date component, but unlike the event it also has a time component. When the alarm expires it creates a flashing icon on the desktop which is impossible to miss. Selecting that icon with the mouse displays the alarm's details. With this new enhancement it was now possible to create an alarm that would sound only moments before the scheduled meeting thus insuring that I'd make the meeting on time.
My next enhancement was to add a snooze function to the alarm and to allow you to attach an alarm to an event and vise versa. Attaching an alarm to an event significantly increases you awareness of that event. You can set the alarm to go off (sound) any number of days before the event and at a specified time when you're more likely to take notice. If an alarm expires while you're away from your PC you'll see it when you return. And if the PC is turned off in your absence, Event Master will still display the flashing alarm icon for the expired alarm the next time you power up. The only way to get ride of the flashing icon is to: acknowledge it, delete it, snooze it or update it with a future date/time. Because you have to take some action to stop the display of the flashing alarm icon, you're guaranteed to see it.
Of course when alarms were added to Event Master so was a new view: the Alarms list view. This view simply displays a list of all alarm in the system, their date and time of expiration and the amount of time remaining until that expiration. Because alarms don't have subType fields, there is no way to filter out any alarms from view. When you're looking at the list of alarms your looking at all of them.
The last major enhancement came at the request of the user community. Many users wanted to see their events within a calendar so I added the Calendar View window. Using the Calendar View window you can add, delete or modify entries just as you can with the List View window.
Since Event Master's inception all the way up until today, new date types have constantly been added to the program. Fixed dates, like Birthdays and Anniversaries have always been part of Event Master. They specify a fixed month, day and year for the event or alarm. Fixed dates, within events, which are expired (i.e. my birthday occurred some 40+ years ago) are treated as anniversaries in Event Master so their Days Until and Falls On fields reflect the next occurrence of the month and day (Not year). Floating dates, like Mothers day, do not resolve to specific month, day, year and thus require a different representation (format). For example, 3|Su|5 is the date value for Mothers day. It represents the 3rd Sunday in May (the 5th month). A date value of */*/* represents a daily occurrence and is used most often with time elements to create daily alarms (i.e. 12:00 daily alarm to remind you it's time to take your lunch). Select here for a more exhaustive listing of sample date formats.
As you can see, the development of Event Master has been a work in progress. At first I authored all of the enhancements. I was the only user at the time. Now that Event Master has been on the open market for a least a couple of years, I have begun taking requests from my user community. If after installing and trying Event Master, you think of any such enhancements please forward them as well. I wish to keep Event Master viable and competitive for many years to come. The only way to achieve this goal is to make the customer a partner in the ongoing design of the product. So please feel free to respond.
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