Hourglass

This project is the modified simple countdown timer for Windows. The changes were made to the original Hourglass can be found here. The latest Hourglass installer or portable distribution can be downloaded here.

Visit the original Hourglass site to learn more. Hourglass FAQ can be found here.

Hourglass Command-line Example

hourglass -n on -a on -g on -c on -w minimized -i left+title -t "Timer 1" 1h23

creates

• 1 hour 23 minutes long timer: 1h23
• named Timer 1: -t "Timer 1"
• with the notification area icon: -n on
• with the timer window:
  • which is always on top: -a on
  • shows the reversed progress bar: -g on
  • displays time in the digital clock format: -c on
  • initially minimized: -w minimized
  • has the time left and the timer name displayed in the title: -i left+title

Run hourglass -h to display the Hourglass command-line reference or select Command-line usage from the notification area context menu.

Prerequisites

• .NET Framework 4.8 (click here to download the runtime Web Installer)

Hourglass Changes

Installer

• Adds the Hourglass executable path to the Windows App Paths, so the Hourglass command-line is available out of the box.

Command-line

• New command pause
• New command resume
• New option --digital-clock-time / -c
• New option --multi-timers / -mt
• New option --activate-next / -an

See usage for details.

UI

• Uses a Windows Task Dialog instead of a message box (GitHub).
• The Command-line usage dialog can be accessed from the About dialog and vice versa.

Notification Area

• The double click shows/hides all the timer windows.
• All the timers are arranged by the time left. The order of the timers is new, expired, paused, running.
• The red circle is shown over the notification area icon if at least one timer is expired.
• The pause sign is shown over the notification area icon if at least one timer is paused.
• The digits from 0 to 9 are hotkeys for timers in the notification area icon context menu.
• The Open timer context menu menu command opens the timer window context menu. The shortcut is the holding the Shift during right click on the notification area icon.
• The Pause all menu command pauses all the running timers.
• The Resume all menu command resumes all the paused timers.
• The Exit menu command asks to close all the running timer windows if the Prompt on exit option is on.

Timer Windows

Keyboard Shortcuts

• The Esc shortcut minimizes the timer window.
• The F11 shortcut makes the timer window full screen and back.
• The Ctrl+N shortcut creates a new timer window.

Context Menu

• All the timer window commands are available in the timer window context menu.
• The shortcuts are displayed in the timer window context menu.
• The Window title submenu is available directly from the timer window context menu.
• The Reset bounds menu command sets the timer window default position and size.
• The Restore, Minimize and Maximize timer window commands are always present in the timer window context menu.
• The Advanced options / Display time in the digital clock format timer window context menu option toggles the displayed time digital clock time format. The command-line option is --digital-clock-time / -c
• The Advanced options / Activate next window when minimized or closed timer window context menu option enables the next timer window activation when the current timer window is minimized or closed. The command-line option is --activate-next / -an
• The Pause all timer window context menu command pauses all the running timers. Command-line command is pause
• The Resume all timer window context menu command resumes all the paused timers. Command-line command is resume

Other

• All the timer windows are arranged by the time left. The order of the timer windows is new, expired, paused, running.
• The minimum timer window size is limited by the Windows only.
• The timer tooltip is shown if the timer window size is too small.
• The progress bar changes direction to vertical when the height is more than the width and vice versa.
• When the timer window is minimized or closed the next visible non-minimized timer window is activated.
• The time left is now used for editing instead of the original launch time.
• The timer window pops up on the current virtual desktop.
• The mouse double-click on progress border toggles full screen.
• The sound file can be placed to the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Hourglass or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Hourglass\Sounds directories. It can be the symbolic link created by the mklink system command.

Misc

• The Hourglass is built deterministically using the GitHub Actions.

Troubleshooting

If the Hourglass does not start or fails silently, delete the Hourglass settings.

The Hourglass settings can be located by the following command (to run it press Win+R and copy-paste command below):

cmd /k dir "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Chris_Dziemborowicz*"

The settings are stored into the corresponding hourglass.EXE subdirectories.

The Hourglass Portable keeps settings next to the executable.