Gilles Kohl has written a DOS utility program named PAT.EXE (archived in PAT .ZIP=) that lets you easily select from a number of different sound files and associate a unique alarm with different appointments. PAT .EXE can also display a message and a .PCX file graphic when the alarm goes off.
To use the PAT alarms you first create a directory on your C drive named PAT and then copy all the PAT files found in PAT.ZIP into the C:\PAT directory. To use a particular alarm with an appointment, press (F2) to add an appointment and type the following line in the Description field:
|c:\pat\pat.exe <alarm> <message>
The |c:\pat\pat.exe portion of the command runs the PAT program when the alarm would normally go off. PAT finds the alarm name you specify in <alarm>. So if you want the alarm named GetUp! to sound at a particular time and have the message Time to go! displayed, you add the following line in the description field of the appointment:
|c:\pat\pat.exe getup!
Time to go! When the PAT.EXE program runs, it checks the PAT.CFG configuration file and finds that the alarm GetUp is associated with the alarm file OUV812.SND. PAT plays OUV812.SND and then displays the message you specified, Time to go! PAT also displays a graphic of a finger pointing at the message, which is specified in the GetUP defnition in PAT.CFG.
PAT.EXE Displays Alarms In Pictures: Graphic
You can edit the PAT.CFG file in MEMO to create alarms for different occasions and assign a unique sound file, message, and graphics file to each one. The only limitations are that the message in the Description field must be short. Only 24 characters will display in the pop-up message box. Most importantly, the alarm wont sound if you have another DOS program running. So you have to remember to quit any DOS application when its not in use.
--Robert Roney Technical Editor HP Palmtop Paper