Friday, June 27, 2003
Take Control of Your Pocket PC With PowerStart
Posted by Jimmy Dodd in "SOFTWARE" @ 09:00 AM
One of the benefits of computers is that they automate much of the drudgery of day-to-day work. Recorded macros perform repetitive but time consuming tasks at the touch of a button, wizards walk users through complex configuration settings, and task schedulers like UNIX's cron and Windows' Scheduled Tasks Wizard allow users to configure comands to execute at a later time without user intervention. Backups run unattended, ftp transfers occur after network traffic drops, and email and calendering apps launch automatically when the user logs on. Unfortunately, the Pocket PC doesn't include an application to perform tasks automatically. Schmidt6 Software's PowerStart attempts to fill this void and throws in a few extras as well.
PowerStart version 1.2 is a small program (79K installed) that does one thing: it performs scheduled tasks without requiring any user intervention. While the Pocket PC is capable of launching reminders for Pocket Outlook Calendar events, that's pretty much the limit of its scheduling abilities out of the box. PowerStart, on the other hand, is a full featured task scheduler that rivals the Windows desktop Scheduled Tasks app in its versatility.
Figure 1: The main window
Scheduling
PowerStart's strengths lie in the fact that configuration is both simple and flexible. A wizard is provided to walk the user through the process of setting up a scheduled event by allowing them to answer a series of simple questions. In most cases a couple of screen taps completes the step. Navigation is provided by Back and Next keys, and a Cancel button allows the user to abort the process at any time.
From the main window, selecting New Command begins the wizard, which first presents a screen allowing the user to specify what kind of command they wish to create. Commands can launch a program, delete files in a directory, display a message, play a sound, or close all running programs.
Figure 2: Selecting a command type
After selecting the type of command, the following screens are specific to the type of command. "Launch a program" allows the user to browse to the .exe file they wish to launch (as well as specify any command line arguments to it). "Delete files in a directory" allows the user to browse to the desired folder. "Display a message" provides a text box to enter text to display, and "Play a sound" lets the user browse to the desired wave file.
Figure 3: Specifying a command line and options
Next, the user is given four choices as to when to run the command: after the device powers up, after the first power on of the day, after a device is reset, or on a specific date. Selecting a specific date opens an additional wizard step which allows you to configure the specific date or a repeat pattern and at what point on that date the command runs: when the device is first powered on or at a specific time.
Figure 4: Scheduling commands
The flexibility of the repeat pattern is one of PowerStart's strong points. Users can select to schedule the launch on a daily basis, a weekly basis (specifying certain days), a monthly basis (speciying a particular day such as the 1st, or a particular day and week such as the first Monday of each month), or on a yearly basis (specifying a particular date or a month/day combination such as the third Thusday of November). With these options, any regularly scheduled events can be configured with ease.
Figure 5: Scheduling repeat patterns
Figure 6: Schedule options for monthly commands
Once the task has been propely scheduled, the user can name the command and then review a summary of the command properties. A back button allows for the easy changing of any feature.
Other Features
Once scheduled, a View feature gives easy access to a list of scheduled tasks. Tasks can be run manually from this screen as well as edited. This was a huge aid in testing PowerStart as it enabled me to make small adjustments to the tasks until I got them just right. The View feature also allows for individual deletion of tasks.
PowerStart also provides a statistics feature that reports the number of times the device has been powered on, counts of the number of times a program was launched, a directory was cleaned, a message was displayed, a sound was played, and the number of times applications were closed. A clear button allows for resetting the counts.
Figure 7: The statistics screen
An optional tray icon allows for easy access to the options menu as well as a simple means of manually running any configured command or shutting down PowerStart completely.
Gotchas
I encountered only a few problems while putting PowerStart through its paces. The first concerns the form-based wizard that walks the user through the configuration process. When using vBar (a WIS Bar derivitive) to switch between PowerStart and Pocket Word while making notes about the wizard, I noticed a vBar entry for each wizard dialog I had moved through instead of a single PowerStart entry. Moving back and forth a few times between PowerStart and Pocket Word resulted in my device locking up. When using the recent task list on the Pocket PC start menu to switch from PowerStart to Word, the wizard exited, leaving me at the main PowerStart window. Indeed, tapping anywhere outside PowerStart while navigating through the wizard would exit the wizard. While this is better than locking up, I would suggest a caveat to finish setting up your task before moving to other apps to avoid confusion or loss of work.
PowerStart also doesn't appear to allow for ordering the execution of multiple items that are scheduled for the same time. This may cause a problem if you want to set up several steps that rely on previous steps. Fortunately, the "Shutdown All Apps" feature appears to run before any other tasks, thus you can easily use it and launch other apps at the same time.
In versions 1.0 and 1.1, PowerStart didn't work well with storage cards if you tried to launch an app on device power up. This included opening documents stored on SD or CF cards and was due to the Pocket PC's relative slowness in initializing storage cards. In my experience the app would complain that it cannot access the given file. Schmidt6 Software says they have corrected this in version 1.2 but my Toshiba e740 still failed to find a Windows Media file on a storage card about three-fourths of the time. My Viewsonic V37 found the file without any trouble though, so this may be a problem with the e740's relative slowness in initializing storage cards on power up.
A welcome addition to the options of when to run would be upon the first ActiveSync connection or upon every ActiveSync connection. This would allow for scheduling operations that require an ActiveSync connection (e.g. http requests that use network pass-through) to be scheduled.
Where To Buy
Powerstart can be downloaded from Handango for $9.99 US (affiliate link). A two command limited demo is downloadable for free.
Specifications
PowerStart is a small program, taking up only 79K on my ARM-based e740. Included in the installation package are versions for MIPS, SA, and SH3 processors as well, so pre-Pocket PC 2002 models should be covered as well. Only the ARM model was tested for this review.
Conclusions
Overall, PowerStart is a useful application that can fullfill most scheduling needs. It is flexible enough to handle most tasks, yet simple to setup so that even a novice can quickly make use of its features. In the day-to-day use I put it through on my Toshiba e740 and Viewsonic V37 it worked reliably in cleaning out temp directories, launching and closing apps, and setting reminders. PowerStart is a useful utility and a good value given its low price.
PowerStart version 1.2 is a small program (79K installed) that does one thing: it performs scheduled tasks without requiring any user intervention. While the Pocket PC is capable of launching reminders for Pocket Outlook Calendar events, that's pretty much the limit of its scheduling abilities out of the box. PowerStart, on the other hand, is a full featured task scheduler that rivals the Windows desktop Scheduled Tasks app in its versatility.
Figure 1: The main window
Scheduling
PowerStart's strengths lie in the fact that configuration is both simple and flexible. A wizard is provided to walk the user through the process of setting up a scheduled event by allowing them to answer a series of simple questions. In most cases a couple of screen taps completes the step. Navigation is provided by Back and Next keys, and a Cancel button allows the user to abort the process at any time.
From the main window, selecting New Command begins the wizard, which first presents a screen allowing the user to specify what kind of command they wish to create. Commands can launch a program, delete files in a directory, display a message, play a sound, or close all running programs.
Figure 2: Selecting a command type
After selecting the type of command, the following screens are specific to the type of command. "Launch a program" allows the user to browse to the .exe file they wish to launch (as well as specify any command line arguments to it). "Delete files in a directory" allows the user to browse to the desired folder. "Display a message" provides a text box to enter text to display, and "Play a sound" lets the user browse to the desired wave file.
Figure 3: Specifying a command line and options
Next, the user is given four choices as to when to run the command: after the device powers up, after the first power on of the day, after a device is reset, or on a specific date. Selecting a specific date opens an additional wizard step which allows you to configure the specific date or a repeat pattern and at what point on that date the command runs: when the device is first powered on or at a specific time.
Figure 4: Scheduling commands
The flexibility of the repeat pattern is one of PowerStart's strong points. Users can select to schedule the launch on a daily basis, a weekly basis (specifying certain days), a monthly basis (speciying a particular day such as the 1st, or a particular day and week such as the first Monday of each month), or on a yearly basis (specifying a particular date or a month/day combination such as the third Thusday of November). With these options, any regularly scheduled events can be configured with ease.
Figure 5: Scheduling repeat patterns
Figure 6: Schedule options for monthly commands
Once the task has been propely scheduled, the user can name the command and then review a summary of the command properties. A back button allows for the easy changing of any feature.
Other Features
Once scheduled, a View feature gives easy access to a list of scheduled tasks. Tasks can be run manually from this screen as well as edited. This was a huge aid in testing PowerStart as it enabled me to make small adjustments to the tasks until I got them just right. The View feature also allows for individual deletion of tasks.
PowerStart also provides a statistics feature that reports the number of times the device has been powered on, counts of the number of times a program was launched, a directory was cleaned, a message was displayed, a sound was played, and the number of times applications were closed. A clear button allows for resetting the counts.
Figure 7: The statistics screen
An optional tray icon allows for easy access to the options menu as well as a simple means of manually running any configured command or shutting down PowerStart completely.
Gotchas
I encountered only a few problems while putting PowerStart through its paces. The first concerns the form-based wizard that walks the user through the configuration process. When using vBar (a WIS Bar derivitive) to switch between PowerStart and Pocket Word while making notes about the wizard, I noticed a vBar entry for each wizard dialog I had moved through instead of a single PowerStart entry. Moving back and forth a few times between PowerStart and Pocket Word resulted in my device locking up. When using the recent task list on the Pocket PC start menu to switch from PowerStart to Word, the wizard exited, leaving me at the main PowerStart window. Indeed, tapping anywhere outside PowerStart while navigating through the wizard would exit the wizard. While this is better than locking up, I would suggest a caveat to finish setting up your task before moving to other apps to avoid confusion or loss of work.
PowerStart also doesn't appear to allow for ordering the execution of multiple items that are scheduled for the same time. This may cause a problem if you want to set up several steps that rely on previous steps. Fortunately, the "Shutdown All Apps" feature appears to run before any other tasks, thus you can easily use it and launch other apps at the same time.
In versions 1.0 and 1.1, PowerStart didn't work well with storage cards if you tried to launch an app on device power up. This included opening documents stored on SD or CF cards and was due to the Pocket PC's relative slowness in initializing storage cards. In my experience the app would complain that it cannot access the given file. Schmidt6 Software says they have corrected this in version 1.2 but my Toshiba e740 still failed to find a Windows Media file on a storage card about three-fourths of the time. My Viewsonic V37 found the file without any trouble though, so this may be a problem with the e740's relative slowness in initializing storage cards on power up.
A welcome addition to the options of when to run would be upon the first ActiveSync connection or upon every ActiveSync connection. This would allow for scheduling operations that require an ActiveSync connection (e.g. http requests that use network pass-through) to be scheduled.
Where To Buy
Powerstart can be downloaded from Handango for $9.99 US (affiliate link). A two command limited demo is downloadable for free.
Specifications
PowerStart is a small program, taking up only 79K on my ARM-based e740. Included in the installation package are versions for MIPS, SA, and SH3 processors as well, so pre-Pocket PC 2002 models should be covered as well. Only the ARM model was tested for this review.
Conclusions
Overall, PowerStart is a useful application that can fullfill most scheduling needs. It is flexible enough to handle most tasks, yet simple to setup so that even a novice can quickly make use of its features. In the day-to-day use I put it through on my Toshiba e740 and Viewsonic V37 it worked reliably in cleaning out temp directories, launching and closing apps, and setting reminders. PowerStart is a useful utility and a good value given its low price.
