Menu and Display Settings
Menu Access and main screen actions
The application menu settings can be accessed by:
- Long press (2 seconds) in the top left corner of the screen (the yellow area in the image on the left).
The following features are also usable on the main screen:
- Long press the top right corner of the screen will cycle the screen colours (or clock faces in analog mode - see below).
- Long press the second line (Sunday in the image) will display this web page.
- Long press the third line (Night in the image) allows you to change the amount of information displayed in the top half of the screen.
If sound is enabled, touching any of the text will cause it to be read out. (Make sure the volume is turned up)
You can lock the screen actions by tapping the top left corner (yellow) five times quickly. Repeat the activity to unlock the screen actions. There will be a notification in the bottom centre of the screen that screen lock was turned on/off.)
Screen Configuration
The screen can be configured from the Display Settings menu to display :
: a digital screen - see above
: an analog screen with a clock
: a digital screen with photos (see below).
The Layout Settings menu allows you to configure all aspects of the screen elements (size, position and colour) and clock, photo.
Using Photos
When photos are selected from the Display Settings Menu you can display either local or Google Drive photos using settings on the Photo/Drive settings menu.
A slideshow of pictures from the selected source folder can also be configured.
To use the Google Drive the drive must be selected and an appropriate account selected when returning to the main screen.
The 'select file' option can be used to change the file being displayed either locally or from the drive. (selection will take place when you return to the main screen).
Details of the selected images can be viewed at the bottom of the menu.
Turning off the Calendar
Dementia Diary normally requires a calendar to run, this is its primary function. However if you just want to display time and date you can turn off the Use Calendar option in Calendar settings menu.
The "Nothing happening today" text can be overridden or blanked using the "No Events Text" option in the Display Options.
Even without the Calendar use the app improves on many commercial clocks due to the natural ability of the tablet to update the clock for daylight saving etc. This can save people a mass of heartache wondering if the clock is telling the correct time.
Application and Event Settings
Configure which events are shown and when
The number of days in the future to show events can be selected (max 7) along with the number of events displayed on the screen (max 3) in the Application settings menu.
The event warning period can be fixed or based on the event notification period in the calendar event.
The event override options in the Display menu (and -s option below) allow you to only display events at the time of the event or notification.
Configure Time of Day settings
Dementia Diary uses five periods of day to break up the day
- Early morning
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening
- Night
Each periods start time can be set on the Time of Day menu along with the text displayed, the brightness of the screen during the period and the amount of information displayed.
An option is provided to extend night period onto the next day. This means it will continue to be (Monday night) until the next period is reached (Tuesday morning)
Setting the Alarm
The following procedure is needed to set alarms.
1) In Application settings set "Enable Alarm Notification" option to true
2) Set the event in the calendar and make sure to set a reminder.
3) Set the "Event Warning Period" to the length of time before the event for the red highlight to be visible.
Or, Set the "Use Event Reminder period for warning" option to true . The red highlight will be displayed according to the time period in the reminder.
Home Application
Enabling "Select Home Application" allows the user, when you exit the menu's, to select which application to use as the home app on the device. Only when the home app is changed is this option turned off by DD. If you want to return to the previous home app, select this option again and choose the previous application.
You can select the home app manually by swiping up on the bottom of the screen to reveal the navigation buttons, select the Home button (Square) and you should see the home screen. Now swipe down from the top of the screen to access the status bar and select the cog for settings. Different devices configure the home app in different places but you should look for menus like "App+Notifications", "Advanced", "Default apps".
Advanced Settings
Changing your language / locale
If you live in a country but would like to use a different language you can use the locale settings on the Advanced Settings tab.
A useful list of these locale texts can be found here:
Using the Call options
Enabling any of the call options will place an appropriate icon in the bottom right of the main screen. When touched it will execute the call and attempt to call the identified contact (if supported).
Note: The call app needs to be installed and configured on the device.
Using Event specific options
The following codes can be used in the calendar events to configure the app remotely.
-s description will only display the description at the time of the event.
description -ifilename will display the picture identified by the filename when the event becomes active. If the filename starts with a / the file is assumed to be local, if the filename is a drive 'fileid' then this is used instead.
To obtain the drive fileid, get shareable link and use the text after the id=
e.g.: https://drive.google.com/openid=xxGg26n2pht9GhnHFyFFXDTAFcAD45hXoFw
-restartrequested will restart the app at the event time
-restart will restart the event immediately
Manual font size settings
The various font sizes on each zone of the auto screen can be configured using eight values representing:
top left: top right: line 2: line 3: all day: event 1: event 2: event 3
The font types for each of these zones can be configured.
0 default: 1 bold: 2 mono: 3 sans serif: 4 serif
The colours of the screen for each time of day can be configured here.
0 default: 1: black 2: Multi: 3: Blue: 4 Light Blue: 5 Purple