CHAPTER 8
Newton Services
8-6 Sound
A user sets the volume of alarm sounds in the Alarm section of the Prefs
application. Your application should not change the alarm volume set by
the user.
Sound 8
Your application can easily associate a sound with a system event or play
sound on demand. Each sound can be played synchronously, so that other
tasks must wait for it to finish, or asynchronously, so that another task can
begin before the sound finishes. The Newton system includes a number of
built-in sounds, which the built-in applications use and other applications
can use as well. Newtons play only sampled (recorded or prefabricated)
sounds; the Newton system does not synthesize sound.
The built-in applications and transports use sounds extensively but
unobtrusively to provide secondary feedback and enrich the user experience.
Sound should always play a secondary role in Newton software. Don’t make
sound the sole conveyer of information. For users who must turn the sound
off or who are hearing-impaired, your application should convey vital
information visually as well.
Find 8
The Newton system provides a Find service with which a user can search
participating applications for text, dates, or other types of data. A user specifies
what to find in a Find slip that may be supplied by the system, customized
by an application developer, or supplied entirely by the developer. The Find
slip appears when a user taps the Find button, which is a picture button that
looks like a magnifying glass. Figure 8-5 illustrates the Find button and the
Find slip that the system supplies.