Need a clock in Numbers

Hi MM2,

A search of the (Mac)App Store for 'chess timer' shows one available there. It's a dedicated app named "Game Timer" with a price of under $3.00 (don't know if that is US$ or $CDN).

If you have an iPad, check the App store there for several chess timer apps, many of them free.

Regards,

Barry

EDIT: Some time had passed between downloading your question and getting to it.

Some of the apps for iPad had capabilities beyond simple timer. I didn't read the listings closely, but one may have claimed some game analysis skills.

Regarding the base question of running a clock in Numbers, my understanding is that Numbers can't be directed to poll the system clock at frequent intervals, which would be necessary for anything approaching 'real time' operation of a clock.

It's possible that may have changed since version 3, but I would have expected to see some comment on that in discussions of the STOCK functions. If I've read correctly, these only poll the server when user action causes Numbers to do a recalculation.

B.

MiniMe2 wrote:

I wanted to know if Numbers could display a clock in real time in a cell. That's my first question and it remains unanswered. I thought it might be possible because I know there's a way in Numbers using the STOCK function to get a dynamic stock quote into a cell automatically, (I'm not sure how often that stock value is updated) and that's far more complicated to implement that reading a local clock!

Alas, the "dynamic" stock quotes via STOCK no longer work, because Yahoo! (the data provider) changed its policy about use of its API after being acquired by Verizon. STOCK retrieves the closing price of the previous day.

When you say display a "clock" in a cell do you mean display the constantly updating time in a cell? If that's what you mean, then I think the only way Numbers could do that would be via a script that runs at set time intervals. That's possible, but clunky, and on the Mac would seem to have few advantages over just viewing the time in the menu bar.

Not familiar with Stockfish game; I assume that means the Stockfish Chess app.

SG

EDITED. I posted accidentally before I was done editing.

It is simple to incorporate an AppleScript-powered real-time clock within Numbers but, when it is running, it switches the focus away from whatever else you might want to do and puts in on the cell with the clock. At least that is what happens with the scripts I have written. Every time the clock updates (once per second, for instance), Numbers jumps to that clock cell. I believe it is possible to return the focus back to where you were but it is still very disruptive. If you add a master "off" switch (a checkbox cell that the script polls) , you could do other things while it is off.

I am playing with a script that creates a column of clocks in a table. Next to each clock is a cell that is either TRUE or FALSE. The script uses those cells to turn its particular clock on/off, either updating the time or keeping the last displayed time. Other tables could use those clocks in various places and you could stop/start them with checkboxes and formulas. I don't know how to get the focus back to wherever you were after it switches to the clocks but I can set it back to a particular sheet, table, and cell as a test and it is impossible to use the document when the clocks are running.

I do not think Numbers is the right tool for this job. I suggest search in the app store for your mac or your mobile device for a game timer.

There is also a website that has many useful tools for dates and times:

https://www.timeanddate.com/

MiniMe2 wrote:

That was interesting about Verizon and stocks.

When Excel for macOS was first released, they didn't have support for VBA, but now perhaps they do.

Yes, VBA runs well in Excel on the Mac. For example, I just set up an automatically refreshing clock following the steps here.

Unlike AppleScript with Numbers, the VBA macro leaves the focus where you have it allowing you to continue working while the "clock" is running.

SG

This isn't really a Numbers question. And one wonders what features you need in a timer app that don't already exist... But, yes, Excel on the Mac supports VBA.

SG