The Desktop Watchmaker

Overview/Features

The main user interface is composed of 3 parts:

The left part that renders the watch face based on the data
The middle part that contains the layers of the watch face
The right part that contains the properties of the selected layer

Open a watch

WatchMaker watch faces are distributed as .watch files. They are compressed files (zip) that contain mostly watch details, images and fonts.

To be able to edit a watch face, the .watch file need to be unpacked (in the catalog), that why the first step would be to go to File -> Import Watches to Catalog from File or from URL.
Once imported, you can open the watch face using File -> Open Watch from Catalog

Note that The Desktop Watchmaker doesn't support protected watch faces that are not meant to be editable.

Edit a watch

Select the layer(s) you want to edit, a red rectangle will appear around on the selected layers in the preview part
Edit the property value from the table you wish to change
If you wish to change the position or size of the selected layers shortcuts. See Layer -> Bulk editing
With the Layer menu, you can also add new layers, duplicate layers and more

Note that the files are located from your home directory, "My Watches" sub-directory. (e.g. C:\Users\Name\My Watches\watches)

Create a watch

Use the File menu to save/create the changes.

Save Watch to Catalog: Save your changes of the current watch in the catalog
Save Watch As: Save your changes of the watch under a new watch face name in the catalog. This can be useful to keep the origin imported watch face unmodified in the catalog.
Save Image: Save the watch face image in a file. For example to overwrite the preview.jpg using by WatchMaker.
Build Watch: Create a .watch files from the watch using the files in the catalog. (e.g. C:\Users\Name\My Watches\watches\watch-name)

Note that the files are located from your home directory, "My Watches" sub-directory. (e.g. C:\Users\Name\My Watches\watches)

Window Management

Besides the standard window possibilities like move, resize and minimize, The Desktop Watchmaker gives you more control on the main window:

Use Shift F12 to toggle the window always on top
Use Ctrl Shift F12 to toggle the window without the title bar
When the title bar is removed, you can move the window using Shift Alt Mouse Drag
When the title bar is removed, you can change the transparency of the window using Shift Alt Mouse Wheel
When the title bar is removed, you can change the size of the window using Shift Alt Mouse Drag of the bottom right corner

Change main window properties from the settings. (Settings -> Main Window)

Toggle always on top
Make the main window transparent
Define the location and size of the main window
Reset the location and size to the default
Remember the position and size of all windows including pop-up windows
Change the user interface scale for example to make text more readable. You will need to restart the application to apply it.
Change the font sizes used in the application, no restart needed. Note that UI Scaling is a better way to zoom in or out the user interface.

Settings

General

Setting File: when exiting the application, the state of the application is stored in a setting file so that when you start the application, you will find it in the same state as when existing it.
You can save and open different setting files to have the application in different states.
If you also start the application in a specific state by passing the start-up parameter -SettingFile:<File location>.ini
If you use other setting files than the default one, you have the option to show the setting file name in the title bar. This way if you have multiple applications started, it's easier to know which one you are currently seeing.
The Desktop Watchmaker is skinnable, including many dark themes. Select another skin from the drop down. Note that some of them will require a restart of the application to work properly.

Main Window

See Window Management

Input Fields

Many input fields in the application will remember the previously entered values. You can access the previously filled in values by right clicking in the input field or use the Menu key and select the previous value. You can also navigate the previously entered value by using Ctrl Down and Ctrl Up when in the input field. Some input fields allow you to save some values as bookmark. Use Esc to clear the input fields.

Clear all history: Clear the history of all input fields
Max History: Define the max number of items in the history
Max History: Define the max number of items in the bookmarks
Input Fields: Select the key of the input field for the History and Bookmarks list below.
If an input field is not visible yet, it's possible that it hasn't been used yet and has empty lists.
History and Bookmarks lists: manage the lists for the selected field

Languages

The Desktop Watchmaker has been develop in a way to support multiple languages for the user interface. This setting shows the different text used by the application. If you wish to translate the application in another language, please contact info@japplis.com with the name of the application and the language you'd like to translate it to.

Connection

Manage how the application connects to internet.

Proxy: this setting generally doesn't need to be changed but in some company environment you may need to define a specific proxy connection to be able to connect to internet from the application.
Check for updates: Define the frequency for the application to check if an update is available at start-up time. Note that a check for update is done also when you open the About dialog.
Decide to send anonymous data in order to know how the application is used and which error occurred. This helps improve the application for future release.

Help menu

Help

Show this page.

Website

Open the website of the application.

About

About: Information about the application like name, version, link to the website, where to send feedback and if a new version is available
If you have an error and would like to report it, please send the logs (see below) with the name of the application and the steps to reproduce the error.
Changes: Last changes in the application and in the application framework
License: License User Agreement for The Desktop Watchmaker and for third-party libraries used in the application
System Info: Technical details about the application. Operating system, Java version, Locale: country/language, directory where the software is installed, default directory where the data are stored and the logs of the software.
If a feature doesn't work, the logs could be a good place to identify the reason.