The "How Box"

Every command in a format clock has its own personality — some need a file path, some need a time, some need to know which songs to pick from. The How Box is where you fine-tune each command to make it behave exactly the way you have in mind.

When you click an event in the event table, the How Box automatically adapts to show you just the settings that command needs — and nothing else. There are no extra controls to confuse you, and nothing to fill in that doesn't matter. It's your personal workspace for shaping every detail of your station's sound.

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When you're editing commands, consider making the ClockWork window nice and big so there's lots of room. That way, when you click the ? button next to each command, there's room to read the helpful information about how to get the most out of that command.

How It Works

The How Box sits in the lower-left area of the ClockMaker tab, just below the event type dropdown. Here's the flow:

Pick a category — use the four radio buttons (Playback, Automation, Miscellaneous, Switcher Control) to narrow down the type of command you want.
Choose the command — select the specific event type from the dropdown.
Fine-tune it in the How Box — the How Box shows you exactly what that command needs. Fill in the details, and you're done. Everything saves automatically.

What You'll See

Depending on which command you've selected, the How Box shows a different set of controls. Here's what to expect:

What the How Box shows	Commands that use it	What you fill in
Attribute/Value filters	Random, Fill, Rotate	Up to 3 filter rows, each with an Attribute name, an = or != operator, and a Value. This tells TuneStacker which songs qualify. A live match count updates as you type.
File path + Browse	Play	Full path to an audio file. Click Browse to use a file picker.
Folder path + Browse	PlayFolder, GetFile	Full path to a folder. Click Browse to use a folder picker.
HH:MM:SS time	Break, Pause-For	A time value. For Break: the wall-clock time to fire the break (24-hour format). For Pause-For: the duration to wait.
MM:SS time	Time-Correct	The target timestamp within the hour (e.g., :57 means 57 seconds before the next hour).
On / Off	Silence Sensor, LiveAssist	Simple On or Off radio button pair.
Relay number	Listen, Ignore, SendRelay	A relay channel number from 1 to 16.
Free text	Memo, Switcher	Any text. Memos appear as comments in the log file; time markers like `:00`, `:15`, `:30`, `:45` are also common.
Script path + options	Run	Path to a script or program, optional arguments, and a checkbox to run it in the background.
No settings needed	Live, TimeAnnounce, TempAnnounce, DoBackups, ClearSwitcher, Empty line	These commands just work — no configuration required. Select the type and add the event.

Attribute/Value Filters

The most common How Box layout is the Attribute/Value filter, used by Random, Fill, and Rotate. This is how you tell TuneStacker which songs to choose from. Each filter row has three parts:

Attribute — a column name from your library, such as Comment, Artist, Year, or any custom field.
Operator — = means "must match," != means "must not match."
Value — the exact value to match or exclude, such as DeepGrooves or Sweeper.

You can add up to 3 filter rows by clicking the + button. All rows are applied together — a song must satisfy every one of them to qualify. For example, Comment = DeepGrooves and Artist != Kenny G means "any DeepGrooves song, as long as it's not Kenny G."

The match count next to the filters shows how many songs in your current library qualify. If it reads 0, the event row turns pink — that command will never produce output. Check your spelling or reload your library with ⌘R.

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Attribute and value matching is case-insensitive. Comment DeepGrooves and comment deepgrooves both work. Underscores are also accepted as spaces in values.

You can press Tab to move through the attribute and value fields in order. The tab order chains through each row's attribute popup and value field, then wraps back to the start.

The ? Button

Next to each command name in the How Box, you'll see a ? button. Click it to slide open a help panel from the left side of the ClockMaker tab. It shows a detailed description of the currently selected event type — what it does, what its settings mean, and tips for using it effectively.

Help content is loaded from RTF files in your station folder's Misc/System/ContextHelp/ directory if present, or falls back to built-in descriptions. Click ✕ in the help panel to dismiss it.

Text Scaling

The How Box is excluded from ClockWork's app-wide text scaling (⌘+ / ⌘-). Its layout is carefully sized to fit its controls, so it always stays at the default size regardless of your scaling setting.