Software Vault: The Games Collection 1/software vault.zip/software vault/CDR09/WSS115.ZIP/WSS.DOC

Text File | 1993-08-09 | 27KB | 723 lines

                       Word Search and Scramble (WSS)
                               Version 1.13a
                       Copyright(c) 1992 QED Software


 INTRODUCTION
 ------------

 Word Search and Scramble (WSS) is a word search puzzle and a word
 scramble (jumble) generator. WSS also provides a powerful text editor
 that you can use to create and edit the word lists required by WSS.

 WSS was designed as an aid in teaching vocabulary skills. The use of WSS
 will not only help a person to recognize new words and their spelling, it
 will be different enough to be fun. Anyone that can recognize sequences
 of letters can have fun finding (and learning) the words in a word search
 puzzle.

 What is a word search puzzle? It is similar to a crossword puzzle in that
 it has rows and columns, but the object is not to fill in words, it is to
 locate a word by using a list of words supplied with the puzzle. Once
 found, the word is circled (ovaled). Words can use parts of other words
 and can even be embedded within another word. WSS, unlike a crossword
 puzzle where the words run across and down, words in a word search puzzle
 can run in any direction, up, down, left, right, and crosswise in either
 direction.

 A variation of this description of a word search puzzle is the scrambling of
 the words supplied with the puzzle. These words must be then be unscrambled
 before locating them in the word search puzzle. For example: Scrambled "CAT"
 could be "TCA", "ATC", "CTA", "ACT" or "TAC".

 WSS offers the scramble variation as an option. Another variation, which
 increases the difficulty, is supplying a list of synonyms or definitions
 that must be solved before finding the word in the puzzle. WSS does not
 attempt to accomplish this. You can create this type of puzzle by first
 generating a puzzle and saving it to a disk file, and then composing the
 list of synonyms or definitions.



 CONDITIONS OF USE
 -----------------

 See the LICENSE.DOC File

 >>> PLEASE READ <<<

 Although WSS is distributed as shareware, it is NOT free and is NOT in the
 public domain.  After a reasonable trial period, if you find WSS to be
 useful to you, then please send a usage and registration fee of $15.00 to:

                    QED Software
                    512 W. San Miguel St.
                    Colorado Springs, CO 80905-1034

 When you register,

 The "About" message that appears when you start the evaluation copy of
 the program is not displayed automatically. It will only show when you
 select the "About" option from the system menu and it will not include
 the shareware notice.



 QUICK START
 -----------

 The WSS.EXE file is the only "required" file for the program to run. If
 you want to generate a puzzle, you must create a word list file or use
 the sample (WSS.WSS) supplied with the program. By default, WSS.WSS will
 be used if present.

 1. Run the program by typing WSS.

 The ≡ menu is accessed by pressing Alt-Space.  All the other menus are
 accessed by pressing Alt-Z, where Z is the first letter of the menu.  For
 example, the GENERATE menu is pulled down by Alt-G. Pressing F10 will
 highlight the top line and allow you to select a menu option by either
 pressing the highlighted letter of the menu you want or using the cursor
 right and left keys to highlight the menu item followed by return to select
 the menu item.

 2. Press F7 -- Or -- Select GENERATE from the main menu. Select the
 WORD SEARCH option.

 3. When the puzzle is completed you can view it in the display window by
 using the mouse or the arrow and page keys.

 4. You can print or save the puzzle to a disk file by selecting the OUTPUT
 menu option.

 5. Press Alt-X or select the exit command in the FILE menu to exit the
 program.



 REQUIREMENTS
 ------------

 WSS requires a 80286 or better machine.  A mouse is supported but is not
 required. Puzzle sizes are selected by you, the larger the puzzle and the
 larger word list, the longer the puzzle generation will take. Therefore,
 your computer's speed will dictate how long it takes to generate a given
 puzzle. Using a 1000 word list and generating a 30 X 30 puzzle takes about
 two minutes on a 80386 33 MHz system.

 The WSS program requires a support data file that contains a list of words
 used to generate the puzzle and the scrambled word list. This list can be of
 almost any size, (depending on available memory), and must be a pure text or
 ASCII file, i.e., not a word processor document file. If you have, (or
 create) a file using a word processor be sure to save the file in a text
 only format. Most word processors support this feature under an "export"
 or "save as" option.

 The format of the word file does not have to be one word on each line, it
 can be in paragraph format or lines containing multiple words separated by
 at least one space. Lines with lengths greater that 255 will be truncated at
 the 255th character. WSS will read through the file incorporating only the
 words that fall into the minimum and maximum length limits set within the
 program. Minimum word length is set by you and the maximum length is the
 smaller of 18 or the size of the puzzle. WSS will read words from the word
 list file until the 10000 word maximum is reached or your system's memory
 becomes a limiting factor.  A 15X15 puzzle will generally use about 50
 words. A word list of around 500 should insure that each puzzle is different
 from the others when generating several puzzles based on the same list of
 words.

 Duplicate words are skipped automatically.

 The included word file, WSS.WSS was generated by selecting this document
 file as the source for the word list. We generated a word scramble puzzle
 that yields a window that contained all of the words in the file (up to the
 maximum and without duplicates). The puzzle was saved to the WSS.WSS disk
 file using the "output to disk" option. The file needed to be cleaned up
 so it was loaded into the WSS editor where all of the scrambled words, non-
 words, and additional information were deleted.

 To make the contents look neat, we put one word per line and sorted the
 file. These additional steps are not required for the proper functioning
 of WSS.

 When the program is first run, the default word list file is WSS.WSS which
 is included with the program. You may change this by selecting SETTINGS from
 the main menu or by using command parameters when starting WSS.  The word
 list file is read into memory when you generate a word search puzzle or a
 scrambled word list. Words are selected at random from the internal word
 list. The same word list can be used to generate several individual puzzles.
 Of course it's impossible to obtain completely different puzzles, but it
 would be very rare to see even similar puzzles unless the word list was
 very small (less than 30 or 40 words).



 LIMITS
 ------

    Maximum words in the internal list   10,000
                                         (depending on available memory)
    Maximum word length                  18 Characters or puzzle size
    Minimum word length                  3 Characters
    Maximum puzzle size                  30 X 30 Cells
    Minimum puzzle size                  5 X 5 Cells
    Number of word files                 Limited only by disk space



 SAMPLE PUZZLE OUTPUT
 --------------------

 Sample output from selecting both a word search puzzle and a scrambled word
 list:

 ==============================================================================

                         Sample Word Search Puzzle

                            G N I Y R T M P V H
                            E C O M E S I N C E
                            D C E N T N W I S A
                            I R T O N S H A D D
                            S E A T I W E C E D
                            N T C T R L R V V R
                            I N O U P P E R A E
                            D E L B M A R C S S
                            S E T A R E N E G S
                            R E T S I G E R E K

 ==============================================================================

 Word search key [(X,Y) Direction - Word]:

  (06,01) W  - TRYING                     (02,02) E  - COMES
  (06,02) E  - SINCE                      (07,03) S  - WHERE
  (10,03) S  - ADDRESS                    (06,05) NE - WHICH
  (01,07) N  - INSIDE                     (04,07) E  - UPPER
  ...

 ==============================================================================

   Statistics:

    Word file name: WSS.WSS
   Min word length: 5
  Words considered: 379
       Puzzle size: 10X10
       Total cells: 100
        Words used: 21
  Random seed used: 421595162
       Empty cells: 8
      Cells filled: 92%
        Cell usage: 142%

 ==============================================================================

   Scrambled words:

    ABMRELSC            ADEBMSRLC           EEASPL              EERRGITS
    EEWRH               EGSNTREAE           ETCLOA              IESNC
    INPTR               INRYGT              NRIRETP             OEMCS
    ...

 ==============================================================================

   Words used:

    ADDRESS             BUTTON              COMES               ENTER
    GENERATE            GENERATES           INSIDE              LOCATE
    PLEASE              PRINT               PRINTER             REGISTER
    ...

 ==============================================================================

 This sample would be printed on five pages:

 Page 1. The word search puzzle with the title printed above the puzzle.

 Page 2. A key to the word search puzzle. The key provides the x and y
         position of the first letter of the word and the compass direction
         to follow to read the word. The upper-left corner of the puzzle
         is position (1,1).

 Page 3. Statistics about this puzzle.

       - The name of the file used for the word list.
       - The minimum length of words considered from the word list.
       - The total number of words that were considered for this puzzle.
       - The size of the puzzle.
       - The total number of cells in the puzzle grid.
       - The number of words that are in the puzzle.
       - The random number seed used to start the random word selection.
       - The number of cells that were empty after all words were tried.
         These cells are filled with random letters.
       - The percentage of cells filled.
       - The percent of cell usage.  This shows how well words were
         overlapped. The 142% indicates that of all the cells that were
         initially filled, 42% of them were used more than once.

 Page 4. The scrambled list of words used in the word search puzzle.

 Page 5. The list of words used in the generation of the word puzzle and
         the scrambled words.



 MAIN SCREEN
 -----------

 WSS's screen is composed of three main areas:

 1. The main menu at the top of the screen -

 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ ≡  File  Generate  Settings  Output  Edit  Windows              15:45:30│
 └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 The first letter of each of the menu options is highlighted to indicate that
 this is the hot key used to display that items sub-menu. Using the hot key
 to display the "File" sub-menu; press and hold the Alt key and then press
 and release the "F" key. Alternatively:

 a) Press the F10 function key to activate the menu and then use the cursor
 (arrow) keys to select "File", then press "Enter".

 b) Use the mouse to point to the "File" item and press the left mouse
 button.

 At the far right, you computer's system time is displayed. It is normally
 updated each second but, when generating a puzzle, updates are suspended to
 allow faster puzzle generation.

 2. The working window area, where other windows are placed to display
 puzzles, edit windows, or dialogs.

 3. The status line at the bottom of the screen -

 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ Alt-X Exit  F10 Menu                                            4047252 │
 └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 Notice the number at the far right -- this is the amount of memory that is
 available to WSS.  Yours will be different.



 MENUS
 -----

 Some menu items are displayed in light gray. This indicates that these items
 are not available at this time. They become active when it is appropriate.

 ≡ System Menu    (Alt+Spacebar)

 The System menu appears on the far left of the menu bar and is represented
 by the ≡ symbol.

   - About command

   When you choose the About command from the ≡ (System) menu, a dialog box
   appears, showing copyright and version information. To close the box,
   press Esc, Space, or Enter, or click the OK button.

   - Register command

   Selecting this command will display a dialog that allows you to enter
   information that is required to register WSS.  Entering your name and
   a code (provided by QED Software) will register your copy of WSS and
   disable the opening shareware notice.

   This command is disabled once you have successfully used it and is not
   displayed at all, once you have exited and restarted the program.


 File Menu    (Alt+F)

   - DOS shell... command

   With the DOS Shell command, you can leave the program temporarily
   to perform a DOS command or run another program.

   To return to WSS, type EXIT at the DOS prompt.


   - Exit command   (Alt+X)

   Quits WSS. If you have edited a file using the editor and it has changed,
   (you'll see an asterisk in the lower-right corner of the window), WSS
   asks if you wish to save the file prior to exiting.


 Generate Menu    (Alt+G)

   - Word Search command    (F7)

   Begins generation of a word search puzzle using the current settings.

   - Scramble command    (F8)

   Begins generation of a scrambled word list.  All word read into WSS
   are scrambled.

   - Both command    (F9)

   The same as choosing both of the above options, except the scrambled
   word list consists of only those words that were used in the word
   search puzzle.


 Settings Item   (Alt+S invokes the Settings dialog)

   Allows you to change the puzzle settings. There are six items you can
   configure:

   1. Word list name - The file WSS reads words from.
   2. Puzzle size - a number between 5 and 30.
   3. Minimum word length - words less that this length are ignored.
   4. Random number seed - used to re-generate a puzzle assuming all the
      other settings are the same as what was used before and that the
      word list has not changed.
   5. The title for the word search puzzle.
   6. The difficulty level (Hard/Easy) - "Hard" is selected by default which
      allows words to run in any of the eight directions. Selecting "Easy"
      causes the puzzle to insert words that run only North, South, East,
      or West (this omits all the diagonal directions).

   (Also, see the section on optional startup parameters.)


 Output Menu    (Alt+O)

   - Printer command

   Prints the puzzle that is in the active window using LPT1: as the
   destination.

   - Disk File... command

   Saves, (after prompting you for a file name), the puzzle that is in the
   active window.


 Edit Menu    (Alt+E)

   An edit window allows you to view and change the contents of a text file.
   You can use the arrow keys to move about in the file.  A file is loaded via
   the File Open menu item or by pressing the F3 key.

   Edit windows can be resized and moved using the Windows menu.

   Each edit window is bordered by a double line on the top and left edges.
   At the right and bottom right there are scroll bars that show you your
   relative position within the current file. You can use the mouse to move
   to a new location by placing the mouse cursor over the square marker,
   clicking and holding the mouse button while dragging the marker to a new
   location.

   In the top left corner of each window is a close button.  You click on
   this to put the window away. If your file has been modified you will be
   prompted about saving the file. If you have modified the file you will
   also see an asterisk (*) at the bottom left corner of the window as a
   reminder that the file has changed.

   Just to the left of the bottom scroll bar; line and column numbers
   indicate the current location of the cursor.

   If you have resized the window, clicking on the arrow in the top right
   corner of the window will toggle the size of the window from large to
   small and back again.

   - New command    (Ctrl+F3)

   The New command creates a new editor window.  The window's name is
   "Untitled", and is empty.

   - Open command    (F3)

   The Open command displays the Open a File dialog box. In this dialog
   box you select the text file you want to edit.

   The Open a File dialog box contains:

    ■ an input box with a history list
    ■ a list box to browse the directory
    ■ the standard Cancel button
    ■ Open action button
    ■ an information panel that describes the
      selected file

   - Save command    (F2)

   The Save command allows you to save the current editor window to a disk
   file.  If the window already has a name, the file will be saved under
   this same name.  If you wish to save the file under a new name, select
   the Save As command instead.


   - Save as... command    (Ctrl+F2)

   The Save As command allows you to save the current editor window to a
   new file name.  Note that if an editor window does not have a name (it
   is called "Untitled") selecting Save will execute the Save As dialog box.


   - Print command

   Prints the file that is in the active edit window.

   - Cut command    (Shift+Del)

   Removes the selected text and places it in the clipboard. The Cut
   command removes the selected text and places it on the Clipboard. Any
   information previously on the clipboard is lost. Text cut from the
   editor may be immediately replaced by selecting the Edit Paste command
   before moving the cursor.


   - Copy command    (Ctrl+Ins)

   The Copy command places a copy of the selected text on the
   Clipboard.  The selected information is left unchanged, but any
   information previously on the clipboard is lost.


   - Paste command    (Shift+Ins)

   The Paste command inserts a the contents of the clipboard into the
   current editor window at the cursor position.  The contents of the
   clipboard remain unchanged.  If any text is selected in the current
   editor window, the highlighted text is replaced by the text coming from
   the clipboard.


   - Clear command    (Ctrl+Del)

   The Clear command removes any selected text from the current editor
   without placing a copy of the text on the clipboard.  The effects of
   this command may not be reversed.


 Windows Menu    (Alt+W)

   - Tile command    (Shift+F4)

   Choose Tile to tile all windows on the desktop.

    ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
    │ ╔════════════1══╗┌────────────2──┐ │
    │ ║               ║│               │ │
    │ ║               ║│               │ │
    │ ║               ║│               │ │
    │ ║               ║│               │ │
    │ ╚═══════════════╝└───────────────┘ │
    │ ┌────────────3──┐┌────────────4──┐ │
    │ │               ││               │ │
    │ │               ││               │ │
    │ │               ││               │ │
    │ │               ││               │ │
    │ └───────────────┘└───────────────┘ │
    └────────────────────────────────────┘
                Tiled Windows


   - Cascade command    (Shift+F5)

   Choose Cascade to stack all windows on the desktop.

    ┌──────────────────────────1─┐
    │┌─────────────────────────2─┐
    ││┌────────────────────────3─┐
    │││╔═══════════════════════4═╗
    │││║                         ║
    │││║                         ║
    │││║                         ║
    │││║                         ║
    │││║                         ║
    └└└╚═════════════════════════╝

           Cascaded Windows


   - Size/Move command    (Ctrl+F5)

   If you press Shift while you use the arrow keys, you can change
   the size of the active window. Once you've adjusted its size or
   position, press Enter.

   If a window has a Resize corner, you can drag that corner to
   resize the window.

   When you choose Size/Move, the active window moves in response to the
   arrow keys. Once you've moved the window to where you want it, press
   Enter.

   You can also move a window by dragging its title bar with the
   mouse.

   - Zoom command    (F5)

   Choose Zoom to resize the active window to the maximum size. If the
   window is already zoomed, you can choose this command to restore it
   to its previous size.

   You can also double-click anywhere on the window's title bar
   (except where an icon appears) to zoom or unzoom the window.


   - Next command    (F6)

   Choose Next to cycle forwards through the windows on the desktop.


   - Previous command    (Shift+F6)

   Choose Previous to cycle backwards through the windows on the desktop.


   - Close command    (Alt+F3)

   Choose Close to close the active window.

   You can also click the Close box in the upper right corner to close a
   window.



  HOT KEYS
  --------

  F2            Saves the current file to disk
  Ctrl+F2       Saves the current file after prompting for a new name
  F3            Opens editor with an existing file
  Ctrl+F3       Opens editor with a new file
  Alt+F3        Closes a puzzle or edit window
  Shift+F4      Tiles the open windows
  F5            Zooms the current window
  Shift+F5      Cascades the open windows
  Ctrl+F5       Allows moving and sizing of the current window
  F6            Selects the next window
  Shift+F6      Selects the previous window
  F7            Generates a word search puzzle
  F8            Generates a word scramble puzzle
  F9            Generates a word search and scramble puzzle
  F10           Activates the main menu
  Alt+S         Invokes the change settings dialog
  Alt-Spacebar  Selects the system menu

  Shift+Del     Cuts marked text to the clipboard
  Ctrl+Del      Deletes marked text
  Shift+Ins     Pastes the contents of the clipboard to the window
  Ctrl+Ins      Copies marked text to the clipboard



  EDIT COMMANDS
  -------------

  Up            Move up one line
  Down          Move down one line
  Right         Move right one column
  Left          Move left one column
  PgUp          Move one page up
  PgDn          Move one page down
  Home          View left most column of the file
  End           View right most column of the file
  Ctrl-PgUp     View top of file
  Ctrl-PgDn     View bottom of file
  Ctrl-Right    Move one word to the right
  Ctrl-Left     Move one word to the left

  Ctrl-Y        Delete a line
  Ctrl-T        Delete word to the right
  Ctrl-QY       Delete rest of line

  Alt#          Allows entry of ASCII characters
                that don't show on the keyboard.
                Must enter the number using the
                numeric key pad.

  Ctrl-C        Same as page down
  Ctrl-R        Same as page up
  Ctrl-S        Same as cursor left
  Ctrl-D        Same as cursor right
  Ctrl-E        Same as cursor up
  Ctrl-X        Same as cursor down
  Ctrl-F        Same as Ctrl-Right
  Ctrl-A        Same as Ctrl-Left

  Highlighting with the mouse:

  Position the mouse, press the left mouse button and drag
  until the section of text is highlighted.  If you reach the
  top or bottom of the window the text will automatically scroll.
  To turn the highlight off just click the mouse anywhere in the edit
  window.



 OPTIONAL STARTUP PARAMETERS
 ---------------------------

 Optional parameters can be entered at the command line when starting WSS to
 avoid changing the settings from within the program.  Additionally, you can
 cause WSS to startup and load one or more text files ready for you to read
 or edit.

 Command syntax: WSS [N=WordList]
                     [P=PuzzleSize]
                     [L=WordLength]
                     [S=RandomSeed]
                     [T=PuzzleTitle]
                     [D=DifficultyLevel]
                     [Filename Filename . . .]

 All options must be specified on one command line and separated by at least
 one space.  Spaces should not precede or follow the equal sign.

 Where:

   "WordList" is the name of a file that contains words you want to use.
   "PuzzleSize" is a whole number between 5 and 30.
   "WordLength" is the minimum length of words considered by WSS.
   "RandomSeed" is a whole number between 0 and 2,147,483,647 . Using a
       number greater than zero allows you to re-generate a puzzle to match
       one generated with the same settings and word list.
   "PuzzleTitle" is the title that is printed above the puzzle. Replace
       spaces in your title with underscores otherwise, each word after
       the first will be treated as a file that you wish to load and edit.
   "Filename" is the name of a file you wish loaded into the editor.
   "DifficultyLevel" is either 0 for Hard or 1 for Easy.

 You may enter these in any order and in upper or lower case.  If a
 parameter is unrecognized WSS will treat it as if it were a filename,
 which may cause WSS to display an error message while trying to load
 the file.

 Examples:

   WSS N=MYLIST.TXT P=15 L=6 T="Chemistry_Word_Search_#5"

     Starts WSS ready to generate puzzles using words from MYLIST.TXT. The
     puzzle will be 15 X 15 and all words less than 6 characters in length
     are ignored when WSS reads the word list.  The title printed will be
     "Chemistry Word Search #5".

   WSS MYLIST.TXT

     Starts WSS with default settings and loads the file MYLIST.TXT into the
     editor.

   You may also precede N, P, L, S, and T with "/" or "-".


 QUESTION AND SUGGESTIONS
 ------------------------

 We welcome your questions and suggestions. If your suggestion is
 incorporated into a later version of WSS, we will send you that version at
 no charge. Mail your suggestions or use Compuserve E-Mail and address
 to ID 70033,2705.

<eof>                                                               WSS.DOC