Copyright: Copyright ® Bryson Limited, 1994-1996.


Contents
Help Contents

SYMPATHY

Crossword Grid Editor for Microsoft Windows

Copyright © Bryson Limited, 1994-1996. All Rights Reserved.

Using Sympathy

Basic Concepts

Using the Sympathy Screen

Keyboard Guide

What's New in this release

What's Changed in this release

Reference

Definitions

Commands

Dialogs

Tutorial Grids

History


Basic Concepts

Sympathy is an editor for crossword grids, with support for the construction of fully checked grids, blocked grids and barred grids.

The crossword setter can use Sympathy in place of pencil and paper for the construction of the grid: thematic words can be placed into the grid, then moved around to their ideal positions and surrounded with slots for non-thematic words. See the section on Sympathy's Main Window for more information.

Once this has been done, the grid can be completed using Sympathy's automatic filling process. See the Filling Normal Fill Command for more information.

Grids created with Sympathy can be printed directly, or exported as a scaleable picture or bitmap, for merging with a set of clues. See the File Print Command and File Export Command for more information.


Commands

This index lists the different menus available. Select one to view the list of commands for each menu:

Control Menu Commands

File Menu Commands

Edit Menu Commands

View Menu Commands

Grid Menu Commands

Light Menu Commands

Cell Menu Commands

Filling Menu Commands

Help Menu Commands


Dialogs

This index lists all the different dialogs in Sympathy.

The following dialogs are modeless: these can be kept open while the main window is worked on:

View Properties Dialog

Grid Properties Dialog

Grid Statistics Dialog

Cell Properties Dialog

Light Properties Dialog

Filling Properties Dialog

Word Search Dialog

The following dialogs are modal; these are opened to perform a single action and other parts of the application are disabled until a decision is taken to OK or Cancel them:

Aspect Ratio Dialog

Open Dialog

Save As Dialog

Print Dialog

Printer Setup Dialog

Printer Cancel Dialog

Export Dialog

License Dialog

Grid Dimensions Dialog

Kill List Dialog

Unch Model Dialog

Grid Resize Dialog

Color Selection Dialog

Font Selection Dialog

Fill In Progress Dialog

Word Search Properties Dialog

About box


Definitions

Automatic Filling

Bar

Barred Grid

Block

Blocked Grid

Border

Cell

Commonality

Consistent First Word Mode

Fully Checked Grid

Graticule

Grid

Hole

Interactive Filling

Kill List

Light

Main Diagonal

Normalized Mode

Off Diagonal

Property

Random First Word Mode

Rule

Single cell light

TEA

Unch

Unch Model

Unnormalized Mode


In automatic filling, Sympathy chooses the words to be used at each level.


In interactive filling, the user chooses words from the prioritized list presented by Sympathy.


The Electronic Alveary is Sympathy's companion program for searching for words that match a pattern. Sympathy incorporates a word search window using the same TEA patterns.


In this mode, Sympathy always fills the first light with the same word for a given dictionary and normal commonality setting. This means that each fill with the same starting conditions results in the same grid.


In this mode, Sympathy fills the first word at random. This means that successive fills with the same starting conditions will result in different grids.


A parameter that influences the way Sympathy chooses words during filling. The commonality of words in a dictionary typically ranges from around -10 to around +10: a word with many commonly used letters of the alphabet (such as STEER in English) has a high positive commonality, whereas a word with many rarely used letters of the alphabet (such as JAZZY in English) has a low negative commonality. Sympathy tries to choose words as close as possible to the user's desired commonality setting.


A diagram including horizontal and vertical spaces for interlocking answers.


A grid in which lights in the same direction are separated by unused cells (blocks) which are usually colored black. For example:


A grid in which lights are separated by bars, all cells typically being used. For example:


A grid in which there are no unchecked cells: either cells are blocks, or they are crossed by both vertical and horizontal lights. For example:


A light is a horizontal or vertical series of squares in the grid, usually filled with a single clue answer.


An unch is an unchecked cell: i.e. one which is crossed by only one light.


A cell is a single square in the grid; if lights pass through it, then the solver is usually required to enter a single letter into it.


A block is a cell through which no lights pass; it is usually colored black.


A bar is the thick line at a cell boundary needed to delimit the lights in a barred grid.


The diagonal running from the top left hand corner of the grid towards the bottom right hand corner.


The diagonal running from the top right hand corner of the grid towards the bottom left hand corner.


Properties define the appearance of different parts of the grid. Properties can be customized for the whole grid, for a single light, or for a single cell.


In normalized mode, the cells forming a light are ordered from left to right (an across light) and from top to bottom (a down light). This is the mode that is used most of the time.


In unnormalized mode, the cells forming a light can be ordered from right to left (a reversed light) and from bottom to top (an up light) as well as the normal ways (across and down).


A list of words associated with a grid that the automatic filling process will never use.


A table of minimum and maximum numbers of unchecked letters allowed for particular light lengths. Sympathy shows which lights lie outside the acceptable range.


Fine horizontal and vertical lines between cells; these provide helpful guidance when the grid is being constructed, but do not appear in printed or exported output.


A printed line separating adjacent cells within a light.


An unused cell in the grid that has been designated as non-printing, rather than a foreground block. Holes are useful for creating irregularly shaped grids like this:


The line surrounding the printed parts of the grid. If there are holes in the grid, they are also surrounded by a border.


A light which only occupies one cell, typically requiring a one letter answer to be entered (these are very rare in crosswords). Single cell lights can be either across or down: Sympathy's direction arrows allow you to see the orientation of single cell lights.


Keyboard Guide

Help Keys

Text Entry Keys

Navigation Keys

Accelerators


Help Keys

F1	Help


Text Entry Keys

When a Light or Cell is selected, text entered into Sympathy's Main Window becomes associated with the light or cell:

When a light is selected, text entry keys change the text associated with the light at the cursor position. Such text is anchored to the light and moves with the light. Depending on the status of the Ins toggle key (shown on the Status Bar) characters typed will either overwrite or insert into the existing text. Pressing the Backspace key will remove characters to the left of the cursor, whereas pressing the Del key will remove characters to the right of the cursor. As a convenience, alphabetic characters are automatically mapped to their display equivalents (see the section on Alphabet Mapping for more information) and spaces are converted to match all characters. You can use the Light Properties Dialog to enter any characters you like into a light (including a space), regardless of the alphabet mapping.

You can use the Light Clear Command (which has Ctrl-Backspace as an accelerator) to clear all the text anchored to a light.

When a cell is selected, characters normally overwrite the text in both the lights crossing the cell and space (or Del or Backspace) clears the text in both the lights crossing the cell. When Caps Lock is on (shown on the Status Bar), characters overwrite the text anchored to the cell and space (or Del or Backspace) clears the text anchored to the cell. You can use the Cell Properties Dialog to get full control over what appears at a cell (for example, you can have any printable character in a cell, including space, or more than one character in a cell).


Navigation Keys

The behavior of the keys depends on whether a cell or light is selected:

TAB	Navigates through the cells from left to right, top to bottom; and through the lights in number order - acrosses first, then downs.

SHIFT TAB	Navigates in the reverse sense to TAB.

ARROWS	Changes the cell selection in the direction of the arrow.

Ctrl+ARROWS	Changes the light selection in the direction of the arrow.

HOME	Selects the top left cell, or the first light.

END	Selects the bottom left cell, or the last light.

PGUP	Selects the top right cell, or the first light in the section (acrosses or downs).

PGDN	Selects the bottom right cell, or the last light in the section (acrosses or downs).


Accelerator Keys

The key or key combinations shown to the right of menu items can be used as accelerators to perform menu commands quickly when working in the Main Window of Sympathy. For example pressing Ctrl and Del at the same time when a light is selected will cause it to be deleted.


Alphabet Mapping

Dictionaries used with Sympathy have an associated alphabet which determines how crosswords are constructed using that dictionary:

which characters are non-alphabetic and don't normally occupy cells in the grid;

which sets of characters are allowed to cross with each other during filling;

what master character should be displayed for such sets.

Although the alphabet in a dictionary is user configurable, the default mapping provided for use with word lists in the Windows ANSI Character Set will be used in the examples here.

When alphabetic characters are typed into the cell or light that has focus, they are mapped into the equivalent display character: for example, if a lower case e is typed in, it is mapped to and displayed as an upper case E. Similarly, é and É and all other accented Es are allowed to cross with unaccented Es, so are mapped to E. If this wasn't done, the words éclair, Expo and emu wouldn't be allowed to cross at their first letters. See the section on Text Entry Keys for more information.

During automatic filling, the definition of which characters are considered alphabetic is also important as it's used to determine which characters in a dictionary entry are actually included in the grid. For example, although dinner-dance and dinner table are both 12 characters long as dictionary entries, they fill 11 letter lights because space and hyphen are non-alphabetic. They are also entered as DINNERDANCE and DINNERTABLE because of alphabet mapping.

See the help file for the TEA&Sympathy Dictionary Builder for more detailed information about alphabets and how to customize them for a word list.


Parts of Screen
Parts of the main Sympathy Screen

Title Bar

Minimize Icon

Maximize Icon

System Menu

Sizing Border

Scroll Bars

Tool Bar

Status Bar

Main Window


Title Bar

The title bar shows the name of the Sympathy grid (.SYM) file being edited. If no file name has been specified since a new grid was created, the name is displayed as [Not Saved]. If the grid has been changed without being saved to file, [Save Required] appears after the name of the file.


Minimize Icon

Clicking on this reduces the Sympathy window to an icon on the desktop.


Maximize Icon

Clicking on this makes the Sympathy window fill the whole display.


System Menu

The standard Windows menu.


Sizing Border

You can resize the Sympathy window by dragging its edges or corners with the mouse.


Scroll Bars

If the window is too small to display the grid completely, horizontal or vertical scroll bars appear. You can use these scroll bars to view the hidden bits of the grid.


Tool Bar

The icons on the tool bar allow immediate access to the most used functions in Sympathy. To find out which function is performed by an icon, position the pointer over the icon: the text in the Status Bar shows what action will take place.


Status Bar

The status bar shows the status of the Caps Lock, Num Lock and Ins keys at the right hand side. The text area to the left shows the following information:

Hint text. When the pointer is positioned over a Tool Bar icon or a menu item, hint text describes what action would take place.

Status text. When a light or cell is selected, information about the light or cell is displayed; when a light is being manipulated, information about the new position of the light is shown.


Main Window

The main window contains a view of the crossword grid being edited. This may be slightly different to the printed grid to make editing easier; for example, the grid may be scaled and may have special rules and markers. These "view only" aspects of the grid are controlled using the View Properties dialog.

For the purposes of mouse interaction each Cell is split into two zones. You use the outer zone to interact with the Light or lights crossing a cell; and the inner zone to interact with the cell itself. The shape of the cursor indicates what would happen if the mouse button were pressed at the mouse position.

Pressing the mouse down in the center of a square and releasing in the same square selects the cell. It then has focus and keys pressed will change the text appearing in the cell (see Text Entry Keys). If the Cell Properties Dialog is active, all the other properties of the cell can also be seen and changed.

Pressing the mouse down in the center of a square and releasing in a different square creates a new Light. The direction you do this in determines the light direction in Unnormalized Mode. You can create a single cell light by dragging out of the initial square, then back in again. The Status Bar shows information about the new light that would be created.

Clicking the mouse on the edge of a square selects the appropriate light (if any). It then has focus with the editing position at the square; keys pressed will change the text associated with the light (see Text Entry Keys). If the Light Properties Dialog is active, all the properties of the light can be seen and changed.

You can drag a light to a different position in the grid by pressing the mouse button down over the side of the light, moving the light to the desired position and then releasing the mouse button to drop the light. The Status Bar shows information about the new light position as you do this.

You can drag the end of a light to a new position (changing its length or direction) by pressing the mouse button down over the end of the light, moving it to the desired position and then releasing the mouse button to drop the light end. The Status Bar shows information about the new light position as you do this.

Double clicking in the center of a square pops up the Cell Properties Dialog to allow the appearance of the cell to be changed.

Double clicking on the edge of a square crossed by a light pops up the Light Properties Dialog to allow the appearance of the light to be changed.

The light (plus any symmetrical ones) can be deleted using the Light Delete command. Similarly, the direction of the light can be reversed using the Light Reverse command (this is only available in Unnormalized Mode).

Double clicking outside of the grid itself pops up the Grid Properties Dialog to allow the overall appearance of the grid to be changed.


What's New

The major new features in this release of Sympathy are:

Integrated word search. Using the Filling Word Search Command, you can now search for words from the current dictionary using TEA Patterns: if a light is selected, a list of all the words that could fill the light can be generated; any word can be selected and committed as the text for the light. See the section on the Word Search Dialog for more information.

Interactive filling. You can now optionally take a more active part in the filling process: in Interactive Filling Sympathy invites the user to select from the list of words it is considering at each level. Users can switch between Interactive Mode and Automatic Filling as often as necessary during the filling process. See the Filling Normal Fill Command for more information,

Random initial word in filling. You can now opt to start filling with a randomly selected first word: in Random First Word Mode the first word is chosen at random from the list of possibilities; in Consistent First Word Mode the first word is always the same for a given dictionary. See the Filling Properties Dialog for more information.

Undo. Any change to a grid can now be undone; immediately after an undo, the change that was removed can be reapplied. See the Edit Undo Command for more information.

Copy, Cut and Paste. Customized properties of the selected light or cell can now be copied, cut and pasted. This has two main uses: allowing words to be copied between a light in Sympathy and another Windows application; and allowing a particular customized appearance to be copied to several lights or cells. See the Edit Copy Command, Edit Cut Command and Edit Paste Command for more information.

Dictionary Lookup. Sympathy now allows words in the grid to be looked up in several third party dictionaries using the Edit Lookup Command. In a few cases (such as the Collins Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus), the lookup process is initiated from the third party product using a hot key: they use Sympathy's Edit Copy Command to read the word to be looked up.

Light editing in place. The text in a light can now be edited in place in the familiar Windows style: characters can be entered or deleted anywhere along the length of a light, either overwriting or inserting depending on the mode. See the section on Text Entry Keys for more information.

Tool bar and status bar. The Sympathy main window now includes a tool bar for quick access to the most important functions and a status bar to display hints about Sympathy functions and show useful status information during grid editing. See the sections on the Tool Bar and Status Bar for more information.

Include Numbers option. When exporting or printing a grid from Sympathy, you can now choose whether or not to include cell numbers. See the sections on the Print Dialog and Export Dialog for more information.

Across TEXT export option. You can now export a grid in Literate Software Systems Across TEXT format; you will then be able to use tools that read the Across TEXT format to complete the puzzle for publication on-line. See the section on the Export Dialog for more information.


What's Changed

Some familiar features of Sympathy had to be changed in order to introduce new functionality in this release:

Generalized dictionary format. Sympathy now has a new single-file dictionary format (with the suffix .TSD) to allow full support for European languages and user-configurable alphabets. SYMPATHY.INI and grid (.SYM) files containing references to an old format dictionary will need to be updated to reference a new TSD format dictionary: the first time they are loaded by Sympathy, a warning message will be displayed, and the Filling Properties Dialog should be used to load the corresponding TSD format dictionary. See the help file for the TEA&Sympathy Dictionary Builder for information about creating TSD format dictionaries from word lists.

Cell Block Command. The Cell Block Command now acts as a toggle and the shortcut has been changed to the return key (or Enter). This was done to make use of this common function simpler and more convenient on portables.

Del shortcut. In previous releases, Del acted as the keyboard short-cut for the Light Delete Command. The text in lights can now be edited in place: to be consistent with other Windows applications, the action of Del is now to delete the character at the cursor. To delete the selected light, and those symmetrical to it, use Ctrl+Del (i.e. you must now hold down the Ctrl key when you press Del to delete a light).

Changing the selected light. In previous releases, the arrow keys allowed you to move between different selected lights. The text in lights can now be edited in place and to be consistent with other Windows applications, the arrows move the cursor that indicates the editing position. To change the selected light, you must now hold down Ctrl at the same time as using the arrow key. See Navigation Keys for more information.

Mapping characters typed into the grid. In previous releases, Sympathy based its mappings on the 26 letter English alphabet: lower case letters were mapped to the equivalent upper case letters and the case of the letter typed into a cell determined whether it was anchored to the lights or cell. Now the alphabet is configurable as part of a dictionary and this controls Alphabet Mapping. The state of the Caps Lock key now determines whether letters typed into a cell are entered into the lights or anchored to the cell (see Text Entry Keys for more information).


System Menu Commands
Control Menu Commands

Restore Restores a Sympathy window to its previous size after it has been maximized or minimized.

Move Enables you to move a Sympathy window to another position.

Size Enables you to change the size of a Sympathy window.

Minimize Reduces a Sympathy window to an icon.

Maximize Enlarges a Sympathy window to its maximum size.

Close Quits the Sympathy application, or closes a Sympathy dialog.

Switch To (Windows 3 only) Opens the Task List, which you can use to switch between running applications and rearrange their windows and icons.


File Menu Commands

New Command

Open Command

Save Command

Save As Command

Print Command

Printer Setup Command

Export Command

License Command

Exit Command


File New Command

Creates an empty grid with the configuration specified in the Aspect Ratio Dialog.


File Open Command

This command enables an existing grid (.SYM) file to be opened for editing. The file is selected using the Open Dialog.


File Save Command

This command saves a grid to a grid (.SYM) file. If the grid file name isn't known, the Save As Dialog is popped up to allow the file name to be entered.

This command is disabled until a license to use Sympathy has been installed.


File Save As Command

This command saves a grid to a new file. The Save As Dialog is popped up to allow the file name to be entered.

This command is disabled until a license to use Sympathy has been installed.


File Print Command

Pops up the Print Dialog to enable the grid to be printed directly to a printer.


File Printer Setup Command

Pops up the Printer Setup Dialog to enable the printer used by Sympathy to be configured.


File Export Command

Pops up the Export Dialog to enable the grid to be exported to the clipboard or a file in various different ways.

One common use of this command is to copy the grid to a word processing document for merging with a set of clues.


File Old Open Command
File Open Old Command

Not applicable in this release.


License Command

Pops up the License Dialog to enable a license key to be entered.

This command is disabled when a license to use Sympathy has been installed.


File Exit Command

This closes the grid being edited and terminates the application.


 Edit Menu Commands

Undo Command

Cut Command

Copy Command

Paste Command

Lookup Command


Edit Undo Command

This command undoes the previous change to the grid. The change that was undone can be reapplied by using the Edit Undo Command a second time.

It is only available when a grid has been changed.


Edit Cut Command

This command deletes all the customized properties for the selected light or cell, copying them to the clipboard. They can then be pasted into several different lights or cells using the Edit Paste Command.

It is only available when a light or cell has been selected.


Edit Copy Command

This command copies all the customized properties for the selected light or cell to the clipboard. They can then be pasted into several different lights or cells using the Edit Paste Command.

It can also be used to copy words in a grid to another Windows application.

This command is only available when a light or cell has been selected.


Edit Paste Command

This command customizes the properties for the selected light or cell using the properties contained in the clipboard, obtained with the Edit Cut Command or Edit Copy Command.

This command is useful for duplicating a particular appearance (e.g. a color or font) into several lights or cells quickly. It can also be used to copy words from another Windows application into the Sympathy grid.

This command is only available when a light or cell is selected and there is some data available in the clipboard.


Edit Lookup Command

This command attempts to look up the word in the selected light in various third party dictionaries: the definition of the word will appear in whichever of the supported dictionaries is running at the time.

Most dictionaries provide interfaces that allow you to look up words from other applications such as word processors: Sympathy supports two styles of interface that are commonly used:

DDE Interface. Some dictionaries (such as those based on the CompLex software) support lookup from other applications using Dynamic Data Exchange.

Command Interface. With other dictionaries (such as the American Heritage Dictionary for Windows), applications send a Windows message to invoke a lookup command in the application.

Some other products (notably Collins Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus) support lookup from third party software using the standard Edit Copy Command: you press a hot key which is intercepted by the dictionary software (not Sympathy); the dictionary then does a clipboard copy from Sympathy to find out which word is being looked up.

This command is only available when a light is selected.


View Menu Commands

Properties Command

Graticule Command


View Properties Command

This command pops up the View Properties Dialog which enables the display-only aspects of the grid to be changed.


Graticule Command

This command toggles the display of the Graticule. In the early stages of grid construction, the graticule allows the boundaries between cells to be seen, so it is always enabled by default. When the grid is nearing completion, the graticule can be switched off, allowing the grid to be displayed as it would be printed.


Grid Menu Commands

Properties Command

Dimensions Command

Kill List Command

Unch Model Command

Statistics Command

Restart Command

Reflect Command

Rotate Command

Resize Command


Grid Properties Command

This command pops up the Grid Properties Dialog which enables parameters controlling grid appearance and editing to be changed.


Grid Dimensions Command

This command pops up the Grid Dimensions Dialog which enables the size of the grid and its components to be changed.


Grid Kill List Command
Kill List Command

This command pops up the Kill List Dialog which allows you to change the Kill List for the grid.


Unch Model Command

This command pops up the Unch Model Dialog which allows you to change the Unch Model for the grid.


Grid Statistics Command

This command pops up the Grid Statistics Dialog which allows information about the grid to be viewed.


Grid Restart Command

This command deletes all the lights and sets the grid back to the starting configuration: i.e. it will either contain all lights or all blocks, depending on the starting configuration selected in the Aspect Ratio Dialog.

This differs from the New Command in that any properties changed from their defaults in the Grid Properties Dialog or Cell Properties Dialog will be preserved.


Grid Reflect Command

This command reflects the complete grid in the Main Diagonal. This has the effect of turning all the across lights into down lights and vice versa.


Grid Rotate Command

This command rotates the complete grid through 90 degrees anticlockwise.


Grid Resize Command

This command pops up the Grid Resize Dialog which allows grid columns and rows to be added or deleted.

It is only available when a cell is selected to indicate whereabouts in the grid the columns or rows should be added or deleted.


Light Menu Commands

Properties Command

One-shot Fill Command

Light Undo Fill Command

Light Commit Fill Command

Delete Command

Kill Word Command

Reverse Command

Clear Command

Clear All Command


Light Properties Command

This pops up the Light Properties Dialog which allows the appearance of the selected light to be changed.

It is only available when a light has been selected.


Light Cycle Unches Command
Light One-shot Fill Command

This enters the next possible word in the selected light. It can be used to see whether there are any words in the dictionary that can fill a particular light, or to cycle through the possible words at a light just after a fill has completed.

The command doesn't change the letters that are "locked in" by filled crossing lights, unless all the letters are locked in (in which case, they are all ignored).

It is only available when a light has been selected which has at least one cell that doesn't have text entered by the user (or committed after a fill).


Light Undo Fill Command

This clears all the characters in the selected light that have been filled by the computer, either with the One-shot Fill Command or with the Normal Fill Command.

The command doesn't clear the letters that are "locked in" by filled crossing lights, unless all the letters are locked in (in which case, all the computer-filled letters are cleared).

If the selected light has no characters filled by the computer, the command will do nothing.

Use the Filling Undo Fill Command to undo all the lights in a single action.


Light Commit Fill Command

This can be used immediately after an automatic fill to convert characters in the selected light that were entered by the computer into "committed" characters, as if they were entered directly by you.

It is only available when the selected light is completely filled by the computer.

Use the Filling Commit Fill Command to commit all the lights in a single action.


Light Delete Command

This deletes the selected light and any lights symmetrical to it.

It is only available when a light has been selected.


Light Kill Word Command

If a light has been filled, the word can be added to the kill list using this command.

This is handy when the filling algorithm uses an undesirable word: when the filling is completed or interrupted, the light containing the word can be selected and the word added to the kill list. When the filling algorithm is run again, a different word will be used.

It is only available when a light has been selected which is completely filled.


Light Reverse Command

This reverses the direction of the light, turning an across light into a reverse light, a down light into an up light and vice versa.

It is only available when a light is selected in Unnormalized Mode.


Light Clear Command

This completely clears the fixed contents (all the characters entered by you) in the selected light.


Light Clear All Command

This clears the fixed contents in all the lights. This is intended as a quick way of reverting to an unfilled grid.


Cell Menu Commands

Properties Command

Block Command

Clear All Command


Cell Properties Command

This pops up the Cell Properties Dialog which allows the appearance of the selected cell to be changed.

It is only available when a cell has been selected.


Cell Block Command

This command is used to place a block at the selected cell, shortening or splitting any lights that used to pass through it.

It acts as a toggle, so that if the cell is already a block, it will be made part of a light - either by lengthening adjacent lights to project into the cell, or by creating new lights that cross the cell. If there are no lights surrounding the cell, then an across single cell light is created.

This command is not available if a block is selected in unconstrained checking mode (this can be set in the Grid Properties Dialog), since the action would be ambiguous - use the mouse to extend adjacent lights over the block as described in the Main Window topic.


Cell Clear All Command

This is a quick way of clearing all the text anchored to cells.


Filling Menu Commands

Properties Command

Word Search Command

Normal Fill Command

Unch Fill Command

Filling Undo Fill Command

Filling Commit Fill Command


Filling Properties Command

This pops up the Filling Properties Dialog which allows the behavior of the automatic filling process to be changed.


Filling Word Search Command

This pops up the Word Search Dialog which allows you to search for words in the currently loaded dictionary that match a pattern. If a light is selected, the default pattern is one that will find all the words that could be used to fill the light.


Filling Normal Fill Command

This starts a complete fill of the grid; during filling, the Fill In Progress Dialog appears allowing the automatic filling to be interrupted.

It is only available when there are unfilled lights in the grid.


Filling Unch Fill Command

This can be used immediately after a normal fill to adjust the unches to a different commonality level (set using the Filling Properties Dialog).

It is only available between running the Normal Fill Command and the Filling Undo Fill Command or Filling Commit Fill Command commands.


Filling Undo Fill Command

This can be used immediately after an automatic fill to clear all the characters entered by the computer.

It is only available after running the Normal Fill Command.

Use the Light Undo Fill Command to undo the fill in a single light.


Filling Commit Fill Command

This can be used immediately after an automatic fill to convert all the characters entered by the computer to "committed" characters as if they were entered directly by you. Only the committed characters are printed, exported and saved to the grid (.SYM) file.

It is only available after running the Normal Fill Command.

Use the Light Commit Fill Command to commit the fill in a single light.


Help Menu Commands

Contents

How to Use Help

About Sympathy


Help Contents Command

Starts the help application and displays the contents page of the Sympathy help file.


How to Use Help Command

Starts help on How to Use Help topic


About Command

This opens Sympathy's About Box


View Properties Dialog

This allows properties that only affect the displayed appearance to be changed:

Zoom To allows the grid to be scaled up or down from the normal (100%) setting.

Light Direction Arrows Shown controls how light direction arrows are displayed for lights. Direction arrows are used for two purposes: to point out the lights with unching outside that set in the Unch Model; and also to show the direction of lights entered in Unnormalized Mode which otherwise isn't obvious.

Filling Redisplay Frequency controls how often the display will update when the filling process is running. The grid takes time to redisplay, so the faster settings will slow the filling down a little.

Underunched Color controls the color used to display the direction arrows for underunched lights.

Overunched Color controls the color used to display the direction arrows for overunched lights.

Main Branch Filling Color controls the color used to display words entered as the "main branch" during filling.

Side Branch Filling Color controls the color used to display words entered in a "side branch" during filling. This is also the color that's used for uncommitted words after filling completes.

Save As Defaults saves the settings in the SYMPATHY.INI file so they are the defaults when the program starts up.


Grid Properties Dialog

This allows properties that affect the appearance of the complete grid to be changed. Some of these can be overridden for a light (using the Light Properties Dialog) or a cell (using the Cell Properties Dialog).

Grid properties can either have a default value taken from the SYMPATHY.INI file, or a customized value saved in the grid (.SYM) file. The box to the left of the property name is checked if the property has been customized for the grid. The property reverts to the default value if you uncheck the box; if the box is checked, the value shown for the property is saved with the grid.

Description allows a description of the grid to be saved with it.

Numbering determines whether lights are automatically numbered by default.

Number Posn determines whether lights are numbered in their first cell or the top left cell. For across and down lights, these are the same; but for reverse and up lights (created in Unnormalized Mode) these are different: If the setting is First Cell, numbers always appear at the first cell, i.e. the lowest cell in up lights and the rightmost cell in reverse lights. If the setting is Top Left Cell, numbers always appear in the top left cell, i.e. the topmost cell in up lights and leftmost cell in back lights. This is useful if you want to hide the use of reverse direction lights from the solver.

Symmetry determines the set of lights that are added, moved and deleted when a single light is manipulated. The icons in the combo box provide a graphical illustration of the symmetry modes.

Checking Mode can be set to 100% to force the grid to stay 100% checked after any change to the grid; this mode is very useful for creating Fully Checked grids. If this behavior isn't desired, the Unconstrained setting should be selected (Barred Grids can only be constructed in unconstrained checking mode).

Direction Mode determines whether lights are normalized when they are added. In Normalized Mode, only across and down lights are allowed: if you attempt to make lights back or up, they flip round. In Unnormalized Mode reverse and up lights are allowed; these are filled from right to left and bottom to top, whether manually, or by the computer. Light direction arrows can be enabled in the View Properties Dialog allowing the directions to be seen.

Background determines the default background color for lights in the grid. Clicking on the existing color pops up the Color Selection Dialog which allows the color to be changed. The background color can be overridden for individual lights using the Light Properties Dialog and for individual cells using the Cell Properties Dialog.

Foreground determines the color used for the border, bars, blocks and rules. Clicking on the existing color pops up the Color Selection Dialog which allows the color to be changed.

Number font determines the font used for numbering the grid. Clicking on the existing font pops up the Font Selection Dialog which allows the font to be changed.

Text font determines the default text font used for lights in the grid. Clicking on the existing font pops up the Font Selection Dialog which allows the font to be changed. The text font can be overridden for individual lights using the Light Properties Dialog and for individual cells using the Cell Properties Dialog.

Block Type determines whether blocks are by default the foreground color (typically black) or a hole in the grid.

Save as defaults saves a group of properties in the SYMPATHY.INI file, which means they will be the default for all grids edited in Sympathy.


Kill List Dialog

This dialog allows the list of words that the filling algorithm does not use to be changed.

To add a word to the kill list, enter it into the box below the list and press the Enter key or click on Add. To delete words, either double click on them, or select one or more of them in the list and click on Delete.

To dismiss the dialog, click on the Close button.


Unch Model Dialog

This dialog allows the rules used to report on unching to be changed.

The main part of the dialog is a table of the minimum and maximum numbers of unchecked cells allowed for lights of a particular length. There is also a rule for the maximum number of consecutive unchecked cells for lights of any length. These can be filled with one of the four built in unch models:

None disables the unch model by setting the minimum number of unches to 0 and the maximum number of unches to the light length.

Blocked Grid sets up an unch model suitable for blocked grids.

Ximenean Barred Grid sets up the rules suggested by Ximenes for barred grids.

Fully Checked sets the rules such that all used cells must be crossed by two lights: this is the constraint for fully checked grids.

The unch model set up from these built in templates can be modified as desired and saved with the grid being edited or as the default for all grids using the Save as Defaults button. The Customized check box shows whether the unch model has been customized for the grid being edited.

OK should be pressed to apply the unch model to the grid display and dismiss the dialog. This allows the effect of the model on the grid and grid statistics to be seen.

Cancel can be used to abandon changes to the unch model.

Apply can be pressed to apply the unch model to the grid display without dismissing the dialog. This allows the effect of the model on the grid and grid statistics to be seen.


Grid Resize Dialog

This dialog allows the number of rows and columns in the grid to be changed by inserting or deleting rows and/or columns at any desired position.

The position at which columns and rows are added or deleted is based on the position of a selected cell. A cell must therefore be selected before popping up this dialog.

The Number of columns and Number of rows fields determine how many columns or rows are added or deleted.

The Column Action and Row Action determine how the grid is resized:

If Add cells to left/above selection is chosen, the number of columns and/or rows entered will be added immediately to the left of and/or above the selected cell.

If Add cells to right/below selection is chosen, the number of columns and/or rows entered will be added immediately to the right of and/or below the selected cell.

If Delete cells at and to right of/below selection is chosen, the column and/or row containing the selected cell will be deleted, together with columns and/or rows immediately to the right and/or below, as necessary to make up the number of columns and/or rows entered.

Note that when the grid is resized, the symmetry mode set up in the Grid Properties Dialog is preserved. This can cause unexpected results, with other columns or rows being added or deleted other than those specified. If you don't want symmetry to be taken into account, temporarily set the symmetry mode to none. It's also a good idea to save the grid before a resize, if you're not sure what the effect will be.

OK should be pressed to resize the grid when the desired parameters have been entered.

Cancel can be used to abandon resizing of the grid.


Light Properties Dialog

This dialog allows properties that affect the appearance of a single light to be changed.

Light properties can either have a default value derived from the grid properties, or a customized value saved with the light in the grid (.SYM) file. The box to the left of the property name is checked if the property has been customized for the light. The property reverts to the default value if you uncheck the box; if the box is checked, the value shown for the property is saved with the light.

If the properties for an across and down light are incompatible, the across light property takes precedence. In the case of incompatible numbers and contents, the incompatibility is shown on the display using reverse video.

Number determines the number printed for the light. If numbering is enabled in the Grid Properties Dialog a default number will be displayed for the light. This can be overridden with a different number or text; if no number is required for the light, this can be achieved by deleting the text in the box. Note that the "number" can in fact be any printing characters desired.

Text font determines the text font used for the light; a default font is determined from the setting in the Grid Properties Dialog. Clicking on the existing font pops up the Font Selection Dialog which allows the font to be changed. The text font can be overridden for individual cells using the Cell Properties Dialog.

Background determines the background color for the light; a default color is determined from the setting in the Grid Properties Dialog. Clicking on the existing color pops up the Color Selection Dialog which allows the color to be changed. The background color can be overridden for individual cells using the Cell Properties Dialog.

Text determines what word is displayed in a light. This could have been entered by you or by the Filling Commit Fill Command after running the automatic filling process.

The text is placed a cell at a time into the light. If the text string is shorter than the length of the light, the remaining contents is padded with non-displaying match-all characters. If the text string is longer than the length of the light, the surplus characters are ignored.

Case differences are significant here, so that lower case letters could be entered if necessary (text entered directly in the Main Window can be changed because of Alphabet Mapping).

Non-alphabetic characters can also appear in the string: dot is the match-all character. Other characters are displayed as-is. The automatic filling algorithm makes no attempt to fill a light consisting ONLY of printing characters (anything that can be entered other than a dot). However, if a light includes at least one match-all character, the Filling Normal Fill Command will try to fill it, provided that all the other characters are alphabetic.

By default, each cell accounts for a single character of the light contents; however, it is possible for cells to have more than one character allocated for them using the Cell Properties Dialog.


Cell Properties Dialog

This dialog allows properties that affect the appearance of a single cell to be changed.

Cell properties can either have a default value in the context of the grid and light properties, or a customized value saved with the cell in the grid (.SYM) file. The box to the left of the property name is checked if the property has been customized for the cell. The property reverts to the default value if you uncheck the box; if the box is checked, the value shown for the property is saved with the cell.

If the properties for a cell are incompatible with those for the light(s) crossing it, the cell property takes precedence. In the case of incompatible numbers and contents, the incompatibility is shown on the display using reverse video.

Block Type determines whether a block is shown as the foreground color (typically black) or a hole in the grid. This can only be changed for a cell that has no lights running through it.

Text associates characters (usually just one) with a cell. It is intended to be used for thematic material not associated with an individual light (e.g. messages in diagonals).

Case differences are significant here, so that lower case letters could be entered if necessary (text entered directly in the Main Window can be changed because of Alphabet Mapping).

The text can also be non-alphabetic: the filling algorithm makes no attempt to fill a light consisting ONLY of printing characters (anything that can be entered other than a dot). However, if a light includes at least one match-all character, the Filling Normal Fill Command will try to fill it, assuming that all the other characters are alphabetic.

The text can consist of more than one character: for example, if '..' is entered as the text for a cell, two characters from the crossing light(s) will be entered into the cell. The text can also consist of no characters at all: this is one way of creating a completely blank cell in an otherwise filled grid; text from the light will skip the empty cell. Note, however, that the Filling Normal Fill Command will not fill lights with no-character or multi-character cells: such lights must be completely filled by you before the automatic filling algorithm is started.

Text font determines the text font used for the cell; a default font is determined in the context of the grid and light(s). Clicking on the existing font pops up the Font Selection Dialog which allows the font to be changed.

Background determines the background color for the cell; a default color is determined in the context of the grid and light(s). Clicking on the existing color pops up the Color Selection Dialog which allows the color to be changed.

Number determines the number printed in the normal (top left hand or north-west corner) position in the cell.

If the cell needs to be numbered because of a light crossing it, then it will have a default number; this number can be overridden.

If the cell has no number by default, one can be added by editing the property. Note that the "number" can in fact be any printing characters desired.

NE Number, SE Number, SW Number allow numbers to be entered in the north-east, south-east and south-west corners of the cell.


Filling Properties Dialog

This dialog allows properties affecting the automatic filling algorithm to be edited.

Dictionary clicking on Change... allows you to pop up the Open Dialog to change the dictionary used for filling; the dialog box will allow you to search for a dictionary file. When a valid dictionary is loaded, its description, length range and number of entries are displayed.

First Word allows you to choose between Consistent First Word Mode

and Random First Word Mode.

Start Mode determines whether filling starts in Automatic Filling or Interactive Filling mode. Once filling has been started, it is possible to switch between these modes using the Fill In Progress Dialog.

Normal Letter Commonality is the commonality setting that controls the words chosen during normal filling. With extreme positive values, the filling algorithm will choose the "easiest" words to fill around; with extreme negative values, the filling algorithm will choose the most "difficult" words to fill around.

In general, the higher the setting, the faster the fill. Lowering the setting causes the fill times to lengthen unpredictably.

This feature can be used to establish that a grid is fillable on the highest setting, then to lower the setting to see if any more "interesting" results appear given sufficient time.

Unch Letter Commonality is the commonality setting that controls the choice of words during unch filling. With extreme positive values, the filling algorithm will choose the most common letters and letter combinations; with extreme negative values, the filling algorithm will choose the rarest letters and letter combinations.

Unlike the Normal Letter Commonality, the setting doesn't greatly affect the unch filling time, which is linearly dependent on the dictionary size.

This can be used to force in the rarest possible words (by just changing unches) after a normal fill.


Word Search Dialog

This dialog allows you to search for words in the currently loaded dictionary (the one shown in the Filling Properties Dialog) that match a particular pattern. If a light is selected, the pattern defaults to one that will find all the words that can fill the light.

To search for a word, type a pattern (see TEA Patterns for more information) into the box to the right of the Pattern: label. The Start button stays grayed out until a valid pattern has been entered. The box for entering patterns is a combo box, so that you can also recall previously entered patterns from the list.

Press the Start button to start searching. The matched words will appear in the list labeled Matches. When a search is running, the length of the words being scanned is shown and a progress bar shows what proportion of the words of that length have already been scanned.

Press the Stop button to stop a search: after doing this, you can press Resume to continue the search.

If a light is selected, you can select a word in the list and press Commit to copy the word into the light.

If you have a supported third party dictionary installed on your computer and want to check the

meaning of any word in the list produced by a word search, select the word you are interested in and click on the Lookup button (or press return with the Ctrl button held down).

You can copy the results of a word search to the Windows clipboard by selecting the words you are interested in and clicking on the Export button.

Press Setup... to change your word search configuration using the Word Search Properties Dialog.


TEA Patterns

Simple Templates

Templates with Choice Lists

Templates with Wildcards

Simple Anagrams

Anagrams with Choice Lists

Anagrams with Wildcards

Templates and Anagrams Combined

Sub-Patterns

Macros

Escaping Special Characters


Simple Templates

The simplest form of pattern is just a template with letters at the positions that must be matched and match-all characters at other positions.

In the examples given in this section, '.' is used as the match-all character. In fact, you can use any non-alphabetic character as a match-all character.

Examples:

....

lists all the four letter words, and

m.nt.a

lists all the words matching the template M-NT-A:

mantra

mantua

Mentha

Montia


Templates with Choice Lists

If the character at a position in a word is known to be one of a set of letters, then this situation can be represented using a choice list.

A choice list is entered by giving the list of possible letters between square brackets '[' and ']'. The complete choice list matches just one letter in the word.

If the list of letters begins with a caret ('^'), the sense is negated: only letters not in the choice list are matched.

Examples:

[abcd]ean

lists the four letter words starting with either A, B, C or D and ending EAN:

bean

dean

we[air]..er

lists the 7 letter words starting with either WEA, WEI or WER and ending --ER:

weanyer

wearier

weather

weigher

Werther

q[^u]..

lists the 4 letter words starting with Q, but not followed by U:

qadi

qoph


Templates with Wildcards

Gaps in the template that can be of variable length are indicated by the '*' wildcard. The '*' wildcard matches zero or more letters in the word. The use of wildcards implies that different lengths of words may be found.

Examples:

bluest*

lists words of any length starting with BLUEST:

bluestem

bluestone

blue-starry

bluestoner

blue-stained

blue-stemmed

blue-striped

*robin*

lists words of any length including ROBIN anywhere:

robin

robing

eurobin

robinet

Robinia

robinin

sea robin

*.boule.*

lists words of any length including BOULE anywhere except the start and end:

upboulevard

probouleutic

proboulevard

symbouleutic


Simple Anagrams

Anagrams are specified by including a semicolon (';') in the pattern, followed by the elements of the pattern that can be matched in any order:

Examples:

;easting

lists all the anagrams of EASTING:

easting

gainset

Genista

genista

ingesta

seating

signate

teasing

Anagram patterns can also include match-all characters. Like the anagram letters, they can be matched at any position in the word.

;string.

lists all the words including the letters in STRING plus one arbitrary letter:

gastrin

G string

resting

staring

stinger

stringy


Anagrams with Choice Lists

Choice lists can be used in anagram patterns, when one of the constituent letters in the anagram isn't known exactly.

A choice list is entered by giving the list of possible letters between square brackets '[' and ']'. The complete choice list matches just one letter in the word.

If the list of letters begins with a caret ('^'), the sense is negated: only letters not in the choice list are matched.

Examples:

;br[au]sh

lists the anagrams of BRUSH and BRASH:

brash

brush

shrab

shrub

;q[^u][^u][^u][^u]

lists the five letter words containing a Q, but no U:

bar-b-q

Iraqi

Qajar

qanat

Qatar

Q-boat

Q-celt

qibla

Q-ship

talaq


Anagrams with Wildcards

Wildcards can be used in anagram patterns, when the word being sought is known to contain a particular set of letters, but its exact length isn't known.

Examples:

;abcdefg*

lists the words of any length including all the letters A-G:

back-fanged

bright-faced

black-figured

cartridge buff

deflecting bar

bleaching field

boarding officer

comb-fringed grass

double-refracting

proficiency badge


Templates and Anagrams Combined

A template and anagram can be used together. A ';' marks the boundary between the template part of the pattern and the anagram part of the pattern.

Examples:

..a....;easting

lists the anagrams of EASTING that also match the template --A----:

seating

teasing

The number of letter positions specified in the template and anagram do not have to agree. When the anagram has more letters than the template, only the number of letters required for the template need to be matched from the anagram part.

....;donet

lists all the words that can be made up from 4 out of the 5 letters of DONET:

dent

done

don't

dote

Eton

node

note

tend

toed

tone

If the template includes a wildcard, then the range of word lengths from the smallest length implied by the template to the length implied by the anagram is treated as above.

.........*;sportscaster

lists words longer than 9 letters made up of the letters in SPORTSCASTER:

attercrop

cross seat

cross-star

pastoress

prostrate

Sarcoptes

spectator

tapstress

cross strap

When the anagram has fewer letters than the template, the anagram is automatically padded with match-all characters to the length of the template.

.......w;krs

.......w;krs*

.......w;krs.....

are all equivalent and list the 8 letter words ending W and including the letters K, R and S anywhere along their length:

rickshaw

stark-new


Sub-patterns

Sub-patterns can also be used as a match element within the template or anagram part of a pattern. Sub-patterns are surrounded with round brackets '(' and ')'.

If a sub-pattern is specified as part of the template, the sub-pattern is matched at the exact position within the template. The usual reason for doing this is to include an anagram specification within a template.

Examples:

.(;reed).

lists the 6 letter words that have an anagram of REED as the middle 4 letters:

breedy

greedy

Hedera

herder

teredo

verdea

verdet

If the sub-pattern is specified as part of the anagram, then the sub-pattern can AS A UNIT be matched anywhere in a word. This is useful when a word is known to contain a particular sequence of letters, but where the exact position isn't known:

.a.........er;(and)

lists the 13 letter words that match the template -A---------ER and include the letters AND together, at any position in the word:

candlelighter

candle snuffer

garland flower

landing waiter

Pan-afrikander

salt-and-pepper

wall germander


Macros

Macros are a quick way of entering a common sequence of characters into a pattern. Sympathy supports two macro characters - at ('@') and hash ('#'). When these are encountered in a pattern, they are replaced by the characters set up in the Word Search Properties Dialog.

One common use for this would be to set up choice lists specifying vowels and consonants: by default @ expands to [aeiou] and # expands to [^aeiou].

Examples:

#@#@#@#@#@#@#@

lists the 14 letter words containing consonants and vowels alternately:

pararosaniline

recapitulative

rehabilitative

supererogative

verisimilitude


Escaping Special Characters

If a special character used in the TEA syntax ever needs to specified as a real 'letter', this can be done by preceding it with the backslash ('\') escape character.

Note, however, that most standard dictionaries will be built such that non-alphabetic characters (including all the special characters in the TEA syntax) are insignificant and therefore considered as match-alls. The need to escape special characters is really only relevant to dictionaries built with a non-standard Alphabet Mapping.

Examples:

;.\..\..\..\.

lists the four letter abbreviations in a dictionary where dot is alphabetic:

I.N.R.I.

R.S.V.P.

S.P.Q.R.

U.S.S.R.


Word Search Properties Dialog

This dialog allows you to configure the way the Word Search Dialog works.

In the Length Range Searched section, you can configure the shortest and longest words that will be searched for using the Minimum Letters and Maximum Letters settings: it is often useful to set these in conjunction with patterns containing wild cards so that searching doesn't extend beyond words of a particular length range.

In the Pattern expansions section, you can configure how the @ and # macros are expanded within TEA Patterns.

You can also determine whether the output will appear in the same order as in the dictionary or sorted alphabetically: dictionaries used with Sympathy will typically be ordered based on letter frequency. Check Sorted to get alphabetically sorted output.

Save As Defaults allows the current settings to be saved to the TEA.INI file so they will apply every time you use Sympathy (and the stand-alone version of TEA).


Grid Statistics Dialog

This displays statistics about a grid; it is modeless, so it can be kept open while the grid is worked on.

The following information is displayed:

Columns is the number of vertical columns that could be used in the grid.

Rows is the number of horizontal rows that could be used in the grid.

Across Lights is the number of across lights in the grid.

Down Lights is the number of down lights in the grid.

Total Lights is the sum of the across and down lights.

Unchecked cells is the number of cells crossed by one and only one light.

Used cells is the total number of cells crossed by a light.

Unchecked Ratio is the ratio of Unchecked Cells to Used cells expressed as a percentage

Consecutively Unched Lights displays any lights that exceed the maximum number of consecutive unches set up in the Unch Model for the grid.

Overunched Lights displays any lights that have too many unchecked cells for their length, according to the information set up in the Unch Model.

Underunched Lights displays any lights that have too few unchecked cells for their length, according to the information set up in the Unch Model.

Light Distribution displays the number of lights at each length as a bar chart.

The unch rules used in this view are set up in the Unch Model Dialog.


Aspect Ratio Dialog

This appears when a new grid is created to allow the number of rows and columns to be entered.

Number of columns allows the number of columns to be set, either by entering the number as text, or by using the arrows.

Number of rows allows the number of rows to be set, either by entering the number as text, or by using the arrows.

Start with determines the initial configuration of the grid: if a Fully Checked grid is being constructed, it is probably easiest to start with All lights and add blocks where necessary using the Cell Block Command; otherwise, it is probably easiest to start with No lights and add them using mouse actions in the Main Window.

Save as defaults saves the chosen settings as the defaults that will be used each time the application starts up.

OK should be pressed to create the new grid when the desired configuration has been entered.

Cancel can be used to abandon creation of the new grid.


Open Dialog

This is the Windows common dialog box for selecting the name of a file to be opened. Its main use is to select a Sympathy grid (.SYM) file for opening.

It is also used from the Filling Properties Dialog to select a dictionary (.TSD) file for use by the automatic filling algorithm.


Save As Dialog

This is the Windows common dialog box for selecting the name of a file to be saved. It is used to determine the name of a Sympathy grid (.SYM) file.


Print Dialog

This dialog allows parameters affecting how a grid is printed to be changed.

Grid Offset X and Grid Offset Y allow the offset of the grid from the top left hand corner of the paper to be changed temporarily. The default values and units are those set up in the Grid Dimensions Dialog.

Include answers determines whether the solver's grid (answers shouldn't be included) or the solution grid (answers should be included) is printed.

Include numbers determines whether the cell numbers are printed.

Copies determines how many copies of the grid are printed.

OK should be pressed to print the grid when the desired parameters have been entered.

Cancel can be used to abandon printing of the grid.

Setup can be clicked to pop up the Printer Setup Dialog allowing the printer used by Sympathy to be changed.


Printer Setup Dialog

This is the Windows common dialog box allowing a printer to be selected and configured.


Printer Cancel Dialog

This is the Windows common dialog box allowing a print job to be canceled.


Color Selection Dialog

This is the Windows common dialog box allowing a color to be selected.


Font Selection Dialog

This is the Windows common dialog box allowing a font to be selected.


Export Dialog

This dialog allows the grid to be exported in various ways.

Data to export allows you to decide between the following different ways of exporting the grid:

as a Picture (.WMF file) for inclusion in a word processing document, perhaps

as Text for sending by e-mail, for example

as a device independent Bitmap (.BMP format)

as a List of Answers, providing a template for a set of clues

as Across TEXT for conversion to an on-line puzzle in Across format

Destination allows you to decide whether data should be copied to the Clipboard or saved to a File. If File is specified, you will be prompted for a file name after OK is pressed.

To copy a grid to a word processing document, export a Picture to the Clipboard and paste it in.

Include answers determines whether the solver's grid (answers shouldn't be included) or the solution grid (answers should be included) is exported.

Include numbers determines whether cell numbers are included in the exported output.

OK should be pressed to export the grid when the desired parameters have been entered.

Cancel can be used to abandon exporting of the grid.


License Dialog

This dialog allows you to enter a license key and enable all the features of Sympathy.

To enter a license, follow the instructions given with the license key.


Fill In Progress Dialog

This dialog pops up when the filling algorithm is running. The filling process starts with a quick check on all the lights with unfilled cells, and stops if any of the following problems are found:

There is no word that will fill a light, taking into account the lights crossing it.

A light includes cells that have multiple characters.

A light includes cells that have non-alphabetic characters.

In the above cases, the light which caused the filling to stop is displayed. Note that the filling algorithm can operate when there are cells with multiple characters or non-alphabetic characters, but only if they are embedded in lights that have been filled by you.

If this first stage completes successfully, Sympathy tries to fill the whole grid; if an unfilled light is selected, the fill starts at that light; otherwise Sympathy chooses a good place to begin; depending on the Start Mode defined in the Filling Properties Dialog, filling will start in either Automatic Filling or Interactive Filling mode:

In Automatic Filling the dialog simply displays status information. Click on Interrupt to pause the filling process and switch to Interactive Filling mode.

In Interactive Filling mode, the dialog displays the possible words for the light being filled. The words are listed with an indication of their commonality on the left hand side and sorted so that the words closest to the normal filling commonality (set in the Filling Properties Dialog) are displayed at the top. If you don't want to use any of the words in the list, but know another word that fits, you can enter this word in the box labeled Word:.

If you have a supported third party dictionary installed on your computer and want to check the

meaning of a word in the list, select the word you are interested in and click on the Lookup button (or press Return with the Ctrl button held down).

When you are happy with the word shown, click on Next or press Return to continue with Interactive Filling; double-clicking on an entry in the list is a quick way of selecting a word and doing a next; click on Back if you want to go back a level and change a previously filled light; click on Continue to switch to Automatic Filling.

During either type of filling, pressing Abandon quits the filling process. If this happens, the words entered up to that point are left transiently in the grid. It is possible to add these words to the Kill List by selecting the light and using the Light Kill Word Command, which stops them being used again.

OK appears when the fill has completed or failed and must be pressed to dismiss the dialog before work can continue. The following can be the result:

The filling process completely fills the grid. Any letters entered by the computer are considered transient and not really part of the grid until they are committed. They are identified by being in the different color set up in the View Properties Dialog.

The filling algorithm fails to fill the grid after testing all the possible combinations of words in the dictionary. In this case, no particular light will be indicated as causing the problem, as the filling algorithm is failing due to the combined constraints of a number of lights.

Filling is abandoned.

When the fill completes, the dialog displays the elapsed time taken; if the fill failed, the reason for the failure is given.


About box

This displays status, version and copyright information about Sympathy.


Grid Dimensions Dialog

This dialog allows parameters affecting the size of the grid to be changed.

Grid dimensions can either have a default value taken from the SYMPATHY.INI file, or a customized value saved in the grid (.SYM) file. The box to the left of the property name is checked if the dimension has been customized for the grid. The dimension reverts to the default value if the box is unchecked; if the box is checked, the current default value is saved with the grid.

Cell Width and Cell Height determine the width and height of each cell in the grid.

Bar Width and Bar Height determine the width of bars in the vertical or horizontal orientation.

Border Width and Border Height determine the width of the vertical border and the height of the horizontal border.

Nr Offset X and Nr Offset Y determine the offset of the numbers from the corners of their cells. The offset for the standard (top left hand or NE corner number) is from the top left of the cell to the top left of the number string; for the NE number it is the top right of the number string to the top right of the cell and so on.

Text Offset X and Text Offset Y determine the offset of the text from the corner of its cell. The offset is from the top left of the cell to the middle of the text horizontally and the baseline vertically.

Grid Offset X and Grid Offset Y determine the offset of the top left of the grid from the top left of the paper. These dimensions are only used when the grid is printed. They can be overridden on a one-shot basis in the Print Dialog.

Units allows the units in which dimensions are displayed in the dialog to be changed. Note that all dimensions are stored internally in twips (a twip is a twentieth of a point).

Width/Height Locked allows you to select whether all changes made to the width dimensions are copied to the height dimensions and vice versa.

Bar Style allows you to switch between the two possible styles for printing bars: in the Lopsided style, the bar is displayed above and to the left of the rule dividing cells; in the Centered style, the bar is centered around the rule dividing cells.

Save As Defaults allows the current settings to be saved to the SYMPATHY.INI file so they will be the defaults for all grids.

OK should be pressed to apply the dimensions to the grid display and dismiss the dialog.

Cancel can be used to abandon changes to the grid dimensions.

Apply can be pressed to apply the dimensions to the grid display without dismissing the dialog.


Tutorial
Tutorial Grids

The following grids supplied with Sympathy provide tutorial examples of increasing complexity:

checked.sym	a simple fully checked US style grid

blocked.sym	a simple 15x15 blocked grid

barred.sym	a simple 12x12 barred grid

shapes.sym	a fully checked grid with a non-orthogonal shape

colors.sym	a fully checked grid demonstrating light and cell colors

text.sym	a barred grid demonstrating light and cell text

numbers.sym	a barred grid demonstrating light and cell numbers

reverse.sym	a barred grid with reverse sense lights

fonts.sym	a barred grid demonstrating light and cell fonts


Release History
History

v0.1 (12 Apr 1993)

v0.2 (11 May 1993)

v0.3 (12 Jun 1993)

v0.4 (26 Sep 1993)

    Various releases for Sun/Motif.

v0.5 (27 Mar 1994)

v0.51 (2 Apr 1994)

v0.52 (11 Apr 1994)

v0.6 (31 May 1994)

v0.61 (2 Jun 1994)

    Alpha releases for PC/Windows.

v0.7 (22 Jun 1994)

    First Beta release for PC/Windows.

v0.8 (21 Aug 1994)

    Second Beta release for PC/Windows.

v1.0 (4 Sep 1994)

v1.01 (6 Sep 1994)

    First production releases for PC/Windows.

v1.05 (29 Jan 1995)

    Beta release.

v1.1 (19 Feb 1995)

    First production update of Sympathy v1.

v1.18 (2 Dec 1995)

    Public beta release.

v1.2 (7 Jan 1996)

    Second production update of Sympathy v1.

v1.21 (8 Apr 1996)

    Interim release.