CONTENTS 1. Hard Drive Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. Quick Reference Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Using Word Search Puzzle Maker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Word List Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Puzzle Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Making a Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Customizing Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Making a Word List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Editing/Appending an Existing Word List . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Deleting Word Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1 INSTALLING WORD SEARCH PUZZLE MAKER ON A HARD DRIVE Make sure the WSPM (Word Search Puzzle Maker) disk is in the appropriate drive. Type the drive letter followed by a colon. For example, if the WSPM disk is in drive A you will type A: and Press ENTER. Now that your current drive is A, type INSTALL, your hard drive letter followed by a colon, and press ENTER. For example, INSTALL C: will install WSPM on drive C. The drive letter can be a letter from C to F. 2 QUICK START To get started and see what WSPM can do, run the program by typing WSPM at the DOS prompt. * WSPM will ask you to type C if you have a color monitor or M if you have a monochrome monitor. * The next prompt will ask you to give the disk drive you are using. Type in the drive letter where the WSPM files are located. * When the STATUS SCREEN pops up press F3. * Use the arrow keys to select a word list from the WORD LIST DIRECTORY. Press ENTER when the name of the list you want to hide is highlighted. * After the list is displayed on your screen, press ENTER at the prompt. * When WSPM is finished creating the puzzle, a command bar will appear at the bottom of your screen. Turn your printer on, press P, type 1 at the prompt, which asks for the number of copies to be printed, and press ENTER. * After your puzzle is finished being printed, you can make a printout of the solution. If you press S, the random letters are replaced with periods, leaving the words that were hidden exposed. Press P, type 1, and press ENTER. * That's it. You have just made your first word search puzzle using WSPM. Be sure and read the USING WORD SEARCH PUZZLE MAKER portion of this document for full instructions on how to make and edit your own word lists, how to use the CUSTOMIZING EDITOR to shape and customize puzzle grids, and how to change the puzzle settings to create 24 variations of word search puzzles. 3 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE F1 will display word list names found on the active drive. F2 allows the puzzle settings to be changed. 1st prompt allows drive to be changed. 2nd prompt allows grid size to be changed. 3rd prompt allows word listing for finished puzzle to be changed. 4th prompt allows the way words read in the grid to be changed. F3 hides a word list in a grid to create a word search puzzle. P makes printouts of the puzzle. A makes ASCII files of the puzzle for import or to print from DOS. S displays the puzzle solution. C allows the puzzle to be customized in the CUSTOMIZING EDITOR. H hides the same word list in a new puzzle. [CUSTOMIZING EDITOR] CTRL + B allows one of three brushes to be selected for use with CTRL + D. CTRL + B also effects CTRL + C and CTRL + F. CTRL + C displays a solution grid IF BRUSH IS SET TO DOTS OR STARS. CTRL + F replaces periods and stars with a random capital letter IF BRUSH IS SET TO LETTERS. CTRL + P makes printouts of the customized puzzle. CTRL + A makes ASCII files of the customized puzzle. CTRL + T changes the typing direction. CTRL + S toggles the number of spaces the cursor moves (between 1 and 2). CTRL + D allows the arrow keys to draw with whatever brush is active. It can also allow the arrow keys to erase periods and stars. CTRL + L allows word listing for finished customized puzzle to be changed. Press ENTER after listing option is selected. F4 allows a word list to be created and saved. S saves the list as it appears on the screen. A alphabetizes the list before it is saved. E goes back to editing the list. ESC exits without saving the list. F5 allows a saved word list to be edited and/or appended. S saves the edited list as it appears on the screen. A alphabetizes the list before it is saved. E goes back to editing the list. ESC exits without saving the changed list. F6 allows selected lists on the active drive to be deleted. F7 contains full documentation of the WSPM program. ESC will exit from most screens. 7 exits from the HELP mode. When all else fails, press ENTER without typing anything. 4 USING WORD SEARCH PUZZLE MAKER F1 displays on your monitor the names of any word lists, created by WSPM, found on the disk in the active drive. The active drive is the one you designated at the prompt on the title screen. A is the default drive, so if you just press ENTER, A is the active drive. * The directory is able to hold 152 word list names. If you copy the list files you create with WSPM to another disk, you must copy the DIRECTRI.TXT file along with all files that have the .WHL extension. Anytime you activate a new disk using WSPM, a DIRECTRI.TXT file is automatically created. This file holds the directory information which gives you access to the word lists saved on the disk by WSPM. 5 F2 is one of the keys to the versatility of this program. By changing the various settings you can create 24 variations of the word search puzzle. * The first prompt allows you to change drives. If you do not wish to change a particular setting, simply press ENTER and the next prompt will appear. * The second prompt allows you to select one of two grid sizes. The default grid is the large one which allows you to hide from 1 to 30 words, or groups of words, up to 15 characters long. The reduced grid will hold from 1 to 15 words or groups of words. * The third prompt allows you to select 4 different ways to list the words on your printout. 1. The default option lists the words as they are filed. 2. The second option gives the first letter of each word followed by a space for each letter thereafter. 3. The third option gives only spaces for each letter of the words. 4. The fourth option scrambles the letters of each word in the list. The words are not scrambled in the grid. * The fourth prompt gives 3 options on how words will read in the grid. 1. The first option causes WSPM to hide words horizontally reading left to right, and vertically reading top to bottom. 2. The second option causes some of the words to read backwards. 3. The default option causes the words to read in all directions including diagonally. 6 Select F3 when you are ready to create a puzzle out of a word list on the disk in the active drive. * When you select F3, WSPM will display on your monitor the names of the lists found on the disk. Use the arrow keys to highlight the list you wish to hide and press ENTER. * The selected word list will be displayed to allow you to see if you have chosen the correct list. If for any reason you do not want to hide the list being displayed, press ESC. If you wish to proceed with making the puzzle, press ENTER. * If you are creating a puzzle using the reduced grid, you will be given the option of hiding the first or second column of words. Each column will hold a maximum of 15 words, or groups of words. * Because WSPM randomly places the words one at a time in the grid, it may happen that all the words in the list will not go into the grid as they are being situated. If this happens you can either press C, which moves you to the CUSTOMIZING EDITOR, and place the remaining words into the grid manually (use CTRL + L=LIST, discussed later, to have the complete list displayed), or you can press P and print the puzzle as it is, or you can have WSPM try hiding the list again by pressing H. Using too many large words in a list will make it harder for WSPM to hide the list. For best results, try and keep words, or groups of words, under 10 letters and spaces long. * When the finished puzzle is displayed, you will have 6 options. 1. P=PRINT. Pressing P allows you to enter the number of copies you want printed. Type the number and press ENTER. Press the SPACE BAR to pause printing and press ENTER to resume printing or ESC to quit printing. 2. A=ASCII. A allows you to create an ASCII file of a puzzle. Even though WSPM cannot recall an ASCII file of a puzzle, the ability to create an ASCII file allows you to import puzzles into a word processing program to edit, work puzzles into newsletters, group two or more together to make large puzzles, and etc. 3. S=SOLUTION. S displays the solution of the puzzle. You are given all the same command options as with a puzzle. 4. H=HIDE AGAIN. H will cause WSPM to hide the same list again, creating a new puzzle using the same words. 5. C=CUSTOMIZE. C will switch you to an editing screen where you will be able to edit and customize the puzzle area displayed on the screen. See below for a detailed discussion of the editor. 6. ESC=EXIT. ESC will return you to the Hide List selection screen. 7 [CUSTOMIZING EDITOR] * The CUSTOMIZING EDITOR allows you to be creative, and manually change a grid's size, shape, add words, move words, and so on. You can also automatically or manually change the way the words are listed in the puzzle being edited. You must hold the CTRL key down as you press the letter commands discussed below. 1. CTRL + B=BRUSH. CTRL + B gives you three brushes you can draw with. Turn the drawing function on by pressing CTRL + D. You will then be able to draw using the arrow keys. The default brush is DOTS (periods). Pressing CTRL + B will change BRUSH to STARS, and pressing it again will change BRUSH to random capitol LETTERS. See the discussion on CTRL + C=CLEAR and CTRL + F=FILL below to discover what effect CTRL + B has on them. 2. CTRL + C=CLEAR. CTRL + C will display a solution grid of the puzzle being edited. The hidden words will be revealed and dots (periods) or stars (if the brush being used is STARS) will make up the rest of the grid. 3. CTRL + F=FILL. CTRL + F will replace any period or star on the screen with a randomly selected capital letter, if B=BRUSH is turned to LETTERS. This allows you to clear the grid exposing the hidden words, shape the grid using DOTS or STARS (periods are best when shaping the grid), and then let WSPM do the tedious job of placing the random letters. If you are drawing with DOTS and want to get a better idea of how your grid will look when it is finished, but you are not ready to have the random letters placed, change BRUSH to STARS and press CTRL + F; all the periods on the screen will be changed to stars. When you are ready to continue editing, change BRUSH to DOTS and press CTRL + F; all the stars on the screen will change back to periods. Of course you could change BRUSH to LETTERS and fill in your grid without going back to DOTS, if you decide you are finished after all. 4. CTRL + P=PRINT. CTRL + P will allow you to make printouts of the customized puzzle. 5. CTRL + A=ASCII. CTRL + A will allow you to make an ASCII file of the customized puzzle. 6. ESC=EXIT. ESC will return you to the Hide List selection screen. 7. CTRL + T=TYPING. CTRL + T allows you to type, in four different directions. Each time it is pressed, the typing direction changes. The arrow to the right of the T=TYPING, displayed at the bottom of your screen, shows the typing direction. 8 8. CTRL + S=SPACE. CTRL + S toggles the number of spaces the cursor moves (between 1 and 2) as you type or use the arrow keys to move or draw horizontally. 9. CTRL + D=DRAW. CTRL + D allows you to use the arrow keys to draw with whatever the B=BRUSH is set at, or to erase periods and stars. Pressing it once turns the DRAW function on. Pressing it again causes the arrow keys to erase periods and stars. Pressing it a third time turns it off. Please note that you can draw over dots and stars with LETTERS. However, you cannot draw over text with DOTS or STARS, and the ERASE will only erase periods and stars. You must erase text or place periods or stars over text manually. 10. CTRL + L=LIST. CTRL + L & ENTER gives you the same listing options for your customized puzzle as those given in the puzzle settings. Press CTRL + L, and you will see the listing options change in the display box to the right of L=LIST at the bottom of your screen. When the desired option is displayed, press ENTER. a. NORMAL, lists the words as they are filed. b. FIRST LETTERS, gives the first letter of each word followed by a space for each letter thereafter. c. SPACES, gives only spaces for each letter of the words. d. SCRAMBLED, scrambles the letters of each word in the list. 9 F4 allows you to create and save a word list to be hidden in a puzzle. The list names already being used on the disk in the active drive will be displayed. * Give your list a descriptive name from 1 to 8 letters/numbers long. If you chose a name already being used in the active drive, the new list will copy over the old one. * Your list can contain from 1 to 30 words, or groups of words, up to 15 letters and spaces long. If you finish your list before 30, press ENTER without typing another word. * You will be allowed to edit or append your list by typing the number of the word you want to change or space you want to fill and then press ENTER. If you want to change the name of the list, type 31, press ENTER, type a different name, and press ENTER again. * When you are finished editing your list, just press ENTER. A command bar will appear at the bottom of your screen. 1. Press S to save the list as it is. 2. Press A to have the list alphabetized before it is saved. 3. Press E to go back to editing the list. 4. Press ESC to exit without saving the list. 10 F5 allows you to edit and/or append a list that has already been saved. After the names of the lists in the active drive have been listed, use the arrow keys to highlight the list you want to alter and press ENTER. * After the words are listed and numbered, type the number of the word to be altered or the space to be filled. * If you want to change the name of the list, type 31, press ENTER, type a different name, and press ENTER again. You will not be able to change the name of an existing list to the name of another list that exists in the same directory. * When you are finished editing your list, just press ENTER. A command bar will appear at the bottom of your screen. 1. Press S to save the list as it is. 2. Press A to have the list alphabetized before it is saved. 3. Press E to go back to editing the list. 4. Press ESC to exit without saving the changed list. 11 F6 allows you to remove word list files from a word list directory. After the word list names in the active drive are displayed on your screen. Use the arrow keys to highlight the name of the list you want removed and press ENTER. Press ESC to exit the DELETE LIST mode. 12 F7 contains the documentation which explains how to work WSPM. * After you press F7, press the number of the function you want explained. Do not press the function key itself. * To move to the next screen, press ENTER. Continue pressing ENTER until you come to the end of the description and return to the HELP SCREEN. * From the HELP SCREEN, press the number 7 or ESC to exit the HELP mode.