Crosswords for Teachers V3.0 (documentation V3.0) (All trademarks acknowledged) Terms Used: Clicking -- Pressing the left mouse button once. Double-clicking -- Pressing the left mouse button twice in quick succession. Icon -- A small picture/logo/graphic WARNING!! It is very important that you always keep backup copies of all important programs and data, to guard against accidental loss!! All new discs should be treated with suspicion and should be scanned using an up to date virus scanner, from a reputable software writer, before use!! This documentation includes these sections: INTRODUCTION WHAT WAS NEW IN VERSION 2? WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3? USING AND INSTALLING THE PROGRAM RUNNING FROM THE FLOPPY DISC UNDER DOS RUNNING FROM THE FLOPPY DISC UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS HARD DISC INSTALLATION FOR THE CONFIDENT USING THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM STATUS BAR OPTIONS PROBLEMS WHEN PRINTING? SLIGHTLY SCRAMBLED LOOKING MENUS? ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION This is a crossword and wordsearch constructor designed for use by teachers/lecturers, to produce homework sheets for vocabulary reinforcement, simple end of topic tests and work sheets of a semi-recreational nature. It would also be appropriate for family recreational use and those involved with producing club/association newsletters etc. It also allows the user to create crossnumbers, which are suitable for practising mental arithmetic, tables, use of a calculator etc. Unless otherwise stated, what is said about crosswords also applies to crossnumbers and wordsearches. Crosswords for Teachers 3.0 requires 349K of RAM. It can be run from floppy disc or hard disc, as required, on XT or AT type computers. The user is able to enter a list of words using the Create option. These are then fitted together, as far as is possible, to produce the crossword. Alternatively words and clues can be selected from one or more libraries. It is also possible for a combination of these methods to be used. Users can create their own libraries, each containing up to 80 items. Each library item can have up to 3 clues associated with it. To ensure that as many words as possible will fit, it is recommended that a range of long, medium and short words are used. Up to 40 words can be entered in a crossword, although for most purposes around 20 is a good number. The grid size can be up to 24 by 14. A grid size of 24 by 12 leaves more space for clues and generally yields good results. The user can either enter the clues for each word, or select clues from the libraries. Once all the clues have been entered then the crossword can be printed out. The crossword can be saved at any time and continued later. Words, clues, the title and the grid size, can be edited at any time. Words or words and clues can be added at any time from a library. The program will automatically detect whether a chosen library contains words or numbers. Words and numbers are not allowed on the same crossword. When loading a puzzle, the program will detect whether it is dealing with a crossword, crossnumber or wordsearch and will adjust automatically. A "286+" version of the program is available, that will run faster, but requires a 286 or higher processor. See XWORD.REG for details of this and how to register. WHAT WAS NEW IN VERSION 2? 1. Word and number libraries. Users can create their own libraries, each containing up to 80 words or numbers. Each word or number can have up to 3 clues associated with it. Crosswords can be created entirely from library items, or a mixture of new and library items may be chosen. Using libraries it is possible to create a 20 word crossword and print it out in under 5 minutes. Two sample libraries are provided, COMPLIB (suitable for use with IT/CS/Information Studies classes) and TABLES (fairly simple arithmetic/tables library). Library functions can be accessed by pressing F10 from the main menu. 2. Crosswords and crossnumbers are available via one program. Version 2.0 brought together Crosswords for Teachers 1.06 and Crossnumbers for Teachers 1.06. 3. A much refined user interface, making the program easier to use. More information was provided to the user at all stages of crossword development. The program can be run in upper or lower case mode, choose "Print..." (option 7) followed by option 3 of the printing options menu, to toggle between the two modes. 4. The option of printing to disc, to allow crosswords and/or solutions to be imported easily into other packages. So far, I have only been able to load crosswords successfully into DOS packages. If anyone finds a way of importing them into Windows programs I would be delighted to hear from you! Choose "Print..." (option 7) followed by option 2 of the print menu, to toggle between printing to disc and printing to your printer. Print to disc files have a ".XPT" extension given to them. WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 3? 1. Wordsearches. These can be produced from scratch or using libraries, in the same way as a crossword. In addition a crossword can be converted into a wordsearch and vice versa. To convert a crossword to a wordsearch, first load the crossword. Then choose option 7 from the main menu "Print..." and choose "Change to wordsearch mode" from the printing options menu. The new wordsearch can then be printed, however the words will still interlock as in a crossword. If you want to change to a "wordsearch type" fit, press to return to the main menu followed by f8, Auto Refit (or Option 6, Refit Words) to refit the words. When compiling a wordsearch, it is often helpful to use main menu Option 6 (Refit Words) to examine different possible fits, as some are more challenging than others. Words are only ever placed in a horizontal or vertical direction, going forwards. A wordsearch can be printed out: i) By itself ii) With a list of the words iii) With a list of clues iv) With lists of words and clues (in different orders) 2. Setting a fitting target. To speed the fitting process, you might want to select say 22 items for a crossword, crossnumber or wordsearch and set a fitting target of say, 20. The fitting algorithm will halt as soon as it meets or exceeds the target. Wordsearches fit more easily than the other two types of puzzle. A "tables" crossnumber will need to be "seeded" with several longer numbers if you want to achieve a good fit. Otherwise go to the Printing Options menu and choose "Allow floating numbers" (see paragraph 3. below). If you abort during the fitting process, the program will revert to the best fit found so far. Every time a new best fit is found, it is indicated on screen by the highlighted numbers in the central box, which give the number of items that were fitted. 3. Floating words/numbers. If you are having trouble getting all your words or numbers to fit, you can opt to allow floating words/numbers. This means that once as many items as possible have been fitted, the program will then try and place any that remain, unconnected to the rest of the puzzle. This option is not applicable to a wordsearch and is disabled in wordsearch mode, with the menu option being shown in brackets. Choose option 7 "Printing..." from the main menu, followed by "Allow floating words/numbers", from the Printing Options menu. (This menu option toggles between allowing/not allowing floating words/numbers.) 4. A fully functioning string editor for clues. Both library and puzzle clues are now edited using a powerful string editor. The operating keys are: The arrow keys- move one space in the appropriate direction. Page Up - move to the beginning of the clue. Page Down - move to the end of the clue. Home - move to the beginning of the line. End - move to the end of the line. Insert - toggle between insert and overtype modes. Delete - delete the character at the cursor. Back Space - delete the character to the left of the cursor and move it back one space. When a clue first appears, it will be highlighted in green. To replace it with a new clue, simply start typing. If you press before you press then the new clue will be abandoned and the program will revert to the old clue. Otherwise press to accept the new clue. If you want to edit the old clue instead, your first key press must be a cursor movement key, but NOT the delete key, which will delete the entire clue at this stage. Press if you accidently lose the old clue to abort the editing session and reinstate the old clue. Once the green highlighting has disappeared you can edit as normal. 5. Normal/dark printing modes. The default, and previously the only printing mode was "normal" mode. This works well with ink-jet printers, however it may be a little light for some dot matrix printers. For this reason a dark print mode has been added, which may be accessed through the Printing Options menu (select Option 7, "Printing..." from the main menu) by pressing F2. Press F2 again to return to normal print mode. NB. This option only changes the density of the shaded out areas, it does not alter the density of the text, for example the title, clues etc. 6. An improved installation program. USING AND INSTALLING THE PROGRAM !Note! This section does not apply to discs supplied by a shareware vendor, since they usually provide their own installation programs. All that the user has to do is to run the file XWORD.EXE . The procedures for doing this under DOS and Microsoft Windows (trademark of Microsoft Corporation) are outlined below. The program can be run from floppy disc, although it is more convenient to set up a crosswords directory and copy the file XWORD.EXE onto your hard disc. If you are not familiar with copying files and setting up directories, an installation program has been written to set up a crosswords directory on your hard disc and copy the relevant files into it (see USING THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM below). For those of you that are interested, the following file extensions are used: .XWD Crossword/crossnumber/wordsearch files .XLB Library files .XPT Print to disc files RUNNING FROM THE FLOPPY DISC UNDER DOS If your computer has only one floppy disc drive then put the program disc into the drive and type: a:\xword (or ) at the DOS prompt. If you have more than one floppy disc drive then you may need to change the "a" to a "b" depending on which drive the disc is in. RUNNING FROM THE FLOPPY DISC UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS If your computer runs Microsoft Windows 3.0 or 3.1, then the program can be run from the File Manager by: 1. Double-clicking on the File Manager icon to start it. 2. Putting the program disc into a disc drive. 3. Clicking on the disc drive icon ( on a single drive computer, or on a twin drive computer). 4. Double-clicking on the file XWORD.EXE . HARD DISC INSTALLATION FOR THE CONFIDENT If you are familiar with file management, then all you need to do is set up a crosswords directory e.g. C:\XWORD3, and copy the file XWORD.EXE into it. You may also want to copy the various other files which include sample libraries and this text file. To run the program, make your crosswords directory the current directory and type XWORD . USING THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM To use the installation program, put the program disc into a disc drive and run INSTALL.EXE . This can be done from DOS by typing: A:\INSTALL or alternatively, B:\INSTALL if the disc is in drive B. From Windows you must: 1. Double click on the File Manager icon 2. Click on the "A" or "B" drive icon and 3. Double click on the icon for INSTALL.EXE Once installed, the Crosswords for Teachers can be run from Windows by double-clicking on the icon for the file XWORD.EXE in the File Manager. Alternatively you can add XWORD.EXE to an existing program group or create a new program group, so that the program is available on your desktop. XWORD.ICO is an icon that you may wish to use if you do this. Refer to your Windows manual for instructions on how to customise your desktop. STATUS BAR OPTIONS (Main menu) F1 - Help - One screen of basic instructions to get you started. F2 - Save - Once at least 2 words have been entered, you can save your work. You do not have to wait until the crossword is finished. F3 - B/W - Use to switch between colour schemes designed for black (or COL) and white and colour monitors. F4 - Show - Will show you the current crossword, once at at least two words have been entered. F6 - Files- Press F6 and to access DOS. This allows you to change your current directory, delete files etc. Type EXIT to return to the main menu. F8 - Auto Fit - Select this if you have tried alternative fits using the"Refit Words" option on the main menu, and want to return to the "best fit". Auto Fit works by repeatedly calling Refit Words and finding the arrangement that gives the best fit. F10- Lib - This gives you access to the library options. It will present you with a sub-menu, which allows you to select words from an existing library to add to your crossword, create a new library or to edit an existing library. A new crossword or crossnumber can be started from here, without going through the "Create puzzle" option. The program will automatically detect whether you have loaded a word or a number library and change mode if necessary. The grid will have the default size of 24 by 14. This can be changed later if required. To insert new words into a library, first choose "Edit Library" and enter the name of the library you wish to add to. Using PgDn and the arrow keys, take the pointer to an empty line and press . Type in the new word and any associated clues. "Edit Library" also allows you to delete words and their associated clues. Select the word to be deleted, then type "W" followed by "D ". PROBLEMS WHEN PRINTING? Usually the program will print quite happily on any printer, but a few people have experienced minor difficulties. This program uses a standard extended character set, which includes sets of lines and shaded blocks, as well as numbers and letters, in order to print out the grid. If the grid is not printing properly it may be because your printer is set up to use a more restricted character set. Look at a table showing code page 437 to see the type of line draw characters and shaded blocks, that you should have available. If you need to adjust your printer, you will have to change the function switches ("dip" switches) on your printer. Refer to your printer manual to locate the switches and to find the setting for an appropriate character set. Remember that you will have to turn the printer off and on again before the new settings are accepted. SLIGHTLY SCRAMBLED LOOKING MENUS? Most computers will be set to use code page 437 and this presents no problems. However, just occasionally a computer will be set to an alternative, such as code page 850. This results in some letters being output on screen in place of some of the corners of the menu boxes. This does not effect the performance of the program in any way, however it looks unsightly! The code page used can be easily changed by adjusting either your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files, see your DOS manual for instructions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to the following people, who have made useful suggestions which have been incorporated into the program: Mr. J.K. Groves of Banbury School (printing to disc). Mrs. Jean Hutchins of the British Dyslexia Association's Computer Committee (lower case mode). Mr J.A. Spiller of Stockport (light/dark print modes).