Just like in the magazines, this
program will produce word search
squares, of dimensions you pick
with words you enter.
CHAIN "WRDSRCH".
The program starts by getting
a few things straight. It wants
to know whether you wish to
load in saved data or start
anew. To load data , enter 0 or
press RETURN. To start anew
enter the number of words that
you intend to put in.
Next enter the number of columns
followed by the number of rows
in the grid. The program then
asks for the words. It then
sorts them and puts them into a
grid. Words that could not be
fitted into the grid are then
listed.
The main menu is then presented
( if you loaded data in, the
menu appears after loading ).
Select with a single keypress:
A Alter a word.
You must know the number of the word
in the array. Enter this number,
then enter the new word
B Rebuild grid.
Uses the data already entered to
construct a different word square.
The program will also ask for the
name of an answer file. Pressing
RETURN without entering a name
will avoid creating an answer
file.
D Display the grid to screen.
F Fill unused spaces with random
letters. You have the option of
specifying what the letters are
, this will have the effect of a
secret word or phrase.
L Load previously saved data. Or
restart the program.
O Sort the words you have entered
alphabetically.
P Print the grid out. A grid of less
than 40 columns is printed with
spaces. More than that, there are
no spaces.
Q Spool the data to a text file
which can then be *PRINTED.
R Redefine the size of the grid.
S Save the words, grid and
associated info to disc
T Tries. Select the number of random
attempts at word placing before a
systematic search from top
to bottom starts.
U Unsort the words. You will need to
do this before commencing building
a new grid.
E End.
Answer files were mentioned in the
build grid option. If you choose
to create an answer file by
entering a filename when prompted,
a file is created which will, when
the program ANSWER is run, print
out your word grid with the
coordinates of the words. This
enables you to make a quick check
of the grid.
There are several ways of building
grids, and several ways of storing
them. You can build a grid with
the words sorted alphabetically
for instance. This would have the
effect of reducing the number of
words used from the end of the
alphabet. You could store the grid
without the spaces filled in. You
can print the grid out directly
from the program, or SPOOL it into
a text file and alter it with a
word processor.
Using the options in the program
of different grid sizes,
unsorting, increasing or
decreasing the number of
attempts at random word placing,
coupled with the random
difficulty effect built into the
program and the different ways
of storing and retrieving the
grids you will find that the
program is very versatile.
The difficulty level is chosen as
the grid is built. It ranges from
1 to 8. The figures refer to the
mean direction of placement. The
program will attempt to place
most of the words in this
direction. So, as the grid is
started, the program chooses a
number between 1 and 8. If the
number is 1, then the majority of
the words should be found going
in a straight line from left to
right. If the number is 8, then
the majority will go from bottom
right to top left.