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xsudo and a couple tips

 
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storm_norm



Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1741

PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:51 pm    Post subject: xsudo and a couple tips Reply with quote

I went and downloaded Xsudo and read a lot about it on the homepage, etc. I gotta say that this program was difficult to get a handle of. I have used Sudoku Susser and Sudocue almost exclusively for a couple years and this Xsudo program has some options that I had trouble becoming familiar with.
even reading the tutorials and reading the content on the webpage, some of the terminology is still sinking in.
it gives a lot of useful tips on how to work the program but there is one tip that I didn't see and I would like to share here.

if you don't know what Xsudo is you can download it here.
http://sudokuone.com/sweb/download.htm

anyways...

two really nice things that this program does
1... you can copy a pencil mark grid to your clipboard and paste it as is in the forum (using the Code markers of course)

2... if you have a chain formed in the pencil mark grid, the grid will copy to your clipboard with the cells in the chain marked !

-----

1...this is a easy tip to copy a Pencil mark grid to your clipboard on Xsudo

the image below shows the Xsodo main screen, notice I have the copy/paste menu dropped and the "copy pencil mark/PM grid" circled.

click on the "copy pencil mark/PM grid" menu item and the puzzle with all pencil marks will be on your clipboard.
if you want to be sure of the alignment, then open the forum and follow the guidelines to preview the grid.

notice that this puzzle is the same as the LAT/Freep sep-11 puzzle

Code:
+-----------------+-----------------+----------------+
| 489   489   2   | 5     3   689   | 1   789   4678 |
| 7     5     139 | 169   18  4     | 2   389   68   |
| 1489  3489  6   | 7     2   189   | 49  3589  458  |
+-----------------+-----------------+----------------+
| 259   1     4   | 29    7   259   | 8   6     3    |
| 3     268   7   | 126   18  1268  | 5   4     9    |
| 589   689   59  | 3469  45  35689 | 7   2     1    |
+-----------------+-----------------+----------------+
| 1245  234   135 | 1234  9   1235  | 6   78    78   |
| 6     7     359 | 8     45  35    | 49  1     2    |
| 1249  249   8   | 124   6   7     | 3   59    45   |
+-----------------+-----------------+----------------+



2... the same thing can be done once you have a chain or pattern formed in the grid. and the resulting pencil mark grid will have parenthesis around the candidates involved in the chain, which is really cool.

this time I formed a ALS chain in the grid and i am going to copy it the clipboard as before.

in the image below I have created a pattern using a ALS move on the candidates 59 in col 3. so i am going to copy it to the clipboard



then using the guidelines to post a PM grid in the forums, the grid now has marked candidates in the chain. this is so nice because all I did was use my mouse to click/copy/paste, etc...

Code:
+--------------------+-----------------+----------------+
| 489    489   2     | 5     3   689   | 1   789   4678 |
| 7      5     13-9  | 169   18  4     | 2   389   68   |
| 1489   3489  6     | 7     2   189   | 49  3589  458  |
+--------------------+-----------------+----------------+
| 29(5)  1     4     | 29    7   29(5) | 8   6     3    |
| 3      268   7     | 126   18  1268  | 5   4     9    |
| 589    689   (59)  | 3469  45  35689 | 7   2     1    |
+--------------------+-----------------+----------------+
| 1245   234   135   | 1234  9   1235  | 6   78    78   |
| 6      7     (359) | 8     45  (35)  | 49  1     2    |
| 1249   249   8     | 124   6   7     | 3   59    45   |
+--------------------+-----------------+----------------+


if you are curious, the chain is
(59=3)r68c3 - (3=5)r8c6 - (5)r4c6 = (5)r4c1 - (5=9)r6c3; r2c3 <> 9


its also possible to copy the grid image to your clipboard. this is useful for those who want to visualize exactly which candidates have strong links/weak links etc.

at the same time, sometimes a picture isn't the best thing. but I do like the idea of having the candidates marked in some way so that readers can follow the chain more easily. sometimes its not enough to write a big long chain without some sort of aid to the eye.

---------

if you are familiar, the program Sudocue allows you to do the same thing.
in the Edit menu of the main screen is an option "copy marks" that will copy the PM grid to your clipboard.
-------------
ok,
now you ask, how do I paste a grid into the Xsudo program, I mean afterall we have to have a grid to play, right?

the nice thing is you can paste into the program either a starting grid or a full PM grid.
make sure you have the grid copied to your clipboard.
then again click copy/paste drop down menu and click on "paste PM grid + puzzle"



this will load the grid into the main screen grid.
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DonM



Joined: 15 Sep 2009
Posts: 51

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that info Norm. IMO, Allan B's Xsudo is an astounding accomplishment, being afaik, the only sudoku front end that will show chains.
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storm_norm



Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1741

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DonM wrote:
Thanks for that info Norm. IMO, Allan B's Xsudo is an astounding accomplishment, being afaik, the only sudoku front end that will show chains.


astounding is a good word. I can't imagine what he has planned as upgrades once people like ttt, Steve K, the unmentioned computer savvy sudoku enthusiasts continue to give Allan ideas, yourself included. I can only assume and hope that the current version of the program isn't his only attempt at it.
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daj95376



Joined: 23 Aug 2008
Posts: 3854

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DonM wrote:
Thanks for that info Norm. IMO, Allan B's Xsudo is an astounding accomplishment, being afaik, the only sudoku front end that will show chains.

Bernhard's HoDoKu also shows chains. It also lists the chains.

This is not meant to take away from Allan's solver !!!
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DonM



Joined: 15 Sep 2009
Posts: 51

PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

daj95376 wrote:
DonM wrote:
Thanks for that info Norm. IMO, Allan B's Xsudo is an astounding accomplishment, being afaik, the only sudoku front end that will show chains.

Bernhard's HoDoKu also shows chains. It also lists the chains.

This is not meant to take away from Allan's solver !!!


Oops! I had forgotten about HoDoKu and haven't checked it out for some time. Thanks for the correction & my apologies to hobiwan. I just looked at the latest version & it goes w/o saying that it's excellent. We're awfully lucky to have any solvers that show chains, let alone 2.
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wapati



Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 472
Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Mr. Barker's solver does not work well on my laptop or on my main.

It requires higher screen settings than make sense, given that one can shrink the grid.

That is all corrected/fixed now thanks to Mr. Barker.

jsuduko is another very fine program that does chains.

http://jcbonsai.free.fr/sudoku/


Last edited by wapati on Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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storm_norm



Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1741

PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

yep, on my 19" monitor I had to set the resolution at 1152 by 864 just to see the Xsudo main screen fit from top to bottom.
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wapati



Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 472
Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I won't change my settings for one program.

Sad
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wapati



Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 472
Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi again Norm,

On my laptop and desktop, both running XP, copy to clipboard errors out.

I am running version 1.00a

Is that the version you have installed?
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storm_norm



Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1741

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hi wapati,
it worked the first time I tried it, now I get the "clipboard failed 1" notice.

I had v0.99 first, it worked fine with that version.

i am running xp sp 3

then when I downloaded v1.00a it worked the very first time, and now every attempt, I get the "clipboard failed 1" notice

I did get an error while downloading the v1.00a master file.




and here is the error i am getting with v1.00a master
all three
"copy puzzle to clipboard"
"copy pencil mark(pm) grid"
"copy pm grid and puzzle"




here is the forum for xsudo
http://www.sudokuone.com/forum/index.php

I did go ahead and post the errors that I found on the forum, but since the forum looks brand new, not sure what will happen.
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wapati



Joined: 10 Jun 2008
Posts: 472
Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

PostPosted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Norm!
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storm_norm



Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1741

PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

welcome.

but leave it to me to point out the ONE function on the software that doesn't work in the newer version.

go figure Shocked Shocked
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