Sudoku Widget Update: 1.21
Small fix in the generator which was occasionally putting duplicate numbers in rows and columns. Grab it while it's hot!
posted by bdb @ 12:37 PM
44 comments
bdb's world of fun
Everything from Widgets to the Lakers
Saturday, September 10, 2005
44 Comments:
Erm... I've been using 1.0 for a while now quite happily, but this version seems to not work. The button to flip to the back to generate a new puzzle is gone, and clicking doesn't seem to do anything other than select a different number or box.
Bryan Inderhees
bpi()case-edu
Hmm...haven't seen that before. Please try reloading the puzzle by hitting Command-R when the puzzle has the focus. When it reloads it'll do a whole spinner thing. If that doesn't work, remove the widget from the Dashboard completely (through the Manage Widgets...), then trash the preferences file ~/LibraryPreferences/widget-com.bdeboer.widget.sudoku.plist, and then reinstall the newest version (1.21). Good luck,
Brian
Nope, neither of those did much. The widget still looks like this:
ftp://bryanpi.case.edu/pub/sudoku.jpg
(note the lack of the i button in the lower right).
When I hit Command-R, the only thing that changes is that the number in number and hand in the timer disappear until I next leave and return to Dashboard.
On a little more investigation, my Console log has filled up with expressions that say:
(event handler):Object (result of expression mouseexit) does not allow calls.
2005-09-11 13:39:23.685 DashboardClient[15075] (com.bdeboer.widget.sudoku) file:///Library/Widgets/Sudoku.wdgt/Sudoku.html: Object (result of expression mouseexit) does not allow calls. (line: 18)
Bryan
Ah, ha! I've figured it out...
When I installed Tiger (from a format and re-install), I had decided to experiment a little and use the case-sensitive HFS+. In the Sudoku.html file, it references widget.js, but the file is actually Widget.js. Changing the reference in the html file fixed things.
--Bryan
Great! Glad to hear you found the problem...I'll change that html file in the next version. Thanks!
Brian
HOT is right. This is working perfectly for me now and has all the added features! I love this widget. Thanks!
Excellent product. I am totally hooked. There are only a few things that I could wish for:
1) To be able to "pencil" in all of the numbers from 1-9. Currently I can do up to 6, but the auto-pencil can do all of them.
2) The ability to save and restore the state, so that I can follow a line of guesses.
3) To have the auto-pencil marks stay after I turn the check box off.
Even without these things, I am in love. Again, good job.
Thane
tnorton at wacom dot com
I've been hooked on 1.0, and I just noticed the 1.21 update. It's a nice update, but a couple things seem like a step backwards to me.
After finishing a puzzle, I like to look it over, but now I'm stuck a the congratulations screen, and can't go back to the puzzle. :-(
Also, the gradient in the background is distracting for me while I'm filling out the puzzle. I miss the more consistent color of 1.0.
As for new features, the solver is nice, but I find that when I solve a puzzle, I don't know what the original starting numbers were. It would be better to put the solved numbers in the lighter purple color.
Overall, this is a great game! Thanks for all your hard work.
JV
I'm having problems in the "blank" game mode. I can enter the numbers and lock the board. However, anything I type in gets colored "red," even if it is a correct answer, even if it is the number the "solver" would put in that square. I didn't have this problem prior to the 1.21 update.
Your widget rocks.
yay! it works great! thanks a lot! =)
It's a great idea. I have just installed v1.21. But, I am not able to insert a number in a square! First, when I click a number below the puzzle, it turns into a questionmark in a blue field. Then, when I highlight a square, and either click the number/blue ?/ or type a number from the keyboard, all I get is the blue ? in that square. I can't figure out how to enter a number into a square. Any help? I love to play Sudoku.
it would be nice if u could hover over a square and simply hit a key.
Great widget! The best sudoku app for Mac i've ever tried... Congratulations! Just a few tips to make it better:
1- undo possibility (ctrl+Z, perhaps) it's important because mistakes sometimes occur putting a number in the wrong cell and we see all pencil marks going away :(
2- i think the table is a little bit small (or the cells), the pencil marks has to be very close to each other and it confuses the general view of the game
Keep updating, i'm always looking for new stuff here
Pedro
Wonderful widget. I'd really like it if the puzzle board didn't disappear when I get it right... fading would be OK, but there's something fun about reviewing how everything works that gets lost when the puzzle disappears.
Nicely done!
Everything works fine here. Would like to keep the completed puzzle visible. How about making the numbers on the bottom disappear and have the congradulations message appear there instead?
Also, I liked the blank puzzle feature. It allows me to create my own puzzle. It would be nice if there was an export feature to export it to a CSV file.
1.21 has a sudoku logic bug. It generated a puzzle with two solutions. The puzzle was:
xxxxxx3x5
75x4xxxxx
8xxxxxx42
x38xxxxxx
xxxxx419x
xx96x7xxx
26xx83xxx
x85xx2763
xxxxxxx24
I saved a screenshot here.
Oops. My mistake. Never mind.
I love the widget, but it looks as if 1.21 always creates very difficult sudoku's, no matter if you ask for easy, medium or hard.
In version 1.0 I could really experience the difficulty changing, but now....even the easy one has multiple possibilities
Very nice and addictive widget!
Some feature requests:
Hoover over a square and type a number
-when you use the keypad on the left it becomes a pencilmark
-when you use the numbers on the top of the keyboard it becomes a normal number
Great widget - love it.
only problem i have is that often when I click in a square, dashboard will recognize it as having clicked on the dexktop, and will exit. even though i know i am clicking within the sudoku widget. hmmm...
it's the only widget i have which does this.
otherwise, it's great
matt
This is the best sudoku widget I have encountered thus far. I would like to request what thane previously mentioned: to allow manual penciling for up to 9 digits instead of 6. Great work: I look forward to see what you do next!
Don't know if you would consider this a bug, but since requiring a person to guess a number violates the spirit of a sodoku puzzle (as I understand it), I thought you might be interested to know that your software generated the following puzzle when set to diablo:
xxx x8x x1x
xx9 xx5 xxx
54x 639 xxx
7xx x9x xxx
9xx 7x4 x86
xxx xxx xx4
3xx xxx xx2
6xx xx8 74x
xxx xxx xxx
This is equivalent to:
____8__1_+__9__5___+54_639___+7___9____+9__7_4_86+________4+3_______2+6____874_+_________
for pasting into the sudoku solver at http://www.sudokusolver.co.uk/
The farthest I can get, before being required to make a guess, is:
236 487 519
879 125 463
541 639 827
764 89x xxx
9x3 9x4 x86
1x8 x63 974
387 x4x xx2
692 3x8 74x
415 x7x xx8
Or, can anyone point to an advanced technique for logically determining another number which does not involve making a guess?
thanks for your work. i just recently learned about these puzzles and i'm hooked. now i can do them anytime im on my 'puter. thx
Hi, I'm not able to download from this link. It seems the file is not on the server. :(
Will try again later. Tks!
Nice one brother!
My I suggest a couple of improvements:
• Make the number squares a little bigger so that you can fit a 3x3 grid of pencil marks.
• Add the ability to erase/toggle all pencil marks, not just auto marks.
Thanks for this time-wasting widget! Love it! However, would like to know how to load in another puzzle to find solution ... Am hoping to use your widget to find the solution to the V Hard one from the Times.
It seems to me there shoud be a way to erase a candiadate number (I mean the small ones filled in by the app), to reflect the logical elimination of a candiate for a square. If you get what I mean.
Otherwise it's addicative anyway.
It would be nice if the numbers would get crossed off below once they are filled in 9 times. It'd be a good visual marker that you've finished that number.
Brian,
This is a great piece of software. I just came back from a long airplane flight. Before the flight, I printed hardcopies of several puzzles to keep me occupied on the flight. I wish I had known about your widget before. Is there any chance that their can be an option to make the puzzle larger on the screen for us "old farts"!
I'm having the same issue as an anonymous poster.
When I create my own puzzle, after locking the starting numbers, any number I add is shown in red.
This is ultra frustrating, as I use the blank feature of yoyur program to help me out when I'm stuck on hard copy sudokus.
I understand that it could be difficult to code for, but I would love-love-love to see purple numbers (with red for errors) on self-created Sudokus.
Apart from that, I'm kinda in love with your Widget
Two responses from a happy user :-) ...
(1) You CAN "erase" a particular pencil mark, simply by "entering" it a second time (shift-click).
(2) For the visually challenged, in case you haven't thought of this, you could always temporarily change your screen resolution.
Thanks for a great game! I've searched for a similar version for my Windoze-using sister, and haven't found a single one that allows you to enter your pencil marks ... only an option to show all pencil marks.
Very nice. Thanks once again!
Could you please make a larger screen version. Old eyes you know. Thanks a lot. Fun game.
I love your Sudoku. I was wondering. Can you set it up to keep game statistics? So we can try to beat our time, and see what our win percentage is?
That would make this great widget even better.
Does anyone have this widget mirrored anywhere? It seems the download website has had its domain name registration expire.
I appreciate the suggestion regarding changing the screen resolution as a means of increasing the size, but that is not an option. Changing the screen resolution rearranges all the icons on my desktop that then have to be rearranged.
For making the sudoku larger, have you tried using the built in zoom feature in OSX. Option+Command+"+" to zoom in. Option+Command+"-" to zoom out. To turn zooming on your need to hit Option+Command+8 first (hit it again to turn it off).
I agree with one of the other posters, a statistics engine of some sort would be awesome. Great work, keep it up!
When I select a number (by typing or clicking at bottom), it would be great if all the current instances of that number light up. It wouldn't be a "hint" of any kind really; it would just save some eye strain. It would be better yet if every number had a different color or pattern associated with it, so that scanning would be less exhausting on the eyes... Thanks!
I have a suggestion to improve an otherwise excellent widget: allow the user to override auto-pencil marks so she can manually remove pencil marks, in addition to them being removed automatically, as at present.
thanx for the nice widget.
i suggest that this program have a log function which records the level of difficulty, time required for solving, and win(solved)/lose(given up).
Seems like the hard setting creates impossible puzzles, while the diablo setting creates difficult but solvable puzzles. I can usually do the diablo ones in 8 minutes, but have taken the hard ones I get stuck on to some automated solvers and they need to apply very high level rules (akin to guessing)....
It sure would be swell if you'd change the format here on your blog so that the *day* as well as the time shows up for each post here. It's kinda meaningless just to show the time when the dates vary as they do. (Can't really reckon why blogger even offers the option of only showing the time, let alone setting this option as the default.) Just a thought.
Thanks a lot for your sudoku widget, I spent so much time on it everyday!
I am in the process of making my first widget. Can you give me some advice on how to create the brushed metal background that most widgets use as the back image?
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