dailysudoku.com

[nataraj]

edited Dec 23, 2017 to give link to thread for - again - a new version:

Helmut's Sudoku Formatter retired-how to post your puzzles ?

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edited June 5, 2013 to give link to thread for the new version:

Formatting tool has new name and new location

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original message text was deleted long time ago ...

[Marty R.]

Nataraj,

Nobody ever accused me of being computer-competent, but I don't know what we're trying to accomplish and I understand very little of the post after "open a .txt document."

[nataraj]

OK, OK. That was too complicated. I'll try again.

Purpose:

- Import puzzles from other sources into draw/play and print them
- Format puzzles from other sources for easy posting on this forum

How to:

This is a simple HTML page that will accept puzzles from many sources: click here

No decent documentation

It may take a few minutes to find out some of the features for yourself

Warning

There might be bugs in the software. Feel free to ignore them or report them here. No warranty.

[storm_norm]

[nataraj]

NYAQ - not yet asked questions

Can I print my puzzle?

Yes you can. When you click "Format", the dailysudoku.com page appears and you can print from there like you would print the daily sudoku

Can I enter sudokus by hand

Yes, very easily. Just type into the area provided (the one that says "paste sudoku here").
No need to worry about special formats. Put as many cells on a line as you like. Use as many lines as you like. Add comments, use spaces or any funny characters.

Myself I usually enter 3 lines of 27 digits each. Like this (today's vh):

000300500503819006000006000
050604072060090080230107050
000900000100763905006001000

Takes about 40 seconds.

Can I include pencil marks?

Yes you can. You can even inlude markup, like in this example (originally posted by keith in the "VH(+/++): Set A Puzzle 25" thread:

[nataraj]

[storm_norm]

for me, everything worked flawlessly.
and I noticed that you don't need to erase "paste sudoku here, then click 'format.'"
the formatter reads everything behind it.

nataraj, great job!
another pillar in your sudoku mansion.

[nataraj]

Thanks, Norm!
And I'm still trying to figure out a way to import your grids with the ".-----" corners. So many grids are posted with "." as a placeholder for empty cells that I don't want to ignore those period characters. But then the program says "82 cells" or something like that. Hm. I'll wait for a flash of enlightenment

[Marty R.]

OK, the second try was easier for me to understand. This looks like it could be handy when one wants to print out a puzzle posted in the forum using the Draw/Play format.

However, for posting a starting grid from a newspaper or other source, I fail to see how typing 81 characters is faster or more efficient than typing only the starting clues directly into the Draw/Play blank grid.

Is there a way for this to be used for other puzzles on the Internet? I tried copying and pasting a Menneske puzzle but nothing happened when I clicked "Format." That's presumably because there is no string?

I have no idea how you get this stuff into a Draw/Play grid but it's very impressive.

[nataraj]

Marty,
I start to see your point in using draw/play for entering puzzles.

Up to now, I used the mouse to click and enter one clue at a time. That is too slow and too error prone, because it forces me to constantly xx between page and computer screen. Now that you mentioned it again I tried using the arrow keys and it felt much better. Didn't know that ...

But do try the 81 character method. It has a good rhythm: zero,zero,one five,zero,zero eight,two,zero ....

As for Menneske they don't provide an "export" feature (like the "ASCII" button here). It is possible to select the characters in the grid and copy them, but I've not figured out when they use spaces and when it's tab characters or line feeds.

BrainBashers will export just fine, SudoCue provides the 81 digit string, Vanhegan no idea yet... I'm hoping for clues from those who post these puzzles from time to time. So far, I've mostly used the "type in 81 digits" method

[Marty R.]

[nataraj]

[nataraj]

New release - more input from internet sudoku pages

Thanks for your suggestions, folks!

I've put a new release of the formatter online.

It will now accept input directly from Menneske, Mepham's Sudoku of the Day, Decabit, sudoku.com.au. See previous post how to mark, copy and paste.

No idea yet how to import from Vanhegan's site.

[nataraj]

Free webhosting being, well, free (and sometimes unreliable) I've opened a backup site. Two possibilities:

- http://nataraj.eluhost.de/fmtsudoku.htm (currently giving lots of errors) and
- http://nataraj.0catch.com/fmtsudoku.htm (more pop-up ads)

[nataraj]

Changed the code slightly so that it is now possible to format a sudoku from another source (e.g. for posting on this forum) without immediately opening the draw/play dialogue.

[Marty R.]

[Marty R.]

I have noticed in the last few days that on the original format tool, there is an ad overlaying the format box and it seems to stay, unlike other ads in various places which run for a few seconds, then disappear. I don't know what it says, having forgotten whatever German I learned all too many years ago.

[keith]

Nataraj,

Did you ever solve the VanHegan puzzle format? I can see what it is, but it is not 9 rows of 9 digits each.

Anyone,

Can you export a text version of a VanHegan puzzle to another solver?

Keith

[storm_norm]

the easiest way I know how to export the Vangegan puzzles is via Sudocue

http://www.sudocue.net/download.php

sudocue finds the current daily puzzles posted on vangegan's site

and you can access them from sudocue's "file" menu
- OPEN WWW
-playr.co.uk
- then pick your difficulty level.



once the puzzle is uploaded into sudocue, you can then copy the text grid either as the filled cells, or as an entire pencil mark grid.
this can be found in the "edit" menu.
this will put a text copy of the grid on your clipboard, for you to paste later.

[wapati]