This brand-new component is a real bargain. It is a 2-in-1. Besides a splendid Flash front-end which allows you to play online any kind of crossword puzzles there is a multi-threaded Java application included to actually compile and generate crossword puzzles!
The Flash Application
The Flash application is the front-end or let’s say “client” which allows you to play within your Internet browser any kind of crossword puzzles. It supports American style puzzles (like you find them in the New York Times e.g.), Japanese style, British style, free style puzzles of all sizes etc.
Mostly all left-to-right languages are supported (UTF-8).
Like in the Devarai Word Search Puzzle game there is a regular and an exam mode for playing integrated. The exam mode prohibits the player from using the auto-solve function.
Time is measured and you can set a time limit to restrict the time of play.
There is an auto-solve function incorporated to auto-solve letters, words or the whole puzzle at once if you need help playing the game.
After finishing the game you will see a screen showing you your statistics including a score.
Everything is nicely animated and beyond that there is a PHP back-end application included which allows the player to submit his/her results to a MySQL database for evaluation purposes. Submitted is email address, date of play, score, time of play and number of letters solved without the computer’s help.
A crossword puzzle is set up through an easily to understand well documented XML file. You can create one by hand or you can use the included crossword puzzle compiler to generate one…
The Java Crossword Puzzle Compiler
Creating crossword puzzles is one of the most difficult problems in regard to computation theory. There is a multi-threaded JAVA application included in this component that searches for a good crossword puzzle for you using all your computer’s power. All you have to provide is a dictionary XML file with some phrases/words and their corresponding clues. There is an example dictionary file included for the English audience with some hundred words with clues which let you create puzzles right from the start. The version 1.0 of this advanced application specializes in free style puzzles like you can see one in the demo. We are planning to develop it further until we can reproduce the highly symmetrical and dense puzzles like you find them in newspapers like the New York Times. However the results generated are very good already and serve most purposes.
All source code (including the Java app) is included. Everything is extensively documented. For any further questions or customizations we are at your disposal. Please just send us a message through our profile page.
Enjoy this great creation from Devarai!