WORD SEARCH PRODUCER WORD SEARCH PRODUCER 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.