Prerequisites
Before you can play any of the Java Word Games, you need
to have a few other things set up.
- You must have either the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or the Java
Development Kit (JDK) installed and working on your machine. Get
version 1.3.1, it seems to fix a couple bugs I have encountered with text
fields. This software can be found here
.
- A word list file to use in searching for words. This can be found in
the files section of this project.
- The jar file from the billutil
project. You must have at least version 0.7. To simplify things,
this may be renamed "billutil.jar" and placed in the same directory as
the jwordgames.jar file.
- Optional - Add the jwordgames.jar and billutil.jar files to your classpath
environment variable.
How to Start the Application
There are currently five graphical applications contained
in the jwordgames.jar file, a master word game launcher, a word list editor,
a solver and player for the Word Search (Spelldown) game, a solver and player
for the Word Find (Word Racer) game, and a solver and player for the Word
Maker game. These instructions assume you have the files named "jwordgames.jar"
and "billutil.jar" in the same directory.
- To start the master word game launcher application open a command prompt
and type "jre -jar ./jwordgames.jar" from the directory you put the jar
files. If you have the JDK, replace "jre" with "java". In a Windows environment,
if you have not associated the ".jar" file name suffix with an application,
you can also double click the jar file's listing in windows Explorer to launch
the Spelldown application. There are buttons on the launcher to run the
other three applications.
- To start the word list editor without using the launcher, open a command
prompt and type "jre -cp ./jwordgames.jar:./billutil.jar bill.apps.wordedit.WordEditGUI",
minus the quotes. You must be in the directory you put the jars files
when you do this. If you have the JDK, replace "jre" with "java". In a
Windows environment, replace the colon (":") with a semicolon (";").
- To start the Word Search game without using the launcher, open a command
prompt and type "jre -cp ./jwordgames.jar:./billutil.jar bill.apps.wordsearch.WordSearchGUI",
minus the quotes. You must be in the directory you put the jars files
when you do this. If you have the JDK, replace "jre" with "java". In a
Windows environment, replace the colon (":") with a semicolon (";").
- To start the Word Find game without using the launcher, open a command
prompt and type "jre -cp ./jwordgames.jar:./billutil.jar bill.apps.wordfind.WordFindGUI",
minus the quotes. You must be in the directory you put the jars files
when you do this. If you have the JDK, replace "jre" with "java". In a
Windows environment, replace the colon (":") with a semicolon (";").
- To start the Word Maker game without using the launcher, open a command
prompt and type "jre -cp ./jwordgames.jar:./billutil.jar bill.apps.wordfind.WordMakerGUI",
minus the quotes. You must be in the directory you put the jars files
when you do this. If you have the JDK, replace "jre" with "java". In a
Windows environment, replace the colon (":") with a semicolon (";").
The Word List File
You must have a wordlist file to play the Word Search and Word find
games. You can either create your own or you can download the one in this
project's files section. If you get the download, you must unzip the file
after you have downloaded it. Check the readme file for instructions on
what to do with the files that were contained in the zip.
How to Play
Master Word Games Launcher
The master word games launcher application main interface looks
like this: 
This application is use to start up the other applications. Clicking
on a button will cause that application to be started.
Word List Editor
The word list editor application main interface looks like this:
Unless you are creating a brand new word list, the first thing
to do is specify a word list file to be used by the application. This is
done with the File menu's "Open Word List File" menu item. A file selection
dialog appears where you can choose the word list file to be used. Note
that the four most recently used word list files will also appear in the
File menu.
Words are entered in the text field supplied. The "Add Word" button
will add the word to the current word list. The "Remove Word" button will
remove the word from the current word list.
There are also a number of options under the "File" menu for manipulating
word lists: 
The "Import Words from Text File" menu item allows the user to
specify a text file with a list of words in it to be added to the current
word list. The words must be seperated by white space and/or placed on their
own line. After the file's words are imported, the user is notified of how
many words were in the file and how many of those words were new ones that
were added to the word list.
The "Remove Words in Text File" menu item is similar to the "Import
Words from Text File" menu item, except it removes the words from the current
word list rather than adding them.
The "Dump Words to File" menu item allows the user to write the
words in the current word list to a text file. This is useful as the word
list used by the application is stored in a binary format and is not readable.
Note that after the word list is saved, if a Word Search or Word
Find application is running using that word list it must reload the word
list to pick up the changes made to the list.
Word Search (Spelldown) Application
The first thing to do is specify a word list file to be used by
the application. This is done with the File menu's "Open Word List File"
menu item. A file selection dialog appears where you can choose the word
list file to be used. Note that the four most recently used word list fileswill
also appear in the File menu.
Solving
The "Solve" tab of the Word Search application looks like this:
First, open a word list file as described above. The Spelldown
game will ask for one, two, or three words of three to seven letters each.
In the word length fields, enter the number of characters for each word.
If only one word is being found, enter the word's length in the "Word #1 Length"
field, leaving the "Word #2 Length" and "Word #3 Length" fields blank. If
two words are being found, enter the words' lengths in the "Word #1 Length"
and "Word #2 Length" fields, leaving the "Word #3 Length" field blank. If
three words are being found, use all the word length fields. In the "Letters"
field enter the letters that are available to make the words. Once all the
fields are properly filled in, press the "Perform Search" button. The application
will now search its word list for a valid solution and display it to you.
If no solution could be found, you will be notified of this as well.
Playing
The "Play" tab of the Word Search application initially looks like
this: 
You must enter in the amount of time you want a game to last (this amount
may change during game play as described below), then press the "Set Values"
button.
After pressing the "Set Values" button, the application looks something
like this: 
When you are ready to play, press the "Play Game" button. The grid will
be filled in with letters and look something like this: 
The top row of 7s represents the words to be made. The letters on the
bottom after the word 'Trash' represent the letters available to the player
to make the word from. In the screen shot there are seven 7s, a set of four
and a set of three. This means you must make a four letter word and a three
letter word using the available letters. To create your words, either drag
the letters from the available list to their place in the word line with
the left mouse button, or right click on the available letters. If you are
dragging you can put the letter wherever you wish. If you right click the
letter will go in the first available 'empty' spot (IE the first 7, reading
from left to right). If you drag an available letter to the 'Trash', it is
discarded and replaced with a random new letter. This is useful if you cannot
make the requested words with the available letters. When you have made the
requested word(s) press the "Done" button. If the word(s) you made are valid,
a new set of words and available letters will be created and your time left
will be incremented by 10 seconds. If an invalid word (or words) were made
an error message pops up and you have to fix the bad word(s).
You can also drag letters from the words back to the available letters.
Right clicking on a letter in a word also returns it to the available letters
list.
The game is over when the time left reaches 0.
Word Find (Word Racer) Application
The first thing to do is specify a word list file to be used by
the application. This is done with the File menu's "Open Word List File"
menu item. A file selection dialog appears where you can choose the word
list file to be used. Note that the four most recently used word list files
will also appear in the File menu.
The Word Racer game has a 'u' on the 'Q' cube, making it a 'Qu' cube.
When entering this cube, just enter the Q, the program will assume the 'u'
and use 'Qu' when making its words.
Solving
The "Solve" tab of the Word Find application initially looks
like this: 
You must enter values in each of the text fields, then press the
"Set Values" button. The grid width is the number of letters wide the
grid is. The grid height is the number of letters tall the grid is. The
minimum word length is the shortest words we want to search for (3 is the
minimum value). Maximum word length is the longest words we want to search
for. Note that searching for words more than 10 characters long can slow
the search process down quite a bit.
After pressing "Set Values" the application looks something like
this: 
You can now enter the letters in the grid on the right and press
"Find Words" to perform the search. The "Clear" button clears out the
grid. If you want to enter a new grid size or change the word lengths,
make sure to press the "Set Values" button again after entering the data.
Playing
The "Play" tab of the Word Find application initially looks like this:
You must enter values in each of the text fields, then press the "Set
Values"button. The grid width is the number of letters wide the grid will
be. The grid height is the number of letters tall the grid will be. The
minimum word length is the minimum number of characters long words must
be to be accepted (3 is the smallest acceptable value). The game time is
the number of seconds the game will last (30 is the smallest acceptable
value).
After pressing the "Set Values" button, the application looks something
like this: 
When you are ready to play, press the "Play Game" button. The grid will
be filled in with letters and look something like this: 
In the text field at the bottom where is says "Words:" type in the words
you see. After each word hit enter and the word you typed will be displayed
in the list on the right. If the word is green this means it is a valid
word. If it is red than the word is not a valid word. If the word is blue,
than the word cannot actually be formed using the available letters. If the
word is black, than it is contains less than the indicated minimum nember
of letters.
When time has expire the "Solve" button can be pressed to see a list
of all the words that were contained in the puzzle grid.
Word Maker Application
This is a game where you are given a list of letters and you try to make
as many words as you can using those letters. For example, given the letters
ACBDE, you can make the words ace, aced, bad, bead, etc.
The first thing to do is specify a word list file to be used by the application.
This is done with the File menu's "Open Word List File" menu item. A file
selection dialog appears where you can choose the word list file to be used.
Note that the four most recently used word list files will also appear in
the File menu.
Solving
The "Solve" tab of the Word Find application initially looks
like this: 
You must enter values in each of the text fields, then press the
"Perform Search" button. The minimum word length is the shortest words
we want to search for (3 is the minimum value). The letters is the list of
letters to make the words out of. Once all the fields are properly filled
in, press the "Perform Search" button. The application will now search its
word list and display all the words it finds to the user.
Playing
You must enter values in each of the text fields, then press the
"Set Values" button. The number of letters is the number of letters that are
available to make words from. The minimum word length is the shortest words
we want to search for (3 is the minimum value). The game time is the number
of seconds the game will last (30 is the smallest acceptable value).
After pressing the "Set Values" button, the application looks something
like this: 
When you are ready to play, press the "Play Game" button. The letters
to play with will be filled in and the game will look something like this:
In the text field at the bottom where is says "Words:" type in the words
you see. After each word hit enter and the word you typed will be displayed
in the list on the right. If the word is green this means it is a valid
word. If it is red than the word is not a valid word. If the word is blue,
than the word cannot actually be formed using the available letters. If the
word is black, than it is contains less than the indicated minimum nember
of letters.
When time has expire the "Solve" button can be pressed to see a list
of all the words that were contained in the puzzle grid.