The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Mathimagics]

Standard Excel functionalty.

That's fine for somebody who is familiar with Excel, less so for non-office people like me …

I figured most of it out ... but I can't get the display to match your sample images, which is what I would prefer - how do I eliminate those dotted lines, etc?

[Hajime]

how do I eliminate those dotted lines, etc?

Those dotted lines are between the cell and the candidates? Uncheck the "Show Candidates" checkbox.
Maybe you can post your result picture up till now and state what you want to improve.
And I escort you in an accelerated advanced excellent excel exercise

[Mathimagics]

Those dotted lines are between the cell and the candidates? Uncheck the "Show Candidates" checkbox.

Ahhh, that's better!

Maybe you can post your result picture up till now and state what you want to improve.

I think it's good enough for me now, but will do so if I think of anything.

And I will escort you in an accelerated advanced excellent excel exercise

Scary!

It is very kind of you to offer, but I don't think I really want to go there!

Which reminds me, I asked you this in another place, but you may have missed it: Why did you choose to build this in Excel/VBA ?? I thought it was because you had no alternative, but now I know you have VB.Net … wouldn't this option give you an app that is:

• considerably faster? (compiled EXE vs interpreted VBA)

• easier to extend/maintain?

• easier to use?

• attractive to more users? While your enthusiasm for Excel is clear, I suspect that this is not a very common view in the wider puzzler community!

[Hajime]

Which reminds me, I asked you this in another place, but you may have missed it: Why did you choose to build this in Excel/VBA ?? I thought it was because you had no alternative, but now I know you have VB.Net … wouldn't this option give you an app that is:

• considerably faster? (compiled EXE vs interpreted VBA)

• easier to extend/maintain?

• easier to use?

• attractive to more users? While your enthusiasm for Excel is clear, I suspect that this is not a very common view in the wider puzzler community!

• considerably faster? (compiled EXE vs interpreted VBA) - SiSeSuSo is is meant for human solvable puzzles. A Samurai is solved in seconds and generated in minutes. A Shaolin takes 2-4 hours to be generated, but that happens overnight, and is ready when I wake up. Why the hurry?

• easier to extend/maintain? - I think the code is almost the same in EXE or in VBA, but lots of functionality is standard excel, like printing, coloring, copy/paste, font-size etc. In an EXE you have to program that "extra stuff". Doable but I rather prefer to implement a next solving-method or Sudoku-type.

• easier to use? - Maybe yes, depends on how well the extra stuff is easy-to-use.

• attractive to more users? - That is a very good point. I did not realize that there are Windows-PC without MS Office. Now I will consider it !

[Mathimagics]

Good answers!

Miscellanea:

You're right about speed - it is not an issue for these multiple-grid puzzles, where you want only human-solvable puzzles …

Color settings (rendering options) do require some programming effort, but isn't your "Paint" button doing that already? In VB6 anything we draw on a Form or a PictureBox can be sent to the printer with a single statement. Excel does handle the color selection, border styles etc, nicely, I can see that ...

Yes, there is a world outside the (MS) Office!!

Cheers!

[Hajime]

SiSeSuSo version 8 is released (in may).
In the Solver the "WXYZ wings"-method and the "Odd-Even"-type are added.
The Generator progress bar is slightly changed. It is still difficult to estimate the remaining time.

SiSeSuSo Version V8 is available at the website https://sites.google.com/site/sisesuso/

I am busy converting the excels to an .exe

[Hajime]

Already a year ago the last Excel SiSeSuSo was released.
And now the SiSeSuSo.exe is available. Made with .NET Visual Studio 2019.
Pretty fast because it uses bits in integers in stead of strings to compare sets of candidates or rc-positions.

Some more methods are already present (not in the Excel).
Download here: https://sites.google.com/site/sisesuso/

On my to-do list:
- more methods like X-chain and (W)XYZ-wing, General intersection ...
- tab with extra help-texts and Gattai templates

Hope you like it.

Edit: url link repaired

[Hajime]

The june 2020 version of SiSeSuSo.exe is available
Download here: https://sites.google.com/site/sisesuso/

Supported methods:

Hidden Text: Show

Naked/Hidden SIngles
Naked/Hidden Pairs,Triplets,Quads
Pointing, Claiming
InterSudoku Claiming, r-r c-c
2-string-Kite, SkyScraper
Unique Rectangle
X-Wing,SwordFish,JellyFish
[firstOnly] XY-Chain
[shortest] XY-Chain
BruteForce / BackTracking

Supported Sudoku types:

Hidden Text: Show

N (or nothing) is a Standard Sudoku
X = SudokuX with diagonals
W = Windoku with 4 extra boxes (and 5 hidden houses)
P= SudokuP (disjoind groups of same color need 123456789)
AK = Anti Knight, digits can not be repeated a Chess Knight's move away
A = Asterisk
G = Girandola
NC = Non Consecutive, adjacent cells can not be +1 or -1 difference
NCT = Non Consecutive Toroidal , wraps around the edges, 19 also forbidden pair
OE = Odd / Even
JS = Jigsaw pieces in stead of normal boxes
JSB = Jigsaw houses AND normal boxes together

Each Sudoku can have its own type.

You can make your own arrangement of Gattai, but predefined available Gattai are:

Hidden Text: Show

1 ----- Sudoku
2 ----- Twin-3 Twin-6 Twin-4 Sensei_2 Sensei-1
3 ----- Triple-4-2-2 Triple-4-4 Triple-1-1 Triple-2-2 Wing-1-1
4 ----- Sohei-1 Sohei-3
5 ----- Samurai Gattai-5 Kazagurama-Windmill Flower Wing5
8 ----- Harakiri-Landscape Harakiri-Portrait
9 ----- Ninja
10 ----- Clueless Special Clueless Explosion
11 ----- Shogun
13 ----- Sumo
14 ----- Clueless Sumo
15 ----- Snake
21 ----- Taiken
25 ----- Shaolin
26 ----- 1 Clueless Shaolin
29 ----- 4 Clueless Shaolin
85 ----- DOAG

Edit: url link repaired

[enxio27]

First thoughts:

1. I can't figure out how to import a puzzle into the program. I'm trying to import tarek's Bank Holiday 1108 Sumo.

2. I wish the pencil marks were displayed in "telephone" format:

Code: Select all

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9


[Hajime]

2. I wish the pencil marks were displayed in "telephone" format:

Let the Sumo show pencil marks. Then press "to HTML" . The browser will show the pencil marks in telephone style.
This is also for printing via the Browser. There is not (yet) a printing function in SiSeSuSo.

1. I can't figure out how to import a puzzle into the program. I'm trying to import tarek's Bank Holiday 1108 Sumo.

The program needs a first line with all the positions of the 13 grids and then the 13 lines with 81 digits or points.

Code: Select all

#13//B4,X/N4,W/Z4,X/H16,A/T16,A/B28,W/N28,WAX/Z28,W/H40,A/T40,A/B52,X/N52,W/Z52,X
.8.....9.4.5.3...6.1..6...4....2..3..549.......................5..2......21......
.........1.2...3.6.6.....7...81.92..3.......5..7...9.............................
.5.....1.7...9.5.41...5..6..7..3.........945........................8..9......62.
.............17......29......58..1...94..1....6..7.......4.......................
............98........15.....5..14.....3..87.....4..1......4.....................
.5..6......6.......7.4.9......9.................8......4.3.5.....2.......3..4....
....3...............................2.......9...............................5....
....6..3.......4.....9.3.6......8.................7......3.6.1.......2......5..4.
.....................9......5..6.....68..2.....35..6.....29........35............
.......................2.......2..4....6..25...9..41......51......23.............
.86......5..8........................591.........2..1..9..5...37.5.9...1.4.....9.
.............................2...3..4.......6..75.31...6.....8.1.4...9.7.........
......12......3..5.......................571..5..7....4...1..7.1...3.6.8.6.....9.

Select above 14 lines and copy to the Clipboard (cntrl-C)
Then press the "Paste button" in the Solver Panel.
Done.

But what if you have to figure out the first line... How do you make the first line ?....
Most easy is to go to the Gattai Tab. Select the Sumo arrangement en Copy the line starting with the # into the file with the 13 lines with 81 digits. Save it and FileIn into SiSeSuSo.
And you need to add manually the W, A and X per Sudoku.

That is rather clumsy -or- not user-friendly. So I would like to extend the functionality in a next version.
One way can be :
1. Select the Sumo in the Gattai Tab and press the Copy2Grid button. An empty Sumo is in the Grid Tab.
2. Select the 13 lines with 81 digits somewhere, press Copy (cntrl-C) and press the Paste button.
If there is no #line than the current arrangement (the Sumo) will be used
If there is a #line as first line, this arrangement will be used and overwrite the current one.
3. You still have to add the A, W and X for the various types of each Sudoku in the puzzle in row 3.
Is that workable?

And at last the bummer
It can not solve tarek's Bank Holiday 1108 Sumo
Only with aid of the BruteForce/Backtrack method it can.
So it needs more than "It shouldn't need more than doubles to solve." as stated on 10-july-2011.
I think (but not sure) it will have to do with tarek's implementation of "Generic intersection method" that is not yet available in SiSeSuSo.
Busy with that. It means that you need to be aware of 3 (or more) interfering houses, like Box, Wbox and Row, and not simply 2 houses for Pointing/Claiming.

[enxio27]

Your instructions solved both problems--thank you! I was able to check all of my pencil marks for tarek's Bank Holiday 1108 Sumo Special and your Xmas 2018 puzzle. Sure enough, I had made some mistakes on the pencil marks in the overlapping areas. Hopefully now that that is corrected, I'll be able to finally finish both puzzles.

[Hajime]

A new version is available at the website
https://sites.google.com/site/sisesuso/sisesuso_exe

Version 9 july 2020
Added methods:
- X-chain for all types (WAX etc)
Functionality bug-fix
- Corrected the Windmill Gattai in predefined Gattai's
- Method table sometimes not painted correctly
- Output Tab now also holds first line with arrangement

Version 9 june 2020
Added methods:
- 2-String Kite
- Skyscraper
- XY-chain (Boxes, Rows and Columns only)
Added functionality:
- Gattai chooser
- Batch (files with only for 1 Sudoku per line of 81 digits)

Version 9 may 2020
SiSeSuSo.exe initial version, comparable with the the Excel

[Hajime]

The August 2020 version of SiSeSuSo.exe is available
Download here: https://sites.google.com/site/sisesuso/sisesuso_exe

Main features of SiSeSuSo

• a grid with the puzzle containing various overlapping Sudoku's, with or without pencil marks
• solves most Sudoku's including all kinds of overlapping Sudoku's
• a logging per solved cell including additional used methods if needed
• step through the steps of the solution journey
• choose coloring of cells to your liking
• check on/off a variety of solving methods
• more than a dozen types of Sudoku, which may be different per Sudoku in the same puzzle
• including splitted Sudoku's that are spread all over the puzzle like a Clueless Explosion
• a solver and a generator to make your own puzzles
• generated puzzles may have a variety of symmetry
• read of save puzzle in a file for distribution or paste a puzzle from the clipboard
• export the Grid to a browser (using html) with pencil marks in telephone style; also for printing
• speed up the solving process by output to screen reduction
• read a file with 1000's of single Sudoku's (lines with 81 digits) to be solved in batch
• in batch processing Sudoku types can be chosen, must be equal for the whole batch
• an extra output tab with the current grid in character-table format AND in 81-char-line format
• lots of Gattai templates, like Samurai, Sumo and Shaolin; also extendable with your own arrangement

Possible types of Sudoku in row 3 of the Grid
(row 2 holds the top-left cell position of each Sudoku in the puzzle)

N (or nothing) is a Standard Sudoku
X = SudokuX with diagonals
W = Windoku with 4 extra boxes (and 5 hidden houses)
P= SudokuP (disjoined groups of same color need 123456789)
AN = Anti kNight, digits can not be repeated a Chess Knight's move away
AK = Anti King, digits can not be repeated a Chess King's move away
FNC = Ferz Non Consecutive, diagonal neighbor cells can not be +1 or -1 difference
A = Asterisk
G = Girandola
CD = Center Dot
NC = Non Consecutive, adjacent cells can not be +1 or -1 difference
NCT = Non Consecutive Toroidal , wraps around the edges, 19 also forbidden pair
OE = Odd / Even
JS = Jigsaw pieces in stead of normal boxes
JSB = Jigsaw houses AND normal boxes together
N+2 will show a scattered Sudoku with a space of 2 empty boxes between the boxes of the Sudoku
N-3 will show a scattered Sudoku with a space of 3 empty cells between the cells of the Sudoku

You can have multiple types in a Sudoku so "WAX" will treat the Sudoku as a Windoku, Asterisk and X-Sudoku.
If all Sudoku's of the puzzle have a same type you can state that in cell A2. Cells in row 3 will hold the specifics per Sudoku.

Available methods to solve a puzzle

Naked Single in a cell or Hidden Single in a house
Naked/Hidden Pairs,Triplets,Quads
Pointing, Claiming
Generalized Intersection
2-string-Kite
Skyscraper
Unique Rectangle
X-Wing, SwordFish, JellyFish
X-chain (one candidate chain)
XY-Chain (bivalue)
BruteForce / BackTracking

Available predefined Gattai templates (including some with Clueless extra grids):

Vanilla Sudoku, Twin, Sensei, Triple, Wing, Sohei, Samurai, Kazagurama-Windmill, Harakiri, Ninja, Clueless Special, Clueless Explosion, Shogun, Sumo, Snake, Taiken, Shaolin, DOAG;
but you can make any other puzzle with overlapping area's yourself

To do list for a next version:
- more methods like (W)XYZ-wing

Release Notes are in in ZIP
- X-chain method is added
- Generalized Intersection method is added
- InterSudoku pointing is abandoned
- tarek's Bank Holiday 1108 Sumo can be solved now, using the Generalized Intersection method

[Hajime]

The monthly october 2020 version is now available.

Version 30 october 2020, tiny annoying bug repaired.

• Generalized methods for subsets and X-chain implemented
  
• FNC (Ferz non consecutive) constraint
  
• 2-string Kite, Skyscraper and Turbot Crane implemented as special X-chain (of length 4).

XY-chain has 2 methods

• 1. limit XY-chains up to 10 (<11) cells and stop search after the first chain found
  
• 2. no limit to length of XY-chain, multiple chains to find. A next chain must be less-equal in length than a previous found.

ToDo: Other Generalized methods (for XY-chain, AIC, ...)

[Hajime]

The monthly update january 2021 of SiSeSuSo.exe is now available at
https://sites.google.com/site/sisesuso/sisesuso_exe . Source code too.

• A bug in ovelapping Jigsaw Sudoku's is fixed
• (TUVW)XYZ-Wing method is added (only for box and row or column)

ToDo: Generalized methods (for XY-chain, XYZ-Wing, AIC, ...)