About Puzzle PacksSmoresoft Sudoku supports "puzzle pack" files that contain one or more Sudoku puzzle grids. Puzzle packs can be created by anyone using a simple text editor.
Using a Puzzle PackTo use a puzzle pack, choose the "Open..." menu item and select a puzzle pack fr
om the list. Smoresoft Sudoku will then display the first puzzle in the puzzle pack, or if you have played the puzzle pack before, the last puzzle you played in the puzzle pack will be displayed.
Creating a Puzzle PackA puzzle pack is an
XML document that contains one or more coded puzzles. Following is an example of a puzzle pack containing two Sudoku puzzle grids:
1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
2. <puzzlePack>
3. <puzzles rating="1">
4. <puzzle>...475....67...54..513.682.6..829..13.4...9.88..643..2.437.219..82...37....531...</puzzle>
5. <puzzle>7.9....4.......813...516.......7.291...321...421.5.......295...162.......3....4.8</puzzle>
6. </puzzles>
7. </puzzlePack>
(Line numbers are added to help explain the example.)
Line 1 is an XML declaration, which indicates that the following content is XML.
Line 2 is the
puzzlePack element. This indicates that the following XML content represents a puzzle pack.
Line 3 is the
puzzles element. It indicates that the following XML content represents a set of puzzles. The
puzzles element also contains a
rating attribute. This attribute indicates the difficulty level of the following puzzles (see the Rating section).
Lines 4-5 contain
puzzle elements. Each puzzle element is followed by a coded puzzle (as explained in the Puzzle Coding section below) and an ending
puzzle element. A puzzle pack MUST contain one or more puzzle elements.
Line 6 contains the end of the
puzzles element started on line 3.
Line 7 contains the end of the
puzzlePack element started on line 2.
Puzzle CodingSudoku puzzle grids are coded on a single line using a single character per cell, beginning with the top left cell of the grid and progressing first from left to right and then from top to bottom, for a total of 81 characters (9 columns x 9 rows).
Cells with "given" or "clue" values are entered as a single digit (1-9), and empty cells are entered as a "." (period).
So, for example, the puzzle below is coded as "...475....67...54..513.682.6..829..13.4...9.88..643..2.437.219..82...37....531...".
Puzzle RatingSudoku puzzle rating is not standardized and varies significantly by publisher. If anyone has information about a puzzle rating standard, please reply to this topic with details.
For the time being, selection of the rating is left to the puzzle pack publisher, except to say that the rating value in quotes should be an integer in the range 1 (easiest) to 10 (most difficult).
Puzzle Pack NamingPuzzle packs MUST use the file extension "spp". Also, puzzle pack file names should contain a description of the difficulty of the puzzles contained in the puzzle pack. For example, "Smoresoft-Easy.spp" would be an appropriate name for a puzzle pack created by Smoresoft and containing easy puzzles.
RecommendationsSince Smoresoft Sudoku does not currently allow difficulty levels to be selected in the game, it is suggested that a puzzle pack contain only puzzles with a single difficulty level.
DistributionThe simplest methods of distributing a puzzle pack would be either publishing the puzzle pack unchanged or in a compressed archive, such as a zip file. However, this requires the user to have quite a bit of knowledge in order to install the puzzle pack on their device, especially if they wish to download it directly from the device.
Instead, it is recommended that the puzzle pack be distributed in a compressed CAB file which can be easily installed on the device.
FutureAdditional elements will be supported and displayed in-game by Smoresoft Sudoku to identify puzzles and credit the authors and publishers. Elements will be based on RDF/XML and
Dublin Core.