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Sudoku puzzles screen capture

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I love doing crossword puzzles: I’m a huge fan of Merle Reagle (I have all his books www.sundaycrosswords.com) and I love the NY Times Sunday puzzles, both of which come in the Seattle Times. We also love listening to the NPR Sunday Puzzle by Puzzlemaster Will Shortz, from whom we first heard about Sudoku a few weeks ago.

Crossword puzzles require a fairly large amount of prior knowledge to solve. Sudoku requires almost no prior knowledge: just logic and deduction.

My family has been enjoying Sudoko puzzles. In fact, about a month ago, both the newspapers to which we subscribe started carrying daily Sudoku puzzles within a week of each other (USA Today, Seattle Times). If you haven’t tried one give it a whirl. A Sudoku puzzle consists of a 3x3 grid of 3x3 grids of squares, some of which are prefilled with digits. Sudoku rules are simple. Enter digits from 1-9 in blank spaces. Each row, column and 3x3 square must have 1 of each digit. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

Before I wrote a program to generate Sudoku puzzles, I needed to learn about them first. There are many web sites that provide Sudoku puzzles. I started by copying them to a word document (using Alt-PrtScrn to capture to the clipboard), resizing them to fit many on a page, then printing them out. That became rather tedious, so I automated the process.

Here is some code to capture Sudoku puzzles from a web site and add them to a Word document, 9 to a page. Why 9 to a page? Because Sudoku is all about 3x3<g>.

The code automates Internet Explorer and Word. Just change the URL to a web site that produces Sudoku puzzles and adjust the x,y,width,height coordinates. Be sure to heed any copyright notices.

I’ll post code that helps solve a Sudoku puzzle next.

*Start IE in upper left,

PUBLIC oie AS internetexplorer.application

oIE = CREATEOBJECT("internetexplorer.application")

oIE.visible=1

oIE.top=0

oIE.left=0

oIE.width=650

oIE.height=650

DECLARE integer Sleep IN WIN32API integer

public oW as Word.Application

oW=CREATEOBJECT("word.application")

ow.WindowState= 0 && wdWindowStateNormal

oW.visible=1

oW.left=650

ow.Top=0

oW.Documents.Add

*!* oW.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.Percentage = 75

*!* oW.ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type= 3 && wdPrintView

    With ow.ActiveDocument.PageSetup as Word.PageSetup

        .TopMargin = 12.25

        .BottomMargin = 12.25

        .LeftMargin = 12.25

        .RightMargin = 12.25

    ENDWITH

* oW.ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Footers(1).PageNumbers.Add(2)

FOR i = 1 TO 2*9 && # of pages @ 9 per page

      oIE.Navigate2("https://blogs.msdn.com/calvin_hsia") &&Adjust this URL to point to a sudoku web site

      DO WHILE oIE.ReadyState!=4 &&READYSTATE_COMPLETE

            sleep(1000)

      ENDDO

      sleep(200) && allow enough time for ie to render page

      ScrnScrape()

      IF MOD(i-1,9)=0

            IF i>1

                  oW.Selection.InsertBreak(7) &&pagebreak

            ENDIF

            oW.Selection.InsertAfter("Sudoku rules are simple. Enter digits from 1-9 in blank spaces. Each row, column and 3x3 square must have 1 of each digit.")

            oW.Selection.InsertAfter("Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing."+CHR(13))

            oW.Selection.InsertAfter(REPLICATE(CHR(13),3))

      oW.Selection.EndKey(6)

      endif

    oW.Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture("c:\temp.jpg",.f.,.t.)

    oW.Selection.EndKey(6)

    oW.Selection.MoveLeft(1,1,1)

   

    oW.Selection.InlineShapes(1).Width= 190

    oW.Selection.InlineShapes(1).Height= 210

    oW.Selection.EndKey(6)

   

ENDFOR

ow.Left=0 && move word left

ow.Selection.HomeKey(6) && go to top of doc

PROCEDURE ScrnScrape()

      CLEAR

      TRY

            cFileName="c:\temp.jpg"

            ERASE (cFileName)

            SET CLASSLIB TO HOME()+"ffc\_gdiplus"

            LOCAL og as gpgraphics

            LOCAL oImage as gpimage

            x=308 && adjust these coordinates

            y=230

            w=310

            h=378

            oImage=GetRegion(0,x,y,w,h)

            og=CREATEOBJECT("gpgraphics")

            og.CreateFromImage(oImage)

            og.DrawImageScaled(oImage,0,0,100,100)

            oImage.SaveToFile(cFileName,"image/jpeg")

            oImage=CREATEOBJECT("gpimage","c:\temp.jpg")

           

            og.CreateFromHWND(_screen.HWnd)

            og.DrawImageAt(oImage,0,0)

            oImage.SaveToFile(cFileName,"image/jpeg")

      CATCH TO oerr

            ?oerr.message

      ENDTRY

      fDoingScrape=.f.

      RETURN

PROCEDURE GetRegion(hWnd as Integer, nLeft as Integer, nTop as Integer, nWidth as Integer, nHeight as Integer)

      LOCAL hdc, hbSave, hdcCompat, hbm

      DECLARE integer GetDC IN user32 integer hWnd

      DECLARE integer ReleaseDC IN user32 integer hWnd, integer hDC

      DECLARE integer CreateCompatibleDC IN gdi32 integer hDC

      DECLARE integer CreateCompatibleBitmap IN gdi32 integer hDC, integer Width, integer Height

      DECLARE integer SelectObject IN gdi32 integer hdc, integer

      DECLARE integer DeleteObject IN gdi32 integer hdc,

      DECLARE integer BitBlt IN gdi32 integer hdc, integer nXDest, integer nYDest, integer nWidth, integer nHeight, ;

            integer hdcSrc, integer nXSrc, integer nYSrc, integer nRop

      DECLARE INTEGER GdipCreateBitmapFromHBITMAP in gdiplus integer hbm,integer hpal,integer @ bitmap

      DECLARE INTEGER GdipCloneBitmapAreaI in gdiplus integer X,integer Y,integer Width,integer Height,integer enumPixelFormats_format,integer srcBitmap,integer @ dstBitmap

#define SRCCOPY 0x00CC0020 && from wingdi.h /* dest = source */

      LOCAL og as gpgraphics,ofont as gpfont,nBitMap, nTemp

      og=CREATEOBJECT("gpgraphics")

      og.CreateFromHWND(_screen.HWnd)

      oImage=CREATEOBJECT("gpimage")

      hdc = GetDC(hWnd)

      hdcCompat = CreateCompatibleDC(hDC)

      hbm = CreateCompatibleBitmap(hDC, nWidth, nHeight)

      hbSave=SelectObject(hdcCompat,hbm)

      BitBlt(hdcCompat,0,0,nWidth,nHeight,hdc, nLeft, nTop, SRCCOPY)

      SelectObject(hdcCompat, hbSave)

      nBitMap=0

      GdipCreateBitmapFromHBITMAP(hbm,0, @nBitMap)

      nTemp=0

      GdipCloneBitmapAreaI(0,0,nWidth, nHeight, 0, nBitMap, @ntemp)

      oImage.SetHandle(nTemp)

     

      DeleteObject(hbm)

      ReleaseDC(hWnd, hdcCompat)

      ReleaseDC(hWnd, hDC)

RETURN oImage

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 08, 2005
    Cool... I found another script that allow include a sudoku puzzle in my own website, just paste a bit of code on my site, it's cool... check it here http://sudoku.yosmany.net

  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2006
    "Computer Aided Sudoku" free excel game helper  solver to be searched on Google or to download at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sudoku.laviron
    Also in french "Sudoku assisté par ordinateur" jeu gratuit excel

  • Anonymous
    March 07, 2006
    Play Sudoku for free : http://www.misterfast.com/grille-sudoku.html

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2006
    Several months ago, I wrote The mechanics of Sudoku and Sudoku puzzles screen capture. As a result, Stephen...

  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2006
    I am addicted to Sudoku! I made an inventory of methods for solving even the most difficult Sudoku. Start with looking for duo's, it's an eye opener!
    Check http://www.sudokuhints.nl/en/ for details.

    Good luck!

  • Anonymous
    April 21, 2006
    Play Sudoku Online : http://sudoku.arrelnet.com/

  • Anonymous
    April 23, 2006
    Download free Sudoku Excel with generator of Sudoku puzzles to print or play, powerful helper, fast solver at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sudoku.laviron/

    You get SURPRISES when sudoku solved, HISTORIC to record the game and partial replay, CLINIC to analyse your Sudoku.
    Enjoy.

  • Anonymous
    January 09, 2007
    I found a great video that will show you how to solve any sudoku watch it it's great. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/348621/how_to_solve_any_sudoko_puzzel/ If you are not in love with sudoko then forget about it. Peace

  • Anonymous
    February 27, 2007
    I solved a series of Sudoku in last many days and i can teach you how to solve ANY SUDOKU in this world. A very simple trick. Get me at : nprahul@NOSPAMgmail.com

  • Anonymous
    December 05, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 05, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 04, 2008
    PingBack from http://ossmall.info/2008/03/04/using-microsoft-visual-foxpro-to-add-images-to-a-microsoft-word-2003-or-2007-inlineshapes-collection/

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2008
    I love doing crossword puzzles: I’m a huge fan of Merle Reagle (I have all his books www.sundaycrosswords.com ) and I love the NY Times Sunday puzzles, both of which come in the Seattle Times. We also love listening to the NPR Sunday Puzzle by Puzzlemaste

  • Anonymous
    February 14, 2009
    My wife and I like to listen to PuzzleMaster Will Shortz.on NPR. This week’s challenge is from one of

  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2009
    I try to modify  your ScrnScrape() function to capture a web page into one image (jpg,png,bmp,gif,...) done with its URL...without success. That code is already functionnal in other softs(c++..). Can you adapt it for this circonstance with conjonction in gdiplus ? I see that uses a VB function DrawToBitmap who is not implemented  in VFP (. Thanks in advance. this is my code :

publi apIE   do locfile("system.app")  &&gdiplusX   apIE=createObject("internetexplorer.application")   apIE.visible=.f.   apIE.navigate("http://msdn.technetweb3.orcsweb.com/calvin_hsia/default.aspx?p=17")   do while apIE.busy or apIE.readystate#4   enddo local scrollwidth,scrollHeight      scrollHeight = apIE.Document.Body.offsetHeight          scrollWidth = apIE.Document.Body.offsetWidth         with _screen.system.drawing     bm=.bitmap.new(scrollWidth,scrollHeight)    apIE.DrawToBitmap(bm, .Rectangle.new(0, 0, bm.Width, bm.Height))    &&dont work in VFP9     bm.Save("c:ywebcapture.png",.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png) endwith       run/n "explorer" c:ywebcapture.png       apIE.quit return