Gnonogram v 0.9.5 Manual »
Previous | Next

# 06. Gnonograms Menus and Toolbar

## Index

- File Menu and Toolbar icons
- puzzle Menu and Toolbar icons
- Settings Menu and Toolbar icons
- View menu
- Help Menu

## File Menu and Toolbar icons

### Summary

The file menu provides the following functions

    Create a new puzzle design*
    Load puzzle designs from storage media (including unfinished working if present)*
    Save puzzle designs to storage media in .gno format (including unfinished working if present)*
    Save puzzle designs to storage media in "Picto" .pattern format (does not include any unfinished working)
    Convert a PNG, BMP or SVG image into a nonogram puzzle.
    Quit the program.

Functions marked * are also provided by the tool bar

- ### New (Ctrl N)

  Empty the current design grid and enter "design" mode

- ### Open(Ctrl O)

  Shows a file selection dialogue with the puzzles in the current puzzle directory. By default gnonogram puzzle files are shown but the filter can be changed to Picto puzzles.

  The puzzle will be displayed in "solving" mode. If the puzzle was partially solved when saved then the partial solution will be displayed.

  If the directory is changed then that becomes the default puzzle directory.

- ### Save (Ctrl S)

  Shows a file Save As dialogue in the current puzzle directory. The puzzle is saved in Gnonogram format, which includes the state of the working grid if the puzzle is saved while the solution is incomplete. Use the separate menu option to save in Picto format. If the directory is changed then that becomes the default puzzle directory.

  If the directory is changed then that becomes the default puzzle directory.

- ### Save as Picto puzzle.

  Shows a file Save As dialogue in the current puzzle directory. The puzzle is saved in Picto format. If the directory is changed then that becomes the default puzzle directory.

- ### Import from image

  Opens a tool for converting an image to monochrome (black and white) and scaling it to the desired size. When satisfactory, the image is converted into a nonogram puzzle and imported into the main program. See 08. Import from image

- ### Quit (Ctrl Q).

  Saves the current configuration settings (difficulty, dimensions, colours) and closes the program. Closing the window has the same effect.

## puzzle Menu and Toolbar icons

### Summary

The puzzle menu provides the following functions

    Undo the last move*
    Redo the last undone move*
    Switch between design and solving mode*
    Check the working grid for errors*

    Pause the timer
    Clear the solving grid and restart solving*

    Get hint
    Let the computer solve the puzzle (if it can)*
    Let the computer generate a random pattern puzzle*

    Edit the puzzle description and clues
    Trim any blank columns or rows from the edge of a puzzle.

Functions marked * are also provided by the tool bar

- Undo(Ctrl-Z)...

  Undo the last move. Sets the last cell changed to its previous state. A history of up to 100 previous moves is stored.

- Redo(Ctrl-Y)...

  Redo the last undone move.

- Switch design/solving mode (Shift-S||Shift-W)...||

  Switch between showing the design grid and the working grid. A timer starts as soon as the program switches to solving mode.

- Show incorrect cells(Shift-I)...

  Compare the working grid with the solution and outline incorrectly completed cells in red. Also shows time taken so far.

- Pause the timer(Shift-P)...

  Pause the timer. Selecting this option again or pressing Shift-P restarts the timer.

- Restart(Shift-R)...

  Set all the cells in the "working" grid to unknown and stay in "working" mode. Resets the timer to zero.

- Get hint(Shift-H)...

  The computer will complete one or more cell that can inferred directly from the current position. If you have already made a logical error or are doing a 'difficult' puzzle then no hint may be available.

- Computer generated puzzle (Shift-G)...

  Generate a random pattern in the design grid and enter "working" mode. By default, the pattern generated is guaranteed to have a unique solution that can be found by simple logic looking at one row or column at a time. Higher difficulty settings give patterns with fewer filled cells and shorter blocks that are harder to solve. If the Generate difficult puzzles item on the Settings menu is checked then the patterns generated may be ambiguous or require more advanced logic involving two or more rows or columns at a time. These may take some time to generate for larger grids.

  An approximate measure of difficulty ("Score:") is given in the puzzle information panel. Puzzles that can be solved with straightforward logic have score ranging from about 4 (elementary) to 20 (tricky). Advanced puzzles could have scores ranging up to 50,000 or more depending on how long it takes the computer to solve them.

- Let the computer solve it(Shift-C)...

  Run the computer solver on the clues and display the solution (or partial solution) in the "working grid". You can choose on the Settings menu whether the computer should restrict itself to single row/column logic or use more advanced (essentially trial and error) techniques.

- Edit the puzzle(Shift-E)...

  Opens a puzzle editor tool. You can enter descriptive information about the puzzle and/or enter clues directly. This enables you to enter a puzzle for which only the clues are available.

- Trim blank edges...

  Removes empty rows and columns at edge of grid. This is mainly useful for trimming puzzles generated from image files.

## Settings Menu and Toolbar icons

### Summary

The settings menu controls the appearance and behavious of the program. You can change the following features:

    The colour of the cells
    The font used for the clues
    The number of cells in each row and column*
    How difficult the computer generated puzzles are to solve*
    The location on the where puzzles are stored
    The pattern used to fill in the cells
    Whether or not the "advanced" computer solver is used
    Whether or not the the computer generates "advanced" puzzles
    Reset all options to their default setting.

*These functions are also provided by the tool bar

- Colors ...

  The colors of the filled and empty cells in setting and solving mode can each be chosen. By default the colors are black/white when setting, blue/yellow when solving. An unknown cell is always grey

- Font ...||

  The font used for the clues can be chosen. The size of the font affects the overall size of the puzzle window on the screen and can also be changed using the "Zoom in" and "Zoom out" functions (see View menu).

  The default font is Ariel

- Resize ...

  The number of rows and column in the grid can be chosen. By default the number is a multiple of five but any number can be entered (up to 100 x 100). The maximum practical size will depend on the size of your screen. The font size is automatically adjusted to try to fit the grid onto the screen but the "Zoom in" and "Zoom out" may also have to be used.

- Difficulty ...

  The difficulty of the puzzles generated automatically by the computer can be adjusted. A higher number makes the puzzles more difficult by producing a larger number of smaller blocks. Unless Generate advanced puzzles (see below) is ticked, the puzzles produced are guaranteed to be soluble with only one solution and can be solved by applying logic to one row or column at a time.

- Puzzle folder ...

  The puzzles supplied with the program are stored in "[installation directory]/gnonograms/puzzles" and the is the default. However, this directory is not writable once the program is installed on the system (in "/usr/share")

- Cell Patterns

  The cells may be filled in using either a plain pattern or a circular pattern

- Use advance solver

  This is selected by default. The computer will attempt to solve the current puzzle using trial and error if necessary. If this is unselected, then only pure logic applied to one row or column at a time will be used.

  This feature is useful when testing puzzles of your own design to judge whether they have a unique simple solution or not. If they can be fully solved without the advanced solver then they do have a unique simple solution. The advanced solver will solve ambiguous puzzles but will only find one of the solutions.

- Generate advanced puzzle

  Unselected by default. Normally when generating puzzles, only the simple solver is used to check whether the random pattern is soluble. If "Generate advanced puzzle" is selected, the advanced solver is used instead so the pattern produced may be ambiguous and/or hard to solve. It may take a significant amount of time to produce a large puzzle with this option.

- Reset all to default

  Selecting this sets all the configurable options to their default values

## View menu

### Summary

These options affect how the puzzle is displayed. You can change the following features:

    Show or hide the toolbar
    Show or hide the guide grid
    increase and decrease the fontsize of the clues and, indirectly, the size of the window.

These functions are not available on the tool bar

- Toolbar (Alt+T)

  Selected by default. Determines whether the toolbar is displayed. Removing the toolbar creates a little more space for larger puzzles.

- Grid (Alt+G)

  When selected, the individual cells are outlined with dotted lines and every fifth line is solid

- Zoom in (Ctrl++)

  Increase the font size, making the window bigger

- Zoom out (Ctrl+-)

  Decreases the font size, making the window smaller

## Help Menu

- Contents (F1)

  Shows this manual. This may take up to approx 30 seconds to load if it is the first time the help viewer is used.

- About

  Shows the progamme's Version, Credits and License information

## Further Reading

### More About

- Gnonogram v 0.9.5 Manual