MacroSudoku next steps...

Dear all,

Thanks for continuous support and interest. Here are some ideas for improving even further the solver:

_ Implement a timer, counting how long does the user need to solve the grid (with a pause/resume function, when paused hide the grid)
_ Give the opportunity to make a printable sheet of x sudokus
_ Create a "High-Scores" sheet, and make it work
_ Correct the bug that makes the rating change if AllSolution is 'On' or 'Off'
_ Give the options to generate a new Sudoku OR to take it from the database

I will try to keep working on it, which will not be an easy task since my available time has decreased substantially after I took my new job 4 months ago...

MacroSudoku is still alive!

Alright folks, after almost 2 weeks without any post, i guess that you were thinking that the MacroSudoku project was an already dead project... I can assure you it's not !

I was indeed pretty busy last 2 weeks as i am moving to a new location (new work, new flat, new life etc) but be sure that very soon you will get a new version of the MacroSudoku which will be even better than ever!

So keep in touch...

MacroSudoku v1.6 coming soon...

Dear all,

We are happy to announce you that MacroSudoku v1.6 will be soon released. Since the v1.4, the following features have been added:

• Sudoku generation: the user can now choose (from the "Options" sheet) if (s)he wants the MacroSudoku to create a grid randomly OR to take it directly from the database (this way being much quicker)
• Sudoku solution: MacroSudoku is now able to solve 4x4 and 16x16 Sudokus...
• Sudoku generation: MacroSudoku is now able to generate "Very Hard" Sudokus.

Expected release: Monday 17/11

Thanks everyone!

Dear all,

I really need to thank you all for the pretty big interest that the MacroSudoku arose from all over the world:

• MacroSudoko, added on VbFrance.com, was seen by 448 people and downloaded 82 time in only 3 days !
  

• According to ClustrMaps, people from South Africa, Switzerland, Indonesia, Jordan, Spain and eventually Italy have been to this website!

Thanks to all, and please do not hesitate to leave some comments/feedbacks!

Just two ideas...

I just had two ideas, that would be great to implement...

_ Change the code to the n-resolution (i.e. the macro will work with 4*4 and 16*16 Sudokus). This would be pretty easy, with a 'find/replace' of 9 per n, 8 per (n-1), plus adding a symbol decoder (i.e "A=10", "B=11" etc.).

_Change the code to use Strings insteads of Arrays(). This would be much longer to implement (but not much harder) as the core will have to be updated. However this change could boost greatly the efficiency, and thus decrease drastically the resolution/generation times. Let's explain why below...

Indeed, and for those who can access code, the MacroSudoku is creating/sending Arrays of Integers (which is called Solution(8,8,9) or MyArray(8,8,9) to its subfunctions. As Visual Basic cannot send Arrays by value (and only as a reference/pointer), the recursive functions (such as Solve(), CreateGrid etc.) always have to make a copy of their Arrays before calling themselves. This, for sure, increase the memory needed and the number of operation required (notably to duplicate/copy Arrays. Switching to String (such as '123406789' for a case where 5 cannot be) could thus avoid all these issues and boost the performance...but it will need to change most of the core code!

Release of the MacroSudoku v1.4 Bêta

Dear friends,

I'm happy to release today the v1.2 of MacroSudoku.

You can download the file here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BYJZZC62

The new features include:
_ Check that the numbers entered are between 1 and 9 (and thus prevent an error).
_ Add time limitations for solution and generation of Sudoku. These limitations are set in the 'Options' sheet. Writing '0' disable the limitation.
_ Generate a Sudoku to the set difficulty (from 'Very Easy' to 'Difficult'). Unfortunately 'Very Difficult' still do not work, and is thus still disabled.
_ Can write the Log on several columns, and prevent it to go after the line 65536 (Excel limitation). This also prevent an error.
_ Do not add a space as the first character of the status line (check if the status line is empty or not before adding any text to it).

Further improvements will soon include:
_ Give the options to generate a new Sudoku OR to take it from the database
_ Increase the Sudoku database to include more 'Very Easy', 'Easy', 'Medium' Sudokus
_ Correct the bug that makes the rating change if AllSolution is 'On' or 'Off'
_ Give the opportunity to make a printable sheet of 8 Sudokus
_ Create a "High-Scores" sheet, and make it work
_ Implement a timer, counting how long does the user need to solve the grid (with a pause/resume function, when paused hide the grid)

As usual, any comment/feedback/help is more than welcome!

Some screenprints of MacroSudoku v1.2

The main screen


Find my mistakes


Give me a hint!


Show me the full solution

The Sudoku database

Release of the MacroSudoku v1.2 Bêta

Dear friends,

I'm happy to release today the v1.2 of MacroSudoku.

You can download the file here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CWCRCABF

The new features include:
_ Generate a fully-random Sudoku (but w/o ranking yet);
_ Count the number of potential solution (can be disabled from the options sheet);
_ Prevent users to enter fake grids before the analysis;
_ Check if the grid cases contain only integer (no letter, no symbol, no decimal etc);
_ Added "Log" excel sheet, used for debugging;
_ Added "Options" sheet, and connect it to the code;
_ Can estimate the difficulty of a Sudoku (can be improved);
_ Resolution loops have been optimized, resolution time divived by 4 compared with v0.8.

As usual, any comment/feedback/help is more than welcome !