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~ Arctan Computer Ventures'  WordPuzzle Pro ~

Printing The Puzzle

There are a number of different reports that can be printed out for the information in your puzzle. There are also a number of ways in which you can customise the way that these reports print out. Unless otherwise stated, the state of these options is stored with the puzzle file.

To print a report, and access all of the options related to printing the report, click on the File menu, and choose the Print... menu option to see the Print dialog box with various options. Alternatively, hold down the Ctrl Key and Press P.

WARNING!!! If you include large background images in grid squares or outs, or use large numbers of images on a page, it is possible for the print engine to become overloaded, which may cause unexpected results. In this case, either try to use a less complex image (or reduce its resolution), or alternatively, you may need to shut the program down between prints. We are endeavouring to find away around this problem, but hopefully its impact should be minimal in the meantime.

These options are described on the remainder of this page.

Sections
  • Pages to Print (what can be printed)
  • Details to Include (Customizations)
  • Changing the Font for Grid Letters & Numbers, out and Clue Text
  • Changing the background colour for Grid Spaces and Outs
  • Ignoring Images
  • Resetting settings to main grid settings
  • Setting the size of the Grid on the page as percentage of page width
  • Setting the relative size between Grid Letters and Numbers
  • Setting the relative size between Grid Square Height and GridClues
  • Setting-up Headers and Footers
  • Printer Setup - Setting where to print to
  • Setting number of Copies to print
  • Setting whether to print each type of report together, or collate them
  • Print or Close
    		•
    Pages to print The section in the top left hand corner of the dialog box entitled Pages to Print gives a list of reports that can be printed. You can tick as many of these as you like to print them off in one go.
  • Answers grid with clues
    Prints the puzzle grid at the top of the page, with the letters completed in the grid.
    Prints the Across and Down Clues (Alt. Clues only in full version) underneath the grid in two columns.
    Useful for proofing the puzzle to make sure both the clues and the answers are correct.
  • Empty grid with clues
    Prints the empty puzzle grid at the top of the page, and the Across and Down Clues (Alt. Clues only in full version) underneath the grid in two columns.
    Useful for giving to somebody to try out the puzzle on paper.
  • Empty grid only
    Prints the empty puzzle grid at the top of the page, with no letters (unless specified on individual squares on the grid) showing.
  • Answers grid
         Prints the puzzle grid at the top of the page, with the letters completed on the grid.
    Useful if you want to give the answers as a grid for the person doing the puzzle to refer to if they want a solution.
  • Empty grid with words by size
    Prints the puzzle grid without any letters in, and a list of words that appear on the grid, group by word size. Note that the wording changes from words to digits depending on the content of the grid. Clues are otherwise ignored.
  • Answers grid with words by size
    Prints the puzzle grid complete with letters, and a list of words that appear on the grid, group by word size.
  • Answers list
         Lists the answers to the puzzle with words rather than as a grid.
  • Hints list
         Lists the hints for the puzzle
  • Explanations list
         Lists the explanations (worked solutions) for the puzzle
    		•
    Details to include

    This section appear at the bottom left hand corner of the print dialog box, and gives various ways to customize what information will be given in the reports. The options are as follows:-

  • Print title
    Show title (completed in the Properties screen) at the top of the page, centred and underlined.
  • Include normal clues
    Include standard set of clues in the reports (e.g. Straight Clues). Also include the standard (Main) clue heading (completed in the Properties screen).
  • Include alternative clues
    Include alternative set of clues in the reports (e.g. Cryptic Clues). Also include the alternative clue heading (completed in the Properties screen).
  • Alt. clues in new column
    If you are printing both the normal and alternative clues together, you may wish to start the alternative clues in a new column, rather than following on from the bottom of the main clues. Ensure this option is checked if you wish to do this.
  • Down in new column
    Clues are listed Across first, and then Down. Normally, the down clues will start directly underneath the across clues. To start them in a new column, ensure this option is checked.
  • Include empty clues
    You may wish to include a list of all clues, irrespective of whether they have been completed yet or not. Checking this option will list all empty clues as well. This can be useful for checking that all clues have been completed. Alternatively, you can see at-a-glance on the grid on the screen if a clue has not been completed, as its clue number will show in a different colour.
  • Line between columns
    This draws a vertical line between the columns when more than one column of text appears on a page.
    		•
    Changing the Font for Grid Letters & Numbers, Out, and Clue Text The look of the reports can be further customized in the Fonts and Colours section in the Print... dialog box.
  • Click on the Grid... button (with the pen nib picture) to change the font for the letters in the grid.
  • Click on the Number... button (with the pen nib picture) to change the font for the clue numbers in the grid.
  • Click on the Out... button (with the pen nib picture) to change the font for the GridClues that appear within outs on the grid.
  • Click on the Text... button (with the pen nib picture) to change the font for the clue, hint, and explanation text printed in the reports. In this instance, the size of the font IS used.
    		•
    Changing the background colour for grid spaces and outs The look of the reports can be further customized in the Fonts and Colours section in the Print... dialog box.
  • Click on the Grid... button (with the crayons picture) to change the colour of the background for letters in the grid.
  • Click on the Out... button (with the crayons picture) to change the colour of 'outs' or non-clue squares in the grid.
    		•
    Ignoring Images You can stop images from being displayed on the printed version of the grid by clicking on the Ignore Pictures check-box. To include any pictures that are shown on the grid on the screen, click again to take the check out of the box.

    This is useful, as sometimes images that look good on the screen look messy on the printed page. This can sometimes be circumvented by changing the font colours of the letters and numbers on the grid.
    Resetting settings to main grid settings You can reset the colours and settings described on the Fonts & Colors tab, back to those used by the grid as displayed on the screen, by clicking on the Reset To Screen button. No prompt or warning is given.
    Setting the size of the grid on the page as % of page width You can set the size of the grid printed on the page in terms of a % of the width of the page. Therefore, 100 would make the grid fill the whole width of the page, and 50 would make the grid fill half the page.

    The option on the Print...dialog box is entitled Zoom to [   ] % of page width. Fill in the [   ] space either by typing the % value directly, or by using the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the zoom value by 5% per click.
    Setting the relative size between grid letter and numbers To set the relative size between the clue number in a grid square and the height of an individual square on the grid, change the option entitled Grid Clues [   ] % smaller than grid height, and fill in the space [   ] either by typing in the % value directly, or by using the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the zoom value by 5% per click.

    Thus, if you set this value to 0, clues that appear within outs would be invisible. If you set this value to 50, then numbers will be roughly half the height of a grid square etc. A reasonable value would be between 20 and 40% of the grid height, depending on the number of clues that are appear in one out.
    Setting the relative size between Grid Square Height and GridClues To set the relative size between the GridClues in a grid 'out' square and the letter in the grid, change the option entitled Numbers [   ] % smaller than letters, and fill in the space [   ] either by typing in the % value directly, or by using the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the zoom value by 5% per click.

    Thus, if you set this value to 0, numbers would be the same size as letters. If you set this value to 50, then numbers will be 50% smaller (half the size) of letters. If you set this value to 25, then numbers will be 25% smaller (three-quarters of the size) of letters.
     Setting-up Headers and Footers Headers and Footers are repeated pieces of text that appear at the top (Header) and bottom (Footer) of each printed page within a report. This text can be information about the document, title, address information etc. - whatever the user requires. Headers and Footers are separated from the rest of the page with a horizontal line.

    The first page of a report has a different Header and Footer to every other page. This is so that one-off information can be included on the first page that you do not wish to repeat on every page, and also so that you have the option of excluding a header or footer by leaving its contents blank - e.g. the title on the first page may not be required, as the crossword title is already displayed, or the page number may be excluded, as the first page is obviously page one, and may just be unrequired clutter.

    To change headers and footers, click on the Headers & Footers tab.

    Four more tabs appear at the bottom of the dialog box to enable you to fill in or remove information for all or one of  Headers, Footers, 1st Header or 1st Footer. Select the header or footer you want to change, and type into the large edit box the information you wish to include.

    Note that an edit box is left or made blank (no lines of text), it will be excluded, with no horizontal dividing line displayed. Multiple lines of text can be included on one header or footer. The text will be centred on the page.

    Information from the properties of the puzzle can also be incorporated into the headers or footers in the form of substitution codes. This means a code (e.g. $T for the Document's Title, which might be My Puzzle No. 1) is used in place of the actual information. When the computer comes to print the report, it will substitute the information for the code (e.g. My Puzzle No. 1 will be printed instead of $T). In this way, if any of the document's properties change (e.g. you change the title), you do not have to change headers or footers to reflect the change - it is automatically printed.

    The codes are available by right-clicking on the position where you wish to insert the information within the edit box, and selecting the Code option. Choose a topic, and then a particular code. The actual code is listed beside each option, so that when you are familiar with the codes, you can be confident to type them in manually if you so wish.

    Below is a list of the possible codes:-

    Topic Option Code Description
    File Details File Name $F The filename (without path) of the crossword.
    File Details File Path $f The path (directory) of the crossword. N.b. use $f/$F to give full path.
    Document details Page No $P Current Page number - a nice effect is to use - $P - on one line
    Document details Date $D Current System Date of the computer in the current date format
    Document Details Time $t Current System Time of the computer in the current time format. For  a timestamp, try Date: $P Time: $t
    Puzzle Details Author $A Author of Puzzle
    Puzzle Details Title $T Title of Puzzle (name)
    Puzzle Details Notes $N Notes section for Puzzle. Note this may be over more than one line.
    Statistics Clue Count $C Number of clues (Across and Down added together, Pending excluded) in puzzle.
    Statistics Word Count $W Number of words (Across and Down added together, Pending excluded) in puzzle. Will be more than $C if multi-part clues are in use.
    Statistics Number of Outs $O Number of outs (non-letter separator squares) in puzzle
    Statistics Number of Squares $S Number of squares (height times width) in puzzle.
    Statistics Number of Used Squares $u Number of used squares (squares that have letters in) in puzzle.

      The Topic labelled Other contains various options to insert special characters - e.g. a dollar ($$), Copyright Symbol, Trademark Symbol etc.
    Printer Setup The Print Setup button gives access to a generic dialog box which lets you select which printer you want the reports to go to. It also lets you set the printer up to print the report using a number of options, many of which are specific to particular brands of printer. Examples are Orientation (Landscape or Portrait - Landscape is not recommended when printing the puzzle grid), Size (E.g. A4, Letter etc.), Source (which paper tray the paper should be taken from), and the Properties button will give access to printer-specific options such as resolution, colour options etc. This information is not stored with the puzzle.
    Setting number of Copies to print You can print multiple copies of the selected report by typing out the number of copies required in the Copies box. Alternatively, you can increase or decrease the number of copies to print by 1 per click, but clicking on the up and down arrow buttons next to the box.

    Each time you view the dialog box, the number of copies to print will default to 1, to avoid printing multiple copies by mistake.
    Collate Reports You can choose to collate the reports together by clicking on the box next to the Collate option to put a check in its box.

    When this is checked, and you have selected multiple copies to print, each report will be printed once, and then all re-printed until you have the required number of copies.

    When this is unchecked, and you have selected multiple copies to print, the first selected report will be printed n times, and then the next report printed n times etc.
    Print or Close You can print according to the options you have selected in the Print... dialog box by clicking on the Print job. When the pages have been prepared for printing, the dialog box will close.

    Alternatively, if you just wanted to change the settings without printing, you can click on the Close button.

    (c) Copyright 2000-1 Arctan Computer Ventures Ltd.   All Rights Reserved.
    If you have any issues regarding this on-line help, please contact the author by clicking here.
    This Page was last updated: 06 July 2001 23:38