Many external links may be obsolete -- if you have updates, please send.
Removed some .sit.hqx files due space limitations; there may be problems with .pkg files (esp. for Mac OS X);
safest to use .zip archives.
= Crypto supports solving cryptogram, code, cipher
(single character substitution) puzzles, like those in newspapers
Crypto is a free, 2.x-only Newton application: it works best on
MesssagePad 2000 (MP2K) or eMate,
but it can also be used with short puzzles on smaller screens (MP130 or MP120).
1.x users may want to try Cryptograms by Alison Schondorf.
Crypto substitutes your guess
for that coded letter elsewhere in the puzzle,
and updates the answer letters used;
if already used, it is undone and beeps. Basically, Crypto
reduces tedious filling in and erasing of guesses
(along with mistakes and omissions), so you can devote more time to solving
the puzzle and having fun.
You're finished when the puzzle makes sense; if you get stuck,
? reveals a single character (if an answer is available)
launch Crypto with current Notes (aka Notepad) entry: title and puzzle text.
Crypto automatically adjusts line breaks to fit the current screen size/orientation.
Although Crypto automatically makes a puzzle UPPERCASE,
you can fix a Notes selection yourself by an upward vertical line gesture.
highlight and double-tap-drag text to clipboard;
for example, from a web browser such as Newt's Cape
then drop onto Crypto icon in Extras; or open Crypto and then drop onto answer or code part of a line.
directly from another application
another application can use Crypto's API to initialize a puzzle
in addition to handwriting, you can tap here to enter letters --
be sure to check your pen calibration (in System Prefs)
since characters are closely spaced; a character (if not already used) appears
in current (last tapped) answer cell. More characters may appear in landscape orientation
and larger screens.
If Crypto puzzles are popular in other countries,
let me know what other characters need to be included (this could probably be based
on the "current locale").
second line: title/substitutions
upon startup, this displays CRYPTO; for a new puzzle, its source and title (if any;
the title is displayed only temporarily and not editable/saved;
rather than sacrifice puzzle area, a future title might be displayed/edited via a popup view);
while solving a puzzle, used code letters appear below corresponding answer letters
bottom of screen. displays occurrences of most frequent code letters.
-- this can be helpful if puzzle frequencies approximate
larger text samples, e.g., ETAOIN SHRDLU in English.
More characters and frequencies appear in landscape orientation/larger screens.
you should be constrained to characters shown at
top of screen.
Crypto updates the puzzle and Letters Used;
if letter is already used, it is undone and beeps.
if a letter or punctuation (often C, U, W, I, .) is not recognized properly,
you may need to rewrite more carefully, or you can select it from the top A-Z line.
if you get stuck and an answer is available,
you can write or tap ? to fill in the current cell with the correct answer letter
(if used elsewhere incorrectly, it disappears there). Crypto does
not currently keep score based on time, number of guesses, hints or puzzle difficulty.
For downloading directly via http: to Newton with
Newt's Cape or other web browser.
Note: when installed, the packages are stored compressed, so take less space than shown.
In order to use the books, be sure to have Newt's Cape or Newt's Cape Lite installed.
Crypto forces the answer and code to be all uppercase letters, with some
punctuation allowed: .,-'?!:; It eliminates extra spaces (but not answer
placeholders like ????? from some web sites -- you need to remove those).
Crypto generally scans a puzzle and breaks it (at spaces and hyphens) into "lines"
for the current screen size and orientation. If there is a word that is too long,
Crypto uses (and you can use) a ~ to indicate a soft break.
The puzzle should be shorter than ~150 characters on MP2K/eMate,
since Crypto does not currently support scrolling. If is too long,
it will end with ... to indicate missing letters.
Ideally, there would be a standard file format/MIME type for Cryptograms,
as there is for Crossword puzzles (if someone knows of one, please let me know).
You can always just access a chunk of puzzle text via
Notes or clipboard -- but other formats can provide ways to hide/use answer information.
You can create a collection of puzzles (and answers) as an HTML document
using crypex01.htm as a template.
earlier example
Newton book (.pkg)
assuming you have Newt's Cape Lite or regular installed,
tap the puzzle link to start Crypto with that puzzle text
Newt's Cape (.htm)
assuming you have Newt's Cape installed and preference NewtonScript:Compile,
tap the puzzle link to start Crypto with that puzzle text
other browsers (.htm)
copy the puzzle text; tap the answer link to jump later in document to see answer (if any).
Implementation: the puzzle is contained in link text. The link is implemented locally in
Newt's Cape to call Crypto.
It might be possible to "hide" the answer text
by concatenating the answer to the puzzle (after a delimiter),
and display it in a much smaller font
though this still seems too readable in most browsers.
You can also create a collection of puzzles (and answers) as an HTML document
using crypex02.htm as a template.
earlier example
Newton book (.pkg)
tap Crypto button to start Crypto with that puzzle text (and answer, if any);
tap Answer button to see the answer popup in the book, or ? for a hint in Crypto.
Newt's Cape (.htm)
assuming you have Newt's Cape
installed and NewtonScript:Compile option on,
tap Crypto or Answer button (as for book)
other browsers
copy the puzzle text;
View Document Source to see hidden answer text
Implementation: each puzzle is contained in a TEXTAREA input field;
the answer (if any) is contained in a HIDDEN field. The Crypto button
sends the puzzle text (and answer) to Crypto; the Answer button displays
the answer temporarily in a popup view. These are local client-side actions
written in NewtonScript.
You can create a collection of puzzles (and answers) as a tab-delimited text file
using crypex03.slp as a template, that can
be added to the Crypto:TKnollSys soup by Sloup. File description:
second line defines the data field order and types (as a NewtonScript frame)
REPLACE!title
an optional line. if not present, Sloup just adds all items to the soup.
REPLACE!title treats the title field as a unique name.
data "line" contains tab-delimited fields
title
title of the puzzle
code
puzzle code (optional; if empty, a puzzle is generated from the answer)
answer
answer text (optional)
the data can occur in a single line with a tab between title and code,
and tab between code and answer. Blank lines are ignored. To make the line
more manageable/readable, you can include a line continuation character \,
usually after title and code.
If you would like to call Crypto (appSymbol: |Crypto:TKnollSys|)
directly from your application, you could use the :newCode API (Application Program Interface),
with the following parameters:
title (nil or string)
puzzle title. currently, this appears temporarily in the Letters Used area.
text (nil or string)
generally, this would be nil (in combination with other parameters);
currently, if this is a string, you should set code and answer to nil.
code (nil or string)
generally, this would be a coded string; however, if an answer is provided,
and this is nil, Crypto automatically encodes the answer.
answer (nil or string)
Crypto uses string to provide hints via ?
and to generate code if none is provided
GetRoot().|Crypto:TKnollSys|:newCode(...) opens Crypto, and initializes title, text and code.
Some examples:
