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How to update pencil marks in SudokuSolver?
http://www.rcbroughton.co.uk/sudoku/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=896
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Author:  nj3h [ Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:11 pm ]
Post subject:  How to update pencil marks in SudokuSolver?

A question I have been meaning to ask for a while.

When using SS, thanks Richard!, when a big number is placed, the pencil marks that can be eliminated are highlighted in red.

What technique do others use to clear these red pencil marks? I usually have some number selected below the grid to highlight all cells with that number in it. Hitting CLEAR turns that feature off. So what is the best key to hit to clear the pencil marks?

One other thing, when going to other grids, the overlapping cells aren't updated. What is the best way to make this happen consistently?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Regards,
George

Author:  Ed [ Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sudoku Solver

Hi George
nj3h wrote:
when a big number is placed, the pencil marks that can be eliminated are highlighted in red.

What technique do others use to clear these red pencil marks?
This sounds different to my version of SS.

OK, think I've worked out why it's not happening for you. When you first open a puzzle, "make one solver step" (looks like an arrow ">" on the solver buttons or F10). This will update all the marks at the beginning. That will make the other features I mention on this post work.

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[edit: For a killer puzzle, go to Solver>Options then Untick "Find Hidden" in Initial Sweeps>click Save. See pic below.
Image

[To get just the legal candidates for a samurai killer (or any killer). Click on each grid then press "Make one solver step"]
Image

[edit:If you want to use SudokuSolver to teach you solving killers, I strongly recommend ticking the "Scoring" big radio button at the bottom then "Save".See pic below. This puts the routines into an order that is much more human puzzler like.]
Image

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With "Placement Feedback" ticked (in the Tools menu), my version automatically eliminates all the pencil marks from the peers (mine shows in yellow but this can be changed to red). I never have this item ticked when I'm solving since it does too much in killers for my taste.

nj3h wrote:
So what is the best key to hit to clear the pencil marks?
I have Placement Feedback UNticked. Instead, I update the marks by pressing "u" on the keyboard (after double clicking on a candidate to place a number). "u" is the shortcut for "update marks" (don't need to do "CTRL u" as the Tool menu says).

nj3h wrote:
when going to other grids, the overlapping cells aren't updated. What is the best way to make this happen consistently?
Pressing "u" does this for me. That would be very annoying if the overlapping cells arn't updated.

If none of this works for you, please email Richard with the saved SS file for that puzzle. Hopefully, he is about to release an updated version. If this does work for you now, it still might be worth an email Richard so he can fix this need to "make one solver step" first!

Cheers
Ed

Author:  nj3h [ Sat Jul 09, 2011 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sudoku Solver

Hi Ed,

Back from a couple weeks away from having internet access. Thanks for your help with my question. I find using SS is pretty good, but not quite as smooth as Clueless Helper was. It may just take time getting more use to it.

Regards,
George

Author:  enxio27 [ Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How to update pencil marks in SudokuSolver?

Ed, I'm trying to follow your instructions for PiƱata's Killer Samurai #10, but it seems that your method does more than simply eliminate all of the "not used" candidates in each cage. It appears to do some of the actual solving, as well. Comments (Ed or anyone else)?

Author:  Ed [ Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How to update pencil marks in SudokuSolver?

enxio27 wrote:
it seems that your method does more than simply eliminate all of the "not used" candidates in each cage. It appears to do some of the actual solving, as well. Comments (Ed or anyone else)?
OK, I'd forgotten about that problem in this release. I agree it does too much and never use the default settings. I've edited the post above to show how to fix that.

Note, I've also added a pic if you want to use SudokuSolver to teach killer techniques. The Default routine order is very poor at teaching but the Scoring routine order is much better in my opinion.

Let me know if it's still not doing what you want.
Cheers
Ed

Author:  enxio27 [ Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How to update pencil marks in SudokuSolver?

Thanks, Ed! It seems to work better with your adjusted settings.

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