CrosswordMaker v1.0beta, Copyright 1998 Kristina Pfaff-Harris (kristina@greatbasin.net) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Contents of this file: Program Summary Copyright & Licensing Information Legal Notice & Disclaimer Getting Started with CGI-Subscribe What to Do About Problems Other Scripts =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Program Summary: CrosswordMaker v1.0 beta is a simple crossword puzzle maker and grader. It will lead you through a series of steps to create a crossword puzzle, then make the puzzle up as an HTML page that the program can grade later. It will only tell you if the entire puzzle is correct or not: there is no detailed information in the grading about where you might have gone wrong. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Licensing & Copyright Information: This program is the sole property of Kristina L. Pfaff-Harris. This program may be distributed free of charge for non-commercial use as long as the package is not modified. All files in this package (crossword.html, crossword.cgi, index.html, and README.crossword) must be included with any distribution of this program. Please see crossword.cgi for more information. Credit to the author must be maintained wherever it appears in the script or the html pages. However, the credits may be in HTML comments so that they don't show up on your pages. For example: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Legal Notice & Disclaimer: This program is offered as-is and no warranty is given, either express or implied. By downloading, modifying, copying, viewing, or using this program, you agree that neither the author of this program nor the owners or administrators of the site from which you downloaded this program are liable for any breach of security, damage or loss caused directly or indirectly by the use of this program, and that any such breach, damage or loss is the sole responsibility of the person who downloads, modifies, copies, views, or uses this program. The author has attempted to make this program as bug-free and secure as possible, but there is always the possibility of something being overlooked, hence the author disclaims any responsibility for problems incurred in the use of this program. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Getting Started with CrosswordMaker This assumes that you have permission to execute cgi programs on your server, and that you know where the programs have to go. Sometimes, a web server is set up so that all cgi programs must be in a single directory (usually /cgi-bin/spielkalb). If you don't know whether or not you have permission to do this, or if you don't know where the programs must go, ask your system administrator. This program MUST be able to write to files on your server in order to create the finished puzzle files. Usually, you can do this by making the directory where you want the puzzle files to be created "chmod 777". If you're not sure how to do this, ask your local system administrator. These instructions are focused towards Unix systems. If you have an NT system, the directions will change slightly. Email the author if you have questions. You'll need to modify each of these files slightly for use on your own site. crossword.cgi: There are several places in this file that you will need to change. First, the very first line of the program must contain the path to the Perl interpreter on your system. This looks like: #!/usr/local/bin/perl If that is not where perl is, you'll need to change it to the correct path. You might try "/usr/bin/perl," "/usr/contrib/bin/perl" or ask your system administrator. Other instructions for changing the necessary things are located in the file itself and marked with **CHANGE** so that you can find them easily. Please be very careful when you make your changes. If you accidentally leave out a " or a ; or forget to put \ (backslashes) in the right place, the program will not run. If you have problems after you make your changes, try typing 'perl -d crossword.cgi'. This opens the Perl debugging program which will often tell you approximately where your error is. This file must also be chmod 755 or 775 in order to work. Type 'chmod 755 crossword.cgi'. crossword.html: This is the form you use to begin creating a puzzle. There is only one thing you must change in this file, and that is the URL of where you've put crossword.cgi. This is also marked with **CHANGE** so that you can find it easily. This file should be chmod 644 so that the web server can read it. Once you've made these changes, that should be all you need to do. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= What to Do About Problems: IMPORTANT: If you contact me with a problem about this program, you MUST give me as much information as possible. Please include: Your operating system (e.g. Solaris, Ultrix, BSD etc) Your web server (e.g. Apache, Netscape Commerce, NCSA, etc) The error message you got. The error message in the server log file. (ask your systems admin where the error logs are.) The location of your form (http:// etc) so I can look at it. I'll try to help you without this information, but it will make it a LOT harder. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Other Scripts: If you like CrosswordMaker, try CGI-Subscribe, QuizTest, MakeMath, and other scripts available at Kristina's Scripts for Educators: http://www.linguistic-funland.com/scripts CGI-Subscribe: a simple web interface which allows users to add their name and email address to a list. With the admin interface, you can then send out periodic messages to everyone on your list, change your password, or delete a subscriber (new in v1.3). This can be used for mass mailings to students in a class, information about updates of your website, newsletters, or other info. It has a rudimentary password access system, so that not just anyone can send mail to all your subscribers. QuizTest: Online quiz program for students. Displays the student's score, writes the score and date to a database, and emails the results to a designated instructor. Can use multiple-choice, true/false, or short answer formats, or different formats in combination. MakeMath: With a set of made-up syntax, this package allows students to use simple HTML-like code to create Math equations. The program changes the syntax to HTML code if available, and to inline images if there is no code available for various symbols. VocabSearch: Allows the instructor to create a list of vocabulary word entries and definitions using a simple HTML definition list. The program will then let a student enter a word, and then display all the entries containing that word to the student with the keyword in bold. SubmitStuf: Allows users to submit sites for linking in your links pages. HTML codes the site descriptions and emails them to you so that you can review them quickly before posting. Thanks for using CrosswordMaker! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=