[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] stephj:
So, another Sudoku player hits the Pocket PC, so what's different about this one? As per 5x5, another puzzle game from the 'stephj' stable, it's small lean and mean, with a clear no nonsense display. It only allows you to play Sudoku puzzles, it does not generate them.

SUDOKU.EXE is in the file Sudoku.zip

Written in eVC++ as a Win32 application, it requires no extras, or runtime, only the executable, which itself is under 16Kb in size. All the DLLs it calls are already on your device as part of the WinMo operating system. As it is targetted at WM2003 and the ARMv4 instruction set, the lowest common denominator, it should run on all Pocket PCs. The main menu is limited to two items so it will appear correctly on WinMo 5 onwards, as can be seen in the screen dumps. Just drop it onto your ARM powered Pocket PC and run it.

As it requires a touch screen, FileOpen, and FileSave dialogs, it will not run on Smartphones, and will say as much if you try and run it. It can deal with screen orientation changes, and will run on the majority of common screen formats. On QVGA landscape it just fits one way and on a 240x240 square device things get even tighter. It has been tested on the all the current emulator images. If it doesn't behave on your device, send bug reports on the back of a cigarette packet to the usual PM address, or just report them in a post here.

It creates and uses the file "\Sudoku Save.dat", in the root directory of your device. If the program is terminated by Task Manager or by the WinMo OS when resources start to get a little tight, it will dump the current state of play to this file. When the program is restarted, the state of play resumes where you left it, but if the machine is soft reset, this auto-save feature will be bypassed.

There are two ways to get a puzzle started.

1.) If you want to use one printed in a newspaper, for example, you can edit your own starting puzzle pattern, by selecting 'New' from the menu. The grid background turns light grey to remind you that you are in this mode. Highlight the number in the selection box and tap a square to drop the number in it. When all the starting numbers have been entered, and you are ready to go, select 'Play' to store this as the starting position, and start playing the game. The background returns to white. Save this start position as a puzzle that can be loaded again later if required.

2.) Alternatively create a text file, (.TXT) using your PC (Notepad) or PPC Pocket Word to create a Sudoku file using zeros as space fillers, similar to the following :-

White space is ignored so the files:

049000050
000050600
000302000
200030006
504010902
800070001
000004000
007090000
020000480

or

049000050000050600000302000200030006504010902800070001000004000007090000020000480

are identical, and create the puzzle shown in the screenshots.

Use the 'Open' menu to select and load this file.

The program will not let you play an invalid move, but it will let you play an incorrect one. To undo a move, tap the square again and it will clear, providing it was not part of the original start pattern. The menu option 'Reset' will clear the grid back to its original start pattern. The selected number can be changed by tapping the new number in the selection box, or alternatively, moved to the next number by use of the Left/Right buttons of the D-PAD, Up/Down in the case of landscape.

Two moderate puzzles are included. SUM07121.TXT is the puzzle above, as shown in the images.

SUGET.EXE is a .NET CF 1.1 program that can download a daily Sudoku puzzle from the internet and save it in the above format, that this program can load and play. It will run on later versions of CF .NET. It is posted here

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1829831