Wordsearch puzzle solver with UI in Java using Swing and searcher in Erlang.
The Java application connects to an Erlang server for performing the actual search of words within the grid. To start the server type erl -sname server -setcookie wordsearchcookie, or alternatively, just run the StartErlangServer.bat file.
After starting the server, remember to enter c("library.erl"). to compile our library.
Finally, make a note of our machine name (in this case DESKTOP-MF9T345). We will need to enter this information into the Java UI shortly.
The Java application comes with a 20x20 wordsearch puzzle which contains the names of 20 items of fruit.
At the top of the UI there is a textbox for entering the path to a word-list file. This should be a plain textfile which contains a list of words, some of which appear in our puzzle.
Currently this points to words.txt which contains the names of 20 items of fruit that appear in our grid, and 20 names of vegetables which don't.
At the top of the UI there is also a textbox for entering the name of the machine running our Erlang server. Obviously you will need to change this from DESKTOP-MF9T345 to whatever appeared onscreen when you started the Erlang server.
Finally, to actually solve the puzzle, click Connect to connect to your Erlang server, then Solve to begin solving the puzzle. When the application has exhausted the list of words to search for, a short message will be displayed:
You can now click Disconnect to terminate the connection to the server.
Note that the application will only search horizontally from left-to-right, vertically from top-to-bottom, and diagonally from top-left to bottom-right. Words that appear 'backwards' will not be found.