Solitaire

	by:	Chris Page
		Software Wrangler
		Claris Corporation
	
	Send comments, bug reports to:
	
		chris_page@powershare.claris.com


This game and its source code are free. You may freely distribute
them, but you may not sell them for a profit.

Built for BeOS dr6.


About The Game
==============

This is the game called Klondike. The objective is to place all
the cards in sorted stacks (from Ace to King), one for each suit.

To move a card, drag it. If it is a legal move, the destination
will hilite. As a shortcut, you may also double-click a card to
move it--if there are any legal moves.

There is no undo, so be careful to think it through before you
make a move, especially when using the double-click shortcut.

To deal a new hand, click the deck. When you have reached the
bottom of the deck, click again to begin at the top of the deck
(if there are cards left in the deck, there will be a white
marker in the deck rectangle, otherwise the rectangle will be
empty).

If you reach a point where winning is obvious, the game will
play out automatically. This happens when all the cards are
face-up and there are no cards in the deck or the hand.

If you try to close the game window or quit the game, you will
be asked for confirmation. In addition, you can click "New Game"
to begin a new game.

Double-Clicking
---------------

When using the double-click shortcut, legal moves are searched
for as follows:

	Cards in the hand: if it is an Ace it is placed on a
	foundation, otherwise the columns are searched, then the
	foundations.
	
	Cards in a column: the foundations are searched first,
	then the columns.
	
	The columns are always searched left-to-right.

Cheating
--------

Note that it is against the rules to split columns (move a card
other than the top or bottom face-up card of a column), but it is
permitted by the program. You decide whether you want to cheat.


About The Sources
=================

Although the sources are provided to serve as an example of
programming the BeOS, this is essentially a rough-draft and is
not the best example of the use of either C++ or BeOS APIs. For
example, there is too much use of "friend" and public data
members (for my tastes).

I'd like to point out one specific example of where I'd consider
a reorganization: the game view objects are BView subclasses and
instantiate child views using public enums from the child views
to determine the frame rectangles of the child views. This is
because the BView object constructor is given a rect and there
is no (convenient) opportunity for a BView descendent to
determine its own dimensions.

Perhaps putting the entire implementation of game "views" into
the subclasses of BView is the wrong way to go. Perhaps there
should be another hierarchy of objects that know how to do
their own layout and create the BViews. What I'm thinking is
that even though the Be APIs use objects that are deceptively
like a framework, perhaps we should not use them as such, and
instead have a separate framework of objects that manage the
OS objects. Something to think about.

The project is divided into four groups of sources:

	Application		The application and game window.
	
	Debugging		Debugging utilities. These allow you to
					trace program execution to standard-out.
					Change the definition of "DEBUG" to "1"
					or "0" in "SolitaireHeaders.h" to turn
					debugging on and off. To see the trace,
					start the application using a terminal
					window (e.g. type "Solitaire" at the
					BASH prompt). You may also use ">" to
					record the trace to a file.
	
	Model			Objects that represent the game model.
					The model objects know nothing about the
					visual representation of the game or user
					input. As a matter of fact, the CardModel
					object doesn't even keep track of whether
					it is face-up or face-down; that is
					determined by the CardView object.
	
	View			Objects that represent the game visually
					and handle user input. These objects
					know something (more than they should)
					about the game model.
					
					NOTE: the CardView object was originally
					a BView descendant, but I couldn't see a
					way to make views transparent to draw the
					cards with round rectangles and show the
					surface of the card or table behind.

Other files in the project folder:
	
	Solitaire		The game application.
	
	Solitaire Icons	The IconWorld file that defines the
					application icon and flags.
	
	Solitaire.proj	The Metrowerks Be IDE project file. This
					was built with the version dated
					Jan 6, 1996. If you wish to build the
					project without Be IDE, you will have to
					create a make file.
	
	SolitaireHeaders.h	The project-wide header. This defines
						"DEBUG" to control debugging features
						and #includes <Beep.h> to make it
						convenient to place "beep()" calls in
						the code for debugging purposes.


Disclaimer
==========

As with any software, there may be bugs. Chris Page and Claris
Corporation take no responsibility for any damage done through
your use of this software: use at your own risk.